Tristan Bair may only be a high school senior, but of late he’s been thinking about people and places much, much older than he is. Tristan, a member of the Donegal High School Class of 2025, recently completed his Eagle Scout project for the Mount Joy Area Historical Society.
Tristan Bair installs a sign with help from friends as part of his Eagle Scout project.
For his project, Tristan chose 10 locations within Mount Joy, and then created an outdoor sign for each that contains a brief description of the building’s history, along with a QR code that can be scanned. “The QR code will take you to the historical society’s web page and give further information about the location, as well as some pictures of what the building used to look like,” he explains.
Some of the locations featured in Tristan’s project include Cemetery Road Schoolhouse (120 Fairview Street), now used by the Mount Joy Area Historical Society; Central Hotel and Bube’s Brewery (102 N. Market Street); the Gerberich-Payne Shoe Company (240 W. Main Street), now home to a senior-living complex; and Beanie’s Bar & Grill (78 W. Main Street).
Tristan Bair earned his rank of Eagle Scout in November.
Tristan got the idea for his project after talking to his grandmother, Kim Bair, who is active with the Mount Joy Area Historical Society. He has been a junior member of the society for the past few years, as well. “I wanted to do something that would last for many years and mean something to the town I grew up in,” he states. “I know the historical society has been wanting to expand its connections beyond its physical location, so I thought I could help do that.”
A member of Troop 349 in Mountville, Tristan joined Cub Scouts when he was 6 years old. He is currently a Life Scout and earned his Eagle Rank on November 4, which happened to be the day before his 18th birthday. He is the son of Diane Bair and Justin Roberson of Mount Joy.
Tristan began working on his Eagle Scout project in May. He attended Mount Joy Borough meetings to get approvals, and he discussed his project with the historical society to obtain feedback on the sites where he planned to install the signs. “The most challenging part of this project was definitely the steps it took to prepare and the amount of time each of the individual steps along the way took,” he notes.
The best part of his project, he says, was installation day, when friends helped him post the signs. In addition to his grandmother, Tristin also credits Carper Signs, which agreed to make the signs for him, and Linda Eberly of Eberly Designs for helping him with the project.
Now that his project is complete, Tristan is looking forward to hearing feedback from the community, and he hopes his efforts will boost interest in local history. “A project like this is important to me because I think it could potentially open a gateway for people to connect more within the community,” he says. “I am hoping that this will bring more interest from the community to learn more about Mount Joy’s history. I am hoping it is a way to have others become more involved with our historical society. I feel like not a lot of people are aware of the really cool things that they do for our town.”
A complete list of properties featured in Tristan’s project can be found at mountjoyhistory.com/places-of-interest.
Cathy Molitoris writes for the community newspapers – Merchandiser, Advertiser and Pennysaver – that are published by Engle Printing & Publishing, Townlively.com.
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