Spent a wonderful afternoon on a tour of the old G.A.R. (Grand Army of the Republic) Hall in Downtown Johnstown - courtesy of our guides - Randy and Christine Beisel.
I walk to town a lot and have always admired the variety of historical items in the basement windows of the hall - Christine does a wonderful job.
Original light fixtures
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The railing is also original
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Heading inside to the secretary area for the offices of the lawyers. There are a couple of relic display cases set up on the first floor.
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Items Christine saved from an old downtown hotel
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Heading up to the second floor - RJ getting to touch his first actual Civil War rifle
Checking out the sword rack
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Medical canteen
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The gem of their collection - an actual Confederate flag bought at auction - to add to the collection on the second floor
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Sword Rack
Photo album
Randy Beisel showing RJ an actual Civil War sword
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The Snavely family donated this panorama built by their dad
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All hand painted....
Members of the post - taken at a meeting in Philadelphia
Heading upstairs now - to the actual meeting hall area
Original gas light fixture
Original woodwork
Peep hole door
This piano was built around 1865
and as you can hear - still plays
Back hallway
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Looking back towards the way we came into the room. Again - I can't thank Christine and Randy Beisel enough for the wonderful tour. I've always wanted to see inside the building and it's even better than I imagined and they deserve all the praise I can give them for saving the history of our area - one piece at a time.
Thanks for an interesting posting of Johnstown's history.
ReplyDeleteThis is very interesting. I never knew the place existed. How is one to get a tour? My son would just love this.
ReplyDeleteThis is amazing! I never knew that the G.A.R. had any collection of memorabilia at all, let alone such an extensive one. Are any descendants of Charles Zimmerman, Jr. (1837--1899) members of the G.A.R.?
ReplyDeleteI am racking my mind trying to figure out where this is. I am thinking Park Place downtown. The building looks so familiar. What a great place though. I want to check this place out when I get back in town. Great job Lisa.
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