Campaign Progress
The Campaign for an Elevator at the Richardson-Bates House Museum
The Oswego County Historical Society seeks $112,000 to install a modern lift at the Richardson-Bates House Museum, ensuring full accessibility to the second-floor exhibit of Dr. Mary Walker’s Congressional Medal of Honor, the only Medal of Honor ever awarded to a woman.
Since the exhibit’s debut in 2024, the medal has become a major attraction, yet visitors with mobility challenges are currently unable to experience it in person. With feasibility confirmed by a structural engineer, preliminary approval acquired from the Oswego City Codes Department, and a suitable lift model identified with Accessibility Solutions, this project is ready to proceed with your help.
Funding will guarantee equitable access to every patron, visitor, volunteer, and researcher, and strengthen the Oswego County Historical Society’s vision for more inclusive historical education.
Eva Corradino
President, Board of Trustees
Adding an elevator to an 1870’s Victorian mansion would ordinarily be cost prohibitive, but we’re fortunate: the Bates family already had one installed by the Otis Elevator Company in 1936.
That elevator would later be removed from the building in the 1940s, but the shaft still exists to this day. Over the years, that space has been converted to storage or used for electrical and mechanical utilities.
We’ve worked with a local consultant to identify a new, modern elevator that will fit into the existing shaft. The new elevator will be able to service all four floors of the museum, from the basement to the attic. From the elevator’s exit onto our mezzanine, an additional wheelchair lift will be installed in a back hallway to allow full access to the second floor through our temporary gallery.
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The work will be completed across the following phases:
- Removal or relocation of the electrical and mechanical utilities, the largest being a hot water boiler in the basement;
- Removal of the storage components in the existing shaft;
- The installation of the structural base and framing for the elevator, as required by the manufacturer;
- The installation of the elevator;
- The installation of the second-floor wheelchair lift.
Prefer to pay by check?
Please mail your donation to:
ATTN: Elevator Campaign
Oswego County Historical Society
135 East Third Street
Oswego, NY 13126
