Railroad Museum wants freight house listed on National Register of Historic Places

Photo by Ginny Kropf: Jeff Lewis, director of the Medina Railroad Museum, holds a picture of an E8 locomotive, which was used by the New York Central when it was in operation. The museum owns the only two of the engines in existence painted in the iconic lightning strike pattern.

MEDINA – Medina Railroad Museum’s director Jeff Lewis has had a busy few months since taking on the new job in January.

His current project is applying for the plaque which designates the building’s historic status.

According to Lewis, the Railroad Museum founder Marty Phelps started researching a historic marker in 1995, when he applied for historic status for the building. In 1997, New York Parks, Recreation and Historic Places granted the museum a designation as a member of the downtown historic district.

The Main Street Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1995. It included the parcel on which the Medina Railroad Museum stands as a portion of historic district. If the Freight House was listed separately on the registry as a historic building it would assist the museum in attracting restoration funding.

“We would like to get designation for the building to enhance our efforts to attract restoration resources,” Lewis said. “We have to apply again and ask to have the building added to the historic register.”

The building which houses the Medina Railroad Museum was built in 1905 and is 301 feet long and 34 feet wide. It is purported to be the largest, existing wooden freight station in the United States. It was built by the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad Company and replaced an earlier freight station which outgrew the shipping needs of the burgeoning community of Medina.

It was reported the single industry which most contributed to the development of the village was the establishment of H.J. Heinz Co. plant in 1899. This plant, located west of the Railroad Museum on Park Avenue, is today known as the Olde Pickle Factory.

The museum building operated as a freight station until 1965 when it was converted into a furniture warehouse. A lifelong railroad fan, Phelps purchased the building in 1991 and began transforming it into the railroad museum.

Contributing elements to be added to the Historic District include the freight station and that portion of railroad tracks which extends from the present district boundary to the western edge of the nominated parcel.

Lewis explained this effort is in preparation for a capital campaign next year and celebration of the building’s 120th anniversary.

He is also going to apply for a Tag Grant from New York State Preservation to put together a renovation plan which will address new gutters to take water away from the foundation.

“We need to address it now so it doesn’t get out of control,” Lewis said.

He said the museum will do a bunch of things next year in honor of the special anniversary. This includes selling bricks for a walkway to the trains as part of a legacy program.

In other museum business, the board has recently had the two E8 locomotives they own appraised. If enough money is raised to put in a siding, the E8s could be displayed there for the public to view.