ARCHBALD, Pa. — The Gravity Slope Colliery is more than a century old.
"This is our history here," said Austin Burke, a member of the Gravity Slope committee. "Over 1,700 people worked right here. And so it was the economic engine that drove Archbald."
A group of community members in Archbald are working to breathe new life into the colliery, starting with the old oil house: they plan to turn it into a commercial space, like a coffee shop.
"I think what makes this project a little different is you've got so much action on the trail, it's so heavily used," said Rick Scopelliti, president of the committee.
The borough is enlisting the help of students in Scranton and Wilkes-Barre to get the job done.
"It's a part of Marywood University and our School of Architecture's core values, that community empowerment, community inclusion," said Joshua Berman, who instructs students at Marywood University's School of Architecture and serves as associate director for graduate studies.
"The students were able to conceptually propose pretty much anything they wanted, the committee was, 'All the ideas, the better,'" Berman said.
Berman's students came up with a dozen designs now displayed in the Archbald borough building.
"What the final product is going to be is going to be a sort of an infusion, a culmination of ideas from all of these," Scopelliti said.
The result will include a deck and will ultimately keep the borough's core values.
"What we tried to do throughout was make sure it still looks like what it was intended to look like," Scopelliti said.
For some students involved, the community project is personal.
"We both are actually from the area, so I feel like having a local project is super exciting for both of us. I run on the trail almost every weekend," said Marywood student Katie Shea.
"It is going to bring life to this site again. And yeah, it's real experience and actually talking to clients and getting their feedback," added student Jennifer Brown.
"I think it's a wonderful experience for us. We've been attending their monthly meetings in the Archbald borough building. We are making sure that we're very involved with them," said student Stephanie Golden.
"We wouldn't have very much of anything done without their engagement at this point," Scopelliti said of the students.
In addition to the 15 Marywood University architecture students involved, professor Berman is also working with five history students from King's College in Wilkes-Barre.
The Oil House is Phase One of Archbald's revitalization plans. Pending an additional grant, they're hoping to start construction by the end of the year.
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