Old photos tell story of Beaver County's past
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When the Beaver Area Heritage Museum previewed a photography exhibit called "The Beaver Valley Album" a few months ago, one photo in particular caught the eye of Arthur Cornell, a volunteer at the museum and past president of the Beaver Area Heritage Foundation.
"That's my dad," he said with pride as he pointed to a picture of a Baby Bear Bread truck taken in 1933. In the photograph, Mr. Cornell's dad, the delivery driver, is standing next to his truck with his foot resting on the running board and a big smile across his face.
The photograph is one of 70 images from Beaver County's past that are on display until Christmas at the Heritage Museum on River Road in Beaver.
They range from photos of the sprawling J&L Steel in Aliquippa to a local grocery store, but they are only part of a treasure trove of almost 8,000 historic photographs that have been preserved by Kevin Cooke, owner of Graule Studios in Rochester.
Other photographs in the exhibit are from the Highland Laurel Gallery in Beaver, owned by Adam Fitz, who helped to arrange the layout of the exhibit with museum trustees John McLaughlin, Robert O'Dell and Mildred Sefton. Some of the photos are from the museum's own archives.
Mark Miner, a trustee of the Heritage Foundation, who recalled Mr. Connell's pride and delight at seeing his father featured in the exhibition, expressed some pride of his own not only in the photo exhibit and what it means for Beaver County, but in the ongoing work of the Heritage Foundation.
"A person can get a sense of the variety, breadth and depth of Beaver County at the museum," Mr. Miner said.
Many of the photographs in the display were taken by Beaver County resident Arnold McMahon, who was an electrician, not a professional photographer. Photography was his avocation, however, and his focus was on recording the people, places and events in Beaver County.
First Published November 23, 2011 4:59 am
