Historian opposes demolition of old trolley barn in Kingston

FOR EDWIN Ford, the city of Kingston's historian, the planned demolition of a 19th century trolley barn to make way for a drugstore is a bitter pill to swallow. So the 86-year-old preservationist has suggested a prescription to Walgreens Pharmacy executives. In a letter, Ford has asked the chain to consider building a new store in the city's Rondout district instead of on Midtown parcels at Broadway and East Chester Street, where the trolley barn, built in the late 1800s, sits atop polluted soil.

http://www.dailyfreeman.com/site/news.c ... 4969&rfi=6

Unfortunately, it appears the demolition will proceed. I'm with the Trolley Museum of New York, and we've always eyed this building--it would have been the ultimate adaptive reuse: use it for trolleys again! However, we never had enough money or clout to change the push to get a tax paying business on the site.

The City of Kingston has issued the demolition permit. In a few months where will be a 9' to 12' deep pit where the building was. Supposedly this much material needs to be removed in order to mitigate the pollution. Oh well.

A big excavator with a claw is on site. :( The laundromat on the corner was reduced to rubble yesterday.

The old car barn is no more. It went down in the past day or two.