Historic Nordson Depot becomes an Amherst city park

AMHERST — A 116-year-old railway station has been gifted to the city by the Nordson Corp. The manufacturing company held a ceremony Tuesday morning to transfer ownership of the historic Nordson Depot on Franklin Avenue, along with 5.4 acres of land. The site will become Amherst's newest public park, and the only one south of the Norfolk Southern Railroad tracks that run through town. "Our parks workers can't wait to get in here and start trimming some trees, make sure everyone can see how beautiful it is," said Mayor Mark Costilow, standing inside the old brick-walled depot building, which measures 30 feet by 50 feet. Sunlight shines down through skylights onto the hardwood floors where passengers once disembarked from trains, and antique tools hang along the former station's walls. Built in 1905 by the Lakeshore and Southern Michigan Central Railway, the depot serviced passenger trains until 1963. It was purchased by Nordson in 1969 and opened to the public three years later. Cecilia Render, executive director of the Nordson Corporation Foundation, said the company has allowed nonprofits to sign up to use the building as a meeting space over the years. "We figured we're not necessarily the best place to do that," she said Tuesday. Costilow said the goal is to share the historic property with the community: "As long as Amherst is here, we'll make that happen," he said. The paperwork has been signed and the transfer is being processed, but many of the details of how the depot will be used are still being hammered out. Costilow said there is a chance an Office on Aging employee will be assigned to operate the property on a regular basis. A pickleball court and playground are also possibilities, though "no promises," he said. Nordson and its foundation presented a check for $150,000 to the city to help develop the park. Costilow said he hopes to iron out the process for reserving the meeting space by the spring. City park workers already are planning to build a small maintenance building on the site to store equipment. Though its international headquarters are now in Westlake, Nordson was incorporated in Amherst in 1954 and continues to staff more than 500 people at its Amherst campus. The company employs more than 7,555 worldwide and reached global sales of $2.1 billion last year. Contact Jason Hawk at (440) 329-7122 or news@lcnewspapers.com.