Medina Railroad Museum approved for $8k grant from Preservation League

File photo by Ginny Kropf: Visitors look over a display of Corvair automobiles parked at the Medina Railroad Museum during their visit here several years ago. A grant from the Preservation League of NYS will go towards a plan for rehabilitation and reuse of the 300-foot-long freight house shown in this photo.

MEDINA – The Medina Railroad Museum has been approved for an $8,000 grant to help pay for a “Historic Structure Report” to help the museum plan for rehabilitation and reuse of the 300-foot-long freight house.

The museum plans to hire Clinton Brown Company Architecture for the report on the freight house and to examine potential expansion onto nearby land to increase display space for railroad equipment.

The grant from the Preservation League of NYS is one of 32 for projects in 25 counties that total $297,995 in grant funding.

Each “Preserve New York” grant supports important arts and cultural initiatives, as well as economic development related to our state’s arts and cultural heritage, the Preservation League stated.

“Many of these grants will lead to historic district designation or expansion, telling the stories of communities throughout the state and allowing property owners to take advantage of the New York State and Federal Historic Tax Credits,” the league said. “This is even more valuable now, with the NYS Commercial Historic Tax Credit recently expanded for small projects, granting property owners a 30% credit. The Preservation League of NYS and our program partners at the New York State Council on the Arts and the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation are thrilled to help fund this important work.”

The freight house at the Railroad Museum was built in circa 1905 for the New York Central Railroad. The building is bursting at the seams to accommodate collections storage, 40,000 visitors a year, and museum programs, the league said.

“Navigating the difficulties and hardships of the past year has been a challenge for nonprofits and municipalities across the state,” said Erin Tobin, Vice President for Policy and Preservation and the Preservation League. “The League is grateful to our program partners at NYSCA and the Gardiner Foundation for continuing to support Preserve New York, which will grant much-needed dollars to so many worthwhile preservation projects this year.”

To see a list of all the grant winners, click here.