LOCK HAVEN, Pa. — A historical marker from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission now sits outside the Piper Aviation Museum in Lock Haven. The marker symbolizes Piper Aircraft's impact on Lock Haven and Pennsylvania.
"This is really kind of an exceptional story, the story of this corporation, how it came to this place. It provided this economic base. The quality of the planes that they designed and manufactured was exceedingly high, and they're very popular and well known across the globe," said Greg Peek, a Piper Aviation Museum board member.
The marker was put in place to showcase the history of the Piper Aircraft Corporation, headquartered at the William T. Piper Memorial Airport from 1937 to 1984.
"They still manufacture airplanes today in Vero Beach, Florida," said Ron Dremel, Piper Aviation Museum president. "At one time, they were one of the big three of the general aviation airplane manufacturers—Beach, Cessna, and Piper. And they manufactured over 77,000 airplanes."
Officials with the Piper Aviation Museum applied to get the historical marker.
"Step one is the document telling us about the founding, the charter of the corporation. Step two is a series of newspaper articles describing the relocation of the Piper plant to Lock Haven. And so, you just sort of tell the story of the company through the document that we have," Peek said.
Peek says the historical marker will serve as a learning opportunity for those visiting the museum.
"It's a commemoration to the past. It's also a dedication to the future, right? You know, now that this is here, we can look to the future and do other things to help build up the museum and sort of expand its outreach."
This week is also the 38th annual Sentimental Journey Fly-In at the William T. Piper Airport in Lock Haven. The fly-in runs through Saturday.