Photos by Tom Rivers Posted 15 July 2015

GAINES – A print shop from about a century ago is getting cleaned up with some new parts to be added to the old presses.

David Damico, a volunteer for the Cobblestone Museum, has been reorganizing the shop, which was built in 1875. It used to be in Medina, but was moved to the museum grounds on Route 98 in Gaines in the late 1977.

Damico lives in Le Roy. He also volunteers at the print shop at the Genesee Country Village in Mumford. Damico teaches graphic design and topography at Brockport State College.

The shop at the Cobblestone Museum has several cases of type.

Damico believes the shop dates to about 1910-1920, based on the type for printing and lettering, as well as the electricity for the shop and a phone on the wall.

The printing shop is like walking into a time capsule from a century ago. The site includes two printing presses from the late 1800s.

Damico is getting rollers, aprons and cleaning materials for the site that are appropriate for the time period of the shop.

A poster advertising a baseball game between Albion and Medina is on the wall in the shop. The game was to be played on Sept. 1, 1915 in Albion.

The building was constructed in the Second Empire style. It was built by William Hedley of Medina in the 1870s. Hedley purchased land on East Center Street in Medina, and also purchased land near the canal aqueduct. During that time period, Hedley owned and operated a saw mill, stone planing mill, a flour mill, and a machine shop, according to the Cobblestone Museum.

The print shop building was donated to the Cobblestone Museum in 1977 by Erling Maine.

For more on the historic buildings at the Cobblestone Museum, click here.

Damico wants to train volunteers on how to use the printing presses and equipment in the shop. He has a print shop in his basement with equipment from the 1920s.