CRANBERRY TWP — The Cranberry Township Historical Society plans to open a museum in the township’s municipal center sometime this fall, said Roy Wagner, historical society president.

Wagner said the group has been working on this project for a long time.

“We are thrilled to get in there and are looking forward to getting it open,” Wagner said.

The group received $4,100 to fund the project from the Cranberry Township Community Chest, he said.

On June 23, the Cranberry supervisors unanimously approved allocating the space inside the municipal center to the museum, said township manager Jerry Andree.

According to a news release from the township, the use of the room, which includes utilities, is being made available to the group rent free.

Andree said he is excited to have the museum at the center.

“I think it demonstrates the commitment the historical society has to keep us connected to our past,” Andree said. “Sometimes we don’t realize what we were before we became what we are now.”

The museum will be in the former tenant conference room, which is an 11-foot by 20-foot room, in the front corridor.

One of the features of the museum will be a HO- scale railroad model with the Pittsburgh, Harmony, Butler and New Castle trolley that ran from 1908-1931, Wagner said. The model will feature key points in Cranberry, like the Criders Corners stop and the station on Franklin Road. The group is using photographs to create the models.

The museum also will feature a map of 1908 that will show the topography of the region when there were no major highways, Wagner said. The map will have LED lights that will correspond with information indicating various points of interest.

In the future, Wagner said he wants to be able to have the location of the various places on the railroad display be on the map.

A volunteer is building a model of the 1950 fudge stand on Freedom Road, which will be used to hold souvenirs with historical books and other odds and ends, he said.

In the future, Wagner said the museum will have tablets and more interactive capabilities. The plan is to start off simple and evolve over time.

The walls will feature historic maps and photographs, he said. The museum has objects to display, like an old water pump and a dial a stop machine.

Wagner said he also wants to put in a flat-screen TV or an interactive monitor to display the group’s large collection of digital historic photographs since there won’t be enough room to display all of them on the walls.