HELLERTOWN, Pa. — Hellertown Historical Society has gotten $10,000 to continue a local grist mill's path toward grabbing the national spotlight and a place among other notable landmarks.
State Sen. Lisa Boscola, D-Northampton/Lehigh, announced recently that the money would help supporters of Heller-Wagner Grist Mill in the application process for the structure’s potential spot in the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places.
Further application measures are planned to start in September.
“Thanks to [Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission] and the Keystone Grant program, we can now cover half of the $20,000 estimated cost for a documented application to the National Park Service,” Hellertown Historical Society President Larry Sutton said.
“We will ask our supporters to assist on the remaining $10,000 cost.”
'Identify, preserve, promote and protect' history
PHMC awards the Keystone planning grants, which “support projects that identify, preserve, promote and protect historical and archaeological resources in Pennsylvania for both the benefit of the public and the revitalization of communities.”
“The Heller-Wagner Grist Mill is a ‘diamond-in-the-rough,’ in which the Hellertown Historical Society is on the cusp of putting on the map as a tourist site that will benefit not only the Borough of Hellertown and its business community, but the citizens and businesses throughout the Lehigh Valley and beyond,” Boscola said in a news release.
“The Heller-Wagner Grist Mill is a ‘diamond-in-the-rough,’ in which the Hellertown Historical Society is on the cusp of putting on the map as a tourist site that will benefit not only the Borough of Hellertown and its business community, but the citizens and businesses throughout the Lehigh Valley and beyond."State Sen. Lisa Boscola, D-Northampton/Lehigh
Such funding also can benefit municipal planning measures involving historical resources, or even community planning goals, the release reads.
Part of the state’s realty transfer tax revenue helps support the grants, with them ultimately coming through the Keystone Recreations, Park & Conservation Fund.
The borough’s historical society touts the Heller-Wagner Grist Mill, along West Walnut Street, as among the oldest landmarks in town.
The mill operated into the 1950s, and the borough acquired ownership of the structure in 1965, according to the historical society’s website.
