LEGION BUILDING MOVE

The most historic event for Sanborn in decades took place at 10:30 on the crisp morning of October 29, 2014. Many turned out to see the fantastic move and enjoy the coffee, hot cider and donuts furnished gratis by our society. The event took over 2 1/2 years to orchestrate from the time when the building was deeded to SAHS by Sanborn American Legion Post #969 on March 15, 2012 and SAHS subsequently receive a grant from the Town of Lewiston funding the project..

We do thank our lucky stars that all of the players were there to do their job for the move- the Matthews House Movers for the actual move; National Grid, Time Warner Cable, and Frontier Telephone for the lifting and protecting their cables as needed; and the Town of Lewiston Police and Highway Dept, and the NY State Dept of Transportation for traffic flow and to protect the area; and last but not least, the CSX train master who held up the trains from Niagara Falls and Lockport for 2 hours while the 47 ton, 25 ft high, and 25 ft wide by 56 ft long building was moved along the CSX tracks from route 429 to our Schoolhouse Museum. parking lot. After a break for lunch, Matthews House Movers finished the move along SAHS property parallel to the CSX tracks to the rear of our farm and then north to the museum area where it was delivered over the waiting foundation about 2:10 PM. Jay Went Construction of Sanborn has since completed the foundation wall to complete the first phase of the project. We will now finish our planning and construction for the church front and the exhibit areas in the rear of the building. Those with computers can go to our web site (sanbornhistory.org) to view more pictures and write-ups in the local papers for the move and the history of this 189-year old building.

The most exciting part of the move was when a tree limb was cut from a tree just off the CSX right-of-way to allow the building to squeeze by onto the CSX right-of-way. The building side door porch roof was in line with the CSX crossing signal stand. We were told that if this was touched that there would be a $50,000 fine. The talented movers were able to back up and jockey the building into position to just miss the signal by inches.

PLANS FOR LEGION BUILDING EXHIBIT AREA

The area in the rear section of the newly moved Legion Building will be set up for use for museum exhibits including our area veterans. Many of us attended the showing of a “crazy quilt” by Mary Small of Colorado. The show was held on July 21, 2005 in the Sanborn American Legion Post #969 hall. Sewn into the quilt was a ribbon listing the names of 52 Sanborn Area men that died while serving during the Civil War. Around the border of the ribbon is stitched “Alexander Mabon G.A.R. (Grand Army of the Republic) Post No. 125, Sanborn, NY”. That post was the predecessor to Sanborn American Legion Post #969.

For the last almost 10 years Mrs. Small has been researching the men (she calls them her boys) listed on the ribbon to determine where the family lived, how they died, where they were buried, etc. After the show, before she left Sanborn she indicated that she would donate the quilt to SAHS “after she was through with it”. When she was recently told that SAHS owned the Legion building and moved it to our Farm Museum and are in the process of converting the building to a church at the front and a museum including veteran’s exhibits in the rear, she offered to donate the quilt to SAHS “when we were ready for it”. The numerous pictures taken at the show and some of Mary’s research information together with information provided by Bob Ayers, a Civil War buff from Lockport who is in the process of writing a book on the Civil War, will soon be on our web site (sanbornhistorry.org). Bob attended the 2005 show and recently indicated that he would donate to SAHS, a picture of a scene of the Civil War. What a fine way to start off our veteran’s exhibit area.