LANCASTER TWP — Their numbers are few, but those who make up the Lancaster Township Historical Records Committee are keeping track of a lot of history.

“We're trying to keep busy,” said Loretta Rice, vice chairwoman of the group of about 15 volunteers.

In addition to operating a history center off Route 19 in Middle Lancaster, the group hosts an annual Old Home Day in the nearby one-room school that serves as a community center. There, township residents gather once a year to view displays, mingle around tables of homemade cookies and listen to a talk.

During the 12th annual event on Sunday, resident Barbara Burgh delivered a talk on Burgh's Pleasure Palace, a dance hall her parents operated in the 1930s.

“You're laughing, but I think it was just for dancing,” Burgh said to the crowd, which exceeded 90 people by the day's end.

Based on her grandmother's diaries, Burgh's talk included colorful accounts of the hall, dilapidated but still visible at Burgh Implement, a tractor and farm equipment store and salvage yard on Route 19.

The hall drew as many as 450 guests from 50 miles away, the diaries said. The patrons were lured by a live orchestra, prizes and theme nights that included a hog-catching contest, snowball fight and watermelon eating contest.

Many attending Old Home Day recognized names of their forebears documented at the dance hall, which kept a constable on staff to manage drunken rowdiness.

“(The dances ran) from 8 to midnight,” Burgh said. “But many times they went to 2 a.m. because nobody would leave.”

Though many attendees on Sunday descended from characters in the diary, some were carrying their heritage forward by including younger relatives.

“We have four generations here,” said Bea Warner, 86, attending with her daughter Carolyn Kristophel and other family members.

Although this was not the first Old Home Day Warner and Kristophel attended, their history with the building goes back even farther.

Kristophel, 64, attended the school through fourth grade before moving to Connoquenessing Valley Elementary School.

“I attended all eight grades,” her mother said.

Also present at Old Home Day was Leroy Bintrim of Portersville, who displayed his collection of antique meat grinders, food choppers and Griswold cast iron cookware.

Although those relics would return home with Bintrim after Old Home Day ended, the other displays would return to the Lancaster Township History Center, a two-room museum housed in a rental space off Route 19 behind Sally's Cider Press. The center was opened four years ago, when township supervisors decided to pay for the space.

“We had materials in storage we wanted to save for historical purposes,” said Kathleen Ligday, a township supervisor from 1998 to 2003.

“We started a committee and a group of ladies helped me and we've kind of grown and continued the program,” she said, explaining many items previously were stored in residents' homes.

“We've collected pictures and traced township residents — some 10, 12 generations.”

Since opening the part-time museum, the contents have steadily grown.

“Pretty much it's word of mouth: asking folks to look in their attics when they're sorting things so we can make copies,” Ligday said.

Other items were found at garage sales and auctions.

The group pays for items from money earned by creating calendars as well as books on barns and schools. Currently, they are creating a book on churches.

The museum is open from 1 to 3 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays and by appointment. For more information, call 724-368-8362.