53 Pioneer Restoration Announced; Fundraising Goal Set at $2M
By WRILEY NELSONCOOPERSTOWN
The Cooperstown Art Association and The Smithy Gallery announced a major renovation and restoration project of the historic 53 Pioneer Street building in a joint statement in October. The $2 million project will encompass the entire three-story interior and the exterior facade, and will ultimately make the building adjacent to The Smithy available for year-round use. It will feature exhibition space, retail space, flexible use classrooms, a commissary kitchen for culinary teaching, and an indoor-outdoor event venue for the benefit of residents and tourists alike.
53 Pioneer is the southern half of a stone Federal-style building and faces The Smithy’s main building across an alley. A Cooperstown Graduate Program history report published by Peyton Tracy and Peter Glogovsky in 2016 notes that it was built in 1826 by William Wilson and Richard Cooley. Cooley’s family held the property until 1920. The Cooper family purchased it in 1929 and sold it to Smithy-Pioneer Gallery Inc. in 1987.
