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BRADFORD, PA — Ground was broken Thursday morning at the Penn Brad Oil Museum in Custer City for its renovation from the ground up - literally. The library portion of the museum will be named "The Kinley Library" in dedication to James H. Kinley.
Penn Brad Oil Museum reconstruction is under way
By: AMANDA NICHOLS
The foundation of the main museum building was in such a dilapidated condition that the building had to be torn down several weeks ago to be rebuilt on a new concrete slab. "The floors were collapsing in the old building, and it was starting to fall down," the museum's board director and superintendent of maintenance Martin Price said.
Bids on the construction were taken last August, and the museum had been preparing for the move since November.
"Things deteriorate over the years. but we're happy to be able to bring it back," Price said. "We're not trying to modernize it, but rather upgrade it and make it better."
He explained that two buildings will be erected and connected together, an 1,800 square foot museum to be built by Kinley Construction of Allegany, N.Y., and a library to be constructed by Price and his maintenance crew.
The museum building will be called Lewis Emery Jr. Hall and the library will be named Kinley Library after the contractor who has donated a lot of old well information from around the area. The new building will house a library of approximately 5,000 books as well as an historic Silsby fire engine once owned by Lewis Emery Jr., according to Price.
Emery purchased the fire engine around 1875 for use in the oil fields, about 100 years before the oil museum first opened.
"We have found out that it is one-of-a-kind that is still in circulation. It is pretty amazing," he exclaimed. "So much in the last few years has been scrapped for money. This piece is basically the history of Bradford. It's in really good shape, maybe even excellent condition once the brass 'has a good cleaning."
Price said a new concrete slab will be put down as the floor of the museum and a concrete basement will be built for underneath the new library. The library'S basement will be used to store tools and yard equipment for maintenance of the buildings and grounds. he explained.
The total cost of the project is estimated at $200,000, up from the original estimate of $ 160,000 because of changes to the engineering and architectural design, according to Price.
"We were going to use the hemlock boards salvaged from the original museum on the inside (walls), but now we have to use fireproof sheet rock," he said. "Now we are going to use the hemlock board-and-batten exterior as the outside walls of the library. It is going to look original, the same as it did."
Price said about 90-percent of the original building was salvaged and will be used in the new construction. He hopes the oak floor from the old building will be used in the library, although there are now talks of using carpeting to diminish noise.
"I'd like to see those old oak boards all planed down and put back together, but I can't say for sure that's what's going to happen," he stated. "Our biggest problem was finding oak big enough, hemlock big enough. Over the years, we've just robbed the forest. You can't find those trees that big anymore, so we worked really hard to save everything we could to reuse,"
Price said it wasn't great weather for a groundbreaking on Thursday, but they were able to start the foundation work.
- Posted in the Bradford Era newspaper: January 20, 2012
