(rshsdepot) Windsor Locks, CT

[I95BERNIEW_@_aol.com]

From the Journal Inquirer.
 
Bernie Wagenblast
 
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 
Preservation Group Moves Toward Goal of  Purchasing Train Station 


September 17 2007 - _Journal Inquirer_ 
(http://www.journalinquirer.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18819993&BRD=985&PAG=461&dept_id=569437&rfi=6)  

WINDSOR LOCKS - The Preservation Association now has all the funding it needs 
 to purchase the old Amtrak train station on Main Street. Last week, the 
state`s  Commission on Culture and Tourism awarded a $24,000 restoration grant to 
the  association. The grant matches monies already raised through a collection 
of  fundraising efforts and grants from several organizations and sponsors.  
According to Barbara Schley, chairwoman of the association`s Let`s Save the  
Windsor Locks Train Station committee, the money is now in place to buy the  
property and begin the renovation process. Purchasing the train station would be 
 a milestone for the association, which was established as a nonprofit in 
2004  for this purpose. According to Schley, the train station has great 
significance  to Windsor Locks. She said it was built in 1875 and by 1975 was listed 
on the  National Register of Historic Places. That same year, town native Ella 
Grasso  boarded a train at the station as she headed to Hartford to begin her 
term as  the state`s first female governor. However, Schley said the station 
has been  abandoned for the past 30 years. The association had the property 
appraised, a  move that valued it at $45,000 for the building and approximately 
one acre of  land on which it sits. ``We`re prepared right now to move forward 
and purchase  the station,`` Schley said, adding that Amtrak has been in 
negotiations with the  association over a potential sale. Schley wanted to thank 
all who helped the  association receive the grant, including Republican Gov. M. 
Jodi Rell,  Democratic Sen. Christopher Dodd, U.S. Rep. John B. Larson, D-1st 
District, and  all state and local officials working on behalf of the project. 
``We`re  absolutely ecstatic to receive that grant money,`` Schley said. 
Schley said the  association is unsure yet of what to do with the building if the 
sale takes  place. However it is used, Schley said, a historical display would 
be created to  commemorate the building`s importance to the town. According 
to Schley,  renovating the building is a far more expensive endeavor. She 
estimated it would  cost $500,000 to complete renovation and fundraising efforts 
continue to reach  that goal. A $225,000 Small Town Economic Assistance Program 
grant is in place  to help with the project, but Schley said the association 
is still waiting for  those funds to become available. The association will 
sell giant mums over the  next few weekends in Dexter Plaza on Main Street. 
Flowers are $10 each, with  half the proceeds going toward the restoration project. 
Another event occurs on  Saturday, Oct. 20, when the association hosts an 
oldies dance the Windsor Locks  Veterans of Foreign Wars Hall. For details, call 
Barbara Carlson at 654-1955. 



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