For those unfamiliar with Houghton, a tour of the town would most likely take somewhere around thirty minutes, including stops such as the Houghton Inn, China Star, Subway, the post office, and the college campus among others. This small town persona has defined Houghton for some time.
However, with the new Kerr-Pegula Athletic Complex nearing completion, the college is expecting an influx of visitors coming to see events held there. With the arrival of large groups of people comes greater demand for food, housing, entertainment, etc. A question presents itself: can the small town of Houghton meet such demands?
Enter the Houghton Group, a committee currently comprised of twelve community members who are trying to prepare Houghton for the traffic it hopes to see when the Kerr-Pegula Complex is finished.
“We’re working off of the momentum provided by the Kerr-Pegula project… obviously, it’ll provide a big boost to our sports programs,” says Professor Kenneth Bates, chair of the business and economics department and one of the twelve members of the Houghton Group. “But it’s a wonderful facility in terms of providing venues and services to other people in the area. It will become the largest meeting place in the county. It’s going to be able to seat 6,000 people. We’re going to be able to host events here that we never have before.”
“Right now, there’s a couple places you can eat, a couple places you can stay,” says Ralph Kerr, another member of the Group, “But there isn’t anything else of any significance. So we asked ourselves, if we could dream a little bit, what would a new Houghton downtown look like? As we started taking about it, we put together a wish list, and we realized that we needed a group of people on this.”
What is on the wish list for a new and improved Rt. 19? Professor Bates did not give any names of the businesses being engaged, but he said that restaurants, retail shops, and an outfitters store are all on the radar. Also, improvements to the existing Leonard Park (next to Subway) as well as the creation of a whole new town park are being proposed, the latter complete with potential access to the Genesee River.
Phyllis Gaerte, Head of Community Relations for Houghton College and the chair of the Houghton Group, looks forward to the coming changes: “I believe with the hard work of this group, we are going to see a different and better Rt. 19 corridor running through the hamlet of Houghton in the very near future…. Most of all I am anxious to see what a positive impact this will have on Houghton College, our town, Allegany County and the Western New York region.”