11/18/2025
Last Wednesday night Steve Reilly and Daniel Wilson with Voorheesville Mayor Richard Straut facilitated a terrific meeting to discuss the future of 18 South Main Street in Voorheesville. From 6-8pm we had a lively and productive workshop with over 50 attendees, talking about what potential uses can be implemented for the former Phillips Hardware store. The community brought great ideas for re-using the building as a railroad history museum, community space, welcome center, maker/vendor spaces and administrative offices for the village, to name a few.
One of a handful of 19th-century buildings in the village retaining much of their original, character-defining features, 18 South Main has an interesting history. It was originally the location of Frank Bloomingdale’s thriving Straw, Hay and Grain Store and Bloomingdale was Voorheesville’s president and then mayor when the village incorporated in 1899. For decades after Bloomingdale’s, the building was the home of W. W. Crannell Lumber, and since 1993 the building was Phillips Hardware Store, but the structure has been vacant since 2024.
Thanks to grants from Senator Patricia Fahy and Assembly Member Gabriella Romero, the village will begin an abatement and structural stabilization project, followed by programming/planning and adaptive reuse of the structure with TRW. Stay tuned for more information as we work with the village to revitalize this unique and historic building.