Harmony Museum aims to keep surviving pieces of colony intact
HARMONY — “We need pane relief,” joked Rodney Gasch.
That’s what he and other leaders of the Harmony Museum would like everyone to know.
The appeal refers to window panes — panes whose two centuries of existence are etched into their casements like cracked porcelain.
Their original engineers, Lutheran separatists who tried forging a utopian community in Butler County, had committed to celibacy for life, so all died out by 1905. This makes the buildings they left behind among the only surviving relics of their lives.
Historic Harmony will soon raise money for a matching grant by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission in 2023.
Gasch could only provide a tentative estimate, noting that the neighboring Wagner Haus required repairs of $145,000 from the same grant program.
Historic Harmony was able to raise half that amount — $72,500 — and has since honored the 21 donors who contributed that amount with a plaque in the museum.
“We have tours of the museum six days a week, and we attract people from all over the world,” Gasch said. “And people come to Harmony to learn about the original communal society ... learn about their accomplishments, see this amazing architecture that is preserved. So these buildings are definitely important to preserve.”
“And they’re a crucial part of economic development for the area, because heritage tourism is big business,” he added.
Gasch pointed out that the Harmony Museum is right on the Interstate.
The nonprofit Historic Harmony received a similar grant to replace the original windows of the Wagner Haus, a neighboring building that was constructed by two sisters from the founding Harmony Society.
“It’s made a huge difference,” said Jo Annette Cynkar, who manages the Wagner Haus gift shop and has worked there for 15 years. “I mean, we had windows that were falling out, for Heaven’s sake. We had a board over one of them upstairs, because it was so bad.”
She said it’s really the frames that need replacing, because these decay. But once restoration crews remove original frames, they have to remove the glass with it. Then the building’s owners import new glass from sources like Allegheny Glass Block and Masonry Restoration.
The goal is for the new windows to resemble the unique form of the originals.
“All the glass that we put in here is old glass, and it’s wavy, so you could tell it’s the old way of making the glass, of melting it,” said Cynkar. “It’s not perfect.”
The work of asking for money through newsletters, business partnerships and other outreach efforts will take time, said Cynkar.
Cynkar added that asking is always a humbling experience, but it’s worth it because she’s asking on behalf of people who will enjoy the structures years from now.
Harmony’s history describes a heritage of people carrying the fire for their neighbors, often in non-traditional ways.
“One of the unique characteristics about this society was they adopted a lot of orphans and took a lot of widows with her children in,” said Katina Koontz, who serves as museum administrator. “And that’s how they were able to sustain themselves.”
And so, the historic borough’s future relies on the kindness of strangers still.
