NEW BEDFORD — More than a decade after fire devastated the Corson Building in the heart of the historic whaling district, hundreds gathered Friday to mark its official reopening after a $6.4 million restoration.

Speakers used the occasion to praise the role of historic preservation, the city's extraordinary natural and architectural qualities and the benefits of federal, state and local cooperation at the New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park.

U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy talked about the "spirit and soul" of the people of New Bedford in saving the Corson Building from demolition and preserving history in the whaling capital of the world.

On a lighter note, U.S. Rep. Barney Frank began his remarks by telling an overflow audience, "Welcome to an earmark."

Noting there are many national parks and historic sites on which federal money has been spent, Rep. Frank said they "didn't come from the sky." And, he noted, they are "cared for and serviced by bureaucrats."

The $6.4 million used to restore the Corson Building was secured by Sen. Kennedy and Rep. Frank through the U.S. Department of Interior and it is operated and maintained by the National Park Service. The building will be used for interpretive and educational space for the whaling park.

"We proved them wrong here," Rep. Frank said of critics of preservation, citing the Corson Building and surrounding national park as "integrating history into the present."

State Sen. Mark C. Montigny, D-New Bedford, said New Bedford often gets unfairly criticized. "There's a disconnect between perception and reality. It is the most beautiful gem in the country. We did not make it up — we just have to polish it up," Sen. Montigny said. "You cannot ever take away the natural beauty of this place."

Sen. Montigny, joining others praising the preservationists, said, "If you had not stood in front of the wrecking ball ... (we would) not have had a place to spend (public money) on."

State Rep. Antonio F.D. Cabral, D-New Bedford, spoke of his childhood in the Azores and of the famous Azorean and Cape Verdean whalers and the authenticity of New Bedford, a city featured in Herman Melville's novel "Moby-Dick."

"You do not have to create it when you are here — 'it' is here," Rep. Cabral said.

Lisa Sughrue, executive director of the Waterfront Historic Area League, called New Bedford the "one place in America that tells the story of whaling." Thanks to preservation, "New Bedford's sense of place has been saved," she said.

Also at the ribbon cutting was Tony Souza, former executive director of WHALE.

Mr. Souza, who now lives in Florida, recalled waking up in September 1997 to the smell of smoke. Mr. Souza said that after 11 years of hard work, the Corson Building is the "phoenix that came out of the flames."

It was WHALE and other preservation activists who are credited with saving the William Street building from demolition after the fire.

The Corson Building actually consists of two three-story brick buildings, one built in 1875 and the other in 1884. After the 1997 fire, the buildings were donated to WHALE which stabilized them and in 2004 turned them over to the National Park Service. Construction began in October 2006 and amounted to a virtual replacement and update of the interiors. The building now has exhibition space and a 55-seat theater along with extensive displays of the city's whaling industry history.

Contact Joe Cohen at jcohen@s-t.com