<
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2025-10-07/at-200-the-erie-canal-delivers-change-to-upstate-new-york?srnd=phx-citylab>
"In the 1820s, crews digging the Erie Canal through New York State discovered a
seam of fine-grained red sandstone near Medina, a tiny village about 40 miles
from Buffalo, the canal’s western terminus. Prized as a hard-wearing source of
pavers and building blocks, the stone had the good fortune of being deposited
right next to the ideal means of transporting it: After the canal opened in
1825, local entrepreneurs opened scores of quarries and floated loads of Medina
sandstone to Buffalo, Rochester and the cities to the east, where it founds its
way into homes, churches and other structures, from the New York State Capitol
in Albany to the Brooklyn Bridge.
The canal that made Medina semi-famous still flows just north of village’s
historic downtown, but it has receded in importance — its placid waters no
longer frequently broken by commercial barges, its concrete walls ever in need
of repair. Once the engine of the town’s 19th century prosperity, it had by the
beginning of the 21st century faded to a historic backdrop, an artifact of
another time.
That’s poised to change, however. On both sides of the canal, new events and
public spaces soon to begin construction aim to reorient the village toward the
waterway once again. “[We] set out to change the center of gravity for the
town,” said Joana Pacheco, an architect and capital planning manager for the
New York Power Authority, the public hydropower utility that absorbed the New
York State Canal Corporation in 2017.
The investments represent some of the first fruits of a wide-ranging effort to
revitalize this 200-year-old piece of transportation infrastructure and the
many communities pearled along its 300-plus-mile length."
Via
Reasons to be Cheerful:
<
https://reasonstobecheerful.world/what-were-reading-vending-machine-for-books/>
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
