NORTH TONAWANDA — A stroll through the Herschell Carrousel Factory Museum is a walk through the early history of American amusement parks.

But nothing solidifies the historic significance of the sprawling, long-defunct North Tonawanda factory that once produced the most carousels in the world more than a recent award: a Save America’s Treasures Grant, the National Park Service’s most competitive and prestigious preservation grant.

“It’s validation,” museum director Rae Proefrock said. “We’ve been saying for 30 years that this site needs to be preserved and interpreted. This grant validates everything we’ve been saying. It’s very exciting for us.”

About 15,000 people visit the museum each year, taking in exhibits and displays in its six areas.

The museum was one of 40 grant recipients out of 400 applicants nationwide. It received a $265,000 matching grant to go toward a $590,000 project to stabilize the wood trusses of the Carving Shop, which was built in 1905, and upgrade its aging sprinkler system. The work, which will include building a steel frame to hold up the building, is slated to begin in November.

Proefrock said the museum also garnered additional grants — $215,000 from the state Environmental Protection Fund; $65,000 from the Margaret L. Wendt Foundation; and $50,000 from New York State Dormitory Authority.

The state and federal grants are both matching grants, and the federal money cannot be used to match the state grant, leaving the museum in a financial bind and the duty of raising an additional $80,000.

If the museum can come up with the matching funds for the state grant, the state grant can then be used to match the federal grant, Proefrock said. To donate, call 693-1885 or mail a check made out to the Carousel Society to P. O. Box 672, North Tonawanda, NY 14120, and write “building fund” on the memo line.

“We don’t have the $80,000,” she said. “We’ll lose both grants if we can’t come up with that money.”