Notes from a Summer Internship by History Major Kevin Yehl

When I decided to take part in a summer internship this year, I considered several different local organizations where I felt I could gain experience and further my understanding of history. Initially, I planned on looking for an internship where I could learn about the local history of Olean, New York. I felt this would be interesting because, for such a small town, Olean has an incredibly diverse past. While that would have been interesting, I ended up taking an internship at the Eldred World War II Museum in Eldred, Pennsylvania instead. I had been to the museum as a child and remembered how impressed I had been even at a young age.

I was surprised to find that there was an interesting story about how the museum had come to be, which started over sixty years ago. Initially, the museum opened in recognition of the men and women who worked at or had a part in creating the National Munitions Plant #1. The man who opened the museum and continues to fund it, Tim Roudebush, had a particular interest in its creation because it was his father, George M. Roudebush, who was the lawyer that secured the land and contract for the munitions plant to be built at the onset of World War II.

Prior to America’s entry into the war, Great Britain hired George M. Roudebush to find a suitable place for a munitions plant to help further their war effort. After looking at many different places, Roudebush settled on Eldred, Pennsylvania for several reasons. Due to Eldred’s geographic position, it was far enough inland that it would be untouchable by the Germans. Also, there were already railroads in place at the time, making it easy to transfer finished munitions to the coast and on to Great Britain. Finally, Eldred was already the home of a factory in which explosives were produced for use in civilian oil fields, which made for an easy conversion into military munitions.