Movie at Mishler to Offer 250 Years of Blair County History

Blair County: A People’s History is set to premier at the Mishler Theatre in Altoona next month, on Thursday, April 18, a film that encapsulates roughly 250 years worth of history from indigenous people up until the present.

This film was produced and directed by Mark Frederick, and written by his older brother Jared Frederick.

Some of the themes the movie will highlight include the early canal system and other transportation methods, the iron industry, the railroad industry and how it is all interconnected.

The movie will also feature topics such as: military history, politics, social history, women’s history, black history, sports history, and environmental history.

The duo began conducting interviews in May 2022, and Jared wrote the script shortly after and completed it about a year ago.

What was originally supposed to be a 60 minute film, turned into 90 minutes.

Mark said while the story telling is very tight, they tried to talk about as many histories and stories as possible.

About 13 people from all different corners of the county were interviewed, Mark said.

Jared said once the theme and places were decided on, they then found the authority figures and talking heads based on those.

The people interviewed were from all corners of the county which include local teachers, librarians, business people, amateur historians, professors, and people involved in non-profit and civic organizations.

“We wrote the questions, interviewed the people, and then structured the script around what they said — we took the best and elaborated upon it,” he said.

With Mark and Jared both being local historians, they already had a lot of existing knowledge, which meant a lot of came it second-nature to them and they knew where to look.

What was more intensive than the research, was finding the images, photos, and the footage to stitch together into something that would keep the interest of their audience.

“Mark going out and filming b-roll — he had to figure out where the best place and times of the day to film,” Jared said.

Documentarians like Ken Burns, have a full team of people to go out and find what he needs, but for the Blair County movie, they did not have that budget.

Having to be the writers, researchers, cinematographers, and editors for the movies was a challenge, but they managed to pull it off as a team.

“We did it all,” Mark said. “Between the two of us — close family and friends, we were able to pull it off.”

They made sure to cover every region in the county and tell as many stories as the time would allow including the Cove.

“We talk about Martinsburg and Roaring Spring very heavily,” Mark said.

Mark said the film will talk about the Morrisons Cove Railroad, iron industry, DM Bear and his paper mill, natural resources, the spring in Roaring Spring, and agricultural history.

The talking head for the Cove is a young historian by the name of Andrew Brumbaugh who is from Martinsburg area, and has gone on to work on a living history farm, Jared said.

“He was a very natural talking head — his father also worked at the paper mill which provided him with a family connection and insider knowledge,” he said.

While they tried to encapsulate some of the major themes throughout the county, it was impossible to cover everything with only 90 minutes to work with, Jared said.

What Mark and Jared endeavored to do was to capture the essence of the county through symbolic overarching stories.

“While we do shift from town to town in a documentary, none of these towns existed in a vacuum,” Jared said.

Every town in Blair County was interconnected throughout history, either via the railroad, commerce, agriculture or education.

“The thing that we always kept coming back to was the railroad and how it was all interconnected – it was always in the background,” Mark said.

Those who attend the premier at the Mishler Theatre, can expect the doors to open at 5 p.m. and the film will start at 6:30 p.m.

Once the film ends, there will be a question and answer session featuring Mark, Jared, Julia, and WTAJ’s Rebecca Petner who will be the moderator.

At the time of the interview Mark said the premier showing was very close to being sold out, with only about a dozen seats left.

“We were definitely pleasantly surprised by it selling out,” Mark said.

For this reason, a technical preview has been added the night before on April 17.

It will not have all the bells and whistles of the premier night, but patrons will still be able to watch the movie on the big screen.

The doors open at 5:30 p.m. and the movie starts at 6:30 p.m. for the technical preview.

“My main goal is that this is a call to action to the community,” Mark said.

He hoped that the film would make people get more involved in historical non-profits and educational programming, teaching young people and retaining them, and realizing how important historical preservation is for their community.

Jared said they tried to film and design the movie in a way that would not be boring even for younger generations by using reenactors to recreate certain scenes.

DVDs of the film will be sold at the premier, and then at the Baker Mansion physical and online stores.

Julia Plummer Schokker said as the executive producer said the movie is a fundraiser for Baker Mansion, and is hoping that people will walk out with a vigor towards wanting to volunteer and preserve local history.

“I hope it gets people excited and it shows people the importance of our history,” she said.

Dustin Smith, executive director of the Blair County Historical Society said that he is also excited about the community’s positive response to the movie.

“That has shocked a lot of us here, and I think this is something special,” he said

While he has only seen the trailer, he is looking forward to the movie and the premier event.

“Mark knows his stuff and utilizes all of the resources at his disposal to make a really good piece of film,” Smith said. “I’ve seen some of his work in the past and it gave me the confidence to say he is going to knock this out of the park. “