Historic log cabin in Westmoreland County demolished
A historic log cabin in Greensburg was recently torn down due to structural problems the city said had been going on for decades.
While many in the community understand such an action, others, including a descendant of the family that built the cabin, told KDKA-TV that they wish the city would have done more to save the building.
According to the family, the Williams Cabin was built, at least in part, on the family's homestead around the end of the American Revolution in what is today Greensburg's Fifth Ward.
It was acquired by what would become the Greensburg Fire Department Hose Company #6 in the early 1900s, rebuilt on Mt. Odin, and then eventually taken over by the city for upkeep. What's left of it today is a pile of debris filling three dumpsters next to a golf course.
Concerned citizens told KDKA-TV that the city said it was torn down because the structure had become unsafe and much of the wood had been eaten by termites.
Williams' family descendant, Lynn Waugaman, says he grew up knowing that the cabin was part of his family and their history, as well as the community's history.
"I was shocked and totally amazed," Waugaman said when he first saw the building razed on Wednesday. "I had no clue. No one said anything about it. It wasn't in the paper. I just found out when the demolition crew was tearing things down."
KDKA-TV reached out to the mayor's office and the parks department for the city of Greensburg to learn more about what led to the demolition decision, but did not hear back on Wednesday.
The Westmoreland County Historical Society emailed a statement to KDKA-TV saying that it was never approached regarding a possible relocation or acquisition of the cabin.
So, for now, there are more questions than answers. As for Waugaman, there is a piece of his family that is gone.
"I just wish other people would have been notified," he said. "That maybe there could have been something done before it got to the point of where it is, that they had to tear it down."
