Overview Medina is a village in the towns of Shelby and Ridgeway in southwestern Orleans County. With a population just over 6,000, Median is the second-most populated municipality in Orleans County (after Albion, the county seat). The Erie Canal bends and passes though the village, creating a basin that served as a stopover point. Medina has a charming downtown business district and is home to the Medina Railroad Museum, one of the largest railroad and toy-train museums in the state. Here, you’re almost exactly halfway between Rochester (to the east) and Buffalo (to the west). A branch campus of Genesee Community College is here. Medina has the only place where a road passes under the Erie Canal, and a “church in the middle of the road” that is featured in Ripley’s Believe it or Not. An ethanol plant, the first of its kind in the northeastern United States, opened here in 2008. Medina is where the youngest First Lady in history – Frances Cleveland, the wife of President Grover Cleveland – went to high school.
Local Museums & Landmarks
The entire Main Street Historic District is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Other places in town with that designation are the Medina Armory, the post office, and the Payjack Chevrolet Building. The Erie Canal, of course, is a huge draw, and the Erie Canal Culvert is the only place where motorists can drive under the canal. The Medina Railroad Museum offers train rides and a huge train exhibit, along with special events during the holidays and for kids. The Medina Historical Museum is on West Avenue. There’s a working drawbridge on Route 63. |