By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 15 October 2013 at 12:00 am
Photo by Tom Rivers
ALBION – A 20-foot-long mural celebrating the immigrant quarry workers from more than a century ago is being installed this morning at Waterman Park in downtown Albion. (The photo only shows half of the mural.)
Artist Ninandré Bogue of Lyndonville created the mural, which was painted on two 10-foot-long panels. Bogue, left, is pictured with Jay Pahura from the Albion Department of Public Works.
The Albion Rotary Club took the lead on the project that includes funding from the local club, a matching grant from the Rotary District, and additional support from the Orleans County Tourism Department. The Albion DPW provided in-kind services by building the mount that will hold up the mural.
Orleans Hub will have more on the mural later today.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 15 October 2013 at 12:00 am
Photo by Tom Rivers – Ninandré Bogue is pictured in front of a 20-foot-long mural he created in honor of the quarrymen who worked in the Medina sandstone quarries.
ALBION – A mural honoring the workers from local Medina sandstone quarries went up in downtown Albion this morning.
The 20-foot-long painting is located in Waterman Park next to Conrad Cropsey’s building.
“There is an emotional connection with these guys,” said artist Ninandré Bogue of Lyndonville, who created the mural. “There are roots in this community where people are still connected with these workers.”
While Bogue installed the mural with help from the Albion DPW this morning, one quarryman descendant, Vinny Navarra, stopped by and gave the painting his endorsement.
The installation created a buzz on Main Street with some merchants walking over to check it out.
“It gives some eye candy to a place that is a little stale,” said Mike Barnard, owner of Albion TV and Computer. “It certainly can’t hurt.”
Barnard said he knows there are many old quarries around Albion, but he didn’t know the history, the thousands of immigrants who came to the Orleans County to work with the stone. The biggest groups of immigrant stonecutters and quarry workers came from Italy, Poland, Ireland and Britain.
“I knew we had some sandstone history, but I honestly didn’t know much about it,” Barnard said.
These workers use pry bars in a quarry scene created by Nin Bogue.
Bogue looked at photos of the workers and quarries from more than a century ago to try to get ideas for the mural. Most of those photos showed workers in a posed position, resting big sledgehammers on boulders.
He used a book in Italian, that showed workers in quarries in Italy, to see how many of the jobs were done. Bogue said the jobs were dangerous, and they required strength and skill. He noticed many of the workers in the historic photos appeared to be teen-agers, or even younger.
One worker holds a spike while the other hits it with a hammer. Bogue said the workers split the stone by creating a line of holes about a foot apart and 12 inches deep. Holding the spike was a dangerous job, costing many workers their fingers.
The Albion Rotary Club pushed for the mural and lined up the funding with money from the local club, the Rotary District and the Orleans County Tourism Department.
The Albion Department of Public Works provided in-kind services. The DPW built the support structure to attach the mural.
The village and Rotary Club considered attaching the painting to Cropsey’s building, but that wouldn’t have been a good fit with some loose mortar and vinyl siding. Other sites were considered, but the village and Rotary Club preferred Waterman Park.
That spot about a half block south of the Erie Canal is eyed for a quarryman memorial, including a bronze statue of one of the immigrant workers. That project is in the early stages and will likely take at least a $100,000 fund-raising effort from the community to become a reality.
Most of the old photos of the quarry workers show them posed with big sledgehammers by sandstone boulders.
Rotary wanted to highlight the community’s quarrying roots with the mural, while utilizing art for a community beautification project. I’m a member of the Rotary Club and have been working on this project.
I’m hopeful we can lay the groundwork for the statue and start the fund-raising campaign for that early next year. If we can get a good start on the fund-raising, I think we’d have a good chance for a matching state grant.
We could make a compelling case that the statue and a quarrymen heritage site would be a tourism draw, would be an attraction for canal users and would give the downtown business district a boost. We’ll keep chipping away at that project.
Right now, we should celebrate the mural, which utilizes the talents of a local artist while honoring the people who were instrumental in building Albion and the other villages and hamlets in Orleans County.
We’re planning a ribbon-cutting for the mural on Saturday at 10 a.m. That will also serve as a kick off for a shopping tour with many Albion businesses from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. That event includes a raffle and prizes.
Bogue puts the finishing touches on the mural, securing it to its Main Street location this morning.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 15 October 2013 at 12:00 am
Photos by Tom Rivers – The northeast corner of the bell tower at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church was hit with lightning last month, leaving a gap in the turret (the one with the white lines through it). The church is seeking estimates for a repair.
JAMESTOWN – One of the great churches of Western New York that was built with Medina sandstone was hit by lightning on Sept. 1.
The bolt of power took a chunk of sandstone out of a turret in the tower at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Jamestown. The church has taped off a section near the tower, warning pedestrians of danger from up high.
I encountered this church on Sunday while in Jamestown. It is an impressive structure. This is the first Medina sandstone church that I’ve seen with a four-faced clock tower up high. It’s Jamestown’s version of Big Ben.
But the lightning strike causing some electrical problems that stopped the clock at 5:50 p.m. The church bells also now malfunction.
The tower is part a magnificent church complex that was built from 1892 to 1894. The church dominates a city block at 410 North Main St.
Linda Dawson, a junior warden at the church, told me St. Luke’s is working with its insurance company to get estimates for the repairs.
The heat from the lightning may have weakened some of the sandstone, causing some of the sand veins to melt in a glass-like material “making the stone more brittle than before the lightning,” she said.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 14 October 2013 at 12:00 am
Photos by Tom Rivers – The water isn’t too deep on the western tributary of the Oak Orchard River near the Waterport Dam.
WATERPORT – I’ve been hoping to write about Friday’s journey into the woods along the Oak Orchard River in search of the remnants of the trestle and two bridges that have long been gone.
Brandon Blount led me through the woods and we found support walls, steel girders and lots of stone from the bridges. The trestle’s stone bases are hard to miss.
I have a lot of photos from the journey and I’ve decided to break up the stories. I hope to have the trestle and the bridges on the Hub sometime tomorrow.
For now, you can meet two shaggy ink cap mushrooms that were growing a few feet from the base of the trestle in the woods near Clark Mills Road.
Blount, 35, grew up nearby and often ventured into the woods with his grandfather, the late Don “Cookie” Cook of Medina. (I worked with Cookie briefly when I started my newspaper career back in 1996 with the former Albion Advertiser. Cookie worked in the darkroom for The Journal-Register in Medina. I had to stop by once or twice a week so Cookie could develop some of my photos. This was in the pre-digital photography days.)
Blount has a growing collection of photos of mushrooms, flora and fauna. He has about 70 different types of fungi captured on camera. He likes to get their different growing stages as well.
Blount knows the Oak Orchard River and the woods. I didn’t realize the river splits in two near the Waterport Dam before connecting near the Archer’s Club. Most of the fishermen prefer the east end, where the water is a little deeper, and the river moves faster. That makes it more attractive for the big salmon that come up in the fall to lay their eggs.
But the west river draws some fish. We didn’t see any fishermen on the west river near the dam. There were about a dozen dead fish in the water. They spawned and then died. That’s what they do in their life cycle. If they had come up on the east side, they probably would have been caught by the many anglers.
The waterfall by the dam is bigger than it looks from a distance. Get up close and I bet it’s 75 feet in height, maybe bigger.
I should have more tomorrow on the trestle and the old bridges.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 14 October 2013 at 12:00 am
Unpaved public roads in Orleans: Culvert Road in Shelby
Culvert Road in Shelby, as it looks heading north in the fall.
SHELBY – Yesterday I posted an article about Clark Mills Road in Carlton, what I assumed was one of the last few remaining unpaved public roads in Orleans County.
I asked readers to send me information on where more of these roads are located in the county. I’ve received a lot of tips. Looks like there are at least 10 of them.
A couple people mentioned a section of Culvert Road, going north from Route 31A. I was out that way earlier today and I wanted to take a look.
Here’s Culvert Road heading south, not far from the Ridgeway town line.
It’s a glorious fall day and the scene would make for a nice country post card with a field of corn waiting to harvested on one side of the road.
The unpaved section runs about 0.7 mile in the town of Shelby. Once you get to Ridgeway, the pavement begins. If you cross Route 31 going north you will discover one of the great marvels of Orleans County: the Canal Culvert. It is reputed to be the only road that goes under the Erie Canal.
The unpaved section in Shelby is a bumpy ride. But that didn’t stop a delivery truck from roaring past me when I stopped for a photo at about 11:30 a.m.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 14 October 2013 at 12:00 am
Residents with unwanted or expired medications are urged to drop them off at sites in Holley, Albion and Medina on Oct. 26 as part of a nationwide prescription drug take-back initiative.
The following are collection points between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.:
Orleans County Public Safety Building, 13925 State Route 31, Albion
Holley Fire Department, 7 Thomas St., Holley
Medina Fire Department, 600 Main St., Medina
This is a collaborative effort with the U.S. Department of Justice – Drug Enforcement Administration, the Orleans County Health Department, and the Genesee/Orleans Council on Alcoholism and Substance Abuse.
Orleans County Sheriff Scott Hess said the prescription drug take-back events have reduced the risk of prescription drug diversion and abuse, and increased awareness of “this critical public health issue.”
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 14 October 2013 at 12:00 am
Photos by Tom Rivers – Pictured today at a ground-breaking for Medina Memorial Hospital’s new helipad include, from left: Randy Neiswonger, MMH chief operating officer and chief nursing officer; Dolores Horvath, MMH interim CEO; Ruth Bane, a member of the Orleans Community Health Foundation board; Jill Bakeman, Foundation executive director; Medina firefighter Jonathan Higgins; and Jennifer Hill and Art Hill of Art Hill Excavation.
MEDINA – It was about two months ago when Jonathan Higgins went to introduce himself to Dolores Horvath, the newly hired interim CEO for Medina Memorial Hospital.
Higgins, a Medina firefighter, wanted to meet the new CEO and also pitch a plan about a new paved helipad.
Higgins and Medina firefighters often help transport critically injured patients from an ambulance to a Mercy Flight helicopter that lands in a field next to the intersection of Ohio and North Academy streets. The grass field often has been muddy, or firefighters might have to lift the stretcher over a snow bank.
Higgins and the Fire Department told Horvath they could line up donations to reduce the cost of a paved pad for helicopters. Horvath gave the $25,000 project her blessing. None of costs will come out of the hospital’s budget.
Higgins and the fire department lined up about $15,000 worth of donations or discounted services and materials. The Orleans Community Health Foundation contributed the other $10,000.
“This will just be wonderful for the patients of Orleans County,” Horvath said today following a ground-breaking ceremony for the helipad.
The new helipad includes a driveway so ambulances can pull off the street to move patients.
Art Hill Excavation of Medina is building the 40-by-40-foot helipad, which includes a curb cut and 80-foot-long driveway. The company donated an interwoven geo-technical fabric that went above the soil. Then about 8 inches of a stone base has been applied. Art Hill Excavation expects to add the binder and the black top this week to complete the project.
Shelby Stone and Keeler Construction also contributed materials for the project.
Art Hill Excavation was eager to help with the project, said company owner Jennifer Hill.
“These are the most critical patients,” she said about the patients that use Mercy Flight. “You want to help them out.”
Higgins said a helicopter transports patients about 50 times a year from the spot. Not only is the field sometimes muddy or covered in snow, but firefighters had to stop their ambulance on Ohio Street to then move patients to the helicopter. Now the ambulance can pull off the street and on the driveway leading to the helipad.
“It’s been fairly unsafe,” Higgins said. “This is a busy street and people would get distracted looking at the helicopter.”
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 14 October 2013 at 12:00 am
Photos by Tom Rivers
MEDINA – Contractors arrived in Medina this morning to begin the task of replacing rotted structural support beams on the Bent’s Opera House.
The 150-year-old timbers will be removed and replaced with 7-foot-long steel beams in the next two to three weeks if the project goes to plan, contractors said this morning.
Matthews House Movers in Rochester has been hired to replace the beams. Matthews workers were rigging or installing “cribbing” that will serve as a temporary support so the rotted beams can be removed and the new supports installed.
The Orleans Renaissance Group, owner of the Bent’s Opera House, secured a $100,000 emergency loan from the Preservation League of New York State. The funds will be used immediately to address the main structural support timber on the building’s southeast corner.
The removal of the faux stone and facia last year revealed a critical concern: the condition of the main support timber on what was the former Armstrong’s Drug Store has rotted to the point where the structural integrity of the building could be compromised, said Chris Busch, ORG vice chairman.
The rotted timbers caused “dramatic settling” in the corner of the building with some cracks visible in the wall.
“It’s a miracle the masonry wall on that corner had not suffered a much greater and more calamitous compromise,” Busch said.
The horizontal wooden beams in the lower corner of the Bent’s building will be removed and replaced with steel supports.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 14 October 2013 at 12:00 am
Photos by Tom Rivers – The tower at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church includes the only chime bells in the city of Jamestown.
St. Luke’s Episcopal Church was built from 1892-1894 at 410 North Main St., Jamestown.
JAMESTOWN – In 1892, the daughter-in-law of the city’s founder, James Prendergast, wanted to build a memorial for her daughter, Catherine.
Mary Prendergast chose to construct a new church for the St. Luke’s Episcopal congregation in Jamestown. A sprawling and towering church edifice was constructed from 1892 to 1894. The site includes a tower with a clock on four faces, as well as the city’s only chime bells.
I saw this church for the first time on Sunday. I approached it in the morning darkness. The church had a light glow, a feeling of mystery. Even with its dark outlines in the morning, I knew this is one of the most impressive church buildings I’d seen in a small city.
The site at 410 North Main St. also includes a Medina sandstone chapel and an office building made of our local stone.
The Episcopal Church in Jamestown lavishly used Medina sandstone to build not only the church, but this chapel and an office building next door.
James Prendergast founded the city in the early 1800s. His family also built a public library for Jamestown and picked Medina sandstone for that building. (I’ll feature the library in an upcoming Sandstone Heritage article.)
Mary Prendergast was married to Alexander, the son of the city founder. Family members were long-time leaders of the Episcopal church.
A plaque inside the church recognizes the family for their gift of building the church.
“This is none other but the house of God and this is the gate of Heaven,” the inscription states.
It feels calm and reverential inside the church sanctuary.
The church includes numerous stained-glass windows that are all works of art.
The Episcopal Church first built at this site in 1856. But that wooden building burned six years later. The second building was removed in 1892 so the massive Medina sandstone complex could be built.
I grew up not far from Jamestown. In this corner of the world, Western New York winters are their fiercest. When we have 2 inches of snow in Orleans County, the Jamestown area is often hit with a foot of the white stuff. The wind blows hard over there and it feels a lot colder.
This church has stood strong throughout it all, but it is showing signs of wear. A chunk from up high had recently fallen from the tower and the church had a section below on the sidewalk area blocked off, with bright tape that said “Danger.”
A chunk of the tower has fallen at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church.
This church isn’t listed on the National Register of Historic Places, but it clearly should be. I also noticed active ministries at the site, including a coffee shop, and clothing exchange.
I’ve noticed that Episcopal congregations in Western New York were devoted customers for the Medina sandstone quarries. Besides this great church in Jamestown, I’ve found Episcopal churches made of Medina sandstone in Buffalo (St. Paul’s Cathedral may be the most awesome of them all), Rochester at Christ Church, and churches in Olean, Medina, Holley and Brockport.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 13 October 2013 at 12:00 am
Favorite daughter Lucille Ball has been part of resurgence
A manhole cover in Jamestown has been turned into a work of art. It’s part of a bigger theme that ties in with the city’s embrace of native Lucille Ball.
Photos by Tom Rivers
JAMESTOWN – It’s been a few years since I was in Jamestown, a small industrial city down the Thruway, a good hour past Buffalo. It wasn’t a place I liked to go visit.
When I heard politicans and other people talk about Upstate New York in crisis, Jamestown always came to mind. Once a manufacturing powerhouse, the city fell on hard times, its cavernous factories largely idled and left in ruin.
I grew up about a half hour drive from Jamestown. The city and community seemed to hit a low point in 1997, when it was in the national news after a city resident, Nushawn Williams, was accused and convicted of knowingly passing on HIV to 13 women, including teen-agers.
The cameras and media flocked to a city that seemed crushed after a prolonged, deep economic downturn.
I was back in Jamestown today to run a half marathon, the inaugural Lucy Town Marathon, with my wife and sister-in-law. Every finisher received a medal with Lucille Ball’s smiling face. Ball, the famous comedian and television star, grew up in Jamestown.
The city has proclaimed its love for Lucy with giant murals, banners along the streets and a The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Center for Comedy, a museum that opened in 1996. It continues to grow and hosts a comedy festival and numerous events with funny themes.
Jamestown hosted today’s half marathon and many runners wore Lucy polka dot dresses.
One of today’s runners in a Lucy costume
The city, which looked grimy and gritty in the Nushawn Williams saga, has reinvented itself as an upbeat place to go. Many buildings have large framed artwork on the exterior sides.
I didn’t see too many empty storefronts. There were lots of independent small-town merchants giving the city a try.
Downtown buildings display art on their exterior walls.
One major improvement opened about a decade ago, a new ice arena that seats 1,900. It is home to numeorus hockey tournaments and also serves as a concert venue for stars such as Kenny Rogers and Clint Black.
The city has an “Urban Literary Trail” with 42 selections of poetry and prose displayed on walls and windows throughout Jamestown. There are numerous historical markers that talk about the city’s proud past and industrial heritage.
The Urban Literary Trail highlights the written word.
Jamestown has even turned manhole covers of its sewer system into works of art. Many of them are painted red with white hearts in honor of their favorite daughter, Lucille Ball.
Many of Jamestown’s improvements didn’t cost much, except a coat of paint. If upstate becomes known for a renaissance, Jamestown may be the city that serves as the model.
