Tarentum Celebrating Its 175th Anniversary By Remembering The Past

TARENTUM (KDKA) -- There's a new coffee shop in Tarentum. Darmicka Koskey and her husband opened "Koskey's Korner" in November, and customers have found it.

"These three cupcakes here are French vanilla," she tells a visitor. "The rest are banana."

Darmicka bakes fresh muffins and cookies every day but Sunday, when the shop is closed. Historian Cindy Homburg says this new shop is playing a role in the town's 175th anniversary.

"I said, 'Why don't we pick out these stores in town?' Remember Isaly's. Remember Chapman's. Remember the Manos. And we'll have all these different foods, and people can come in," she said.

This month's centerpiece is a 10-cent cherry Coke.

"It's not about the money," the owner says. "It's about the experience of remembering Tarentum's history, and people coming back and just feeling that same feel when they walk into Chapman's to get a cherry Coke," she said.

Chapman's Drug Store shut its doors 45 years ago. But that cherry Coke brings back happy memories of the old soda fountain of long ago.

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Next month, Koskey's Korner will remember Isaly's, with ice cream and pickles. And the old Manos Theater will be "popping" in May.

"We're going to do buttered popcorn to reflect on the movie theater," Darnicka says.

She and her family feel right at home in Tarentum.

"I think I became a natural Tarentium. I don't like to go past the Highland Park Bridge. I like to stay here because pretty much all I need is here."