Street sign sale benefits Whitehall Historical Society

Whitehall Borough’s street signs may have been replaced, but the old signs are not gone for good.

The Whitehall Historical Society started auctioning off more than 700 of the 40-year-old street signs with bids starting at $25 on June 1 as a way to not create waste and give back to the community. The old street signs were no longer up to visibility code because they were not reflective enough to see clearly at night.

New street signs have since been put up.

“The idea for the auction actually came from city council, who have been so supportive of the society,” said John Wotus, Whitehall Historical Society president. “And the original idea was to have buyers be given the signs at our community day in August, but people want them now, so we meet buyers at the library. The signs are pretty heavy, and a lot are still in great condition, so they are going to last.”

Wotus said the society has sold more than 80 signs for $75 each.

“We didn’t expect to get the bids we did,” Wotus said. “Our goal is not really to raise money, as this is only our second fundraiser. We hope to have over 100 historical society members by the end of the year.”

The Whitehall Historical Society was formed only last July and currently has 64 members and 34 trustees.

“We have a lot coming up for the group that we are excited about,” Wotus said. “Whitehall Community Day in August where we will be selling calendars again, a community talk in July, a member meeting in October. We are excited to keep growing, and the sale has been overall a really great success so far.”

Paula Kelly, director of the Whitehall Public Library, bought a sign of the street she grew up on and helped the historical society set up the online auction.

“I moved to Cherryvale Drive when I was in third grade, and I lived there until after I graduated from college,” Kelly said. “My parents were able to stay there until they passed, so lots of great memories of them with my kids as well. The sign represents generations of great memories.”

Kelly has already hung up her sign in her upstairs hallway, which has several other artifacts as well. She hopes to see more history-related events in the community come out of the auction sales.

“As a librarian, I work closely with the historical society, so I can tell you first-hand that they hope to raise money to provide history-related programs for the community, as well as purchase storage and other archival resources to appropriately preserve the borough’s historic documents and photos,” Kelly said.

Kelly is also a fan of the newly installed street signs.

“The new signs look great; they are larger and reflect light better at night,” she said.

The historical society currently has three types of memberships available. An individual membership is $10. A household membership is $20, and it costs $50 for a business or organization to become members. Wotus said memberships are the primary source of funding currently for the society. Membership applications can be made out by check and sent to John Wotus, P.O. Box 10911, Pittsburgh, PA 15236.

The Whitehall Historical Society will be auctioning off the old signs until July 31. Interested buyers can place a bid or make a donation on the society’s selling page. Any questions or other donations to the historical society should be directed to whitehallhistory100@gmail.com.