About 50 people gathered Saturday to dedicate a new shelter along the Redbank Valley Trail in Summerville.
Organizers say it’s just the latest in a series of projects that adds to the resurgence of a community.
“When I grew up in Summerville in the 1950s, we had several stores and other businesses,” said Martha Smith, a retired teacher. “The Hanley Brick (now Glen-Gerry) plant was the biggest employer.” The plant is still functioning but most of the mom and pop businesses have closed.
The turnaround began with a book.
“For years I had the notion of writing a book about growing up here,” said Smith. “It was a great place to grow up. About 2013 we started on the book. We formed a committee. We started with the archives in the Summerville Library but soon realized we needed more people. It just grew from there.”
Smith said the committee made a “pittance” on the book but turned that money over to the Summerville Veterans Memorial Committee.
Colleen Cooney had a section in the book on Summerville’s veterans. She formed her own group that resulted in the memorial. A large portion of the money came from the sale of the Summerville VFW building.
Summerville native Russ Sweitzer, a Vietnam veteran, secured more money for the memorial from an escrow account with the Jefferson County veterans group.
“We decided to spruce up the town a little bit and formed the Neighbor to Neighbor Committee,” said Smith. “We did some things and that broke away and started their own committee.”
The neighbor group has decorated the town for Christmas by putting a tree in the center of town and smaller trees on the telephone poles and placed other decorations in town for Halloween.
Ken Burkett, the Executive Director of the Jefferson County Historical Society, contacted the Story Committee and asked if they would like to have historical signs in the town. “There are 12 signs throughout the town,” said Smith. “The signs depict Summerville’s past and what once stood there.”
The federal government, following the devastating flood of 1996, took the property. Several properties were part of the FEMA mitigation plan and cannot be used for permanent structures.
A state project cleaned up the creek and stopped the mine drainage.
A new restaurant, Summerville Eats & Sweets, opened in the town, adding a local meeting place. “That’s a nice feature,” said Smith. “Now we don’t need to drive 15 miles to a restaurant.”
The Summerville story does not end with the pavilion. “We are planning to build a reproduction of the original train station,” said Smith. “We are also building restrooms so people on the trail won’t have to use the portable toilets.”
“Summerville is now a destination on the trail,” said Redbank Trails vice president Phil Hynes. “Instead of being a place you just ride through you can stop, look at the history and rest in the new pavilion.”
Smith said the committee wanted to go to work on the train station but then a Miola area man donated a caboose to the committee.
“Restoring the L. E. F. & C. (Lake Erie Franklin & Clarion) caboose became a priority,” said Smith.
“The best part is seeing people pull together,” said Smith. “It is not only the people who live here who have pitched in but former residents who have sent donations to use. People are turning off their screens and coming back outside again.”
Following the dedication of the pavilion, the graduates of the old Summerville School attended a reunion dinner at the Summerville Volunteer Fire Company hall.
The community celebrates Labor Day with the traditional parade, chicken barbecue, games and music.