The News And Views

MODEL TOWN: In Memories Miniatures Live

KANE, Pa. (AP)--Rostan Village is a pretty little community in northwest Pennsylvania with churches, stores, a post office and a bank--but you'll never find it on a map.

Nobody lives in Rostan. Yet the town has had hundreds of visitors since it was founded three years ago.

It is the creation in miniature of Joseph Rostan, a retired grocer, who found that raising chickens and growing flowers wasn't enough to keep him busy.

Rostan came to this mountain town with his wife in 1946 to seek relief from an asthmatic condition. The little town in Rostan's back yard is a village of memories for the talented builder--almost a biography in itself.

Every structure is a reproduction of a building which played an important part in Rostan's life. Prominent among these is the church from his native village in Yugoslavia, where Rostan was baptized. Also present is the chapel from the cemetery of that village.

"The churches really bring back memories," commented Rostan. "I started out there as an organist."

BACK YARD TOWN--Rostan's miniature village.

When the Rostans came to America they settled near Pittsburgh and soon started operating a restaurant at Langeloth, Pa. Later Rostan was the first postmaster of Slovan, Pa. Then for 25 years he operated a grocery store at Saranac Lake, N.Y.

In the miniature village, electrically lighted at night, you will find the store from Saranac Lake, built to scale as are all the buildings. There's the post office from Slovan, a town hall like Saranac's, a bank, a hotel, a shrine and various homes.