VENANGO CO., Pa. (EYT) — May is recognized as Preservation Month in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. To celebrate this, nominations for Oil Heritage Region Historic Preservation Awards are now being accepted.
(Pictured above: 2017 Oil Heritage Region Historic Preservation Award winner, the Tarbell house)
The Oil Heritage Region Historic Preservation Awards program recognizes rehabilitation and restoration efforts undertaken during the past five years involving buildings or other structures that are at least 50 years old. Any structure in the Oil Heritage Region is eligible to receive an award. This area includes all of Venango County, the Borough of Hydetown, the City of Titusville, and Oil Creek Township in Crawford County.
Anyone may submit a nomination for a preservation award.
Eligible structures include commercial, residential, industrial, public, religious, or other properties. Interior work in public buildings and/or exterior work are eligible. Once an individual or project has received a Historic Preservation Award, it is not eligible to receive another award for a period of five years.
Nominations must be submitted by March 31 to Toni Kresinski, Project Manager, at the Oil Region Alliance of Business, Industry & Tourism.
Mrs. Kresinski recommends that “Before & After” photographs be submitted with each nomination. The judges use the photographs to determine who will win an award. The photos will also be used for a PowerPoint program and in a Program Booklet that will be distributed at the Awards Ceremony. Up to ten photographs of the nominated project may be submitted. They should be sent electronically to tkresinski@oilregion.org with “Historic Preservation Awards” in the subject line.
More than 145 awards have been given since the Oil Heritage Region Historic Preservation Awards Program was started in 1997. Last year’s winners included Henderson Electric in Titusville, Oil Valley Real Estate Partnership in Titusville — for the Spring Street Professional Building, Titusville YWCA — for the Hyde House, PennDOT District 1-0 for the Center Street Bridge, Historic Franklin Preservation Association — for the Civil War Monument, and the Oil Region Alliance – for the Tarbell House.
Co-sponsors of the Historic Preservation Awards are the Crawford County Historical Society, Friends of Drake Well, Inc., Oil City Heritage Society, Oil Region Alliance of Business, Industry & Tourism, Titusville Historical Society, Titusville Renaissance, Inc., the Venango County Historical Society, and the Venango Museum of Art, Science & Industry.
Nomination forms are available at the Oil Region Alliance office located at 217 Elm Street in Oil City, from any of the sponsors and at libraries in the Oil Heritage Region.
For more information about the Oil Heritage Region Historic Preservation Awards, please contact Toni Kresinski, Project Manager, at 814-677-3152, Extension 110 or tkresinski@oilregion.org.