North Tonawanda History Museum dedicates new building on Oliver Street

The North Tonawanda History Museum officially dedicated its new building at 712 Oliver St. Friday, albeit a smaller space than the museum’s Webster Street location but one able to showcase more of the city’s history.

During a ribbon-cutting ceremony that took place under a new wall of commemorative tiles donated by patrons, Museum Director Howard Roeske said the opening marks the 15th year the museum has existed and the sixth month that it has occupied the building on Oliver Street. But within its walls are centuries of local history.

“There’s names of people and social organizations, they’ve all contributed, they’ve all had an effect on this community,” he said. “The lumber industry and banking, the arts and retail, manufacturing, and just raising families. They all have had an impact on the city.”

The new building includes an archive, research center, exhibit gallery and community room, as well as the wall of commemorative tiles on its exterior.

Concerning the wall, Roeske said more tiles have been purchased by patrons, which will be installed above and below those already in place before the weather changes in the fall.

According to Laura Bernsohn, a planning and development specialist with the Lumber City Development Corporation, Lumber City provided funding for the wall project through the OATH Community Benefit Fund, as well as funding for new signage. Roeske said the building was purchased by a group of museum patrons known as the Friends of North Tonawanda History, following a foreclosure process at 54 Webster and a subsequent building search.

Roeske said the size of the new building is approximately 25 percent of the museum’s previous building on Webster, but its usable space is larger. He noted that the old building’s total square footage was roughly 32,000, about 10,000 of which was usable. The new building has 7,500 square feet of usable space out of a total of 7,800.

“Everything in this building is utilized, whereas on Webster Street the second floor was all stockroom,” he said, noting that the new building’s smaller size has allowed the museum to consolidate. “We have to be very selective on what we display and what we accept.”

What is displayed in the museum’s exhibit gallery is a host of artifacts including Wurlitzer jukeboxes and organs, photography equipment, typewriters and home furnishings, as well as displays on different categories of local history, from the last ice age to Native American and European settlements, to the lumber industry, the City of North Tonawanda, the Erie Canal and distinctive neighborhoods.

Roeske said the goal is to tell a concise story of the area’s past and what shaped it as major industries producing lumber and iron developed and spurred other industries including silk and chocolate production.

“How one thing led to another, it’s all explained in there,” he said.

North Tonawanda Mayor Arthur Pappas, who also attended the opening, noted that it is part of the transition of the Oliver Street corridor, which has moved away from the industrial landscape he knew as a boy.

“We’re going from an old type industrial community to a more up-to-date one, shall we say, with quieter neighborhoods, maybe, and cleaner neighborhoods as the time goes on,” he said to the small crowd assembled. “Many of you that have been around town all of your lives or most of your lives, you know that at one time on Oliver Street, you could be born here, you could live here and you could die here and not have to leave.”

Current hours for the museum are subject to change. To learn more, call 213-0554 or send an email to NTHistoryMuseum@aol.com.