sandstone heritage

Medina seeks historic designation for Boxwood Cemetery

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.

Clarendon unveils marker for historic cemetery

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.

Family uses carriage step as grave marker

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.

Today is deadline for Sandstone Hall of Fame nominations

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.

Sandstone Society recognizes Shelby, Medina school district

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.

‘We feel it is a duty to Medina to keep it up’

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.

Our Sandstone Heritage – Jamestown Library is enduring Medina sandstone story

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 30 June 2014 at 11:06 am

Photos by Tom Rivers – The James Prendergast Library in Jamestown was built with Medina sandstone in 1891.

Photo by Tom Rivers

JAMESTOWN – For nearly 125 years the James Prendergast Library has been an iconic structure in the city of Jamestown, a well used public library and a rugged structure.

The site is also a showcase of Medina sandstone, a building that consumes an entire city block on Cherry Street. The library, built in 1891, 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.

Orleans Hub profiled many great Medina sandstone structures last year, and we’ll feature more of these grand buildings made from the local stone.

This postcard from the early 1900s shows the James Prendergast Library before it had two additions and the trees grew big on the property. The property is lined with sandstone walls.

The Jamestown Library was built in a Richardsonian Romanesque style, the same style as the famed the Richardson Olmsted Complex in Buffalo. The site was an inaugural member of the Medina Sandstone Hall of Fame in December. (Click here for more on the Hall of Fame.)

The Jamestown library bears the name of the city’s founder, although the library was actually built as a memorial to Prendergast’s grandson, James. His parents, Alexander and Mary Prendergast, pushed to build the library as memorial for their son, who died in 1879 at age 31.

The library includes some fine detail work from the stone masons of the era.

The library was completed at a cost of $60,000 and was furnished with an art gallery at a cost of $45,000. When it opened on Dec. 1, 1891, the library contained 8,666 volumes. Two additions were completed in 1968 and 1978.

The elder James Prendergast founded Jamestown in 1811. He built a log house and then a dam and then a mill. He lived until 1836.

His son and his wife Mary honored their son by building the library. They chose to honor their daughter Catherine with a memorial by building a new Episcopal church.

St. Luke’s Episcopal Church is a dominant structure in Jamestown made from Medina sandstone.

The Prendergasts paid to build the St. Luke’s Episcopal Church from 1892-1894 at 410 North Main St. This church complex, which includes a sandstone chapel and office building, is one of the most impressive Medina sandstone structures I’ve seen. The church has a four-sided clock tower that looms high. The tower holds the city’s only chime bells.

The Prendergasts have put an enduring stamp on Jamestown. Their choice of Medina sandstone for a building material has given their gifts a lasting life.

The chapel at the Episcopal church in Jamestown has stood the test of time.

Historic cemetery chapel will be open on Memorial Day

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 25 May 2014 at 12:00 am

Clarendon is seeking state grant to help with restoration

File photos by Tom Rivers – The chapel at Hillside Cemetery was erected in 1894 from local Medina sandstone. The Clarendon Town Board and Historical Society is seeking $225,000 to help restore the building.

CLARENDON – It’s an iconic structure in the heart of Hillside Cemetery, but few people ever go inside the chapel that was constructed in 1894.

The structure will be open on Memorial Day from 9:30 a.m. to noon, and town officials and members of the Clarendon Historical Society hope the open house will kick off a fund-raising effort to restore the chapel, which needs masonry repairs, a new roof, and restoration to windows.

The town and historical society believe the building needs $225,000 in restoration work. The town, which owns the cemetery, is seeking a matching parks grant through the state. The Historical Society and town are trying to rally the local share to preserve the building.

Hillside Cemetery, located at the corner of Route 237 and South Holley Road, last year was added to the National Register of Historic Places. The cemetery with 3,500 graves is a distinctive example of a Victorian style cemetery on the west side of South Holley Road. That older section includes terraces and monuments that emphasize a sentimental Victorian attitude. Across the road on the east side the cemetery reflects the open lawn-park style.

This photo was taken inside the chapel looking through one of the windows.

Former newspaper publisher has spearheaded many heritage projects

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 13 April 2014 at 12:00 am

Heritage Hero: Bob Waters

File photo by Tom Rivers – Bob Waters, president of the Medina Sandstone Society, gives a rousing speech during the first Hall of Fame program on Dec. 12 at Medina City Hall. Six inaugural inductees were named to the Medina Sandstone Hall of Fame that day.

(Editor’s Note: Genesee Community College is honoring its first class of five Heritage Heroes during the Civil War Encampment on April 25 in Medina. Orleans Hub will profile the honorees. Tom Rivers, the Orleans Hub editor, served on the committee that helped pick the winners.)

MEDINA – He made a living telling the stories of Medina and the Orleans County community. Bob Waters served as publisher of The Journal-Register in Medina.

Since leaving the business more than three decades ago, Waters has made telling – and preserving – the community’s heritage a priority.

He has written publications – he won’t call them books – about Medina’s sandstone past, the community’s boom years from 1900 to 1930, and a publication of penny post cards about Medina in 2012: “Greetings from Medina, New York.”

Waters loves the written word, but he has also provided leadership and some of the heavy lifting for community projects, perhaps most notably the reuse of the former Armory on Pearl Street.

Waters served on the Armory Action Committee that helped find a new purpose for the building after it was shut down by the state in 1977.

That 90,000-square-foot building was built in 1901. It was closed in 1977 by state officials. Waters and the Armory Action Committee met weekly and negotiated with the state to keep the utilities on, make needed repairs and eventually transfer the site to the community so it could be used as a YMCA. That organization now has more than a 1,000 members and it is investing about $400,000 in a capital improvement project.

“When the National Guard left, the property could have gone down hill in a hurry,” Waters said. “Now the Y is just running with it.”

The building is one of the most iconic structures in the county. It resembles a fortress. In December it was part of the inaugural class of the Medina Sandstone Hall of Fame.

Waters is president of the group. He praised Sandstone Society members Jim Hancock, Dave Miller and John Slack for working to get the Hall of Fame established. The six inductees and other historical photos of quarrymen are displayed inside the meeting room at City Hall.

Photos courtesy of Dave Miller

Medina Savings and Loan celebrated its 125^th anniversary in June. As part of the celebration, the Medina Sandstone Society unveiled a sandstone plaque by the bank’s front door. Pictured, from left: Medina S & L President Tim Moriarty, Sandstone Society President Bob Waters, and Charles Slack, chairman of the board for the bank.

The Sandstone Society has given many sandstone signs to recent projects or institutions that have invested in the community.

The Society has established a community foundation that helps fund community projects, which could be restoration of stained glass windows or putting old newspapers and photos in microfiche or digital files, among the many preservation efforts.

Waters also speaks with students about local history and also leads tours of historical buildings and sites in the Medina area.

He sees an interest in local history – from high schoolers and young adults. He thinks Facebook has helped fuel a love for local heritage.

File photo by Tom Rivers

Bob Waters signs a copy of the organization’s latest publication, “Medina, My Home Town – Fond Memories,” during the Orleans County Chamber of Commerce’s Home and Garden Show last April.

The Sandstone Society’s latest publication, “Medina, My Home Town – Fond Memories,” includes reminisces from writers about Medina. Many of the anecdotes came from the Memories of Medina Facebook page, which has nearly 3,500 members.

“There has been a resurgence of interest in hometown history,” Waters said.

And he thinks that has helped spark a new wave of entrepreneurs who are investing in the downtown and the community.

“It used to be young people couldn’t wait to get out of here,” he said. “I’ve always been a small-towner. Maybe the small town is coming back.”

Public welcome to check out Sandstone Hall of Fame on Feb. 1

Posted 22 January 2014 at 12:00 am

File photo by Tom Rivers – Medina Sandstone Society President Bob Waters, left, is pictured with Hall of Fame Committee members David Miller, Jim Hancock and John Slack.

Press Release
Bob Waters, president of Medina Sandstone Society

MEDINA – Last month the sandstone fame of Orleans County got a regional publicity boost when the “Sandstone Hall of Fame” was unveiled at City Hall in Medina, and now the general public is invited to view a beefed-up and expanded exhibit.

A date has been set for a public open house on Saturday, Feb. 1. That is the same day of Medina’s popular Wine About Winter event.

The December inaugural of the Hall of Fame turned out to be a memorable occasion and one entire wall of the council chamber at the local city hall was dedicated to a large display of plaques awarded to six outstanding stone structures.

“We’ve started to comb the state and this part of the world for dominant buildings made of the famous Medina sandstone,” said James Hancock, committee chairman.
“The idea seems to have rung a bell and it has generated a lot of publicity.”

Hancock was joined by David Miller and John Slack last year in creating the new Hall of Fame, which exists as a program of the Medina Sandstone Society. They received 22 nominations for structures to be honored in the first round (class of 2013) and six were picked. The committee expects to see the idea grow with each passing year.

The City Hall chamber, which houses the Hall of Fame exhibit, will be open to receive the public from 1 to 5 p.m. on Feb. 1 . Visitors are invited to drop in at their leisure during that four-hour period, view the enhanced exhibit, and enjoy a cup of coffee if desired.

The expansion of the Hall of Fame wall is notable because the artwork tells more of Orleans quarrying history. The committee sorted through hundreds of historic photographs to pick some of the best pictures of sandstone quarries, plus a few scenes of the local connection to the Erie Canal. “We are now ready to receive the public,” said the three leaders.

The committee paid additional tribute to Takeform Architectural Graphics and its president, William Hungerford, for producing and presenting the impressive plaques which signify selections in the Hall of Fame.

“Just as a selected company provides the Hollywood ‘Oscars’ each year, now Takeform has honored us by producing our sandstone awards, and they are very special.”

In one lighter moment, the Sandstone Society got a suggestion. A board member said, “If the United States has the Emmy and Grammy awards now it has the Sandy awards for the best of sandstone.”

The Sandstone Society said it is “eager to share” the exhibit of the Hall of Fame with the local public.

Over the coming years the society expects growth in the program and more notice from out-of-town residents.