08/14/2024
It's been a while since we've posted, and in that time, we've received many messages. From offers to buy the depot, to people asking if we have given up, to invites to speak to historical societies, to local folks wanting to walk the rail bed or visit to look for a family memory that might be on the wall. Rather than try to reply to all of them, I figure it's easiest to share a public post that will hopefully address all of those questions and any new ones over the next several months while we get grounded in our next steps with the building.
We remain dedicated to the restoration and preservation of this amazing, historical building as well as the rail bed between Tallmadge Rd and Scotts Corners.
I shared in one of our very first posts that I grew up in the area and was always fascinated with this building. As fate would have it, I was presented the opportunity to take ownership and managed to talk my husband into it. It was so exciting unboarding the windows and opening the time capsule. We had the slate roof repaired and were on a path making progress. We were motivated! Then in September 2019, I lost my dad unexpectedly and suddenly. He was my rock and one of my best friends. Grief hits everyone differently, but for me, that grief was like a gut punch. Not just one gut punch, but repeated ones that come in a boxing ring. Enduring that grief coupled with COVID, homeschooling, and society seeming to lose its mind, in general, made it feel like I was walking around in a fog for the last five years. The depot restoration (and many other things) had to go on the back burner so I could give myself grace and navigate through grief with a primary focus on being there for my family and keeping my job.
As we are coming up on the five-year anniversary of my dad's death, and the fog is lifting a little, I've been making a list of things that brought me joy that would be good to start putting back on my plate, and the depot restoration is one of those things I'd like to dust off and start focusing on again.
We realize it will take quite some time to get there, but we ultimately would like to restore it to as close to original as possible, offer historical railroad information on the area, place an historical placard, and clear the right of way as a community walking path. While the depot is zoned commercial, we have zero interest in establishing it as a place of business or making money off of it.
Getting there isn't going to happen overnight. Unfortunately, vandals have damaged some of the exterior and windows have been broken out and much of the vegetation we worked so hard to remove has taken back over. This fall, we will be getting out there to clear the new vegetation and board the windows back up to prevent additional damage over the winter. During the winter, we'll be working on putting together a plan to tackle all of this that we can start to execute in the spring. We know there's grant money out there that the restoration could likely qualify for, but neither of us are familiar with the process of securing grant money. It's something we will be researching over the winter. If you or someone you know is familiar with grants for historical buildings, or the historical building preservation process in general, we would love to talk to you and learn from you. Please send us a message!
We will post updates as things move along. Please be patient and give us grace. Thanks for hanging in there with us while we get our bearings in this space again.
-- Natalie
