Peekskill”™s Lincoln Depot Museum is opening its 2015 season with a funeral remembrance marking the 150th anniversary of President Abraham Lincoln”™s death on April 14, 1865. Lincoln was the nation”™s first president to be assassinated.
“Many people think, ”˜Why would you celebrate or call attention to an assassination,”™” said Tristi Nichols, president of the Lincoln Society in Peekskill, a more than 100-year-old organization that says it is the oldest active Lincoln society in the country.
“It”™s because we are trying to bring history alive,” she said. “After Lincoln was assassinated there were several other things that transpired before he was buried; one was the remembrance train ride ”” that is the key thing we want to focus on because Peekskill was one of the stops along that ride.”
In fact, Peekskill was the only town in Westchester County visited by Lincoln”™s funeral train, when it stopped for 10 minutes on its somber trek to Illinois exactly 150 years ago next weekend.
Twice Peekskill received special attention from Lincoln as the city (at that time considered a village within the town of Cortlandt) was also the only place in the county to receive a stop from Lincoln on his way to his inauguration in Washington, D.C., four years earlier in February 1861.
The museum”™s mission of breathing life into history will be on display in full regalia at the April 25-26 opening weekend, which will feature period re-enactors, a rare replica of Lincoln”™s casket made by the original company and guest speakers.
Visitors to the museum on opening weekend can sign a book of condolences to be archived in the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, Ill., and listen to lectures by authors and Lincoln historians Jamie Malanowski and John Muranelli.
In addition to the special activities, the museum will display dozens of Lincoln and Civil War artifacts on loan and as part of its permanent collection. Among them, Civil War era weapons, a uniform worn by a Peekskill soldier during the war, historically significant documents signed by Lincoln and more artifacts illuminating the links between Lincoln, Peekskill and the Civil War.
History and the museum are not the only things being revitalized in Peekskill, though.
Lincoln Depot Museum President John Testa ”” a Lincoln and history enthusiast with the Civil War re-enactor”™s outfits to prove it ”” led the charge to reclaim and refurbish the historic train depot during his tenure as Peekskill mayor from 2002 to 2007.
Testa represents Peekskill under District 1 of the county Board of Legislators.
In 2006, under Testa”™s lead, the city was awarded $8.2 million in state grants for waterfront revitalization, including work at the museum, which is a vital component of the project, Testa said.
- Lincoln Depot Museum President John Testa. Photo by Reece Alvarez
“This is not just a fly-by-night museum. This is the real deal ”” as it has been described by people ”” it is like walking into a New York City museum but in Peekskill,” he said.
But with the grant money received in 2006 and the museum”™s grand opening in October 2014, it is no secret that there have been delays in the project.
Initially, $3 million of the initial grant money was put to use by the Lincoln Depot Foundation to refurbish and establish the actual museum, but a fair amount of work is left to be done, with the grounds outside churned up by earth movers and the construction of a support building ”” with gift shop, administrative offices, meeting and presentations rooms ”” still in the early phases of construction.
“What”™s being done out there now should have been done six years ago. Unfortunately we had some road blocks with the administration that came after us,” Testa said, referring to the administration of former Peekskill Mayor Mary Foster.
“Now there is a new administration and we are trying to bring back the momentum we had in the city previously. We had a six- year lapse but I think the business community ”” people like us and other organizations ”” we didn”™t let that stop us from continuing to move forward, and now that we have an administration that is favorable to business and a place like the Lincoln museum, we can now move forward in concert with each other,” he said.
Designed by curators from New York City, Testa referred to the museum as the centerpiece of Peekskill”™s riverfront revitalization effort. The area has already seen transformations in surrounding businesses with the addition of new and proposed restaurants as well as national interest in the museum as a historical tourist destination, Testa said.
“I can tell you that it has captured a lot of attention and I think it will bring a lot of people into the area,” said Linda Murphy, board chairman for the Hudson Valley Gateway Chamber of Commerce. “It will be a destination a lot of people would like to visit. It is close to the train, and I think people will travel to come to the museum. I don”™t think it can do anything except help ”” once you bring people into the area they will discover everything else that is here.”
The museum has already received requests to be added as a tourist destination by state and college tourism agencies ”” Michigan State University in particular, Testa said.
“I personally believe this area, the Hudson Valley and Peekskill, is probably the most under-recognized historical center for our country”™s development,” Testa said. “There are a lot of historic figures in Peekskill that have had tangible connections with Lincoln and the developments of many of the movements in the country that have made America happen.”
For more information on the Lincoln Depot Museum”™s opening weekend featuring the funeral remembrance, visit lincolndepotmuseum.org.
The event is on April 25 and 26 from 1-4pm.