Longtime resident of Birmingham Borough, Samuel W. Winters, Jr., is scheduled to speak at the Tyrone History Museum on Wednesday, March 31, beginning at 1:30 p.m.
The program titled, “Birmingham Borough: Old Town 1797–2004” is free and open to the public.
Winters is scheduled to speak on the history of Birmingham before 1800 until the present time.
He will also display some pictures of the borough to supplement his presentation.
He is a fourth-generation resident of Birmingham.
In the late 1800s, his grandfather, along with his grandfather’s mother, who was the widow of a Confederate soldier, moved there from the Shenandoah Valley.
Winters has also served as Birmingham’s street commissioner for the past 35 years.
Some topics of his presentation will include historical facts of the beginnings of Birmingham.
For example, Winters will discuss how John Cadwallader of Philadelphia laid out 300 acres of land for a manufacturing town in 1797 that later was to become the Borough of Birmingham.
Winters will also discuss the paper mill that existed before 1800 and the other mills that came later: a linseed oil factory, a plaster mill, and cotton and woolen mills.
He will talk about the real beginning of Birmingham when the village became incorporated as a borough in 1828.
Other topics of his presentation include: Birmingham as the most active point for business in the valley and that Birmingham was once considered for the capital of Pennsylvania.
“There’s a lot of historical significance to this borough,’ said Winters of why he enjoys researching the history of Birmingham. “It’s not a personal gain of why I do this. There’s a lot written about Birmingham, but not under one (book) cover, so you have to research it all to bring it together.”
He said he began his extensive research on the borough in 1993 after he retired. He found books of information in the Huntingdon County Library, Huntingdon County Historical Society and Juniata College. He said he is also a member of both the Huntingdon County and Tyrone Area Historical Societies.
