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Pre-opening Open House, Saturday, September 23rd, 1-5PM

The Allentown Cowork & Makerspace is an informal workspace that's conducive to the exchange of ideas, learning, and advancing the projects of individual members.

We're asking for your help in plotting the direction the 'space' takes.

Please plan on attending Saturday, September 23rd, between 1 and 5PM.

Background

While we love the development going up around us, we feel there should be some spaces that retain that uniquely Allentown feel.

The Building

The original brick structure dates to 1852. A prominent early owner was Delancey Rochester, a Harvard educated Doctor. He began using the building in 1886 as both his home and office. In 1889, E.B. Green did some design work on the home, we believe this to be an addition on the back right corner of the original structure. Rochester died in the building in 1929.

In 1938, the building took on a new life as the Sisti Art Gallery. Sisti passed in 1983, and the property saw limited use until 1995 as the estate struggled with what to do with the property

Today, the front of the building hosts 100's of guests per year visiting Buffalo and Niagara Falls. The back portion of the building, used by Sisti for his painting, is where the proposed coworking space will be located.

What to expect on the 23rd

Creating a truly community space would seem to dictate that we allow the community to have input before we get too far. This is your time to do exactly that. The space is currently just a shell, looking for your input.

We envision a space that during regular business hours would be a coworking space, with a bit of hackerspace mixed in. The sponsor of the location, 36in36, builds websites with the use of developers that earn equity in each project. Coworkers may choose to work on one of these projects, but it's not necessary to use the space.

During the weekend, or off hours, the space may be open to artists to use the north light that Sisti, and other artists over the years have used to great advantage. We're open to other community uses of the space, and again, hope to hear some of those on Saturday.

Some 'techy' stuff...

Two websites getting ready for market will be looking for end users to test/suggest feature changes.

Bithustle is a personal management tool that includes a simple scripting feature that lets a user automate certain tasks they find themselves doing repetitively. When we market this product in December, we'd like to have five 'example' scripts complete. The selected users will receive the application for free, and we would work with them on this 'automated' task over the next four to six weeks. The selected users (up to 5) will receive a 1/5th of a percent equity stake in the business.

We're also looking for five families to use / test / make suggestions for Myalphapics, which is a simple online game that helps a very young child learn the alphabet, counting, shapes, and colors with the use of family pictures and videos. This again would be approximately four to six weeks, and each family would earn a 1/5th of 1 percent stake in this business.

Some Historical Buffalo 'Maker' Stuff...

We'll have some early Buffalo books that some visitors may find interesting. Books on the history of Buffalo and surrounding communities, as well as a signed first edition set of Elert Hubbard's complete writings, numbered and signed. This is a project that took the Roycrofter's 8 years to complete.

Also some unique books on Niagara Falls, and the power project.

Just for fun... try and find a relative in the 1903 Buffalo phone book!

Whatever your interest, we hope to see you on Saturday, September 23, between 1 and 5PM. For those interested, we'll pass along an invitation for the private show that night.