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cvc Get Involved: Awards Program
 
Honorable Mention
Fort Plain Free Library, Fort Plain

 
The Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor Commission is pleased to award a 2008 Erie Canalway Heritage Award of Excellence to the Fort Plain Free Library. The 2008 Jury selected the library for Phase I of renovation and restoration to the facility, enabling it to serve as a welcome and visitor center for Erie Canalway Trail users, boaters, and other visitors to Fort Plain. The jury commended the project for:
 
  • Providing an “anchor” for the community as a central meeting place with “something for everyone,” including traditional library users, genealogical researchers, cyclists, boaters, and other travelers;
     

  • Preserving and showcasing community and canal history of Fort Plain;
     

  • Contributing to local and regional economic and recreational revitalization plans;
     

  • Forging partnerships with neighboring towns to further expand visitor services;
     

  • Inspiring renewed community pride.
   
Project Description
The renovation and restoration of the Welcome Center at the Fort Plain Free Library is Phase I of a larger repair, renovation, restoration, and expansion of the entire facility.  Phase I concentrated on the oldest section of the building, enabling a house erected in the early 1800s to meet the needs of 21st century library users, while preserving the historical nature of the original structure.
 
Work included repair and restoration of the library’s front porch, with the addition of a handicapped accessible ramp, insulation of the oldest section of the building, and window and lighting upgrades to reduce energy costs.  Two former front parlors in the library now provide much needed community meeting space and display artifacts and memorabilia of local historical interest.  The library’s newly configured entranceway hosts an assortment of pamphlets about local sites of interest, as well as information and images of the Erie Canal in Fort Plain from 1825 to 1918.
 
Community interest and involvement in the library project has been strong throughout: clients of the Liberty Day Treatment/Montgomery County ARC facility packed, moved, and stored the library’s entire non-fiction collection so that restoration could proceed; a local merchant established a garden alongside the library; an artist created a welcome sign featuring the Erie Canal; and a local historian and canal employee donated his collection of 1,500 slides depicting the area’s history. 
 
The renovation project has enabled the Fort Plain Free Library to strengthen the historic and distinctive sense of place of the village among residents and visitors and demonstrates the value of preserving and showcasing Fort Plain’s heritage.
 
     
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Front Porch Restoration and Welcome Sign
 
 
   
   
Interior Hallway with Visitor Information
 
 
   
   
Detail from Fort Plain Library mural shows the library building and canal in the 1800s.

 
 
 
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