‘Unique partnership’ brings Centre, Clearfield together to open Moshannon Valley Heritage Center
Centre and Clearfield counties celebrated the opening of a new visitors center Friday, which will highlight both areas in a single location.
The Moshannon Valley Heritage Center, located at 22 N. Front Street, Philipsburg, will serve as not only a launching pad for “finding adventure” in Centre and Clearfield counties, but also a learning destination, a press release from Happy Valley Adventure Bureau said.
During a ribbon cutting on Friday, elected officials from both counties joined together for the opening, including the Centre and Clearfield county commissioners, U.S. Rep. Glenn “GT” Thompson, R-Howard, Representative-elect for Pennsylvania House District 73 Dallas Kephart, Philipsburg Mayor John Streno, and representatives for Senator Bob Casey, state Rep. Scott Conklin and state Sen. Wayne Langerholc.
Centre County Commissioner Mark Higgins, who is also a Happy Valley Adventure Bureau board member, said the Philipsburg borough has been working hard to revitalize the area and the commissioners have hoped to see a visitor center in Philipsburg for quite some time. Now, in conjunction with Visit Clearfield County, there is one.
This is a “unique partnership” because they’re combining the power of two organizations rather than competing with each other, Fritz Smith, CEO of Happy Valley Adventure Bureau, said. To their knowledge, this is the only visitors center of its type in Pennsylvania, Sue Swales-Vitullo, executive director of Visit Clearfield County, said.
“We think there’s more power in getting people to hear a message that there’s a lot to do in both destinations or that they should extend their stay and come back for future visits,” Smith said.
Swales-Vitullo said the purpose of the center is to bring visitors in and give them “a little taste” of what the area has to offer and learn about the history. She hopes it might encourage people to even visit other local historical societies.
The heritage destination has been in the works for years, Ed Stoddard, communications director of Happy Valley Adventure Bureau, said. The idea is that people will go there for anything they’d traditionally get from a visitors center, like directions or information on the area, but also learn about the heritage of the area, like the rich timber and coal heritage.
“America was built on that wonderful heritage that we’re celebrating here at the Moshannon Valley Heritage Center,” Stoddard said.
To show off the heritage and history, there will also be exhibits and displays for people to learn from. Teresa Mull, president of the Philipsburg Historical Foundation, said there are several things in store for displays, including Philipsburg’s founding story.
“I envision an exhibit on the very beginnings of Philipsburg. We have a really exciting, kind of dramatic, fun, romantic, interesting founding story that involves a duel and some fake news that kind of tricked the settlers into coming here. So I’d love to have a display about how it all started,” Mull said.
Stoddard hopes to also have a timeline of the Moshannon Valley history and history of the building the center is in. Additionally, he’s thought about working with the Moshannon Valley Economic Development Partnership to do a “Philipsburg Now” display to show off the town’s growth and the companies currently there.
Philipsburg is growing slowly but nicely, Streno said, and every year it looks a little better between houses being redone and businesses being filled.
“All these things start slow and I just tell people don’t give up on it, because even if you only attract another 10, 20 people a week, that’s that many more people that are getting to view the town,” Streno said. “And right now it looks great. So, you know, it’s an old town, we got old houses, we got old buildings, and old people. If you like old, this is a great place to come. But appreciate what’s gone into it and those that have gone before you and donated their lives to the community.”
The Moshannon Valley Heritage Center is open Thursday-Sunday, with more hours to be added in the future, a release states.
