Brownfields to become railroad museum

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) - A place where people used to make things will become a museum where visitors can learn a thing or two.

A site near the Buffalo River will soon be a museum and a monument to our city's one-time role as a leader of industry.

Steam powered the engines that turned the economic turbine of western New York back in its heyday. On Wednesday, plans were announced to turn a site into the Heritage Discovery Center. The former Buffalo Color site will be the home of the Western New York Historical Society Railroad Museum and the Steel Plant Museum, which is currently in Lackawanna.

"The brownfield we're standing on today has a long and storied history here in Buffalo. The site has been here since the late 1800's, and was really a, an industrial model from a chemical production standpoint for, really, the world at the time," said a trustee of the museum.

>>>For more on what the museum will hold, check out Nalina Shapiro's reporter's notebook

Before they can open the museum to the public, the brownfields have to be cleaned up. That will take two more years. When it's done, the site will also have public space available for community organizations to use.