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cvc Get Involved: Awards Program
 
2009 Honorable Mention
Spencerport Depot and Canal Museum, Spencerport
 
The 2009 Jury selected the Spencerport Depot and Canal Museum as a testament to grassroots, citizen-driven efforts to preserve part of its community’s heritage, while also contributing to canal-wide revitalization and tourism promotion. The jury commended the project for:
 

  • Creating a multifaceted facility that serves the needs of residents and visitors;
     

  • Overcoming multiple obstacles with exemplary determination and volunteerism that drove the project to its successful completion;
     

  • Using storytelling and oral history as a way to connect residents and visitors with Spencerport’s past and present canal heritage;
     

  • Inspiring youth to discover their own connections to the Erie Canal;
     

  • Contributing to local and regional heritage tourism efforts.

 
Project Description
 The Spencerport Depot and Canal Museum, opened in 2006, constitutes a successful adaptive reuse of a former trolley depot to serve as a visitor center and canal museum on the Erie Canal. Volunteers logged more than 80,000 hours to bring the project to fruition, resulting in renewed community pride and a center for both residents and visitors to gather and celebrate Spencerport’s canal heritage.
 
The project required not only acquiring the 1908 trolley depot, which had long ago fallen into disrepair and been transformed into a house, but also restoring it to serve as a functional visitor center, and moving the building across town to its original canalside location. To achieve their goals, project organizers successfully faced numerous hurdles, including: forming a board of trustees, chartering the museum, establishing a volunteer program, furnishing the building, developing exhibits and collections, and raising $140,000 to fund the project.
 
Limited resources to carry out a project of this nature were met full on with an exemplary spirit of determination. Despite limited funds, organizers rallied seventy regular volunteers who worked for two years to restore and move the depot.
 
The Spencerport Depot and Canal Museum now provides amenities for canal travelers, including water, electricity, laundry, Internet access, a lending library, information on area attractions, and an inviting place to relax. It also showcases 250 historic objects and offers educational programs to area school children and adult visitors.
 
The Spencerport Depot has hosted 5,000 visitors since 2007 and enabled the Village of Spencerport to become a stopping place, rather than a passing port, on the Erie Canal. Equally important, the Spencerport Depot and Canal Museum, with it welcoming, “front porch” atmosphere, has also become a gathering place for the community. Its story of success against the odds embodies the spirit and determination that have long been hallmarks of canal communities.		  
     
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  Depot as house  
   
BEFORE: The Depot was found in use as a house.
 		  
  Depot restored  
   
AFTER: The Depot transformed and moved to its canalside home.
 		  
  Storytelling at the Depot  
   
Storytelling engages youth at the Depot.
  		 
  Rockers, Depot interior  
   
Rockers await visitors to the Depot.		  
 
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