Photo by Brent Addleman
Members of The Heritage Council and volunteers from the community will be cleaning up the Pennsy Depot on Saturday - rain or shine - and the grounds surrounding the dilapidated building.

Volunteers to turnout to touch up the grounds of Pennsy Depot.

By Brent Addleman

Editor

 One of Ridgway’s most historic buildings is getting a slight facelift.
On Saturday, volunteers from the community will descend upon the Pennsy Train Depot, situated along U.S. 219 in Ridgway beside Elk Creek, in an effort to clean up the grounds of the building and make the outside appearance nicer.
Bob Imhof, president of The Heritage Council, is spearheading the effort and the plans are to meet on Saturday morning at 10 a.m. to begin the clean-up.
“Michelle, as our Main Street Manager, has taken this on as a really important visual project for our town – which it is,” Imhof said of the building’s status. “It is on one of the main entryways in and out of this community. If it wasn’t simply sitting there, it would be our hope in the future if we transition from the Main Street Manager program into the Elm Street Program - if funding comes back to any great level - that would be one of the projects on the Elm Street. The Elm Street Program is all the entries into your community.”
Volunteers will be sweeping the grounds around the historic structure and will be replacing the covering over the windows and painting them to give the building some character.
“The Heritage Council and volunteers are going to do some clean-up and minor renovations,” said Main Street Manager Michelle Bogacki. “The minor renovations are going to be to take all that old flake board off the windows and replace it with a little better quality plywood. They will paint it black, just to cover the windows better. There is also the potential to go for some murals or art on the window, while we continue to pursue with the railroad some additional funding to replace the overhang and existing roof, that’s our ultimate goal.
“This weekend, we’re gonna really go after the project of clean-up, get the grounds a little more presentable for an entrance into our community.”
Imhof, who re-entered the Ridgway community in 1988, is passionate about the project and has pointed to comments made from residents passing through the community in expressing how much the depot needs addressed.
“It is something the community has wanted done for years,” Imhof said. “As I have always said to people, ‘all you have to do is sit in [the Pennsy Restaurant] on any give Saturday morning, or Sunday, and listen to people not from this town ask ‘when are they going to do something with that building, it is a shame.’ The comments are unsolicited and constant about this building. The ability now to even do a small amount of visual clean-up around it and a couple of other little details around for the time being is a beginning. That’s really all we have ever wanted - at least allow us to make it look nicer if nothing else.
“What will happen beyond that I think is going to be a lot of give-and-take and a lot of discussion as to whether or not it could become a usable business place.”
Bogacki jumpstarted the project by contacting the railroad company.
“I got a hold of Bill Gentilman, who is the land manager, and then Barry Caggiano, who is the roadmaster for this particular rail system,” Bogacki said. “Once I got ahold of Mr. Gentilman, he was very cooperative as far as I was concerned. He definitely knows there could be potential of someone perhaps acquiring the building. Of course, railroad never gives up their base property, but the building is for sale. The thing we have to remember is that it is with an active [railroad] line. With that said, it would probably never be able to be something with a lot of foot traffic. However, it could be an office or a satellite [office] of some sort.”