Wilmerding Renewed Inc. is re-electrifying the Westinghouse Valley.

Rooted in industries started by prolific inventor George Westinghouse, the past of these valley communities could hold one of the keys to their future -- tourism.

And that future has already started with the establishment of the Westinghouse Castle Museum.

"It's a comprehensive look at the whole valley," says John Nalevanko, Wilmerding Renewed board chairman. "It's not just something here for Wilmerding."

The most architecturally notable Westinghouse attraction is The Castle in Wilmerding, built in 1890 as the former general administrative offices of Westinghouse Airbrake Co. (WABCO).

The Scottish-style castle housed the somewhat obscure George Westing-house Museum for 20 years until last November, when the museum merged with the Senator John Heinz History Center.

Though an independent entity, the museum was viewed as one of the assets of The Castle when Wilmerding Renewed bought the structure for $750,000 in 2006.

The museum contained documents and artifacts that had no home after Westinghouse Electric Corp. closed its Pittsburgh headquarters in 1987 and WABCO sold The Castle to APICS Educational and Research Foundation for $10, essentially a gift.

Much to the chagrin of Wilmerding Renewed board members, the history center removed all the artifacts, adding them to its own Westinghouse collection.

All that remain are display cases and a menu from a Westinghouse formal dinner.

That was particularly bothersome, because many local residents donated their own Westinghouse items with the belief they'd stay in Wilmerding, says Geraldine Homitz, Wilmerding Renewed board member.

In the eyes of Wilmerding Renewed board members, the best treasures remain behind.

"The biggest artifacts of George Westinghouse are the things he built -- the factories and the office building," says Ernie Parti, board member.

Necessity is the mother of reinvention.

So, in the spirit of Westinghouse's inventiveness, Wilmerding Renewed's board of directors opted for a museum with broader appeal by inviting local historical societies and individuals from Wilmerding, Trafford, East Pittsburgh, Pitcairn, Turtle Creek and the Westinghouse nuclear facility in Forest Hills to display their artifacts.

"We can get a touch of the valley in our new museum that they didn't have," says Homitz.

The cases feature photos, postcards, books and small Westinghouse appliances, including a bacon maker and working 1924 fan.

In the Trafford case is an etched glass presented to Trafford Borough during its 2004 centennial by the mayor of Trafford Park, England. Westinghouse named Trafford for the British town that was home to one of his subsidiaries.

Turtle Creek's display includes a description of the Oak Hill mines.

When they set up the Pitcairn display, Mary Lou and Carl Howard of Pitcairn Historical Society included a graph meter and street light assembly, which were used by the borough's electric company.

Wilmerding has its own space in the tower vault room where on display are a drum major and majorettes uniform from the former Westinghouse Memorial High School, a 1917 Polish Star of Liberty Band drum and a case with artifacts from the various ethnic groups that worked at the WABCO plant.

"We're all just so excited to be working together," says Don Fails, Pitcairn Historical Society member.

Other cases and wall displays include office equipment from The Castle, a company team uniform, a Westinghouse league softball, a poster of U.S. postage stamps depicting Westinghouse products, a tuba played in the WABCO band and a 1925 fire truck air brake.

The new museum focuses on the whole Turtle Creek watershed area, including its French and Indian and Revolutionary war history.

"People have gotten away from history," says Kurt Seibel, a member of Pitcairn Historical Society. "They call the whole Mon Valley depressed, but it ruled the world."

"There was a mega world impact out of this valley," Fails agrees.

The museum room includes pictures from each of Westinghouse's plants, with a train track design connecting them as the Pennsylvania Railroad did. Westinghouse traveled by private railcar from his office in Pittsburgh to his home in North Point Breeze and on to his Westinghouse Valley plants, all strategically built along the line.

In November, the Westinghouse Castle Model Train Club built a permanent platform for O-gauge trains in a large first-floor room with a goal of eventually creating a representation of Wilmerding. Above the platform hangs the original sign from the former Wilmerding train station, Homitz points out.

A separate room on the first floor houses a display with a mannequin depicting Joanna Wilmerding Bruce Negley, for whom the town was named. Westinghouse bought the land for his plant from her husband and brother.

The room has displays of teapots and an old-fashioned kitchen.

Tours include glimpses inside the offices of Westinghouse and his brother, Herman, who took over the operation after George's death.

The Castle offers several banquet and meeting rooms that have been used for business seminars, weddings and even a little girl's princess party, Parti says.

The building houses 10 business tenants with more office space available for rent and a gift shop run by Wilmerding Renewed.

"A lot of people don't know of the existence of this building," says Nalevanko, who hopes to attract tourists from outside the local area.

That's a fact Homitz has found "amazing" -- and something she hopes to change.

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Pieces of history

You can be sure ... if it's Westinghouse ... that Wilmerding Renewed could be interested in the old photos, appliances and artifacts in your family albums and attics.

Donations of items related to the Westinghouse plants or history of the communities in the Turtle Creek watershed area can help build the new museum at The Castle.

Don Fails, a member of Pitcairn Historical Society, suggests that home movies of residents could contain identifiable pieces of local history.

Collecting oral histories from those who worked in the Westinghouse plants or lived in the factory towns is another goal of Wilmerding Renewed.

For more information, call 412-825-3000.

Westinghouse museum

The George Westinghouse Museum that once inhabited the industrialist's office building in Wilmerding, known as The Castle, merged with the Senator John Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh's Strip District last November.

All the Westinghouse museum's archival material and artifacts became the property of the history center, forming the largest Westinghouse collection in the world.

Among the items are the family's dinner glasses and Tiffany plates, Westinghouse household appliances, patent models and a large 1920 oil painting of the East Pittsburgh Works.