BY ADAM ATKINSONNorth Country This Week

POTSDAM — A potential cache of used Potsdam sandstone from the state psych hospital buildings in Ogdensburg which are to be demolished and destined for a landfill could be rescued and used for future restorations in Potsdam.

That is the proposal by former Potsdam Museum director Mimi Van Deusen who made the pitch to the village board at its meeting Monday, July 15.

Van Deusen, who was speaking as a member of the Bayside Cemetery Association board, asked the board to consider a proclamation to support the idea of diverting the stone from its trip to the landfill and instead stockpile the material for future rehab work on the village and town’s 28 classic sandstone structures.

Van Deusen said the cemetery board is planning restoration work at the cemetery which features sandstone walls and a lodge.

“A group of us have gotten together and when we found out they were tearing down the state buildings at the state hospital and they’re going to take the Potsdam sandstone that got shipped over there by ox cart and they are going to put it in dump trucks and they are going to send it somewhere and landfill it. We think that’s a bad idea,” Van Deusen said.

She said the group would like to get the support of the community and the village to convince the state to “pallet up” some of the stone and move it to Potsdam instead.

“Clarkson has offered to store some onsite. And Bayside, we have offered to store some. We have 45 acres,” Van Deusen said.

The former village historian pointed out several restorations of sandstone buildings recently. She said when the Potsdam Catholic Church recently did work on its towers, they had to ship sandstone in from Arizona to get the proper raw material to fix and point the old stonework because there was little available in the area.

“We would like the village to support this idea. We are going to the town. We are going to every organization,” she said.

Van Deusen said there 28 sandstone buildings in and around the village and when restoration work needs to be done its difficult to find sandstone to do the maintenance.

“So it makes a lot of sense,” she said. Van Deusen said she also heard a rumor that the sandstone in Ogdensburg was to be trucked out of state but she couldn’t confirm that.

Van Deusen said the sandstone could be made available for anyone to use that needed it.

During discussion of the issue, Van Deusen said the state of New York owns the psych center properties, including the four buildings there faced with Potsdam sandstone. However, the state has signed a contract with a firm to tear down the buildings and get rid of the debris.

“So what will have to happen is we will have to have the state of New York interfere, (and) allow this to happen,” she said. Van Deusen said the association board is conferring with the local state representatives on the issue and they may have to go to the governor. “This has to be an altered contract from the state I think,” she said.

“Everybody’s got sandstone buildings and they are all almost over 200 years old and they are in need in of restoration,” Van Deusen said.

The association is holding a meeting on Monday, July 22 at noon in the village community room and has invited stakeholders who have sandstone structures or an interest in the fledgling “Save the Sandstone” movement to attend. “We’ve invited all these people to come and just talk about this,” she said.

Trustee Steve Warr said it seemed like it would be cheaper for the contractor to ship the sandstone to Potsdam 29 miles away rather than hauling it all the way to a landfill, potentially out of the state.

After discussion, Village Mayor Alexandra Jacobs Wilke voiced village support for the effort.

“We would be happy to put together a resolution of support for consideration at our next meeting, and we’d love to be in touch with our elected representatives,” Wilke said.