A popular Town of Hamburg center which welcomes students and families to learn about natural sciences is getting some new facilities to better accommodate visitors.
A groundbreaking ceremony was held Friday morning for a $2 million expansion project at the Penn Dixie Fossil Park & Nature Reserve.
“Today we celebrate the vision of our founders, the investments from local government and local businesses, and unending passions that we have from our supporters,” said Dr. Phil Stokes, executive director of the Hamburg Natural History Society, which operates the site. “You have helped us to reach this important milestone, and together we will continue to develop this geological treasure as we head into our next phases of growth.”
New facilities under construction include a 1,100 square foot pavilion and a 520 square foot bathroom facility. The pavilion is being funded by a New York State Assembly grant, while the restroom is being paid for by Erie County.
The project first began in 2022 when four acres of the former Pennsylvania-Dixie Cement Quarry, vacated since 1970, were redeveloped. Completion of construction is expected later this year.
“We benefit from an amazing collection of really unique special places in Western New York, that the world doesn't even understand what we have,” said Assemblyman Jon Rivera. “And it's as big and beautiful as the AKG, it's big and beautiful as our waterfront. It's incredible, as you know, our soon to be stadium, but we have some special places here, and this is just another one of those special places.”
Penn Dixie was founded in 1993 and has grown to become a destination in Hamburg for science-based learning and cultural events, boosted by its reputation for its fossils from the Devonian period, between 419 to 359 million years ago.
Before she entered Erie County politics, Lisa Chimera taught in the Ken-Ton School District for 30 years. Now Deputy County Executive, she looked back on the experiences her students enjoyed at this site over the years.
“They went into a space that we cannot, as teachers, recreate in our classroom. They were able to dig, they were able to sift, they were able to learn, and maybe even get excited about a future in paleontology that they had never thought about,” she said. “This site provides that opportunity for our kids. As a teacher, bringing them back to the classroom extremely dirty was not always the best thing, but certainly rewarding nonetheless.”