‘History on Tap’ Highlights Proposed National Historic Park March 3

OSWEGO – Learn more about building and landscape history of the proposed Fort Ontario Holocaust Refugee Shelter National Historic Park at the next “History on Tap” program! Local historian Jonathan Kobelia leads the discussion at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, March 3 in the Riverview Room at G.S. Steamers Restaurant, located inside the Clarion Inn, 70 E. First St., Oswego. The event is free and open to the public.

Kobelia will speak on preliminary historical research into the section of the Fort Ontario National Register District deemed eligible to become a national park by a 2024 National Park Service study.

Buildings under discussion include Safe Haven Holocaust Refugee Shelter Museum (former guardhouse), Hot Stove Association / Oswego Little League (bake house), Oswego County Opportunities’ Head Start Pre-School Program (former commissary warehouse) and Oswego Art Association / Francis Marion Brown Theatre (former quartermaster warehouse).

The presentation also includes buildings, trees, and structural or natural features that are no longer standing by incorporating maps, photographs and documents examined by Kobelia.

A seasonal historian at Fort Ontario State Historic Site, Kobelia has been instrumental in updating historical research, educating visitors about soldiers who garrisoned the post during its 1868-69 interpretive period, and furnishing two soldiers’ squad rooms in the Enlisted Men’s Barracks. He is a member of the Company of Military Historians and the Council on America’s Military Past.

More recently, Kobelia spent his winter tenure at the Safe Haven Holocaust Refugee Shelter Museum as an employee of Oswego County Workforce Development. The County department places young workers in positions that help develop and enhance their skills to advance their careers. It also helps employers find skilled workers.

Kobelia’s program is supported by the “History on Tap” Committee, the Safe Haven Holocaust Refugee Shelter Museum and Fort Ontario State Historic Site.

The Safe Haven Museum interprets the history and significance of the Fort Ontario Emergency Refugee Shelter, which served as the only camp or shelter for Holocaust victims in the United States during World War II.

For more information on the event or museum, contact Paul Lear at [email protected] or call 315-342-3003.

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