The Tioga County Historical Society has received a grant for $6,428 from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). The money will be used to begin planning for an exhibit on the history of Route 17.

The NEH approved the grant to explore how an exhibit on Route 17 can be educational, and to think of innovative ways to present its history.

The project will begin in the summer of 2000, and will, if later funded, take two years to complete. By 2002, the historical society hopes to see billboards, mobile exhibition trailers, and traveling panels interpreting the history of a road that will soon be no more.

Route 17 begins in Harriman, New York, and continues to Westfield, at the western border of New York State. In 1998, U.S. Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan proposed that the highway be changed to Interstate 86. Plans are currently in the works to move in that direction--sections of Route 17 that were laid in the early 1970s near Corning have already been renamed. The entire metamorphosis will take about ten years to complete.

The arrival of Route 17 was a significant event in our region's history. Coinciding with the arrival of IBM-Owego and a general economic boom in the mid-sixties, the construction of this major highway allowed easier travel between upstate and downstate New York.

During the construction of Route 17, a Native American site was unearthed in Nichols. In Johnson City, the Triple Cities Triplets' Johnson Field stadium was demolished. Many homes were moved or destroyed to make way for the highway, but many lives were positively impacted as well.

The Tioga County Historical Society will be collaborating with the Broome, Chemung, and Liberty Historical Societies in hopes of creating a comprehensive visual documentation of Route 17.

Do you have memories to share about Route 17? Do you have photographs, news clippings, or home movies that you'd like to contribute? If so, call Joann at 687-2460 to make your contribution to this project on the history of Route 17.