Celebrate the birthday of Charles Broadway Rouss this Thursday, Feb. 11 at Rouss City Hall. The schedule is as follows:
2:00-3:00 pm Birthday Cupcakes with Mayor Minor (Location: Rouss City Hall, main floor)
2:30-3:30 pm Guided Historical Tour of Rouss City Hall (meet in lobby)
There is also a Rouss exhibit set up for the rest of February at the Handley Library Archives.
Read more about Rouss and his contributions to the City at www.winchesterva.gov/rouss.
On Thursday, Winchester City Councilman John Hill met with community members at Stephen’s Restaurant and Jazz Cafe to introduce the interpretive signage for the local African-American community that will be placed near the National Avenue roundabout. Two additional signs authored by PHW will interpret the Virginia Woolen Company once located at the site of the Timbrook Public Safety Building, with the final sign noting the retreat of the Confederate forces through town after the Third Battle of Winchester.
As part of the beautification efforts around the signage areas, engraved bricks will line the walkways around the paths. The bricks were ordered through PHW and engraved by Frederick Block, Brick, and Stone. The proceeds after the cost of engraving was split evenly between the Boys and Girls Club and the Timbrook House. Due to the generous support of Frederick Block and the interest from the community, each organization received $1000 to put back into their youth community services. Winchester Chief of Police Kevin L. Sanzenbacher accepted for the Timbrook House, and executive director Heather Foreman accepted for the Boys and Girls Club. PHW was thrilled to be able to help the project to interpret our local history and simultaneously benefit two more worthy Winchester organizations serving Winchester’s children.
If you are searching for some unorthodox means to create historically accurate menus, the Buttolph collection of menus at the New York Public Library may be just the collection you need. From the description of the collection at the New York Public Library:
The menu collection originated through the energetic efforts of Miss Frank E. Buttolph (1850-1924), a somewhat mysterious and passionate figure, whose mission in life was to collect menus. In 1899, she offered to donate her existing collection to the Library — and to keep collecting on the Library’s behalf.
Most of the menus are from New York or adjacent states, but the collection is not geographically limited. Two menus from Virginia are currently in the online collection, both from the celebrated Hygeia Hotel near Fort Monroe from the 1880s. You can read more about the Hygeia Hotel in a promotional booklet from the 1880s at the Internet Archive.
Read more about the Buttolph collection and its offerings at The History Blog.
PHW will kick off our 2016 lecture series with “An Orientation to the National Park Service’s Historic Preservation Training Center,” presented by Chris Robinson, Superintendent of the Historic Preservation Training Center in Frederick, Maryland. He will speak to the preservation construction services offered and how they dovetail employee learning and development into this work. As part of their presentation, he will spotlight their current initiative to employ youth programs in this work and their mission to develop the next generation of historic resource stewards.
Date: Tuesday, February 23
Time: Noon-1 p.m.
Location: June E. Jeffrey Education Center at OakCrest Companies, 126 N. Kent Street, Winchester, VA. The Education Center is at the upper parking lot, in the addition closest to the Winchester Star building.
Cost: The Lunch and Learn lectures are free and open to the public!
RSVPs: Appreciated but not required.
Parking: There is no off-street parking available at OakCrest. We recommend utilizing the George Washington Autopark at 131 N. Kent St.
Questions? phwi@verizon.net or 540-667-3577
Northern Virginia Tours is offering special Valentine’s themed historical scavenger hunts in downtown Winchester this February. There are three maps for various age groups, appropriate for kids to adults. Each track offers a different prize for completion.
Purchase your tour map (ranging in price from $9.99 to $19.99) at the Old Town General Store, 106 S. Loudoun Street, during regular business hours. The scavenger hunts are active through the month of February.
Learn more at www.visitwinchesterva.com.
This week, PHW has digitized approximately 65 35mm slides in the following albums at Flickr:
Architectural Details (in particular interior details and trompe l’oeil decorations)
Cameron Street
Loudoun Street
Assorted other individual sites included in this batch may be found in the photostream.
Mark your calendars: The check presentations to the Timbrook House and Boys and Girls Club from the proceeds of the National Avenue engraved bricks is scheduled for February 4, 2-3 PM at Stephen’s Restaurant and Jazz Cafe at 440 North Kent Street. There is room for approximately 25-35 guests for the event. We hope to see some of you there to celebrate!
From the Virginia Department of Emergency Management in the Richmond Times-Dispatch comes a timely article warning of signs your roof may be suffering stress from the additional weight of the snow. Watch your ceilings and walls especially for signs of sagging, leaking, and sounds of popping and cracking.
This week, PHW added approximately 70 photos to the following albums on Flickr:
North Avenue
Piccadilly Street
Stewart Street
Wolfe Street
Other miscellaneous photos can be found in the photostream.
If you were unable to attend the Community Foundation of the Northern Shenandoah Valley Community Stars event last week, you may catch the video shown at the event on YouTube. PHW’s own Bruce Downing and several other honorees speak about the Community Foundation’s history, mission, and future in this nine minute short with video and editing by Shaun Galang at Cedarmeade Studios.