The Doganieri House / Lock Grocery at Ft. Plain, NY

On the east side of the exterior, carved into the wood half-way up,
remains the relief of: "Hay, Oats, Wheat Bow & Tow line."
Tom A. Doganieri (Feb. 2007)

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A Precious Home - At a Special Place

Contributor: Thomas A. Doganieri

"My father, Tony Doganieri, built this house in 1937 on the Erie Canal locks in Ft. Plain, NY. The building with the chimney became part of the house. The lock walls became the walls for the house cellar. Part of the wood gate is still in the cellar!"   Tom Doganieri - March, 2007

A view of the Doganieri property prior to the construction of the house where Tom Doganieri grew up.

Ostquago Creek Aqueduct

Prior to the construction of the aqueduct, there was a covered bridge was at this location.

The same location is now the State Street Bridge.

The Life of a Way Station

Built circa 1825-1830

At the turn of the century the Fred Fineour Way Station was a very frequent stop.

The lock's center structure (middle of the canal) was situated directly in front of the Waystaion.

This is how the way station looked when the canal was filled in and became State Street.

A rare mid-1930's color photo of the way station in rapid disrepair.

NYSM crews began the salvage in June 1988.

Fort Plain, NY ...is Lockville!

This webpage is dedicated to family historian Tom A. Doganieri, who contributed all of this information just prior to his death in the Spring of 2007 in Huntersville, NC.

An 1880 photo looking northest. Trees block the view of Lock 32, but the Doganieri property can be seen on the far side of the canal, adjacent to the locks.

Lock 32

This view is looking into the southern lock, with the Doganieri property in the background (right of center). ~1900

Westerly view from the towpath (north side of canal) with the north lock visible in front of the Grocery Store/Doganieri House.

Lock Grocery becomes State Museum exhibit

Courier-Standard-Enterprise, Fort Plain, N.Y., October 11, 1989

ALBANY- An important piece of NY's Erie Canal history was saved from oblivion when the New York State Museum salvaged the 19th-century "Lock Grocery" by making it one of it's exhibits in upstate New York.

This is one of the oldest Erie Canal-assoiciated buildings to be salvaged and reconstructed by a museum. Crew members dismantled the entire buidling in June 1988, and transported, piece-by-piece, back to the museum's restoration facility in Albany.

A surprising amount of material from the mid-19th century was found in the store. Layers of wallpaper, old woodwork, and marks left by store shelving provided remarkabel documentation of the life of the store. The grocery store was sold several times, and at the turn-of-the-centruy, included a tavern.

Mabel Doganieri Dygert came to the house as a bride in 1934, when it was owned by her husband's family. The Doganieri family had purchased the store soon after their emigration from Italy around 1900 and occupied it until the early 1970's.