Downtown Albion gets new bike racks, old hitching posts
Photos by Tom Rivers – Four new bike racks, with a tugboat theme, were added to downtown Albion today.
The DPW installed two hitching posts and the foundation for an interpretive panel that explains the relics from the horse and buggy era.
ALBION – It was an interesting day for the Albion Department of Public Works. The DPW installed new bike racks with a tugboat theme in the downtown, just in time for the 500 cyclists who will be passing through Albion on Monday morning as part of the “Cycling the Erie Canal” event.
The bike racks are shiny and new. They were paid for with a Main Street grant for street-scape improvements.
The DPW also installed two hitching posts. Those sandstone relics were actually property markers from more than a century ago. A local blacksmith, George Borrelli, made rings and metal pins for the hitching posts.
Tony Russo, a stone mason from Medina, drilled holes in the posts and poured in lead to secure the rings. There are four altogether with one planned for the courthouse lawn and another headed for the sidewalk in front of Krantz Furniture.
Albion Main Street Alliance facilitated the hitching post project, raising the money and finding the specialists skilled in blacksmith and stone work.
The two hitching posts put in today are next to the Presbyterian Church by the village parking lot. That setup will also include a carriage step and interpretive panel.
