Historic Sites

If you find errors OR have additional information about this site, please send a message to contact@waynehistorians.org.

 

Sodus Trolley Barn

Historic Site #:12-071   (Exists)   Type: H,I2 Town:Sodus
Site Name:Sodus Trolley BarnGPS Coordinates:43.236436, -77.056441
Address:31 State Street Sodus New York
Description:
Sodus Trolley Barn used from 1904 - 1929


 
Photo from Town of Sodus MuralThe building as it looks today. Photo from Edith Farrington
 
Historic narrative:

The following information is from Sandy Hopkins

Located at 31 State St.in Sodus

The Trolley Barn was built in 1904 as a trolley barn and repair terminal.   It is located at the east end of town and was referred to as the “barns”.   It was used to store and repair trolleys in the village until June 28, 1929.  Just outside the barns was a wonderful invention called a “balloon  switch”.  You could turn a trolley around all the way and head it back to Rochester. The trolley line was called the Blue Line or the Apple Blossom Route.  It ran from Rochester to Sodus Point.  After the end of the trolley system the building was subsequently used by the Rochester Transit System to store their buses and by the Sodus School District  to house school buses prior to construction of the bus garage. The building was also used by GLF Petroleum Company for storage of Fuel  trucks and in the early 1950′s Robert Johnson, then the local Chevrolet dealer, operated a used car conditioning shop and a used car Lot  on the premises.  In 1960 it became a laundromat owned by John Buzzell  of Newark. John added the second and larger portion of the Building three to four years later. On April 28, 1977 the building caught on fire.  A faulty aluminum electric cable is believed to be responsible for the fire. The fire destroyed the  building . At the time of the fire the owner  was John Buzzell  Jr. also of Newark. The station stood empty for 15 years until the Hombergers  and  Hermanet‘s  bought it and opened Another  Laundromat and the Ice Cream Junction in January of 1992.




References:

Town of Sodus Historical Society Trolley web page