The Girard Historical Society is doing everything it can to maintain the history of the community, beginning with the restoration of the historic Barnhisel House on State Street.
The society acquired the house in the mid-1960s and have been working to renovate the classic revival style farmhouse ever since.
''This was a mansion at the time it was built,'' said Mike DePaul, Girard Historical Society Trustee.
According to Girard history, the Barnhisel family originally purchased 318 acres of land, and later accumulated more to total more than 650 acres.
Part of that land, DePaul said, is now the Girard cemetery.
The Barnhisel House, now the home of the Girard Historical Society, is listed on the National Historic Register. The society, along with a $20,000 grand from the Department of the Interior, have been renovating the mansion to look as close to the original as possible.
''We want to put gardens around the grounds,'' DePaul said. ''We look at some of the old pictures and try to duplicate what we see as best we can.''
Except for the original grant, restoration of the house is done completely through donations and fundraisers, said Historical Society president Roberta Lawrentz.
Some of the fundraisers held in the past include the annual spring trash and treasure sale, as well as calendar sales and the annual cemetery walk.
''We've also sold items like pillows and sweatshirts,'' Lawrentz said.
One of the fundraisers, culminating with a drawing on Founder's Day for the past three years is an original and completely handmade Amish quilt.
A few years ago, the society was able to purchase three handmade quilts and have been raffling them off one each year. This year's quilt is an original design hand-sewed by Sarah Yoder in the Dahlia Star design.
''We have one quilt left after this one,'' said DePaul. ''After that, we'll decide if we want to do quilts again or if we want to try something else.''
The Historical Society will hold its annual Founder's Day Dinner at 6 p.m. Nov. 7 at St. Mark's Church, 3560 Logan Way, Liberty. A social hour at 6 p.m. will begin the event with dinner served at 7 p.m. The cost is $25 and the festivities include a silent auction, 50/50 raffle and four cash drawings.
The Barnhisel House is open to the public for tours the second and fourth Saturday of each month. A Christmas open house will be held on the weekend following Thanksgiving when the house will be completely decorated for the holidays.