By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 9 December 2014 at 12:00 am
Congregation sought measure as way to protect building
File photos by Tom Rivers – St. John’s Episcopal Church was built in 1832, making it the oldest remaining church in Orleans County. The church was featured in Ripley’s Believe It or Not as “The church in the middle of the street.” Church Street splits by the church near the intersection with East Center Street (Route 31).
MEDINA – The Medina Village Board approved local landmark status on Monday for St. John’s Episcopal Church, a designation that will require any exterior alterations to the building to get Village Planning Board approval.
The church requested the designation for the building, which opened in 1832. It is Orleans County’s oldest remaining church. It was built with Medina sandstone before there were any commercial quarries.
This is the first Medina church outside a historic district to be declared a landmark. The Presbyterian Church is part of the downtown business district that is on the National Register of Historic Places.
The local designation could pave the way for St. John’s to pursue inclusion on the state and national registers of historic places.
Medina Mayor Andrew Meier praised the Episcopal congregation for seeking the local landmark status.
“I’m glad to see the church sees the merits in doing this,” Meier said at Monday’s Village Board meeting. “It is one of the oldest structures in the county.”
The village about five years ago sought to have other churches near the downtown district be declared local landmarks, but the First Baptist, United Methodist and St. Mary’s Catholic Church all opposed the move, saying they feared the designation could saddle them, making building upkeep more costly.
“I’m hopeful some of the other churches will follow suit,” Martin Busch, the village’s code enforcement officer, said after Monday’s meeting. “There is no reason to feel threatened. It’s a recognition of the historic significance of the building to a community.”
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 5 December 2014 at 12:00 am
File photos by Tom Rivers – Massive Medina sandstone pillars are at the entrance of Boxwood Cemetery with a sandstone chapel from 1903 in the background. The State Parks Department nominated the cemetery for the National Register of Historic Places on Thursday.
MEDINA – In 1849, Medina resident David Card expressed his dying wish: “to be buried on the hill north of Medina.” Card got his wish, and his burial was the catalyst for establishing Boxwood Cemetery.
The 20-acre site has become the final resting place for 5,000 people. It is also a distinctive example of several cemetery movements. It was originally established in the Rural Cemetery manner in 1850. The cemetery on North Gravel Road (Route 63) grew in size, and later sections were added in the Lawn Park and Memorial Park styles. The State Parks Department on Thursday nominated the cemetery for the National Register of Historic Places.
The National Park Service, through the U.S. Department of the Interior, will have final say on the cemetery’s inclusion on the Register. If it is approved, it would be the fourth cemetery in Orleans County to make the National Register, following Mount Albion Cemetery, Millville Cemetery in Shelby and Hillside Cemetery in Holley and Clarendon.
The listing gives the sites better access to grants and funding for preservation initiatives.
Boxwood reflects the changing and developing tastes in cemetery design from the mid 19th Century to the late 20th Century, according to the State Parks Department.
Boxwood Cemetery was built on a hill just outside the village. Drawing from contemporary English romantic landscape design ideas, Rural Cemeteries such as Boxwood utilized varied topography, curving drives for carriages and separate pedestrian pathways.
“At Boxwood Cemetery, the basic principles of these design trends, such as the rolling landscape and individual fenced family plots typical of Rural Cemeteries and later the emphasis on the unbroken lawn landscape, were translated for the size and resources of the growing Medina community,” according to the National Register nomination. “As the cemetery grew in size throughout the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Boxwood Cemetery looked to the latest theories and ideas about cemetery design, designing subsequent additions reflective of this evolution.”
The cemetery includes many prominent residents who made an impact locally and beyond. Among those listed in the National Register nomination, include:
Don Bent, who established the local opera house that was a major center of civic, educational, and social affairs in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Charles Newton Hood, who ran the opera house and was also a newspaperman.
Edward Davey, an award-winning carriage maker.
Albert L. Swett (gravesite pictured), a prominent businessman who helped put Medina on the map with his company, Swett Iron Works. He is also responsible for bringing electric power to Medina by damming Oak Orchard Creek, located just to the east behind Boxwood Cemetery, thus creating Glenwood Lake as a reservoir to run his electric-generating plant.
John Ryan, who opened the first commercial quarry of Medina sandstone.
Levan Merritt, a successful businessman who helped lay out Boxwood Cemetery.
W.B. Robbins, part owner of a foundry and four-time village president.
Silas M. Burroughs, a general in the New York State Militia, a state assemblyman, and a representative in the U.S. Congress.
Henry A. Childs, a Supreme Court Justice for the Western District of New York.
Irving L’Hommedieu, a state senator.
Edwin Franklin Brown, a wounded Civil War veteran who went on to be the military mayor of Vicksburg, MS during Reconstruction and then became the inspector general of the National Homes for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers. A hospital in Dayton, OH, was named in his honor.
Major General John S. Thompson, who as a captain during World War I was decorated with the British Distinguished Conduct Medal, Belgian Medal, French Service Cross and United States Medal.
George Shattuck, whose books on penmanship were used throughout the world.
Boxwood Cemetery is characteristic of the Rural Cemetery movement. Prior to that movement, most burial grounds tended to be in church yards and associated with a specific denomination, according to Boxwood’s National Register nomination. Rural Cemeteries created a non-sectarian burial place that emphasized romantic associations with picturesque, park-like natural landscapes.
The Village of Medina has owned and maintained Boxwood since it was formally established in 1850.
For more information on Boxwood, click here to see its National Register nomination.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 1 December 2014 at 12:00 am
Our Sandstone Heritage
Photos by Tom Rivers – The Annunciation Church looms large on Lafayette Avenue in Buffalo.
BUFFALO – I admit I was a little lost in Buffalo on Saturday. But suddenly I felt like I was back in Orleans County.
On Lafayette Avenue there is a Catholic church that looks almost identical to St. Mary’s in Medina. I parked at St. Mary’s on Saturday morning to go cover the 5K race in Medina. A few hours later I was looking at St. Mary’s twin.
St. Mary’s in Medina looks a lot like Annunciation, except in Medina the taller tower is on the opposite side.
I was in Buffalo for a book event at The Buffalo History Museum. I was one of 75 local authors there.
I was antsy for much of the event because I wanted to get out and explore. Buffalo is a Medina sandstone powerhouse. After the book event, I went over to the Richardson Olmsted Complex to get some new photos. This site is being remodeled to become a hotel and conference center. It’s one of the great sandstone structures in the region.
I could see a church steeple in the distance and it appeared to be a sandstone building. But I didn’t find that church. Instead I was passing along Lafayette Avenue when I encountered the Annunciation Roman Catholic Church at 257 Lafayette Ave.
The cornerstone of this church was set in 1898. It was erected in 1900-1901.
It has two spires just like St. Mary’s, and has the Gothic Revival architectural style. However, Annunciation is a little different. It has the taller spire on the left side, where St. Mary’s is taller on the right. Otherwise, the look very much alike.
I did a little research and they were both designed by the same architect, Albert A. Post, a leading ecclesiastical architect and also a devote Catholic. He designed many Catholic churches in the Buffalo area and in Ontario, Canada.
The Annunciation site, part of Our Lady of Hope Parish, includes a school, rectory and convent. I like the old doors at these churches.
Annunciation even has distinctive door knockers.
St. Mary’s was built at the turn of the century during Medina’s boom years. City Hall and railroad depot also were built in this era.
The church served a primarily Irish congregation when it opened. St. Mary’s was designed in a Fourteenth Century English Gothic style.
Construction of St. Mary’s in Medina started in 1902. The church was dedicated and consecrated July 10, 1904. The north tower is 170 feet high with the south tower at 100 feet.
St. Mary’s was one of six sites to make the first class of the Medina Sandstone Hall of Fame last December.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 24 November 2014 at 12:00 am
Our Sandstone Heritage
Photos by Tom Rivers
The Richmond Memorial Library opened in April 1889 on Ross Street in Batavia. The site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.
The building features outstanding stone carvings, including this face.
BATAVIA – The initial design for the Richmond Memorial Library wasn’t good enough for Mary Richmond, wife of the late Dean Richmond. In 1887, she announced a plan to pay for a new public library in Batavia as a memorial to her son, Dean Richmond Jr.
She offered to pay $9,000 for the project. After seeing the design, she wanted more for the community and upped the contribution to $24,000. The new library opened in April 1889. Richmond spared no expense in what many consider one of Batavia’s finest public buildings.
The site utilizes gray Medina sandstone and red sandstone from Albion. It was built in a Richardson Romanesque style, with rounded windows and arches.
Dean Richmond made a fortune in the railroad industry. When he died his estate was valued at $1.5 million. His wife, known for her charity and business acumen, expanded the value of the Richmond estate to $6 million.
Her husband was an advocate for the public education system. The new library was donated to the school district and utilized leading architects and the finest building materials around.
The stone workers created this elaborate and ornamental sign out of stone. The library name is entwined in a leafy vine.
Henry H. Richardson designed several libraries in the Boston area. The Batavia library emulates the style of many of the Richardson libraries. Richardson also was a big fan of Medina sandstone, using it in the State Capitol building in Albany and the Richardson Olmsted Complex, originally the Buffalo Psychiatric Center.
For more on the history of the Batavia library, click here.
The faces carved in stone have endured 125 years since the library opened in 1889.
Orleans Hub in June featured another public library made of Medina sandstone. The James Prendergast Library has been an iconic structure in the city of Jamestown since it opened in 1891, two years after the Richmond Memorial Library in Batavia.
Here is a picture of the Jamestown library, which also has many Romanesque features with arches and rounded windows.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 18 November 2014 at 12:00 am
Photo by Tom Rivers – The former New York State Asylum for the Insane, built in 1870, was abandoned and neglected. It will be receive $69 million in renovations and be turned into a hotel and conference center.
BUFFALO – A building in Buffalo that may be one of the finest Medina sandstone structures ever built is getting new life as the “Hotel Henry.”
The owners of the former New York State Asylum for the Insane announced on Monday the site will be known as the Hotel Henry, a tribute to famed architect, Henry Hobson Richardson, who designed the structure on Forest Avenue.
The not-for-profit Richardson Center Corporation has pursued a reuse plan for the complex since it was formed in 2006. For many years prior, committed preservationists, elected officials, and community members focused attention on the decades of neglect and deterioration.
The site will receive $69 million renovations and open at Hotel Henry with 88 rooms in the fall 2016. The site will also be a conference center and restaurant.
This project will keep Medina sandstone in the news for years to come. Members of the Medina Sandstone Society inducted the Richardson Olmsted Complex as an inaugural member in the Medina Sandstone Hall of Fame last December.
The Sandstone Society has asked that the center for architecture in the complex include a display about Medina sandstone and immigrant quarrymen who worked in the sandstone quarries in Orleans County.
The building is a National Historic Landmark. Richardson worked with prominent landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted to develop the site, which includes 42 acres and collection of buildings known as the Richardson Olmsted Complex. It is nationally recognized as a great work of the two masters.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 14 November 2014 at 12:00 am
Provided photo – St. Peter’s Cathedral in Erie, Pa., towers 265 feet and remains a dominant part of the city skyline.
MEDINA – Eleven sites, some soaring 200 feet or higher, have joined the list of nominations for the Medina Sandstone Hall of Fame.
Some of the nominees are huge and breathtaking in their size. St. Peter’s Cathedral in Erie, Pa., takes up about three city blocks. It towers more than 265 feet.
“It is truly a magnificent structure with massive amounts of Medina sandstone,” Jim Hancock, a member of the Hall of Fame Committee, said during a nomination reception on Thursday.
The church was built in 1894. It was the first site outside New York State to make the list of nominees.
Photo by Tom Rivers – The First Presbyterian Church in Albion, shown during a winter storm last February, has endured many Western New York winters.
Three sites were nominated from Orleans County: First Presbyterian Church in Albion, built in 1874; the former St. Rocco’s Catholic Church (now Cornerstone Christian Church), built by Italian immigrants in Hulberton in 1906; and Robin Hill Manor, a residence completed in 1952 by William Smith in Lyndonville.
Several locations in Buffalo also were nominated: The Asbury-Delaware Church (now known as Babeville), built in 1876 and now a performing arts venue and events center owned by singer Ani DiFranco; the Olmsted Circles at the Buffalo parks, built in 1876; the Buffalo Crematory from 1885; and the W.H. Gratwick House, built in 1888 but torn down in 1919. (Because it was demolished it wouldn’t be included in the Hall of Fame).
John Slack, a member of the Hall of Fame Committee, discusses the Olmsted Circles, which have been nominated for the Medina Sandstone Hall of Fame.
Two sites were nominated in Jamestown. St. Luke’s Episcopal Church 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. The Prendergast family funded the church project.
That family also paid for Jamestown’s public library. The James Prendergast Free Library opened in 1891. The building consumes an entire city block on Cherry Street. The library has rounded arches, a turret on the southeast corner and stone steps that were cut from a single stone to help the steps weather the harsh winter climate.
Photo by Tom Rivers – The Prendergast Library in Jamestown is one of two sites from Jamestown nominated for the Medina Sandstone Hall of Fame.
The HOF Committee traveled to Central New York to visit the Sonnenberg Mansion in Canandaigua. The Queen Anne-style mansion was built from 1885 to 1887 and has 40 rooms. The Sonnenberg Mansion and its gardens are now a part of the New York State Parks Department.
Provided photo – The Sonnenberg Mansion is now part of the NY State Park Department. The 40-room mansion was completed in 1887.
The nominated sites join 15 holdovers from 2013 for consideration for the Hall of Fame. Six inaugural sites were enshrined last December. The second class will be inducted in the spring.
“We can be proud of the Medina Sandstone Society for recognizing the beautiful sandstone buildings that have been erected from Orleans County stone,” said Kathy Blackburn, director of the Orleans County Chamber of Commerce.
During a reception Thursday at the Medina Theatre, she praised the Sandstone Society for working to preserve and promote the Medina Sandstone heritage. The Sandstone Society also gives out annual grants for local community projects.
Jennifer Wells-Dickerson speaks about her great-grandfather, Pasquale DiLaura of Albion, who kept the sandstone industry alive from 1920 to the 1960s.
Thursday’s reception included a feature about Pasquale DiLaura. When the sandstone industry was struggling in 1920, he opened a quarry in Clarendon and lined up work for the stone masons. DiLaura led the crews that built the Hamlin Beach State Park. He taught the young men in the Civilian Conservation Corps how to cut stone. Many of those structures endure about 80 years after they were built.
DiLaura’s stone also was used for the Lake Ontario State Parkway and many other local projects. His great-granddaughter, Jennifer Wells-Dickerson, shared his story during the reception on Thursday. She said she is working on a book about DiLaura.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 29 October 2014 at 12:00 am
Provided photo – Contractors are replacing decayed timber and replacing it with steel beams at the southeast corner of the Bent’s Opera House in Medina.
Photo by Tom Rivers – The Bent’s Opera House is a landmark on Main Street in Medina. This photo was taken on Friday.
MEDINA – The rotted wooden beams in the southeast corner of the Bent’s Opera House are being replaced with steel beams, which will strengthen the building and stop the sagging at that corner of the historic structure.
The opera house was built during the Civil War in 1864. The Orleans Renaissance Group owns the site and moved to replace the rotted wood after an engineering assessment last year showed the work was critical.
The main structural support timbers had decayed due to water infiltration. The ORG secured a $100,000 emergency loan from the Preservation League of New York State for the project.
The original wooden beam also decayed due to water infiltration. ORG will replace the decayed section of the wood beam with new steel. Once the steel is in, a mason will remortar the stone wall.
ORG will reconstruct the missing masonry walls from footers below the basement up to the beam that supports the second- and third-story stone façade. The projects should be done by the end of the year.
ORG will also have a contractor use new mortar to rebuild and repoint some of the existing stone. The projects could be done by the end of the year.
ORG has plans for Phase 2 at Bent’s. That will include restoration of the original three storefronts using decorative cast-iron columns and cornice. The Village Planning Board in August approved a certificate of appropriateness for that work.
Photos by Tom Rivers – The twin copper-roofed towers of Medina sandstone rise high above Forest Avenue in Buffalo. The Richardson Olmsted Complex has been a massive Buffalo landmark since 1872.
BUFFALO – Medina sandstone is back in the news again. One of the greatest Medina sandstone structures, the former Buffalo Psychiatric Center, is the focus of a $69 million redevelopment in Buffalo.
A site that had been largely abandoned will be reborn as a boutique hotel, conference center and architecture center.
State and city officials, as well as project developers, celebrated the start of construction on the project on Oct. 10. Over the next two years contractors will turn the Richardson Olmsted Complex into an 88-room hotel, a 300-plus seat conference and event center, an architecture center for Buffalo in the three main buildings, and the re-greening of the site through a new landscape and roadway.
“The reimagined Richardson Olmsted Complex will create a new venue for business events and a new place in Western New York for visitors to explore,” Gov. Cuomo said. “We’re proud to have helped with the redevelopment of this complex, which is another great example of Buffalo’s continued momentum.”
The Richardson Olmsted Complex, the former Buffalo Psychiatric Center, is being renovated into a hotel and architecture center. The complex is made of Medina sandstone and was designed by Henry H. Richardson, the first American architect to attain international acclaim.
This National Historic Landmark is a masterpiece of the great American architect Henry Hobson Richardson and landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, along with his partner Calvert Vaux. The 42 acres and collection of buildings known as the Richardson Olmsted Complex is nationally recognized as a great work of these two masters and locally admired for the monumental presence and iconic copper towers.
The not-for-profit Richardson Center Corporation has pursued a reuse plan for the complex since it was formed in 2006. For many years prior, committed preservationists, elected officials, and community members focused attention on the decades of neglect and deterioration.
The redevelopment will include opportunities for Western New York residents to enjoy the South Lawn, eat at the restaurant and visit the architecture center, which will celebrate excellence in architecture, landscape architecture and city planning as influenced by Buffalo’s outstanding architectural heritage. It will also include exhibits and programming that honors the mental health, architectural and landscape history of the site.
The Medina Sandstone Society named the Richardson Olmsted Complex as an inaugural member of the Medina Sandstone Hall of Fame last December.
The two-year construction period will begin with exterior work on the windows, roof, ready the north entry for replacement entry, and masonry. Next year, the site work and interior build out will begin. The hotel, conference and event spaces, as well as the Buffalo Architecture Center, are all expected to open in Fall 2016.
Considerable effort also has been made to be true to the original landscape design intent by world-renowned landscape architect, Frederick Law Olmsted. Stabilization activities totaling $10 million have taken place to prevent further deterioration and vandalism of the nearly 500,000 square feet of buildings.
The Richardson Center Corporation is now undertaking the renovation as the developer of this first phase. The $69 million construction project is funded with $54 million in state support and will leverage $15 million in state and federal Historic Tax Credits. The Richardson Center Corporation’s investor for the historic tax credits is M&T Bank. In addition, Empire State Development provided grants for the preconstruction, stabilization and re-greening activities.
“The Richardson Olmsted Complex is the third jewel in the crown of Buffalo’s rich architecture, along with the Guaranty Building and the Darwin Martin House,” said Stanford Lipsey, chairman of the Richardson Center Corporation. “Its reuse will play a vital role in continuing the impressive growth of our region’s economic resurgence, and would not have been possible without the outstanding leadership of the board and the investment of New York State.”
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 10 October 2014 at 12:00 am
DiLaura helped keep Sandstone industry alive
Provided photos – Pasquale DiLaura, right, and his son Ellis DiLaura discuss stone specifications. Ellis went on to succeed his father as owner of the O’Brien Quarry and DiLaura Construction.
This photo, taken about a half century ago shows the completed Manitou Road bridge over the Lake Ontario State Parkway. The DiLaura Stone Co. did the Medina Sandstone work on the bridges and culverts on the Lake Ontario State Parkway in the 1950s and 1960s, perhaps the last major public works project with local Medina Sandstone.
BROCKPORT – A new exhibit opens in Brockport today by the great-granddaughter of a man who kept the Medina Sandstone industry alive in Orleans County from the 1920s through the 1960s.
The sandstone business was a powerhouse in 1900, employing about 2,000 people. But by 1920, it was struggling against cheap competition – cement.
In the 1920s and ’30s, Pasquale DiLaura was urged to leave the Albion area and join many of his quarrymen friends who left the area to the work in the auto factories in Detroit and Michigan.
DiLaura decided to stay put. He bought a quarry on Howard Road in the Town of Clarendon. The quarry was cheap. Its previous owner, the Orleans County Quarry Company, hadn’t paid the taxes.
Workers are pictured at the O’Brien Quarry on Howard Road in the Town of Clarendon. Pasquale DiLaura purchased the O’Brien quarry in 1939 after the previous owner, the Orleans County Quarry Company, owed back taxes. Although his quarry company was named DiLaura Stone Co., he never changed the name of the quarry. This photo is one of about two dozen featured in an exhibit opening today at A Different Path Gallery on 27 Market St.
Sadie Malone, left, and Gerry DiGirolamo dress stone at the quarry.
While many of the quarries shut down, DiLaura kept promoting the product and gave it about 40 more years of life.
He wrote letters to U.S. senators and the Works Progress Administration in Washington, D.C., urging them to pick a project with Medina Sandstone for the public benefit. DiLaura led the crews that built the Hamlin Beach State Park. He taught the young men in the Civilian Conservation Corps how to cut stone. Many of those structures endure about 80 years after they were built.
Jennifer Wells-Dickerson was looking over family photographs, and showed them to a friend in an arts guild in Brockport. That friend helped Wells-Dickson enlarge and display photographs of her great-grandfather and his employees working in the quarry and on major local projects, including Hamlin Beach and the Parkway.
There is an opening reception for the exhibit today from 7 to 9 p.m. at A Different Path Gallery on 27 Market St.
Photo by Tom Rivers – Jennifer Wells-Dickerson and her mother Suzanne Wells are pictured in the gallery displaying photos of quarry workers in the 1950s and 1960s, with a few photos from before that era.
Wells-Dickerson, 34, works as a professional jewelry maker. She lives just across the Orleans County line in Hamlin. She first researched the local quarry industry as a high school student for a class project.
She has become more interested and appreciative of the quarry workers and her family’s role in the business because she sees the stonework almost every day at the Parkway and Hamlin Beach.
“I appreciate hand-made things and the craftsmanship,” she said. ‘It’s the opposite of what we have today.”
Her great-grandfather kept detailed records with his ledgers and calculations for how much stone would be needed for projects. Jennifer’s mother, Suzanne, remembers Pasquale always having a ruler in his pocket or hand.
Masons from the DiLaura Stone Co. check their work on the walkway on one of the bridges of the Lake Ontario State Parkway. Pasquale DiLaura is at center with the ruler.
This crew takes a break in 1962 while working in the quarry. Pictured include Roosevelt Fields (leaning on truck at left), Pasquale DiLaura (center), Sadie Malone, Gerry DiGirolamo, (?) Passarell, Margaret Ann DiLaura, and Ellis DiLaura (in cab).
Suzanne, a retired Albion art teacher, has looked over Pasquale’s records and developed deep respect for his drive to keep the industry alive in the county – and keep local men employed.
He was a Medina Sandstone ambassador and persuasive salesmen, securing the contracts and work at Hamlin Beach and the Parkway. The family also has his rough drafts of letters he sent to Cleveland and other cities, suggesting Medina Sandstone for public works projects.
The Brockport exhibit includes one of his drawings of the Manitou Bridge stone work, a list of names of his employees and a letter from the Albion branch of the Journeymen Stone Cutters Association of North America.
The union sent a letter on May 27, 1938 to Harry L. Hopkins, director of the W.P.A. in Washington, D.C. The letter says that Pasquale DiLaura had operated a quarry for 20 years, including during the Great Depression, keeping “a large number” of the stone cutters on the payroll even without an outlet for the material.
The Stone Cutters said, in its letter to the WPA, that DiLaura “has proven himself a real friend of the working men of this community.”
DiLaura would pass the business to his son Ellis, Suzanne’s father.
Wells-Dickerson hopes the exhibit in Brockport will shine a light on the quarry workers.
“A lot of people drive down there and they don’t know who’s behind it,” she said.
She also hopes to have the exhibit at other locations, including libraries and galleries in Orleans County.
Photo by Jennifer Wells-Dickerson – The DiLaura Construction Company did the stone work on the culverts and bridges along the Lake Ontario State Parkway.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 9 October 2014 at 12:00 am
Commission is working on projects, improvements for site
Photos by Tom Rivers – Stone pillars hold up large iron gates at the entrance of Boxwood Cemetery on North Gravel Road. The entrance also includes a chapel, built in 1903 from Medina Sandstone.
MEDINA – One of the area’s grandest burial grounds, Boxwood Cemetery, may soon be recognized as a historical asset, a status that could help Medina secure grants for improvements at the cemetery on North Gravel Road.
The Village of Medina and the Boxwood Commission are working with the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation to have Boxwood put on the state and national registers of historic places.
Kathy Blackburn, Boxwood Commission chairwoman, said a decision at the state level is expected in December. If approved, Boxwood would join three other Orleans County cemeteries with the historic designation: Mount Albion Cemetery, Millville Cemetery and Hillside Cemetery in Clarendon.
Boxwood Cemetery has many retaining walls made of Medina Sandstone. Some of the walls need repairs.
The commission was reinvigorated last year and wants to draw more people to the cemetery for events and also make needed improvements to the site, Blackburn said.
The historic designation from the state and federal government could help the village obtain grants for resetting headstones, fixing sandstone walls, fighting erosion and tackling other projects.
The commission has made progress in the past year, Blackburn said. It has replaced the door in the chapel from 1903. A house on the cemetery has been cleaned out and the commission is debating the future for the house, perhaps as a museum.
The cemetery is home to many prominent Medina residents, including S.A. Cook who operated a bustling furniture company in Medina.
Blackburn wants to see more events at the cemetery, including lantern tours. She wants to see more flowers by grave sites.
For the second year Boxwood is participating in “National Wreaths Across America Day” on Dec. 13. For $15, wreaths can be purchased and placed at the graves for veterans. For more information, click here.
“It’s remembering and honoring the fallen, and teaching our children,” Blackburn said.
She would like to have 100 wreaths in Boxwood, and expand it to other local cemeteries next year. The Dec. 13 event will also include a ceremony with the Honor Guard and a 21-gun salute.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 21 September 2014 at 12:00 am
Community makes push to restore chapel
Photos by Tom Rivers – Melissa Ierlan, the Clarendon town historian, unveils a historical marker this afternoon for Hillside Cemetery, which last year was named to National Register of Historic Places.
Clarendon Town Supervisor Richard Moy said the town supports the effort to restore the chapel, which was built in 1894 from local Medina sandstone.
HOLLEY – A year ago the U.S. Department of Interior gave lofty status to Hillside Cemetery by placing it on the National Register of Historic Places.
Today a historical marker was unveiled to highlight that recognition. A grant from the William Pomeroy Foundation paid the $1,280 cost for the marker.
The Holley and Clarendon community held an open house celebration for the chapel at the cemetery and Orleans County Historian Bill Lattin gave a tour of the chapel and cemetery. Town officials and the Clarendon Historical Society also urged the community to help restore the chapel, which needs a new roof, wooden window frames, some mortar repointing and repainting inside.
The chapel was open for tours today as part of a celebration for the site being listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The town is seeking a state grant to help with the $225,000 overall project. Town Historian Melissa Ierlan and Clarendon Historical Society member Erin Anheier are leading the effort to restore the chapel. They worked on the grant application and also the National Register nomination.
“The community owes them a big debt of gratitude,” said Richard Moy, Clarendon town supervisor.
Erin Anheier tells the community the chapel and cemetery are a “treasure.”
The town has owned Hillside Cemetery since the Hillside Cemetery Association disbanded about a decade ago. The cemetery is located at the corner of Route 237 and South Holley Road.
The cemetery opened in 1866 and was designed in the 19th century “Rural Cemetery Movement.” That is on the eastern side of the cemetery where the gravesides are dug into the side of the hill.
The 20th century “Lawn Style” approach is seen in the western portion. The cemetery has many beautiful gravestones that are works of art, Anheier said.
“We’re here to celebrate the historic treasure in our midst,” Anheier said when addressing about 50 people today.
Orleans County Historian Bill Lattin leads a tour of Hillside Cemetery. He is pictured with a crowd outside the chapel.
This photo was taken from the inside of the chapel, looking through one of the windows.
The chapel was built in 1894. It remains much like its original state with no alterations inside. However, the roof needs to be replaced and wooden window frames are rotting.
Anheier and Ierlan want the chapel to again be available for funerals. The site also has fine acoustics for concerts. Amy Harris played her flute during a reception this afternoon inside the chapel.
Melissa Ierlan, the town historian, leads a tour of the mortuary chamber, which has room for 48 caskets. The space continues to be used to store some caskets during the winter when the ground is frozen.
This picture was taken looking up from the mortuary chambers to the stairs leading to the main chapel room.
The National Register listing should boost the town’s chances for securing funding for the chapel restoration. The Historical Society and town would like to use the building for community events in the future.
Donations of more than $1,000 will be recognized with a plaque in the restored chapel. Donations can be sent to the Clarendon Historical Society Chapel Fund, P.O. Box 124, Clarendon, NY, 14429.
For more information, call the Town Hall at 585-638-6371 ext. 104 or email clarendon_hs@yahoo.com.
Amy Harris plays her flute during a reception today inside the chapel at Hillside Cemetery.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 16 August 2014 at 12:00 am
Our Sandstone Heritage:
Photos by Tom Rivers – Ron Ayrault, left, and his cousin Jerry LeFrois are pictured by the grave of Charles J. LeFrois and Doris LeFrois in Boxwood Cemetery. Jerry LeFrois used his grandfather’s carriage step as the grave marker for his parents.
MEDINA – When his parents died in 2005, Jerry LeFrois contemplated how to honor his parents – Charles J. and Doris LeFrois – with their grave stone.
Jerry picked an unusual marker: a carriage step that had been in the family for three generations. The step bears the name of his grandfather, Philip LeFrois. He was a French immigrant who lived in Eagle Harbor. He was a fruit farmer who was in the apple-drying business.
He also was friends with a quarryman who made the carriage step, which includes a step carved into the stone, as well as the name “P. LeFrois.”
A quarryman carved a step into the stone.
When the LeFrois homestead burned in the 1930s, the family moved to Albion. One of Philip’s son, Harry LeFrois, would move the carriage step to Murray and place it by Ridge Road.
After Harry died, his brother Charles J. LeFrois moved it to his home along Portage Road in Medina. He died on July 7, 2005. His wife died later that December.
Their son Jerry, an Albion graduate who now lives in Tacoma, Wash., had Bridgen Memorial move the stone to Boxwood Cemetery, but not before both names of his parents were inscribed in the stone.
Jerry LeFrois looks over the carriage step that has been in his family for about a century.
LeFrois is working to reclaim another artifact for his family. The hitching post that used to stand next to the carriage step remains in Eagle Harbor. LeFrois has reached out to the owner of the property, Kevin and Joanie Kent. They have agreed to let the family have the hitching post back. It will be moved to Murray, where LeFrois’s cousin Steve Babcock will give it prominent placement in his yard on Phillips Road.
“We’re keeping it in the family,” LeFrois said. “I think my dad is up there smiling.”
Editor’s Note: LeFrois reached out to me to tell the story of the carriage step because he knows I like hitching posts and these old steps. They are personal connections to people who helped build our towns and villages from a century ago.
I’ve noticed many of the carriage steps have sunk into the earth over the years. The names on the steps are obscured. I’m working on a plan to have the sunken steps reset. I’d also like to see some of the steps that have been moved behind houses brought back out in front. We first need an inventory of the steps that need to be raised and relocated. Anyone with information or interest in the project is welcome to send me a note at tom@orleanshub.com.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 9 August 2014 at 12:00 am
Photo by Tom Rivers – The St. Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church in Fillmore is one of many church buildings in the region built more than a century ago from Medina sandstone. This church is at 109 West Main St. in northwest Allegany County.
MEDINA – Today is your last chance to nominate a Medina sandstone structure for the second class of the Medina Sandstone Hall of Fame.
The Medina Sandstone Society last December inducted its first Hall of Fame class with six members.
Nominations are being sought for buildings to qualify for the second annual honor class. People far and wide can send their choices and seek recognition.
“Any building in the world constructed of that great Orleans County stone which we call ‘Medina’ is eligible and can be nominated if it is still standing and is an outstanding piece of work,” said Jim Hancock, chairman of the Hall of Fame committee.
He said typical examples might be churches, homes, monuments and public buildings but could also include special structures like the Brooklyn Bridge and Buckingham Palace.
Medina sandstone has proved durable for St. Patrick’s in Fillmore and many other churches.
“The sky’s the limit, just make ’em good choices,” he said.
The current chairman joined with David Miller and John Slack as the founding committee of the Hall of Fame. They worked for months in late 2013 to make one wall of the Medina City Hall conference chamber into an exhibit space.
In seeking nominations for 2014 the three men still follow the simple formula for proposed sandstone structures. (1) They should be outstanding or unique and significant. (2) They should have beauty. (3) They should be impressive through age and longevity and whether they are still in use. (4) They should be architecturally unique.
Nominations can be emailed to Hancock at hancock_jim@verizon.net or they can be sent to the Medina Sandstone Society, P.O. Box 25, Medina, NY 14103. The committee would like contact information for the nominated site.
Editor’s Note: The Sandstone Society will lead a walking tour today from 2 to 3:30 p.m. in downtown Medina. The tour starts at City Hall.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 17 July 2014 at 12:00 am
Photos by Tom Rivers – The Medina Sandstone Society will be giving the Shelby Town Board and Medina Board of Education plaques, expressing the society’s appreciation for recent projects that utilized Medina sandstone. Sandstone Society board members hold the plaques. The group includes, from left: Peggy Schreck, Jacob Hebdon, Missy Schening and President Robert Waters.
MEDINA – Last year the Shelby Town Board wanted a new sign on the Town Hall. The board decided to utilize a big piece of sandstone for the sign, and have town’s name etched in the stone. The sign went up in August.
Medina Central School last year also rebuilt a sign on Maple Ridge Road near the high school. The district picked sandstone for part of the sign.
The new sign on the Shelby Town Hall is made of Medina sandstone.
The Medina Sandstone Society appreciates the efforts by the Town Board and school to use sandstone in two prominent locations and honor the community’s heritage.
The Sandstone Society is presenting plaques to the Shelby Town Board and Medina Board of Education, thanking them for the projects.
Robert Waters, the Sandstone Society president, hopes the plaques are displayed for the public to see.
“It’s one more way to get our message out,” he said.
The school district used Medina sandstone in this sign along Maple Ridge Road.
The society met on Wednesday and welcomed Missy Schening as a new honorary director on the board. Schening runs the Memories of Medina Facebook page that has nearly 4,000 friends. She said she enjoys local history and sharing it with the community.
The Sandstone Society also endorsed a program with the school district where a select group of honor students who do a local history project will then be able to have their names etched in a sandstone wall to be erected on school property. The students will engrave their names and then personally mortar their block on the wall.
Sandstone Society board member Jeff Evoy, the school district superintendent, will bring the project to Board of Education members for their feedback.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 7 July 2014 at 12:00 am
Our Sandstone Heritage: St. John’s Episcopal Church
Episcopalians built Orleans County’s oldest church in 1832 from Medina sandstone
Photos by Tom Rivers – St. John’s Episcopal Church was featured in Ripley’s Believe It or Not as “The church in the middle of the street.” Church Street splits by the church near the intersection with East Center Street (Route 31). Built in 1832 this is the oldest remaining church in Orleans County.
MEDINA – The congregation may be getting smaller and older but the group at St. John’s Episcopal Church remains committed to ministry and maintaining the oldest church in Orleans County.
Episcopalians in 1832 built the church at 200 East Center Street. They used Medina sandstone from Oak Orchard Creek near Center Street. The first commercial sandstone quarry wouldn’t open until 1837.
The church is prominent on the Medina landscape. It’s the first church on East Center Street leading to the downtown.
“We feel this is an iconic building that we have to take care of,” said Cynthia Kiebala, the church’s senor warden and acting treasurer. “We feel it is a duty to Medina to keep it up.”
The stones aren’t cut in crisp and precise blocks like the churches that came later in Medina. But St. John’s leaders say the stone church remains structurally sound and has held up well. The church once had a spire but it had to be removed after a cyclone tore through Medina in 1856. The bell tower remains and it holds a 2,100-pound bell.
Cynthia Kiebala, left, is the church’s senior warden. She is pictured with the Rev. Nancy Guenther, the church vicar.
The church regularly only has about a dozen attendees. There were eight there on Sunday when I joined the group for their service at 10:30 a.m.
I had never been inside St. John’s and wanted to see it. The church is repairing the plaster on the interior. It already fixed the plaster in the front entrance.
The plaster is getting repaired in the church sanctuary.
Another view of the sanctuary repairs.
It has many striking stained-glass windows, as well as a pipe organ. St. John’s has been working to replace rotting wood that holds the windows. It can be expensive.
“We’re bit by bit repairing the windows,” Kiebala said.
Kiebala attended St. John’s as a little girl and came back about two decades ago. She likes how women are welcomed in church leadership.
The Waters family donated this satined-glass window as a memorial for Alonzo Waters, a former newspaper publisher and state assemblyman. The window depicts a pen, scroll and the scales of justice.
The Rev. Nancy Guenther serves as the church pastor or the vicar.
“Here it is open and accepting,” Kiebala said. “It lets you reason.”
She would like to see more people help with the church ministries. That includes a linen closet, where St. John’s provides bedding and clean linens for families served by the Genesee-Orleans Ministry of Concern. The church also collects used shoes and donates then to be repurposed.
The church plays hymns on a pipe organ.
Kiebala is on a discernment committee that includes church representatives from Episcopal congregations in Orleans and Genesee counties. The rural parishes have seen falling membership.
“We want to keep our traditions going, but we have to face reality,” she said.
That may mean merged churches or more shared programming and ministries in the future.
“Right now we have about a dozen regulars,” Kiebala said. “We’re a band of the faithful.”
The fellowship hall is in the basement of the church. St. John’s would like to see more use for the hall and Sunday School classrooms.
