It wasn’t too many years ago that the Tarentum VFW would fill up two floors of its East Fourth Avenue post with members and other revelers.
“Bingo was a big draw,” said Quartermaster Zack Blume, a retired Army captain who served in Afghanistan. “We had a very active group.
“When you think of all the people who came through here, it’s a lot of history.”
Chartered in 1946, the WWII-era Post 5758 was a thriving borough institution for nearly 80 years but has struggled to remain functional after the covid-19 pandemic.
Membership has decided to fold operations and sell the building — but veterans will continue to meet elsewhere, either independently or through a merger with Harrison VFW Post 894.
Michelle Blume, of Realty One Group, is Zack Blume’s cousin. She is the listing agent and sees potential in the century-old building. The L-shaped, four-story site is about 20,000 square feet.
It’s on the market for $157,500.
“It has good bones,” she said. “It needs a lot of work, but it’s ginormous and someone could make something great out of it.”
The property is assessed at $819,000, according to the Allegheny County real estate website.
Zack Blume said post-pandemic financial challenges have been a disappointment.
“No one wants to see their local post close,” he said. “But we just haven’t been able to get back into things.”
Nationally, the VFW was established in 1899. There are about 6,000 posts across the globe, with 1.6 million members.
Pennsylvania has the fourth-largest veteran population in the country at 614,000. About 30% of those live in the Pittsburgh Metro area.
But aging demographics mean active membership in service clubs is declining, said Ken King, district commander for Westmoreland County.
“It’s becoming more and more common for posts to consolidate,” King said.
King, an Army veteran who served in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kosovo, was the final post commander at the Scottdale VFW Post before it merged with Mt. Pleasant last year.
After 75 years, the Scottdale VFW dwindled to about 50 members on the rolls, King said, with meetings getting smaller each year.
“The thing is that there are members who are willing to participate, but they are not physically able,” King said. “I’m not going to put an 80-year-old on a step stool.
“The younger generations are able to help, but they are busy with families.”
In Tarentum, there are about 60 members — down from a peak of 200 — many of whom are getting up in years and can’t participate in activities like block parties and car wash fundraisers that used to pack the place.
“The Vietnam members are getting older and they’re not hanging out as much. The younger veterans aren’t at the stage yet where they might come,” Blume said. “It’s tough because the VFW in any town helps support the community.”
The building, itself, has a somewhat mysterious past. Its exact age is unclear, but it was constructed around the Lardin House Hotel, a historical landmark built in 1865 on the corner of E. Fourth Avenue and Wood Street.
“It’s been said this building was used as a morgue for many years,” Michelle Blume said. “There are several refrigerated rooms, an underground tunnel and an elevator. We don’t know how true that is. There are no records.”
Today, the VFW stands empty, with the top two floors unused other than for storage of paperwork, vintage holiday decorations and antiques.
The second floor is filled with remnants from the post’s bingo days, with lighted boards, disco balls and kitchen fryers. There are crutches, walkers and other medical equipment that used to be distributed to members in need.
On the ground level, the bar was recently refinished to accommodate people in wheelchairs. Aged photos of former members dot the walls. There are military-themed murals and paintings, which will be given away, and old uniforms that will make their way to Tarentum’s history museum.
A public sale of items will be scheduled prior to the sale of the building.
“The closing shouldn’t come as a big surprise,” Blume said. “We’ve been struggling for a few years. We want to be here but the economics have been tough.”