(The following story by Lynn Anderson appeared on the Baltimore Sun website on December 17.)
BALTIMORE — The B&O Railroad Museum, undergoing reconstruction from the heavy damage caused by February’s record snowstorm, was awarded a $300,000 Community Legacy grant yesterday in Annapolis.
The grant – one of the largest announced at a State House ceremony – will be used to build a restoration facility for the repair of historic trains damaged when the museum’s roundhouse roof collapsed from the heavy snow.
“This is an investment in a challenged part of the city,” said Courtney B. Wilson, executive director of the Southwest Baltimore museum, “and a wonderful statement of significance for the museum.”
Wilson said that work on the 27,000-square-foot restoration facility, which will cost about $5 million to construct, could begin as early as mid-spring.
In all, city organizations received $1.77 million in Community Legacy grants, which are distributed by state housing officials and intended to revitalize neighborhoods. The city of Takoma Park also received a $300,000 grant, for its Old Town parking garage.
In Baltimore County, the Town Center-Village Lots in Dundalk received $150,000.
The awards were part of a statewide total of almost $9 million in grants announced by Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele and Victor L. Hoskins, state secretary of housing and community development. Officials received $30 million worth of requests.