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General News: Village Resident Proposes New Museum
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| The entrance to the three properties on Riverbank Lane. |
July 15, 2010
By Brendan G. Coyne
Susan M.E. Glendening hopes to turn her village property, which includes three homes on 16 acres located just off River Avenue, into a museum.
At Monday’s village board work session, Cornwall-on-Hudson Mayor Joe Gross read a letter from David W. Palmquist, head of museum chartering for New York State, addressed to Maryann Rose O’Dell, administrative assistant to state assemblywoman Nancy Calhoun. O’Dell had contacted Palmquist on behalf of Bruce Bryan, president of the Cornwall Historical Society, and Colette Fulton, the village historian.
Palmquist said that Glendening’s corporation would create an historic house museum at 2 Riverbank Lane to exhibit art, architecture and aspects of American history including inventions and pottery (the grounds include the ruins of a pottery factory). The Riverbank Historic House Museum would preserve three structures, the landscape and artifact collections, and open them to the public. The museum would also promote historical research and organize historical and cultural activities.
In a phone interview, Glendening, a therapist who has lived on the property since 1971, said she had told the Cornwall Historical Society that her museum would work with the society and not duplicate its function.
Glendening said it was premature to discuss the development of museum but her involvement in another museum exhibit could shed some light on her plans.
Last year Glendening helped present an exhibit of patent models at the Harvard University Science Center. “Patent Republic” displayed 75 models including bicycles, washing machines, boats, and the machine to make Thomas Edison's light bulb filaments. The federal patent office required inventors to submit such models from 1790-1870.
The models came from Glendening’s collection according to the July 2, 2009 edition of the Harvard Gazette, which reported that Glendening plans to convert her 1844 Federal house into a permanent museum for patent models and other historical artifacts within 10 years.
“I just love the stories they tell about our history, and the people who changed it,” Glendening told the Gazette. “Many, many people have had them and many have tried to make museums,” Glendening said. “I’m trying not to be deterred by that history.”
Women created 12 of the inventions in the exhibit, according to the Gazette. Women’s largely unknown contributions started in 1809, Glendening told the Gazette, with a patent by Mary Dixon Kies who registered a method of weaving straw with thread to make hats. The article reports that women have contributed lots of inventions, including windshield wipers and the fire escape.
The village board referred the matter to counsel to determine if such a use would be permitted in a residential zone. Board members noted that the property generates nearly $60,000 in taxes and that such a use would remove it from the tax roll.
Comments:
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Although the idea of preserving local history appears laudable, there are many questions which need to be answered, including: Does Cornwall-on-Hudson need another museum? Is the value of a museum worth the loss in property taxes, which then must be borne by other residents,(particularly in this economic environment)? Will the owner, Mrs. Glendening, (or anyone else) be allowed to live on the property 'tax free'? How will the museum be funded?
Just curious.
posted by Joe McDonald on 07/20/10 at 5:20 PM
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