Apollo Area Historical Society

Apollo will have a Summer Sizzle from 8 am-2 pm on Friday, June 7 and Saturday, June 8 with food trucks, yard sales, and many activities around town. The Apollo Area Historical Society will have a Bake Sale on Saturday, June 8 from 8-2 at the WCTU Building/Museum. If you are able to bring baked goods and/or volunteer for an hour or two at the bake table, that would be wonderful! If you are in town, plan to stop by and pick up some yummy goodies.

Please call 724-478-2899 for more information about the AAHS Bake Sale.

Nellie Bly’s Birthday Celebration Saturday, May 4, 2024 6:30-8:00 p.m. at the WCTU Building.

Brooke Kroeger is a journalist, professor emerita at NYU, and the author of six books, the latest of which is Undaunted: How Women Changed American Journalism, published by A.A. Knopf in May 2023. It explores how women have fared in American journalism’s most competitive and highly valued bastions, the ones men have dominated in the 180 years since mass media began. One of her earlier books is Nellie Bly: Daredevil, Reporter, Feminist (1994, an NPR Best Books of the Year), the definitive Nellie Bly biography. Brooke will explore the role of women in journalism, with special emphasis on Nellie Bly.
The presentation will be followed by a question/answer period. Birthday cake will conclude the program! Admission is $5 with children 12 and under free. Parking is available at the Apollo Bank lot across the street from the WCTU Building. If there is an overflow crowd, we will move to the Lutheran Church just a short walk from the WCTU Building.

The AAHS is hoping for donations the week of Monday, May 6 through Friday, May 10. Any monies received during this week will have Bonus Funds added. We’re asking our members and friends to help us raise funds for our various activities and events as well as our ongoing expenses of the Drake Log Cabin & WCTU Building upkeep and utilities cost through the year. This is new for us this year so we are hoping for a great response! Thank you.

Remember, your check must be given on May 6 through May 10 to receive Bonus credit. The options to give contributions are:

1. Write a check payable to the Apollo Area Historical Society (AAHS)
2. Mail it to AAHS, PO Box 434, Apollo, PA 15613 OR Mail it to Week of Giving, PO Box 895, Kittanning, PA 16201
3. Also, you may drop off at the following locations:
   Armstrong County Community Foundation office 220 S. Jefferson St. Suite B, Kittanning, PA Monday – Friday (place in mail slot if office is closed)
   NexTier Bank, 222 Market Street, Kittanning, PA
   Thursday, 9:00 am – 4:00 pm
4. Make an Online Donation (minimum $20): Donations must be RECEIVED from May 6 through May 10. The Community Foundation has set-up an online option for all of the participating nonprofit organizations (only available during the Week of Giving) Use this link to find out how to give online. https://l.messenger.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fservingtheheart.org%2Fnews-events%2Fweek-of-giving.html&h=AT2acV0F4_CPcw0xo1A2gim3X-xLyOOk520e3dXbAdVoF-nnKfAXrlPE6sxTIsHT5HO1Yfz-UdTwIuQbxLGm-7NDsPecee116YdM8jS8pugWIlopiZhbVuYcMW2coz_vzVNfSw
   
   

We thought you would enjoy this youtube video that Rory did for college. We wish she would have referred to the celebration as the “Moon Landing Festival”, but otherwise it’s nicely done! Thanks Rory!

Saturday, March 16, 2024 “St. Patrick’s Day 1936 Flood Walk Join us as we walk through town, stopping at various places to see where the flood waters reached. There will be photos and stories throughout the tour. Back at the museum, a flood video will be playing and displays set up featuring this horrific event and how it affected Apollo and surrounding areas. Early registration cost is $5 and at the door $10. Children 12 and under are free.

Nellie Bly’s Birthday is Sunday, May 5. We are planning a birthday celebration for either Saturday or Sunday. It will be a blast so keep watching for more information!

Saturday, June 15 “History Alive” Our second annual “History Alive” fundraiser will feature more amazing people from Apollo. We will serve pizza during the program with dessert following. Tickets will be available in early May. Mark your calendars now!

Saturday, August 10 “Civil War Day at the Drake Log Cabin“ There will be reenactors, speakers, demonstrations, and food. Tickets will be available later this summer with more information.

Saturday, December 7 “Christmas Celebration” We would love to have a town-wide celebration so if your organization would like to join with us, please let us know. More information coming!

Be sure to check our Programs and Events page for updates. Hope to see you there.

Our AAHS December meeting was again held at the General Samuel M. Jackson Mansion on Terrace Avenue in Apollo. Thanks so much to Rob Jackson for letting us visit and to Bill Kerr for hosting us. As the saying goes, “A picture is worth a thousand words” so here are the photos from the evening taken by Bill Kerr.

This year we decided to celebrate Christmas at the WCTU Building/Museum. From 11 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. we were open to the public to view our vintage Christmas trees, antique ornaments, postcards, and decorations from Apollo’s past. A big Thank You goes to Alan Morgan & Denise Flickinger and the others who helped get the displays together. A special mention goes to the Train Display belonging to the Morgan family of Apollo. The train was first displayed in 1970 in their home with Dale Morgan setting it up. Through the years, his son Alan began helping until he was doing it himself. Then the whole display was packed away for over 30 years until Alan unboxed it & brought it to the museum. After many hours of work, he had it up and running much to our delight! The children who visited LOVED it (so did the adults!).

We had cookies and hot beverages to enjoy throughout the day. The Kiski Valley Community Band Flute Ensemble entertained us for a while, followed by The Orchard carolers. Jenny Hellein sang carols throughout the morning in the museum as well as downtown, while Becky Kane, dressed as a Victorian Christmas caroler, invited people from the plaza to our Celebration.

Santa and Mrs. Claus stopped by the museum to the delight of the children visiting. Thank you to them for joining us! It was a great day and we had a nice amount of visitors, many of whom had never seen the museum before. The displays and train will remain up until Sat. December 16 which is our last day to be open until spring. Be sure to stop by!

Thanks to Denise Flickinger and Dolly McCoy for the above pictures and Bill Miller for the following photos.

A great time was had by all at our Civil War encampment on Sunday, August 13, 2023. The encampment was set up by members of the 40th Regiment PA Volunteer Infantry Reserves Company C. Three presentations were made; first by Jonathan Richardson detailing the life of General Samuel Jackson and second by Cindy McShane who talked about the women during the Civil War & specifically Mary Walker, the first female U.S. Army surgeon of the U.S. Army of the Civil War. Finally Don and Becky Becker presented the accoutrements of the soldier in the field and his wife at home. Great presentations and the audience learned a lot. Following are pictures taken by Jonathan Richardson and Denise Flickinger. The first set is Jonathan Richardson’s presentation.

On Saturday, July 29, 2023, a group of AAHS members were given a behind the scenes look at the Rebecca Hadden Stone House Museum and the Old Saltsburg Mill. Jack Maguire, along with Chuck Colton, provided the tour to Denise Flickinger, Alan Morgan, Sherry Miller, Sue Casella, Bonnie Kautz, and Bob & Becky Kane. Sue Casella & Denise Flickinger took the following photos.

Following the tour, the group had lunch at the Point Street Tavern. A good time was had by all.

The kids from Grandma’s House have visited the WCTU Building/Museum twice this summer along with their trips to the Drake Log Cabin. We are thrilled to have them take an interest in Apollo’s history. The most exciting fact for them was that Apollo,PA is spelled the same forward & backwards! (palindrome!!) Thanks to Wendy Minik & Sue Ott for hosting their visits!

If your group is interested in a personal tour, please contact us at 724-478-2899 or email apollopahistory@gmail.com. Thanks!