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Wallace Memorial Chapel stands at the north end of the Westminster College campus quadrangle.
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New Wilmington: A long-quiet community shows signs of getting livelier

Amy Qin/Post-Gazette

New Wilmington: A long-quiet community shows signs of getting livelier

Change is brewing in New Wilmington.

The traditionally quiet and dry town, 60 miles north of Pittsburgh in Lawrence County, has been getting a reboot with a number of new developments in the past year.

Hop Asylum, the town’s first brewery, opened in late August. Plans to build a public amphitheater at the borough park for summer movie nights and community gatherings finally have been set in motion. And among the latest efforts to attract visitors, the Tour de Donut — the third annual summer doughnut festival and bike ride — drew a record-number of participants, some from as far away as Arizona.

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“We’re just in the phase of putting New Wilmington back on the map,” explained Sherie Babb, mayor of a borough known for being firmly rooted in tradition and slow to adopt changes.

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New Wilmington, which is 10 miles north of New Castle, always has been a dry municipality, where liquor licenses and liquor sales are prohibited. Residents tie that to the strong religious roots of the borough, which was founded in 1863 by largely Presbyterian Scots-Irish immigrants.

In 2015, the borough held a referendum on whether to allow liquor licenses, but the ballot measure was voted down narrowly and New Wilmington stayed dry. Previous ballot measures in 2007 and 2003 also were defeated.

However, Hop Asylum recently began operating on a limited brewery permit. It can sell its wines and craft beers as long as they are produced in Pennsylvania, co-owner Walt Novosel said.

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“Community reception [to the brewery] has been generally positive, but I think there are still people who cling to the past and the town’s history as a dry town,” said 20-year old Morgan Boyd, the youngest member of borough council.

Ms. Babb called Hop Asylum’s opening a “step in the right direction” for the community of roughly 2,300 residents, nearly one-fifth of them over age 65. She explained the need to attract new families and cited the brewery as one of many things younger adults look for in places to settle.

Tom McKinley, a member of the New Wilmington Economic Development Committee, said the committee is focused on similar initiatives to make the area “more attractive for younger folks.”

Fresh Marketplace is one such venture that began as a Saturday farmers market. Located in an old warehouse building, the venue is packed with shoppers, produce stands, local vendors and live music. Every weekend, from May through September, it has been a “big hit in town,” Mr. McKinley said.

It came about through a $79,000 grant two years ago from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The funds enabled the borough to purchase the warehouse building and commission a muralist to paint its exterior. The mural is a colorful piece that covers the entire building, depicting lush countryside scenes and the town’s agricultural roots.

“When we moved here, the community feeling was sort of dying,” said Caroline Cuff, a math professor at Westminster College, located a few blocks away from the town’s main street.

“But in the last four or five years, there’s been a total regrowth,” she said. “There’s a bunch of young people who are very active in creating things like summer movie nights and farmers markets.”

Ms. Cuff met her husband, Tim Cuff, a history professor at Westminster, as undergraduates there in 1978. They both moved out of town for graduate school but decided to come back to teach at Westminster in the early 2000s, wanting to return to the more intimate academic environment the college offered.

Founded in 1852, Westminster is a private liberal arts college that enrolls around 1,300 undergraduates. It is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church and has a long history with New Wilmington, although those connected to the town and college have largely remained within their own separate spheres.

“There’s always been a sort of town-gown separation,” said Sam Farmerie, 87, who has lived in New Wilmington for 52 years.

Students live at dorms on the picturesque tree-lined campus but rarely leave campus to visit the town’s commercial corridor.

“The students will come out of campus, turn left, and never visit town,” Mr. Cuff said. “That’s not a slam on the students; they’re just oriented towards Walmart or some other big box store elsewhere.”

He added that it’s common for students to leave New Wilmington for jobs in larger metro areas after graduation.

New Wilmington has a feature even more distinctive for the small town than the college. The horse-drawn Amish buggies parked next to cars in the lot behind Market Street are a reminder of a simpler time and that community’s heavy presence around New Wilmington.

The characteristic white Amish houses with blue doors dot the farmland outside of the borough. Black Amish hats and long blue dresses are common sights at the Rite Aid or Gilliland’s Market, a local grocery store on Market Street.

Susan Hougelman 52, a lifelong New Wilmington resident, started giving Simple Life Tours of Amish stores and farms five years ago.

Roughly 2,500 Amish live around New Wilmington, making it the fourth largest Old World Order group in the country, according to Ms. Hougelman. They came to Western Pennsylvania in the 1840s and since have established several small businesses in the area.

Their shops and farm stands are named after their owners, many of whom share the same family name: Byler.

Ms. Hougelman books three to four tours a day and receives visitors from around the world. Tourists from places like London and Bangladesh now are stopping by New Wilmington, and it has been good exposure for the town, she said.

Though Hop Asylum’s Mr. Novosel can’t expect expect to fill his brewery with Amish patrons, he described New Wilmington as an ideal spot for his newest venture. He and his wife own several wineries and breweries along Route 208, a road that runs through the center of New Wilmington.

“It’s a beautiful little town,” Mr. Novosel said, “and being there will be good for the community and allow us to grow.”

He’s confident his operation will fit in with the fabric of New Wilmington, and others are hopeful of the same.

Mr. McKinley said the brewery provides a much-needed evening gathering space in a town where most places are closed by 6 p.m., and it might even persuade a few of the college students to come by.

At the same time, locals who value what New Wilmington has had don’t want too much changed too soon.

“Part of the charm of the town is this old-world, tightly knit community, so any change you make, you have to be careful about in terms of keeping the character of the town,” Mr. Boyd said.

First Published: October 28, 2018, 12:00 p.m.

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Wallace Memorial Chapel stands at the north end of the Westminster College campus quadrangle.  (Amy Qin/Post-Gazette)
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Tim and Caroline Cuff, professors at Westminster College, at McGill Library at Westminster.  (Amy Qin/Post-Gazette)
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