Old Economy Village is a six-acre National Historic Landmark administered by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission since 1919. The historic site has never had a facility designed strictly to accommodate the needs of the modern visitor to the past. The new 22,000 sq. ft. building will contain education rooms, an orientation theater, and orientation exhibit and changing exhibit spaces, a research library and archives, museum store, staff offices, and artifact storage space. Designed by Susan Maxman Partners of Philadelphia, the energy-efficient building, utilizing geothermal heating and cooling systems, is constructed of brick and siding to reflect typical elements of Harmonist architecture, including espaliered grape vines, and to fit harmoniously into the Historic District neighborhood that contains over 80 original Harmonist houses dating from the 1820s. The entire building will be handicapped accessible and will include on-site parking and bus drop-off area. In addition to state funding, released in January 2001 by Gov. Tom Ridge, private support for the building project comes from Heinz Endowments, The Hillman Foundation, Inc. and other donors, all of Pittsburgh. The building is slated to be opened to the public in the summer of 2003.
The Museum Building and Feast Hall was constructed between 1825 and 1826 and opened to the public in 1827 as a Natural History and Fine Arts Museum. The Society's Library and adult education classrooms for members were also housed here. Six times a year, all the Harmonists gathered in the 100 by 52 foot Feast Hall on the second floor to celebrate the anniversary of the founding of the Society, to hold their love feasts, Celebrate the Last Supper, and the Fourth of July. Concerts by the Society's band and orchestra were also held here. The Community Kitchen, located next to the Museum Building and Feast Hall was where communal feasts were prepared. The building's unusual ceiling contains two trap doors that open and allow steam to escape from the kitchen cauldrons and through the roof. A second raised peaked roof keeps out rain and snow. cabinet shopThe Cabinet Shop contains original Harmonist tools, benches, and lathes that fashioned the buildings, woodwork, and furniture seen throughout the historic site. The Harmonist Clock Shop and Lock Shop are in an adjacent room.
The steeple clock of St. John's Lutheran Church, Located across the street, was made here. The site's current Blacksmith Shop, built ca. 1900 as a garage, contains tools used for demonstrations of black smithing. The original Harmonist blacksmith shop was one block east of this area and has not survived. There, smiths made nails, mended tools and fashioned hoops for barrels, wheels for wagons, and shoes for horses in the shop's five furnaces. The Granary, a large grain barn, stored one year's supply of grain. The building has five floors and a cellar. On the west side is the elevator shaft that rises to the upper levels. There were once two such buildings in Economy. The Warehouse was probably the first frame building quickly constructed at Economy in 1824. At that time it housed the Society's Store. Two years later, a new brick building, just across the yard, became the public Store while this frame building contained supplies for the Society members. The new brick Store, which also housed the Economy Post Office, was open to the public in 1826. Here non-Society members purchased Harmonist cloth and spirits, as well as hundreds of items from Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, i.e., fishing hooks, china, candy, and coffee. Neighbors picked up their mail and newspapers or sold their wool or bacon to the Society which marketed their products up and down the Ohio River and the Mississippi River all the way to New Orleans. Storekeeper Romelius Langenbacker (Baker), his mother, and sister, lived in the standard Harmonist brick family house next to the Store, today called the Baker House. Following Society leader George Rapp's death in 1847, Baker became head of the Harmony Society. He did not move into Rapp's large comfortable house, but continued to live near the Store. The Harmonist furnishings in the Baker House are displayed according to a court inventory of the house dated 1846. The House's garden contains old varieties of plants that were documented through an 1825 manuscript written by a Harmonist school girl. Mechanics Building contained the Tailor Shop, Shoe Shop, and the Print Shop. Harmonist tools and benches are displayed here.
The original Harmonist printing press is the oldest flat-bed printing press in America still in its original setting. It was last used by the Harmonists in 1832. Below these shops, the cut stone ceiling of the Wine Cellar rises 20 feet at the center and contains the barrels (one holds 1,250 gallons) that once held the society's fine wines. From winter to summer, the temperature here varies only a few degrees. In 1826, George Rapp's House was described as "the principal building (probably meaning domestic building) standing two stories high, with two lower wings standing in the same line" along what is now Church Street. It was observed that the house was furnished with objects made at Economy. Rapp lived here, primarily, with his wife, daughter-in-law, and granddaughter. Many of the family's belongings survive and are exhibited in the house. Rapp housesFrederick Rapp built a smaller house immediately to the north of his father's house around 1828. Adopted by George Rapp, Frederick was a co-founder of the Society, as well as an architect, stone mason, and respected businessman. He was the Society's principal representative in the outside world. He furnished his house with stylish objects, many purchased in Philadelphia or Pittsburgh. George Rapp's Garden was described by nineteenth-century visitors to Economy as "neatly laid out in lawns, arbors, and flower beds with an open Pavilion over the pool that held a well executed female statue holding a lyre, and a straw-roofed Grotto." Many old varieties of flowers and trees have been returned to the garden based on an 1829 list of plants flowering there in July and August. Tulips, dahlias, and other perennials were favored by the Harmonists, as were apple, pear, orange, and lemon trees. Carriage House housed the Rapp family's carriages and horses. This restored building now contains the Harmonist's 1826 hand-pump fire engine, hearse, and Father Rapp's carriage.
