Construction to Continue in ‘Museum District’ of Norwich
Reprinted from WBNG
Published: Mar. 10, 2022
NORWICH, N.Y. (WBNG) — Between North Broad and Silver Streets in the City of Norwich sits a row of buildings. Better known to those who live in the area as the ‘Museum District’. The street filled with historic and educational buildings include the Chenango Historical Society, a Die-cast Car Museum, a Model Train Museum, and the iconic Northeast Classic Car Museum. The area has been undergoing a $1 Million upgrade since 2021.
Mayor Brian Doliver says with the help of many organizations, and the city’s DPW, they were able to make this possible. “So we would do the sidewalks with our DPW worker so you know to help with the cost of that and we also took on the cost of the lights so we already do LED lights in our downtown district and so we would also take that onto it seem like a no brainer that we would do that”.
The funding came from organizations such as Norwich Building Tomorrow and the Curb Appeal Program. The project was spearheaded and overseen by the Friends of the Museum District Committee. Doliver says by investing in the city’s tourism areas, it will in-turn help those who live there.
“I mean the trickle down effect, it goes into our economy it helps. It goes right down to the waiter you know, to the bartender; everybody out there it is seeing (the) difference and I think we want to continue to promote that tourism”.
Doliver says projects like this, and the soon to be DRI are what move Norwich forward. He says that it could not be done. however, without the help and support from community members. “As all cities do, we are evolving. We are so lucky to have people in our community that are taking on this project because it’s a lot of volunteers that are out there, and we are very fortunate to have these people. Without that, it would be much harder for us to do these things”.
Michael O’Reilly is one of the owners of Principle Design and Engineering, he is currently working on the Northeast Classic Car Museum’s renovations. He says being apart of a project that will continue to attract people to the area is something he is proud of.
“Yeah it’s one of the greatest draws that we have to the area it’s a great thing that people come into Norwich now and they’re going to see this then what they potentially saw before”.
The project began back in 2021, and is anticipated to be completed in the spring.