Photo by Tom Rivers – The Medina Sandstone Society is working to create a Hall of Fame that will recognize significant buildings and landmarks made from the local stone. The site could include St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Medina.

MEDINA – Some of Orleans County’s and Western New York’s cavernous churches, ornate public buildings, stately residences and enduring memorials share a common building block: Medina sandstone.

A local group wants to recognize some of the long-lasting and architecturally significant sites made of sandstone.

The Medina Sandstone Society has announced it is working to establish a Hall of Fame for buildings and sites made of the local stone. The group would like to induct the first class in October.

“A big part of this is we want to build awareness of the architectural beauty that was created from Medina sandstone and this wonderful resource we have in this community,” said David Miller, one of the Sandstone Society members working on the project.

Nearly 200 years ago Medina sandstone was discovered locally when the canal was dug. Some of that stone in early 1820s was used to build the Canal Culvert in Ridgeway and the Charlotte-Genesee Lighthouse in Rochester.

Photo by Tom Rivers – The Canal Culvert in Ridgeway, built in 1823, is one of area’s most famous sandstone structures. The Medina Sandstone Society hopes to have a list of Hall of Fame nominees by August with the inaugural class to be announced in the fall.

A decade later, the first commercial Medina sandstone quarry opened. In the 100 years that followed, thousands of immigrants were drawn to Orleans County quarries, unearthing the stone and shaping it for some of the region’s most enduring and architecturally significant buildings.

Miller, Jim Hancock and John Slack think it’s long overdue that Medina sandstone is celebrated for its role in some of the area’s most recognizable structures. The trio is leading the effort to create a “Medina Sandstone Hall of Fame.” The society is developing a list of potential HOF nominees. A list of nominees may be presented to the community during Medina’s Canal Fest in August with an induction program possibly in October.

Miller and Hancock were asked by the Sandstone Society earlier this year to investigate the feasibility of establishing a Hall of Fame. The small committee said the project can be done and the full society board backed the project last month.

Miller said the HOF may be a modest effort in the beginning. The society may decide to just enshrine one site from Medina and another one from Western New York for the first class, and then add more in the following years. Or the first class could include several sites from around the state.

“We don’t have to start out with a big bang,” Miller said. “We’re going to feel our way through this. It can definitely grow.”

The size of the class, and the location for the HOF, will be determined in the coming months. Miller said the HOF will likely include framed photographs of the sites with plaques describing their significance. The owners of the buildings will be invited to Medina for the HOF induction.

“We may not limit it to one location,” he said about the Hall of Fame display. “We will put it on the Web. We could have it in the visitor’s center and maybe have a traveling show.”

Photo by Tom Rivers – The Medina Sandstone Society wants to honor sandstone sites in Orleans County, the region and elsewhere. The Richardson Olmsted Complex in Buffalo, which includes twin copper-roofed towers, is one of many Buffalo buildings made from Medina sandstone.

The group’s immediate task is to identify “a list of exceptional structures locally and farther away.” He wants to catalog Medina sandstone sites. He hopes the Hall of Fame encourages more sandstone appreciation projects in Orleans County. He supports the creation of a Sandstone Trail that would link Medina, Albion, Hulberton and Holley – which were all home to sandstone quarries. Many sandstone buildings remain in those communities. A trail with roadside markers would raise more public recognition for the county’s sandstone heritage, he said.

He also would like to see each community develop walking tours of their sandstone buildings.

“The Hall of Fame is only one aspect of this,” he said. “We should develop a trail and build momentum around our sandstone. We want to give people more to do when they come to Medina and Orleans County.”

Photos by Tom Rivers – St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Olean was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2001. The building was constructed in 1890 from Medina sandstone.

OLEAN – Pat Piccirillo admired the building for decades before he ever set foot inside St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Olean.

When he finally went inside, at the coaxing of a woman he was dating, Piccirillo said he was awestruck. The long-time Catholic has since married that woman and has become a devoted Episcopalian, and caretaker for the church built in 1890 at 109 South Barry St.

“It’s just a beautiful church,” he told me by phone. “The whole church is just amazing to me with the way they sculpted the stone and put the windows inside. They had people working on the church who knew what they were doing.”

In 2001, the church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. A sign on St. Stephens proudly notes that designation. St. Stephen’s is one of many buildings across the state constructed of Medina sandstone that have endured as architectural and community treasures.

Many of these buildings have been added to the National Register, a list of about 88,000 properties in the country that have significant local, state or national significance, and deemed worthy of preservation.

Piccirillo is thankful St. Stephen’s is so well constructed.

“You couldn’t possibly build a church like that today,” he said. “You couldn’t afford it. There isn’t enough money in the U.S. Mint.”

The church was built in a Gothic Revival style. It was designed by upstate architect Robert W. Gibson. St. Stephen’s also has stained-glass windows from Germany and an impressive pipe organ.

“People go inside and they stand in awe,” said Piccirillo, 75.

A member of the church vestry, Piccirillo has been going to St. Stephen’s for 14 years. His biggest worry for St. Stephen’s: a small congregation of about 20 to 40 people. He hopes more people join the church to help keep the building up for years to come.
“We do the best we can,” he said.

Editor’s note: I was in Olean for the first time last month. St. Bonaventure University invited to give a presentation about my experiences working with farmworkers in 2008. Back then, I wrote a first-person series for The Daily News of Batavia. I planted onions, milked cows, harvested cabbage, and picked cucumbers and apples. I get asked to share my experiences, and these “talks” take me all over western and central New York.

I love going to these small towns, looking for sandstone buildings and signs of community pride. St. Stephen’s is next to Lincoln Park, one of Olean’s most prominent public places.

Before I spotted St. Stephen’s, I noticed 4-foot-high fiber-glass squirrels sprinkled around the city. The squirrels were painted in a variety of themes, from Starry Night to McDonalds.

The city of Olean launched a public art project in 2007 featuring 4-foot-high painted fiberglass squirrels. There are 28 of them around the city.

The city launched the “Woodland in the City” public art project in 2007 when 28 of the squirrels were painted and displayed around Olean. They remain outside, even in the winter.

Piccirillo said the public art project has been a big success.

“I see people out taking pictures of the squirrels all the time,” he said. “It gets people coming to Olean.”

The city has lots of black squirrels and visitors often comment about them. The fluffy-tailed rodents are also chubbier in Olean than most places, Piccirillo said.

Project organizers also have a sense of humor, he said, and didn’t mind poking fun at the city in Cattaraugus County.

“We’re a little nutty,” he said.