Making a living museum
This is part one of a two-part series on the Zelienople Historical Society’s two living museums.
ZELIENOPLE — The house at 243 S. Main Street hasn’t been a home since 1978. However, even its original occupants, who built it more than 200 years ago, might feel right at home in the historic place.
The Passavant House, as the house is known, was the first house ever built in Zelienople. It was created by the founder of the borough, Dettmar Basse, whose daughter, Fredericka Wilhelmina “Zelie” Basse, moved in after marrying Philip Passavant.
The house remained in the Passavant family for 150 years. Even after it was gifted to the historical society, it didn’t lose its period charm, thanks to many people donating their artifacts to the organization in the ensuing years. Wooden furniture has been replaced by some glass case shelves that hold some relics of the 19th century. The house was updated with modern lighting. But the historical society took steps to make the house and its garden resemble its original era using information from letters written by the family.
“They did come back. A lot of our artifacts are from their family,” Sue Casher, a trustee for the Zelienople Historical Society, said about the displays that populate the Passavant House. “Things that Zelie talked about in her letters we tried to plant here.”
As Casher explained, the house is meant to educate people about 19th century life and also honor the house and borough’s founders. This includes William Alfred Passavant, Zelie and Philip’s youngest child who is the namesake of many Pennsylvania organizations like UPMC Passavant and Passavant Memorial Homes Family of Services.
And it takes quite a bit of work for the historical society to keep the house and the nearby Buhl House in good condition. Passavant House was built between 1808 and 1810. The almost entirely volunteer-based organization prepared it to be a museum and have maintained it for decades.
“These are two over 200-year-old houses and gardens and they take a lot of manpower,” Casher said, referring to the Passavant House and the nearby Buhl House. “We have a cleaning company that cleans. We have a paid person, our accessioner … We have building and ground and finance, but it's all volunteer.”
The original house had two rooms on the main floor, two rooms upstairs and the kitchen was in the cellar, according to Peggy McGrogan, a docent for the Zelienople Historical Society. In later years, the Passavants added a few more rooms, including a kitchen on the main floor, a dining room, a living room and a welcome area for guests.
The main floor contains paintings of the Passavants, as well as some personal possessions, such as a ledger book that Philip used in the shop he owned next door, a wooden chest and even clumps of hair that belonged to the house’s occupants. On the wall in the living room are two wreaths made by a modern woman who weaved them to demonstrate how they would have been made by real human hair in the 1800s. In the same room are socks created with wool from merino sheep, which were only found in Europe until immigrants like Zelie and Philip brought them to the U.S.
Some of the artifacts on display allow the historical society to infer some facts about the family and life in the early 1800s. Paintings of Zelie and Philip, for example, depict the two looking in the same direction, implying that they were not yet married when the paintings were done. It was a tradition for couples to be shown looking at one another after getting married, Casher said.
Zelie and Philip built and moved into the house after immigrating to the U.S. from Germany, a move made at Dettmar’s behest. The couple had five children, the youngest of whom, William Alfred Passavant, is the namesake of UPMC Passavant. It’s an honor that follows his establishment of an orphanage and other charitable causes in his lifetime.
“William Albert is the Passavant who founded over 40 institutions,” Casher said. “Anything named Passavant, it's named after him.”
The home would continue to house Passavants until 1956, when the last person bearing the surname, Emma Passavant, died. The house became a rental property for a few years until it came under the ownership of Lester Mohr, who sold it to the relatively young Zelienople Historical Society in 1978.
The second floor research room of the Passavant House is dedicated to Mohr. It’s where the society’s accessioner does most of her work and it’s where transcribed copies of William Alfred’s letters live within binders and binders that line shelves of the room.
The historical society has another room dedicated to William Alfred, which showcases the causes he supported, some of which the organization documented for a collaboration with the Heinz History Center a few years ago. The room has pamphlets for area organizations that people can donate to or volunteer for, which Casher said helps tie William Alfred’s work to the present.
“What we want to leave people with is the desire to put their empathy into action,” Casher said.
Zelienople could easily have had a different name bestowed upon it by Dettmar Basse — “Fritzienople” being one of the main contenders. It’s because Zelie’s legal name, Fredericka, was often shortened to Fritz back in the day, Casher said. But even the story of how her nickname became Zelie is unconfirmed, with Casher saying that she either read, wrote or knew about a character with the name and it stuck.
The house is technically older than the borough, which wasn’t incorporated until 1840 despite being settled in the early 1800s.
“Dettmar named it before it was incorporated. Maybe founded it in 1802, but it wasn't actually incorporated until later,” McGrogan said.
McGrogan explained that Dettmar Basse purchased the land that would become Zelienople from the Philadelphia Land Company, which itself bought land from Revolutionary War soldiers, who were paid in land for serving in the war.
While Basse originally lived in a castle that McGrogan and Casher said was likely placed closer to where the Zelienople Airport is now, the two also said the Passavant House aims to contain the borough’s early history all in one place. It’s similar to the organization’s goal with the Buhl House, which houses early to modern history in its walls.
“They were really important families, the Buhls and the Passavants, in the early town,” Casher said.
The Passavant House is now in its regular operating season and will be open during Zelienople’s Thursday open air markets, as well as for scheduled tours.
