The New York State Board for Historic Preservation has recommended that Center and Pearl Streets in Forestville be designated a historic district.
The site in Forestville is one of 19 properties and districts being recommended to be added to the State and National Registers of Historic Places.
Situated between Forestville’s commercial Main Street and the railroad depot, the district encompasses an area that evolved from a collection of mills and houses in forested land in the early 1800s, into a vibrant tree-lined streetscape that was the home to some of the community’s most prosperous families. The district grew in the sparsely developed land between the town center and rail depot following the arrival of the New York & Erie Railroad in 1851.
The Center and Pearl Streets Historic District preserves a rare residential enclave that experienced continued changes and expansion over the course of a century as passenger and freight use of the railroad gave way to automobiles and trucks. The residents of the historic district directly contributed to and benefited from access to railroad, ranging from railroad employees, local business owners, farmers, and locally significant professional lawyers, all who settled along for convenient access to both a major regional transportation route and the nearby town business district. This broad pattern of development was unique to Forestville, providing a rich study in the development of an isolated rural agricultural community into one connected to the larger world through the railroad.
The State and National Registers are the official lists of buildings, structures, districts, landscapes, objects and sites significant in the history, architecture, archaeology and culture of New York State and the nation.
Once recommendations are approved by the Commissioner, who serves as the State Historic Preservation Officer, the properties are listed in the New York State Register of Historic Places and then nominated to the National Register of Historic Places, where they are reviewed by the National Park Service and, once approved, entered in the National Register. More information, with photos of the nominations, is available on the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation website.
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