County historian settling into new office
County DPW transformed space adjacent to Subway, giving historian more accessible space for local artifacts
Photos by Tom Rivers
ALBION – Catherine Cooper, the Orleans County historian, has a new office at 162 South Main St., a spot adjacent to Subway and next to the County Treasurer’s Office.
The county Department of Public Works transformed 2,000 square feet of space, putting in new drywall, a ceiling, electric and a floor.
“They did a huge amount of work,” Cooper said, commending the DPW staff for its work in the office and also relocating local artifacts and files from the top floor of Central Hall.
The County Legislature on Dec. 3 agreed to a lease with Nomax Albion, LLC, which is owned by Noah Michaels. He reached out to the county about using the 2,000 square feet for free if the county agreed to plow the lot for the plaza.
The county already was plowing part of it for the treasurer’s office. The county had to renovate the space and will be responsible for utilities.
Central Hall at 34 East Park St., which used to house the historian’s office and treasurer’s office, now is up for sale and listed for $229,000.
Catherine Cooper said her new space is more ground level and all on one floor. It is more accessible to the public. The previous site had stairs to climb and people often parked in a lot behind the building.
Cooper said the new space is more open, and isn’t in several smaller rooms. The 16 shelving units were purchased from Lee-Whedon Memorial Library, which sold the shelves as part of a renovation and addition project. Cooper worked at Lee-Whedon in Medina for 33 years, including 10 years as director before becoming county historian six years ago.
Cooper has office hours on Monday and Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. People are welcome to stop by and see her or by making an appointment. The office number is 585-589-4174.
Catherine Cooper is shown after the entrance to her new setup. The World War II uniform is from Dr. John Roche, who was an Army medic. The uniform is on loan from the Medina Historical Society. The poster celebrates the 100th anniversary of the Statue of Liberty in 1986.
It has been an extra busy two years for Cooper with the bicentennial celebration of Orleans County in 2025, and the 250thanniversary of the United States this year. She has helped plan many of the events the past two years, in addition to her regular duties as historian.
Those big milestone years are part of a very eventful tenure so far as historian. Her office already has moved twice in that time with the first move from the basement of Central Hall to the top floor.
Cooper looks forward to things being a little less hectic for the historian and Department of History.
“It’s been a lot of extra excitement that has brought a lot of focus to the department,” Cooper said about the big anniversary celebrations the past two years. “It has made it more challenging and interesting. But what I find the most interesting is going through the collection and sorting, trying to organize it in a fashion that is coherent and can be used by people going forward.”
She is eager to go through and organize more of the files and artifacts.
“I’m looking forward to having time to work on the collection more,” Cooper said. “The filing cabinets I’d like to get revamped. That takes time.”
