The Wellsville Historical and Preservation Society received $17,000 in funds that would help the organization make improvements on the Burlington-Northern Railroad train depot on Hudson Street.

The Historical and Preservation Society received $12,000 from Amazon and $5,000 from the MFA Foundation. The funds will cover a new roof, some guttering and a paint job.

Society President Dena Saak first discussed the project with Paula Adams earlier in the summer. Adams is the city representative for the Depot Board, which has five members.

“I said the roof is looking kind of bad on the depot,” Saak said. “Maybe we ought to see if we can get that resolved. So I talked to an Amazon representative and she actually called me back about a week later. I don’t want to say how much they offered, but they made a donation. One of the people we asked for a bid had contacted me and said contact the MFA Foundation. They have a grant program. I did. Surprisingly enough, I don’t think it was two weeks before I found out that we got that one. So we have enough money to at least put the roof on and gutters.”

The society scheduled a meeting at 6 p.m. on Sept. 9 at Wellsville City Hall for anyone who wants to be involved in the train depot project.

Saak said she hopes the project will be done in December. Wellsville resident Jessie Maylee will do the painting and Smallwood Construction in Wellsville will put on the new roof.

“You just need one person to say, ‘Let’s do this.’ Usually, you can get the people to help,” Saak said. “That’s with any project. One person has to have an idea too so I could never say that I did it because it was literally the community and outside the community who participated. That’s what this project is going to be.”

Two years ago, the society helped make improvements at the Wellsville Kiwanis Ballpark by raising $60,000 for lighting and wiring work. It received a couple of grants, got some donations from local businesses and held a trivia night fundraiser to get the funds for the ballpark project.

Saak said the society, whose mission is to preserve Wellsville and its heritage, plans to hold several other events this year such as the Veterans Day Celebration in November and the Wreaths Across America event in December.

“We have a lot going for the Historical Society,” Saak said.

Depot project plans were discussed by Adams at the Wellsville Board of Aldermen meeting on Aug. 27. Adams is a board member.

“It was my understanding after (Saak) made a phone call that the only way Google will give her money was if they go into a 501-c-3,” Wellsville Mayor Howard Steele said. “I was dead set on that since I had to take all kinds of lash about the ballpark and everything that if any money comes in for any of the city properties, I was going to make sure that for now on, she gets all of the questions and everything instead of us.”

Curtis Peery, President of the Depot Board, attended the meeting and said he was against the Historical and Preservation Society installing a tin roof on the depot.

“I talked to all of the members on the committee and nobody was in favor of a tin roof,” Peery said. “The historical value of the depot has always been shingles. The shingles that are up there now are 35 years old. I’m sure the Reed House would not want a metal roof put on their building. Those (the depot and Reed House) are the only two buildings we got in town that are historical. I feel like we need to keep it historical and so does everybody I talked with on the committee.”

Saak said the society installed the current roof about 15 years ago.

“We raised money,” she said. “We had auction items at the school during our homecoming. We sold stuff there and then, we got donations from out of town. Bill Collins volunteered to put the roof on for us.”

The depot has been in its original location since 1981. Adams was in charge of the depot for years.

“When I got it, the city told me if I wanted to do it, they gave me the keys and a little bit of help from the city,” Adams said. “But when I went in there, there hadn’t been anybody in it for about, we thought, maybe 10 years. There were just raccoons. It was awful. So I got some kids to do some community service and we cleaned, cleaned and cleaned.”

The depot moved from the area that was nearby Wellsville-Middletown R-I School. The Montgomery County Historical Society owned the depot before handing it back to the City of Wellsville. MCHS members agreed that the building should be moved along Highway 19 so it can be used as a museum and meeting place for clubs and other organizations. The depot hosted events on Halloween and Christmas for several years.

“We hate to see it run down,” Saak said. “That is one of the last historic buildings that we have in Wellsville that is still viable.”

A caboose is located next to the depot. It was painted green and yellow in 2023 to match Burlington-Northern’s colors. The Depot Board bought the caboose in the Kansas City area years ago after finding out it was going to be demolished. The caboose was red before it changed colors.