Whitehall Borough Historical Society formed

A group of Whitehall residents have joined together to preserve the history of the borough.

The Whitehall Borough Historical Society was formed in June.

Establishing the new nonprofit organization was the result of a handful of folks’ hard work throughout the past two years. Formal paperwork was submitted to the state earlier this year.

“It’s really a team effort,” said vice president David Thomas, who has lived in the borough for 18 years and in the South Hills area for 40 years. “It’s great to be a part of a community-wide effort that’s initiated and expected to grow.

“I think we’ve come very far in the last six months to get to this point. There’s history all about us, which is very important. This highlights the history of our borough so that it has context within the history of the region, the state and the nation.”

Thomas, former councilman John Wotus and Whitehall Public Library librarian Paula Kelly are the society’s founders. It also received support from Mayor Jim Nowalk, who was named a trustee.

Wotus is society president, Sr.Janet Gardner is its secretary and Gene Smith is treasurer. They have about a dozen members.

“The society was created to preserve and promote the vibrant history of Whitehall Borough, while fostering the knowledge and appreciation of that history among its members and the general public,” Wotus said. “Plus, there was not a historical society in the borough (before). We wanted to ensure that the pictures and records and mementos were saved and preserved so that our history did not vanish.”

Wotus said its goals include frequently engaging the community, having discussions about Whitehall history, updating a historical book by the late Mayor Edwin Francis Brennan and getting more people involved in historic preservation.

“We hope to establish an extremely active historical society,” Wotus said. “Providing exhibits, publications, speaker programs, publications and at some point a building of our own to constantly promote the history and collect important items of Whitehall history to document and educate and save the history of the borough. I believe we want a historical society that will continue for many more years.”

The society meets the fourth Thursday of the month at 7 p.m. at the borough building, 100 Borough Park Drive.

The group has a variety of documents and photos from various churches. The South Hills Country Club donated its 100^th anniversary book.

They also have documents about the borough succeeding from Baldwin Township, along with records of council meetings and letterman jackets and other memorabilia from the school district.

Whitehall separated from Baldwin Township in 1948 after more than 1,300 residents in its fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh wards filed a petition in the Court of Quarterly Sessions of Allegheny County.

It is about 3.3 square miles and has a little less than 15,000 people, according to the 2021 Census estimates.

Anyone wishing to donate materials to the society can do so by dropping the items off at the borough building during normal business hours.

The group plans to sell a calendar full of historic pictures at Whitehall’s Community Day, Aug. 13 around 10 a.m. in Snyder Park.

People can call 412-884-0505 or email Whitehallhistory100@gmail.com for more information. The society also has a Facebook page.