by Rachel Hunter
The Gouverneur Senior Citizens Club at its regular monthly meeting on Tuesday, February 14 presented Gouverneur Community Center Director and Town of Gouverneur Supervisor David Spilman, Jr. an appreciation plaque in recognition of all the support he has provided the club over the years.
Much applause sounded throughout the Eldon B. Conklin Gouverneur Community Center as Mr. Spilman was presented the appreciation award by Gouverneur Senior Citizens Club President Kathleen Sharlow. The plaque read as follows: “Dave Spilman Jr. The Gouverneur Senior Citizens want to express our deep gratitude for your dedicated work you do on our behalf. Thank you!” The plaque was dated February 14, 2023. Mr. Spilman extended gratitude to the club for the honor.
During the meeting, the Gouverneur Senior Citizens Club also invited their guest, Supervisor Spilman, to update the club members on the current state of the old train depot in Gouverneur. Faithful readers of the Gouverneur Tribune Press will recall that the old train depot was slated for demolition by CSX, and that the Village of Gouverneur and the Town of Gouverneur are currently working together in an effort to save a piece of Gouverneur’s history.
“Mayor Ron McDougall and I are on a mission. We had a lot of problems with the railroad station this summer with vandalism and drug-dealing out of there. We reached out to CSX Police. They came up and they decided that they were just going to tear down the whole thing. So I intervened, called CSX Properties, pled to them that it is part of our history here in town. Back in October, they gave me a month to try to find funding to move the building. They won’t allow us to purchase the building or lease the building and have it remain on their property because of liability issues. In that month, I looked around. There actually is a company that moves buildings just like this… It took me a month to find resources. I couldn’t. I sent an email back to CSX Properties, and said: “Thank you for the month. I couldn’t do anything. Let me know when they are going to demolish.” Well, I must have struck a nerve because a couple days later I got a call from the head of properties in Florida. They’ve offered us a year’s lease for $1 to try to find funding to move the building. They’ve been very good. I can’t say enough about CSX. They’ve been very good.
“My son, Matt, and I went over and boarded it up, so that there is no more vandalism. We went inside, and there was still benches in there, and all kinds of good stuff. You can see inside the building where they started three different campfires. Why the building is still there, I don’t know. Somebody is looking out for us.
“Where we are at right now, we are in the process of doing the paperwork for the lease. Mayor Ron McDougall is on the Fair Board also. He brought it up at a fair board meeting. Our intent right now is to be able to find funding to move this to the fairgrounds, and then fix the building up and make it usable for that location there. What they’ll use it for, I’m not sure. But right now we’re in the process of going after some state grants, federal grants, and things like that. Private funding, once we get it to the fairgrounds, that might come in to play. When Ron and I were on TV several weeks ago, about 10 minutes after (the newscast) aired, Charlie Titus called me up and said: “I am going to give you $100 for moving the railroad station.” I said that I would take his money once we sign the lease, and we can get to the next step. Right now, we are in the process of just rewording a couple lines in the lease, and then Ron and I will go after some grant money to try to save the building.
“The cornerstone on this building is 1919. Since I started this, I’ve been stopped by lots of people and have heard lots of different stories. From my own family, my mother used to ride the train to Watertown about once a year with her mom to go shopping. John McElroy came up to me the other day… his mom was a Fresh Air child, came up from New York City. The last time she rode the train, she got adopted and stayed here. There’s lots of stories… When the story first went into the Tribune, it told the story of a 90-year-old lady from Las Vegas who called me and her memory of it was that she watched her uncle get on the train to go to World War II. He didn’t come back. Lots of history. The building down the road, the longer rail station, my family actually owns it, the Farleys. The cornerstone on that is 1920. So, these two are brother and sister. That’s where my passion lies trying to get this done. It’s going to be great if we can get this done. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime event. Fortunately, the fairgrounds is in tune to maybe help us. My first attempt was to get it with the town barn, and try to make it into our courthouse and town offices, but we were looking at almost $500,000 just to get it there, and we weren’t sure if we would get it across the bridge. You’re looking at 250 to 300 tons, just the building… and then you have all the vehicles. And then we would have had to move five or six street lights. The building is 45 feet wide, 110 feet long… so it is not like moving an Amish shed. When they move it, it will all go in one piece. They’ll dig underneath the building, and they’ll go up and they’ll support the whole thing from underneath and then they literally jack it up and put a rig underneath it, and then it can go forward, sideways, whatever. It has a series of beams and it has about 80 tires under it. It's all hydraulically controlled… so what they’ll do is get this unit underneath it, head down Sterling Street, behind the Catholic Church, and then take the straight shot right down to the fairgrounds. The other route was going to take us out onto Main Street but then we couldn’t make the turns go by the Credit Union, or even down Rock Island… So my thought right now. It’s across the road from Nina’s. We should be able to come right out to Depot Street, go to Sterling Street, come through the back parking lot at the Catholic Church, have a turn and then it is just a straight shot. We still have to move one traffic signal, but one is much easier to move than six…
“We are still $200,000 to $300,000 to get this thing jacked up, get all of the permits, get it there, and get some type of foundation underneath it. We haven’t applied for grants yet because we haven’t taken possession of the building. As soon as the lease is in place, we can apply for grants… My intent is to save the building. It is part of our history, and there’s lots of stories out there…”
A few of the local senior citizens had stories to share regarding the old train depot. After hearing their tales, Supervisor Spilman said that he talked with County Legislator James Reagen, who formerly served as an aide in Senator Patty Ritchie’s office. “He told me the story of a train robbery in the early 1900s. A couple guys boarded at that passenger station and proceeded to try to rob the mail car enroute to Canton. I didn’t read the whole story, but they pulled guns and this and that. Why would you want to rob a mail car? The more you read it, you see that was how they shipped payrolls. Cash was in the mail car. To make a long story short, one guy jumped off the train while it was moving 50 MPH… It was a real interesting story.”
Supervisor Spilman extended gratitude to Gouverneur Senior Citizens Club for the opportunity to speak. “Sometime in March I am going to have an open house for everybody in the community to come in, tell stories and memories… We want to be able to show community support to even apply for grants. Every story we get adds to being able to save this. Unfortunately, it is a historical building in our town, but it was never labeled as the owners as historical. That throws a lot of limitations on what the owner can do. My first step was the St. Lawrence County Historical Society, and it wasn’t listed with them. So that took all of that kind of funding out… It’ll be an interesting project, so I’d like to get this one under my belt while I am still supervisor. Like I said, we are trying to get the legal part done now with the lease and get it in our possession for a year. My dad would want to get a big piece of pipe and roll it to the fairgrounds… he could move the world with a piece of pipe and a bar… but I don’t think we have a piece of pipe that big. I’ll keep everyone up to speed…”
Watch upcoming editions of the Gouverneur Tribune Press for an announcement regarding the open house/community meeting regarding the project. “If you have a memory or an idea, just let me know,” Supervisor Spilman said in closing.
Supervisor Spilman gave a report on his address at the Town of Gouverneur Council meeting later that evening.