Jumonville cross to mark 75 years, funds sought for restoration

At 60 feet tall and 75 years old, Jumonville’s Great Cross of Christ is starting to show its age.

As the Jumonville Camp and Retreat Center welcomes visitors to the North Union site for the landmark’s anniversary celebration today, leaders also are seeking donations to help restore and preserve the cross.

Created with metal plates from U.S. Steel and contributions from area Methodists — including a Latrobe business leader — the circa 1950 spiritual structure on Chestnut Ridge is showing the effects of time and weather, including the smoke from distant wildfires.

“The cross is still in reasonably good shape, but every now and then it needs to be repainted,” said Heather Withrow, president of the organization that runs the nondenominational camp and retreat center. “With the smoke we’ve had in recent years, it needs to be sandblasted down to the original steel, repainted and sealed.

“We’ve had several summers where the air quality has been an issue.”

The organization has set a fundraising goal of $150,000 — half to cover the costs of the immediate restoration and the other half to provide for future maintenance.

The project includes upgrading the cross’s nighttime illumination with more efficient LED lights.

About two decades after the cross was placed on the hilltop, eight floodlights were installed to enhance its visibility when night falls, according to Withrow.

It was a response to a requirement from the Federal Aviation Administration, she said. The alternative would have been placing blinking red lights atop the cross.

The steel Great Cross was preceded by a wooden version. Plans for the metal cross were delayed until after World War II because of a shortage of steel for nonwar efforts.

The cross project committee was chaired in 1948 by Louis C. Steiner, a member of Latrobe United Methodist Church and founder of Latrobe Foundry Machine & Supply Co. Steiner is credited with making a contribution to help offset the $24,000 cost of the cross.

Members of many Methodist congregations collected about $9,000 in coins to help support the cross — their names preserved in the structure’s 6-foot-tall concrete base. According to Ted Steiner, Louis Steiner’s grandson, that money was set aside for maintenance.

Ted Steiner notes U.S. Steel rolled steel plates for the cross, Moore Metal Works in Greensburg fabricated its three sections, and Dils Construction Co. of Uniontown welded them together at the site.

The Great Cross has inspired generations of visitors, and Withrow wants to ensure that will continue for generations to come.

“Over the years, hundreds of thousands of people have worshipped there, have gotten married there or first started their faith journey there,” she said. “It’s a beacon of hope for the whole Laurel Highlands.”