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Red Hat Ladies tour historic Depot Museum

From left are Jean Lucas, Joan Nobles, Lana Austin, Alice Sanders, Barb Nobles, Jane Penhollow, Ruth McNamara, Ruth Nichols, Marily Butcher, Olive Becker, Phyllis Butcher.

The Red Hat Ladies toured the village of South Dayton’s 1875 Depot Museum.

In 1859, John Wickham purchased 400 acres of land that included the present village of South Dayton, which is one square mile. Where South Dayton now stands was a heavy growth of pine trees. In 1859, this settlement was named Pine Valley by Baron Hubbard.

Wickham gave six and one-half acres valued at $1,000 to influence the railroad company to come through Pine Valley.

The railroad was opened July 1, 1875, by the Buffalo & Jamestown Railroad. Pine Valley grew rapidly and was the largest shipping point on the railroad between Jamestown and Buffalo.

In 1897, when owing to the fact there was another older post office in the state named Pine Valley, the government changed the name of the post office to South Dayton and some months later, the name of the Village and railroad station were likewise changed to South Dayton.

The Depot was restored in 2006 with funding from former Sen. Cathy Young and the Margaret Wendt Foundation.

The Red Hat Ladies enjoyed the original Robert Redford ticket window from the filming of “The Natural,” “Planes, Trains and Automobiles” and also shared their railroad stories.

The tour was given by Peg VanWormer and Karen Strickland, members of The Friends of the Depot Committee. After their tour, the Red Hat Ladies enjoyed lunch at Zollinger’s Restaurant.

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