Since the beginning of the Hall of Fame in 2013, we have inducted a total of 43 structures that are displayed in Medina’s City Hall at 600 Main Street.
The inductees for 2024 are highlighted below.
MOUNT ALBION CEMETERY 
Albion, NY
Mount Albion Cemetery is not only hallowed grounds for more than 20,000 people, but the historic site on Route 31 is a cohesive collection of sandstone workmanship that unifies the cemetery.
From the arch leading into the main entrance of the cemetery, to the office building, chapel, a Civil War memorial and many hitching posts, carriage steps and monuments, the painstakingly carved sandstone is prominent.
The Civil War memorial was inducted into the Medina Sandstone Hall of Fame in 2014. That 58-foot-high tower is a memorial to nearly 500 Orleans County soldiers killed in the Civil War. It was built in 1876.
The cemetery includes so much more, and the Sandstone Society is inducting the entire cemetery into the Hall of Fame.
The chapel was built in 1875, a year before the iconic tower was complete. The archway at the main entrance was completed in 1880. The keeper’s house (now the office) and storage barn were completed in 1889. A sandstone spring house and lily pond were completed in 1908.
Mount Albion remains a much loved and revered place in the community. The site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976, the first in Orleans County on that distinguished list. topped with a conical pinnacle.
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CHARLOTTE-GENESEE LIGHTHOUSE
Rochester, NY
The Charlotte-Genesee Lighthouse, built in 1822, may be the oldest Medina Sandstone structure. The sandstone was likely quarried from the deep Genesee River gorge to the south. The 40-foot-high tower was built in northern Rochester at the juncture of the Genesee River and Lake Ontario.
The lighthouse is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is a City of Rochester Landmark.
The tower went out of service in 1881. In 1965, Charlotte High School students started a letter writing campaign to save the lighthouse from impending destruction. The students prevailed.
The tower was declared surplus in 1981 by the government, and the site is now managed as a museum by the Charlotte Genesee Lighthouse Historical Society, a nonprofit volunteer organization.
The Historical Society uses the next-door brick keeper’s dwelling from 1863 as a local museum. The grounds also are home to a peace garden, detailing four encounters with the British during the War of 1812.
As of 2014, the lighthouse is again active, and listed in the United States Coast Guard Light List as light number 2333.
FIRST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
Penn Yan, NY
In 1823, a woman named Mrs. Susan Benson arrived in Penn Yan, New York to reside and found that there was no Methodist church, which she deemed totally unacceptable. About a year later, on March 29, 1824 the First Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Penn Yan was incorporated.
Over the next 74 years, the congregation outgrew two other buildings and in 1897 they decided to build their present building. They contracted with Jacob Allington & Sons of Elmira. They chose a Romanesque Revival style and used a beautiful ruddy gray Medina Sandstone. The cost for this magnificent building was $35,000, a huge sum for that period. The church was dedicated on January 12, 1898.
In 2024, the First United Methodist congregation celebrated their 200th birthday and the Medina Sandstone they chose some 126 years ago still looks as beautiful now as it did then.
ST. LUKE’S EPISCOPAL CHURCH
Jamestown, NY
St. Luke’s Episcopal Church was completed in 1894, built of rock- faced Medina Sandstone. Mary Prendergast left $125,000 in her will to build the fireproof stone church in memory of her daughter, Catherine. (The original church building burned down in 1862.) A plaque inside the church recognizes the family for their gift of building the church. “This is none other but the house of God and this is the gate of Heaven,” the inscription states.
St. Luke’s is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is in the heart of the Downtown Jamestown Historic District. The church blends elements of the late Gothic Revival and Romanesque Revival styles.
The structure at 410 North Main St. has a traditional cruciform plan with a square bell tower attached to the northeast corner of the church. That tower features a clock on each face side and rounded corners topped with a conical pinnacle.
The bell tower was struck by lightning in 2013, damaging one of the corners. That tower also suffered years of water damage.
St. Luke’s recently completed $1 million of work on the tower, disassembling parts of the sandstone, rebuilding the stone and cleaning up the mortar.
The church property also includes a chapel and office building made of Medina Sandstone.
The Medina Sandstone Society is proud to induct these outstanding examples of
Medina Sandstone construction into the Medina Sandstone Hall of Fame Class of 2024.
