It’s official…  the Gowanda Area Historical Society has sold its museum at 110 South Chapel Street and has purchased the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses at 2 Chestnut Street, corner of Commercial Street.  The Society will consolidate its collections now housed at Chapel Street and at the museum above the Persia Town Hall.

        This move will make the museum more accessible to the general public, eliminating the long, steep stairway that led to the Town Hall museum.  The new location is all on one floor, with nearly 3,900 square feet of floor space, including a full basement for storage and work area.  The main floor will provide office space as well as room for displays and a genealogical research room.  The building is handicapped-accessible, including rest room facilities.

        “The purchase of Kingdom Hall is a good move every way you look at it,“
said Society Treasurer Phil Palen, who brokered the purchase and sale of both buildings.  “We were faced with two major problems, accessibility and limited space, and our new location will solve both of these nicely.”

        Much work needs to be done before the move takes place and the new museum officially opens.  The Society has contacted professional librarians and archivists to assist them in cataloguing and organizing their holdings to assure safe storage and handling of the collections, and to make it easier to retrieve items from storage.

        Currently, and continuing throughout the winter, Society members will conduct an inventory of our collections as the transition to our new location proceeds.  Visitors who frequently use the museum for genealogical and other research tasks will kindly excuse us while we are closed and our files and records are in transit.  As more items are inventoried, transferred and organized, we will be that much closer to announcing a Grand Opening date for the spring of 2000.

        An endeavor such as ours requires time, effort and planning, and we pledge to keep our “down time” to a minimum.  Meanwhile, researchers with specific questions and requests for information may contact us by mail at P.O. Box 372, Gowanda, NY 14070, or by e-mail to gowhist@localnet.com.
 
 

        Due to an overwhelming response for our reprint of Irving R. Leonard’s 1898 Historical Sketch of the Village of Gowanda, N.Y., in Commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of its Incorporation, we have had to order more copies from the publisher.   These copies are now available for distribution.

        This book explores the development of the area from 1818, when Turner Aldrich bought the land containing present-day Gowanda from the Holland Land Company. It includes notes on village settlers; the area in the Civil War, including a roster of local soldiers; the establishment of the Gowanda Union School, churches and societies; the Fire Department; the Thomas Orphan Asylum; and other civic developments up to 1898. In addition, there are gleanings from Lodi and Gowanda newspapers from 1829 through 1878. The book is illustrated with more than 40 photos and lithographs of local residences and commercial buildings, many of which still exist.

        This new 147-page reprint is a facsimile edition, hardbound in high-quality buckram with the title stamped on the spine in gold. The special collector’s edition is available by mail from the Gowanda Area Historical Society, P.O. Box 372, Gowanda, NY 14070, for $25.00 per copy plus $4.00 each for shipping, if necessary. Phone orders may be placed by calling Society Treasurer Phil Palen at (716) 532-2264, or by e-mail to gowhist@localnet.com . Sale proceeds benefit the Gowanda Area Historical Society.