Projects, big and small, help to revitalize Export
When Export lost its post office in 2008, more than 200 people packed a public meeting to appeal for its return, which never happened.
It was largely seen as a bad sign for the small Westmoreland County borough, which was once home to Thomas Mellon, father of industrial giant and bank founder Andrew Mellon, and was the site of America’s first coal exports, which is how the town got its name.
And while a recent council presentation regarding a new, vintage-style sign for the Export Volunteer Fire Department might not seem like a big deal, it’s the latest in a line of projects that has seen the borough slowly revitalize itself.
The Export Historical Society will fund a new sign for the department, modeled on its original signage.
“I think that’ll look really nice on the building, and it’s a tribute to more than 100 years of firefighting history,” said society member and Councilwoman Melanie Litz. “It’s not an exact copy, but it’s a throwback to that.”
There are similar examples throughout the borough, like a grant-funded informational sign about the Westmoreland Coal Co.’s fan house, which stands near the district court office. The nearby hillside was also found to be hiding several former mine entrances.
That hillside was cleared of brush as part of an Eagle Scout project headed by Troy Florian of Murrysville. Eagle projects are another way that both Export and neighboring Murrysville and Delmont help beautify their towns.
From flower planters to the mine clearing to a recently proposed project to build bike racks, prospective Eagle Scouts and their work crews have played a significant role in revitalizing Export.
The bike rack project leads to another component of the borough’s revitalization: its inclusion along the Westmoreland Heritage Trail, which runs through the center of town — right past an old Turtle Creek Valley Railroad caboose that was fully refurbished and restored in 2016 by the Export Historical Society.
‘Bettering where we live’
“We’re bettering where we live,” said Councilman John Nagoda. “If people don’t take part in their community and make it more attractive and update it, and focus on the historical aspects of what happened there, you die.”
Nagoda credited the long hours put in by volunteers from organizations such as the historical society, and from residents.
“Because of our efforts, and especially because of the efforts of volunteers who go out and try to procure these grants and do Eagle projects, we have all of these things,” Nagoda said.
The borough has secured upwards of $20,000 in donations to help move its granite veterans’ memorial from the former American Legion post closer to downtown, where it is also planning to erect a scaled-down replica of its former train station.
Both projects involve collaboration between the borough, the historical society and the Junior Hall Trust.
“It makes it a lot easier to have that cooperation between the two entities,” Litz said. “We both have the same goal: to make our town as attractive as possible for both residents and people who come to visit.”
Those visitors have increased exponentially with the arrival of the Heritage Trail in 2019.
“It’s huge,” said Councilman Joe Ferri, who also has owned Joey’s the Edge on Washington Avenue for 22 years. “You can’t underestimate the value of things like the trail. People are investing money here in town who might not have done that in the past.”
Ripple effect
Ferri traced the roots of Export’s revitalization back to the completion of its flood control project, which helped put a stop to nearly a dozen damaging floods that had ravaged the borough since the early 1900s.
Ferri said the project, completed in 2012, helped give confidence to potential business owners and residents.
“You don’t want to put a building in an area that’s vulnerable like that,” Ferri said.
That was a multi-million-dollar project. But they come in all sizes.
Resident Elizabeth Lodovico filled three planters at the Export playground with 31 varieties of herbs, flowers and vegetables this spring, creating a simple community garden for use by anyone in the borough.
“I really don’t think there is one biggest part (to the revitalization),” Lodovico said. “I think it’s businesses improving their properties and people becoming familiar with Export due to the (annual summer) festival and the trail.”
Where once, the loss of the post office was seen as a massive blow, Ferri said he needs only to look at what’s there now.
“The post office was in that building for 50 years,” he said. “They never improved it once. Now it’s gone, but there’s a beautiful new building in its place, right next to Durabond’s new building.”
Litz said the steady improvements over the years all add up.
“It has a ripple effect,” she said. “It increases traffic to businesses, it increases property values — it’s good for the whole borough.”
Patrick Varine is a TribLive reporter covering Delmont, Export and Murrysville. He is a Western Pennsylvania native and joined the Trib in 2010 after working as a reporter and editor with the former Dover Post Co. in Delaware. He can be reached at pvarine@triblive.com.
Remove the ads from your TribLIVE reading experience but still support the journalists who create the content with TribLIVE Ad-Free.