Fenton History Center Executive Director Joni Blackman presents budget to Jamestown City Council (November 3, 2025)
The Fenton History Center is working on finding the funds needed for the roof replacement on the historic mansion.
Executive Director Joni Blackman, during her budget presentation to Jamestown City Council, said the estimated cost for the roof replacement from several years ago is around $1.2 to $1.3 million for the 162 year old historic building, “And then I was informed by the Parks Department staff that the windows all have issues. We’re talking another $800,000 to $900,000. You can’t just put up on a vinyl window. But, that’s a thing to be replaced. I don’t think they have to be replaced. I think the Parks Department can work little by little through it and re glaze them and repaint them and clean them up. And I think, little by little, we can get through it with a lot less money.”
Blackman said she is working with the City Grant Writer but federal sources of funds have dried up and the most she could receive in one round of funding from the New York State Historic Preservation Office is $675,000 with a 25% match. The center also received $75,000 in funding from the New York State Dormitory Authority under the previous Fenton director that can only be used for roof replacement and not repairs. Blackman said she also is meeting with the Jamestown Department of Development on including the Fenton History Center in Jamestown’s application for $10 million in Downtown Revitalization Initiative funding.
Blackman said that since a rubber roof was placed on the mansion when the city took ownership in 1920 that it been there long enough where the city wouldn’t have to replace the roof with a tin material, which is what they believe is the original roof layer, “The Parks Department has told me that there’s a lot of breaks in the current rubber roof seams. And the water, even though we see no water in the building, I don’t know what’s running underneath all of that. So, one of the Parks Department gentlemen, Brandon, is probably going to go up in the attic and look around and see. I’m worried there’s leaks that we’re not seeing.”
Blackman said there could be three layers or more on the roof. Once the project has the funding it needs and if that includes State Historic Preservation funding, the project will require multiple bids.
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