In the News

Beaver Heritage Museum Draws 20,000th Guest
Museum Attracts Visitors from All 50 States and 20 Countries

As Beaver’s Reputation As a Destination Grows

BEAVER, PA – May 21, 2009 – During a recent tour of the award-winning Beaver Area Heritage Museum, sales team recruits from Vanport’s c3controls were surprised to learn that one of their ranks had just become the museum’s 20,000th visitor.

Since the exact 20,000th guest could not be precisely identified from among them, the c3controls group collectively has been recognized by museum officials as achieving this milestone goal. Of the 16 candidates on the career fair tour, seven have been hired as sales representatives and will report to work on June 1, 2009.

Organized by c3control’s Trudi Gradwell and Bill Connelly, the tour not only included the museum but also Beaver’s historic neighborhoods using the Heritage Museum’s CD audio guide. One candidate commented that she “did not realize that a gem like Beaver still existed in Western Pennsylvania.”

Officials from the museum and c3controls celebrate the milestone 20,000th visitor, left to right: Bob Mitchell, Trudy Gladwell, Carolyn Taylor Renninger, Ed McLaughlin, Geoff Taylor and Chuck Snitger

c3controls president Geoff Taylor said that the museum provides him with “insight into the cultural and historical significance that our one-of-a-kind town has had locally and nationally. Part of our success in recruiting candidates is to show them how wonderful a place Beaver is -- the proud heritage, roots, and values of the people who founded and now work at c3controls.”

History enthusiasts from all 50 states and 20 foreign countries – including Australia, New Zealand, Venezuela and South Africa – have toured the museum during its first decade of existence. While some come while visiting local loved ones, others have sought out the museum and its restored 1802 log house because of their far-reaching reputations. The museum has been featured in People Magazine, the Philadelphia Inquirer and on Texas television news and in numerous Western Pennsylvania publications and broadcasts.

Regardless of how far visitors have traveled, the comments they leave behind echo similar refrains: They are impressed with the presentation of local history and with the town of Beaver itself – its clean streets and neighborhoods, business district, parks, and courthouse.

Noteworthy visitors have included President George W. Bush, Capt. Meriwether Lewis (re-enactor from the 2003 national Lewis & Clark Expedition), Survivor All Star million dollar winner Amber Brkich, Heinz History Center CEO Andy Masich, Michael Baker Corporation chairman Richard Shaw and CEO Brad Mallory, Matthew Stanley Quay biographer James Kehl, Pittsburgh Magazine publisher Betsy Benson, and many, many others.

The Heritage Museum, a project of the Beaver Area Heritage Foundation, opened in 1998 in a 90-year-old renovated freight station. Within a year, it was named the nation’s “Best Local History Museum” by the prestigious American Association for State and Local History. Other awards have been bestowed by the Pennsylvania Federation of Museums and the Historical Foundation of Pennsylvania. In 2006, the Heritage Foundation received an innovative donation of $365,000 as proceeds from the sale of a prominent Beaver-area property donated by a museum-supporter.

Founded in 1976 by Taylor’s parents Glenn Taylor and Carol Taylor Renninger, c3controls has been and remains dedicated to serving the Heritage Museum and community at large to help make the world a better place. Its support of the museum is just one example of its family and corporate commitment “to help organizations succeed who are doing tremendous good,” Taylor says.

Heritage Foundation president Ed McLaughlin, president of Bovard-Anderson Real Estate, meets home-seekers from far and wide on a daily basis. He says that “having a first class local history museum adds to the overall sense of community and dedication of its residents — it is just one of the many physical qualities of the town and is part of the glue that binds us together as citizens.”

For more information, visit www.beaverheritage.org.