Murrysville history group excited to show off refurbished carriage, replica chuck wagon

When the Murrysville Historical Preservation Society is back to hosting regular public events, its members will have two new pieces of local history to show off.

The society recently acquired both a replica covered wagon and the original carriage used by Dr. George Orbin Hall, a Murrysville-area physician in the early to mid-1900s.

“This is what he would have used to go out and answer calls,” said Carl Patty, society president. “He bought it in 1900 and used it until probably about 1943.”

The all-metal carriage has a functioning foot-brake system, with a fresh coat of black paint and new red upholstery on its front and rear seats, courtesy of a father-and-son team from the Smicksburg area.

“They re-did it, put a new shafts on and widened them out,” Patty said. “It runs pretty well.”

As for the wagon, the society bought it for $5,000 from a local family.

“It’s a chuck wagon,” Patty said. Covered wagons were able to be set up as field kitchens for the storage and transportation of food and cooking equipment in country’s early days. “This was built later on, but it’s put together as it would have been back then, 150 or 200 years ago.”

Both vehicles will be on display at future society events, Patty said.