Minutes of the General Meeting of the Fort LeBoeuf Historical Society

May 26, 2016

The meeting was called to order by President, Judy Nelson.

Those in attendance recited the Pledge of Allegiance.

Secretary, Rita Russell read the minutes of the April 28th meeting. They were approved as read.

Kathy Williams presented the treasurer's report. The balance in PNC is $71,180.39. The balance in ERIE Bank is $40,720.21. The report was left for audit.

Jim Edwards introduced Cinda Sites and Karen Smock who presented a wonderful program on costumes. Our own, Marsha Strohmeyer got to be a model. Both Cinda and Karen had amazing clothing that they use in reenactments and they explained the clothing and what it represented.

Judson House Report-Rosalie indicated that they have been having a lot of school tours. She asked that they have the sewing machine that is currently in the front hall moved to the second floor.

Eagle Report-Windows have been cleaned. Chimney has been repointed.

During the past month the Eagle Gift shop brought in $1020.53. The Museum $360 and the Judson House $23.

The Museum has also been busy with school tours. The items that had been sent for framing have been returned and have been hung, along with their translation.

Washington Park Memorial Garden-Jim Edwards and two master gardeners are working on the design.

Waterford Days-Kathy indicated that she is still looking for crafters. The last two meetings are June 15 and June 29.

Cruise-In Report-John Hornaman is chairing this as part of Waterford Days. Anyone wanting brochures to hand out, see Judy. Also, if you know anyone with a car, let them know.

Grant Report-We applied for a six month extension on our ECGRA grant.

Our building is being delivered on Tuesday, May 31st. We need to thank Bruce Coffin, the Water Department and Waterford Township. Bruce drove the equipment and the Township donated the gravel for the building to be set on. We have all permits from the Boro and the OK from the State to place this on the property.

The roof of the Judson House is scheduled to be repaired around the second week in June. The new columns at the Judson House will be installed at that time. We still do not have a quote on the floor of the Judson House.

Kathy indicated that as part of her Waterford Days budget she told the Boro she would give them $300 toward dirt to fill a low spot in the West Park in the row where the food vendors are. This is a spot which cannot be used because if it rains it fills with water and becomes a hazard. Team Turf provided 12 yards of dirt for the $300. When that was not enough, Dwyer Plumbing donated 18 more yards of dirt. Bobcat donated their equipment to spread the dirt. The Boro seeded. A big thanks to them all.

James Restoration looked at the chimney on the Judson House and said it is falling down. The bricks are extremely loose. The cost to rebuild it and place a cement cap will be $2,000.

The balance of the grant will then be used to paint as much of the Judson House as possible.

The money from ERIE Bank has been transferred to Erie Federal Credit Union.

Credit Union Account has been set up.

The Knox Box has been installed. Doyle has been advised and the call list at Doyle has been updated.

Welcome Center is coming along. We already have participants from: Waterford Hotel, Humes, Jakes, Duran Farms, Sparrow Pond, Caplans, Sugar N Spice and possible Carini's. Thanks to Jim for the sign and the holders.

There was a discussion about changing the locks on the buildings. We have decided to change the lock on the Gift Shop since we have consignment merchandise. We also changed the lock on the Judson House. There were so many keys out and no one seemed to know who had them. We will now keep a log of who has keys.

We had our first scanning class and we will need to look at additional options. The software was free, but did not provide the options we needed.

Thanks to Heidi Longstreet for a great job on the newsletter. She indicated she will continue to do it in the future.

We received a $100 donation from Russell Standard. Thanks to them.

Ken Lewis resigned from the maintenance of Washington Park and the Eagle Hotel. A letter was sent thanking him for his many years of service. A letter was also sent to the McAtee's thanking them for taking care of the grass in Washington Park and advising them that we would be making that into a Memorial and teaching garden. We did advise them that they could have parking privileges at the south end of the Sugar N Spice parking lot.

In years past if we had a speaker who was not a member we gave them a $25 gift card to Sugar N Spice. It was suggested that we put that program in place again. We started it with this evening’s program.

Just a reminder, Joanne Lenart-Weary worked on the Rt. 6 program. It was shown on WQLN on May 5th.

Marsha had some questions re: holding a quilt show at the Judson House during Waterford Days. The details will have to be worked out.

A motion to adjourn was made by Zona and seconded by Jack.

Respectfully submitted,


Rita Russell, Secretary