The John Sample Decorative Aluminum Heritage Center

This room, established after his passing, is a memorial to the research and collecting done by John Sample.  John was a collector of ‘old hammered aluminum from the Grove City area’, but he not only collected hammered aluminum, he studied the history of the companies like Wendell August and many others that existed at one time in the Grove City area.  These companies flourished initially because of the talents of immigrant artists, and eventually our area from Stoneboro to north of Slippery Rock had seven hammered aluminum giftware companies.  Each forge had its own unique history, its ‘story’, all of which is detailed in the Heritage Center.  As a result of the aluminum forging in the Grove City area, over 200 hammered aluminum companies began throughout the United States, but only one, Wendell August, remains today.