Greene County Historical Society and Museum
Introduction
Text-to-speech Audio
The Greene County Historical Society is located in the historic Greene County Home which housed the county’s poor, infirm, and elderly residents between 1861 and 1969. The original section of the building was built as a home for the Rhinehart family in 1857 and the building was then expanded in 1861, 1886, and 1890 to accommodate inmates of the County Home. The Greene County Historical Society was incorporated in 1925 and moved into this building in the 1970s.
Images
Greene County Historical Society
Greene County Historical Society
Greene County Historical Society
The original section of the museum was the 1857 home of the Rinehart family.
Part of the 1857 Rinehart house.
Part of the 1857 Rinehart house.
Part of the 1857 Rinehart house.
Main hall of the museum building, historically part of the 1861 addition to the County Home
The second floor of the West Wing, set up as representative inmate rooms from different time periods of the County Home's history.
An inmate dormitory room in the West Wing.
The basement of the West Wing. The inmate rooms in this section were not as nice as the rooms in the two floors above.
One of the basement inmate rooms.
An in-tact local general store reconstructed within the historic kitchen addition of the museum building.
The collection of former governor Edward Martin on display at the Greene County Historical Society.
Exhibit areas on the building's second floor.
The clock from the Greene County courthouse occupies rooms on both floors of the museum and runs the clock face on the outside of the building. Visitors on the lower floor can view the pendulum and lower mechanism, while visitors on the second floor can view the mechanism behind the clock face which winds itself about every hour.
The Greene County Historical Society has several in-tact collections, such as this barber shop.
Former inmate rooms on the first floor of the West Wing interpret local and regional history, such as this exhibit on the Waynesburg & Washington Railroad.
Engine No. 4 of the Waynesburg & Washington Railroad with Coach Car No. 6 currently undergoing restoration.
The former boiler room now serves as the Historical Society's library and research center.
Backstory and Context
Text-to-speech Audio
The original section of the building is the 1857 farmhouse owned by the Rinehart family. The 12-room Georgian Revival brick home was the center of the family’s large farm. In 1861 the home was purchased by Robinson Downey who then sold the property to Greene County.
The Greene County Almshouse was established in 1861, the result of state legislation passed just prior to the Civil War for each county to establish a house for the care of their poor and indigent residents. The County purchased the Rinehart home and farm as the site of the Greene County Home (also known as the Almshouse or Poor Farm) and immediately expanded the structure to house inmates.
A two-story wing was constructed in 1861 to accommodate 40-50 inmates. Rooms in the original Rinehart house were occupied by the steward and his family while the new wing housed a large kitchen and resident rooms. Between 1861 and 1884 the Green County Home housed poor, infirm, and insane residents of the County; after 1884, many of the insane residents were transferred to Dixmont State Hospital.
Overcrowding and poor conditions were constant problems at the Greene County Home, typical of like institutions and asylums across the nation. By the early 1880s the Greene County Home had a poor reputation for the living conditions provided for the inmates. This resulted in the construction of the three-floor (including the basement) West Wing in 1886. Each floor had 12 dormitory rooms and a bathroom which expanded the capacity of the almshouse to reduce crowding. Unfortunately, conditions at the County Home continued to be problematic.
The final expansion of the main building came in 1890 with the addition of the kitchen and baking areas at the rear of the building.
The Greene County Home continued operating into the mid-1900s, eventually transforming from a poorhouse/almshouse into a residence for the county’s older population. During this time the institution was known as the “Green Hills Farm.” In 1969, the Greene County Home was deemed unfit to continue as a home for the indigent. It was replaced by the Curry Home constructed directly across the street.
About the Greene County Historical Society
The idea for a Greene County historical society was first suggested in 1923 by Waynesburg College professor Andrew Jackson Waychoff. President Judge of Greene County, J. W. Ray, decreed a certificate of incorporation for the historical society on September 19, 1925 and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania officially incorporated the Greene County Historical Society on November 15, 1925. The original location of the GCHS was in the basement of the Long Building. The museum was originally housed in one basement room there until the Historical Society purchased a second room in 1956 to accommodate the growing collection.
As the Historical Society grew, it outgrew its original home in the Long Building. The original plan was to build a new building on land donated by board member Levi Funk, but that ultimately fell through, the site was sold, and the money saved for purchase of another site. When the County Home was transferred from the original building to the new Curry Home in 1969, the Board of the Greene County Historical Society approached the county to use the former Home as the new site for the Historical Society. The library was opened in November of 1970 in the former boiler house and the main museum opened to the public in June 1971.
The Greene County Historical Society operates the 52-room main building along with the grounds and several outbuildings. Buildings on the grounds include two reconstructed log cabins, a sawmill, smokehouse, the former boiler house (now library), barn, and railroad shed housing Engine No. 4 of the Waynesburg & Washington Railroad. The museum interprets the Greene County Poor Farm history in addition to a wide variety of county and regional history topics.
Sources
Cumberledge, Matthew. “Going Greene: An Aged Institution.” Greene Scene Magazine. https://greenesaver.com/going-greene-an-aged-institution/.
Cumberledge, Matthew. “Going Greene: A Hunt for History.” Greene Scene Magazine. January 19, 2021. https://greenescenemagazine.com/going-greene-a-hunt-for-history/.
Greene County Historical Society self-guided tour. January 2022.
“Learn More About the Greene County Historical Society.” Greene County Museum. Accessed April 15, 2022. https://greenecountyhistory.org/about-us/.
Photograph by Kathleen Thompson, April 2022.
Photograph by Kathleen Thompson, April 2022.
Photograph by Kathleen Thompson, April 2022.
Photograph by Kathleen Thompson, April 2022.
Photograph by Kathleen Thompson, April 2022.
Photograph by Kathleen Thompson, April 2022.
Photograph by Kathleen Thompson, April 2022.
Photograph by Kathleen Thompson, April 2022.
Photograph by Kathleen Thompson, April 2022.
Photograph by Kathleen Thompson, April 2022.
Photograph by Kathleen Thompson, April 2022.
Photograph by Kathleen Thompson, April 2022.
Photograph by Kathleen Thompson, April 2022.
Photograph by Kathleen Thompson, April 2022.
Photograph by Kathleen Thompson, April 2022.
Photograph by Kathleen Thompson, April 2022.
Photograph by Kathleen Thompson, April 2022.
Photograph by Kathleen Thompson, April 2022.
Photograph by Kathleen Thompson, April 2022.
Photograph by Kathleen Thompson, April 2022.