Foundation gets grant to restore historic lodge
ROSE VALLEY >> At the end of “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” when Major Eaton claims the government has “top men working on it” as the Ark of the Covenant is rolled into storage, Indiana Jones grumbles, “They don’t know what they’ve got there.”
The Rose Valley Centennial Foundation has always known what it had in Thunderbird Lodge.
The foundation, which is seeking to raise $1 million to restore the structure, built in 1904 by Arts and Crafts community founder William Price, has been awarded a $99,788 grant from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission Keystone Historical Preservation Grant program. Refurbishing the building is the foundation’s signature project and the 50/50 matching grant, presented during a recent ceremony at the site, will be used to replace portions of the roof, exterior masonry and stucco.
“Grants usually take months to prepare and are never accepted the first time,” said foundation President Tim Plummer. “Ours was finished in seven days, submitted in the last 15 seconds and accepted on the first try.”
A converted 1790s stone barn, Thunderbird Lodge was designed as studios for worldrenowned illustrator Alice Barber Stephens and her husband, Charles, an early Native American ethnologist. A fieldstone and stucco appendage was added as their home. Following their deaths, the two-acre property became the residence of well-known social activists Judge Allen and Mildred Scott Olmsted.
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, Thunderbird Lodge is the centerpiece of the borough’s National Historic District of more than 100 separate structures. In 2015, the Olmsted family trust gifted the building to the foundation, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization which will maintain it in perpetuity as a historic landmark.
The foundation subsequently partnered with the Rose Valley Museum and Historical Society to create the Rose Valley Museum at Thunderbird Lodge, displaying a collection of early local art and artifacts such as furniture, paintings, tools and books. It will serve as a center for educational programming for all ages and a connector for the borough-wide trail network of historic architecture and natural beauty.
“Thunderbird Lodge is one of the most important Arts and Crafts buildings in America,” said museum curator Ryan Berley. “Will Price designed the perfect workspace that follows the sun and a home that blends into the landscape.”
The foundation has identified nearly 70 projects, from matching the color exactly to paint the exterior wood to selecting interior floor planks that retain the proper humidity in a museum setting. Work must be completed within Department of the Interior standards and artisans and craftsmen have been specifically selected to complete each facet.
To date, the foundation has received nearly $500,000 in contributions and pledges.
State Rep. Leanne Krueger, D-161 of Nether Providence, assisted in facilitating the grant.
“I am so pleased to see it was approved so that we can truly realize the potential of Thunderbird Lodge,” she said. “Ryan took me on a tour a few years ago and my son and I joined that day.”
The museum will be open July 20-21 and Sept. 21-22, the latter in conjunction with Delco Arts Week. The inaugural event will present more than 50 music, dance, film, open houses/tours, workshops and children’s activities at 25 venues throughout the county. The museum will feature tours and exhibits.
“Many people did not even know Thunderbird Lodge existed before we took down the trees and fence along the street several years ago,” said Plummer. “Now, it will be the focal point of Rose Valley.”
For more information, visit www.rosevalley100. org and www.rosevalleymuseum.org.