USA > New York > Chemung County > Chemung County, its history > Part 9
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The trolley car played an important part in the lives of the people during the years from 1900 until 1923 when it was abandoned for a bus. The Glen trolley ran from Elmira to Wat- kins Glen. It was a long trip in either direction from Millport and an exciting experience for children and grownups alike.
Every community has an old tale of horror or affliction. Vet- eran's has to do with an epidemic of an exotic disease, the dread cholera. It was introduced into the town by a group of laborers who were brought directly into the valley from their immigra- tion point, Staten Island to work on the construction of the Chemung Railroad in 1849. The disease spread until it was said that "the inhabitants went to bed at night, not knowing who should be alive to rise in the morning".
Of the buildings erected by the first settlers, few remain. In 1833, the Methodist church was built in Millport and in 1855 the one in Sullivanville was erected. The old Free-Communion church on the Ridge Road was burned in 1922. This church was built in 1836 by the usual method of "bees". At the first one, a contest was held to see who should have the honor of drawing the first load of lumber to the scene. Morgan Egbert, driving a team of young horses, was an easy winner.
The children of the town now attend one or another of the large schools in the centralized district, organized in 1950. At one time, 17 small schools furnished education for the boys and girls who walked to them from distances of a mile or two. Only the one in Millport had a two teacher school in 1868. Here, a man and his wife were often hired. They were required to do the cleaning and to keep the fires as well and were often "inspected" by a member of the board of education who sat in the room while classes were conducted and listened to see that the pupils knew their lessons. One teacher almost lost his job in 1889 because it was noticed that books of fiction were on a shelf in the room and students were seen to read them during school
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hours. It was a good job, too, and paid $50 a month. His wife received only $30 for teaching the younger children. In the country districts, the teacher did not get as high wages but lived in the homes of the parents of her pupils. It was called "boarding around" and the teacher had a new home every month.
Today, the town is less a farming community and every year more new homes are built for people who work in nearby cities. Many dairy cows graze on the rolling hills. The milk goes to market in big tank trucks. The faithful milk wagon horses of Charles Mac Dougall, who drew the milk to Horseheads for forty years, would be surprised at the good paved highways. The potato fields no longer blossom in the spring for the soil no longer produces the fine potatoes that were taken to the rail- road cars every fall. Some of the hills are again garbed in trees where an enterprising owner has replanted the pines cut for lumber so long ago.
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TOWN OF ASHLAND
Ashland was formed April 25, 1867, from parts taken from Southport, Elmira (Town) and Chemung. It was the last di- vision in forming Chemung County's eleven towns and its ir- regular shape is the result of using old lot lines, creeks and rivers for boundaries. It was named after the Lexington, Ken- tucky home of that early patriot, Henry Clay.
Here, pioneer settlement began as early as 1785 when old Isaac Baldwin staked his claim to several hundred acres on the west side of Baldwin Creek in what is now called Lowman; however, a more general settlement was made some two or three years later. Most of the pioneer people were New Englanders who had first settled in the Wyoming (Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania) area. Many were Revolutionary War veterans and had served on the Sullivan Expedition against the Indians in 1779.
Capt. Abner Wells, founder of Wellsburg, was a Princeton University man, class of 1757. Green Bently, for whom the stream Bentley Creek is named, was a veteran of both the French and Indian War and the Revolution. Rayner Hill (now Keller Hill), Comfort Hill and Seeley Creek were likewise named for early families; there were many others and their names can be found in early local histories.
Historically, the Wellsburg Baptist Church is the oldest insti- tution in this town. Founded by a handful of pioneers, Septem- ber 2, 1789, "in this Wilderness Land in the Town of Chemong" it has a heritage as being the first church of any denomination in this section of the State.
On the other side of the river, at Lowman, is Newtown Battle- field site where on August 29, 1779, the American Continentals under General Sullivan met and decisively defeated the British and Indians. The outcome of this engagement is now looked upon as an important contributing factor in winning the War for Independence.
Post or mail service was instituted along the Elmira-Waverly road as early as 1801 and, on the Wellsburg side in 1824 at which time the Berwick to Newtown Turnpike was completed and opened. Horace Wells, "the Honest Merchant," was the first postmaster at the 'burgh; John McDowell at Lowman in 1840 (then called "West Chemung"). There was still another around 1850, the "Green Hill Postoffice" on South Creek, but it has long since been abandoned. Local R.F.D. routes came in 1903 and 1904; they replaced the old "Star Routes" that served outlying communities.
Wellsburg was systematically laid out for streets and building lots as early as 1848 and during the half century that followed, developed into quite a trading point and small industrial center. This village was incorporated in 1872 to render better
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community service with its own independent government and power to look after village affairs.
As early as 1894, Wellsburg instituted its public water system and organized its first volunteer fire fighting unit. Electric service was made available to its residents in 1914 and a new Town Hall (the first) built that same year. Some years later, in 1937, the Village Hall and Fire Station was constructed and Wellsburg's first motorized fire-fighting equipment purchased and put into service.
The Baptists, before mentioned, erected their first edifice in 1814-it still stands. The Methodists, organized in 1839, built their first church in 1848 and their present one on the same same grounds in 1874. The Episcopalians organized and built their church in 1869. All three have undergone minor altera- tions over the years.
Schools were an important part in the early lives of our pioneers and it is claimed that William Jenkins, an early judge, taught a class in the vicinity of Lowman as early as 1788 and Caleb Baker, another judge, at Wellsburg in 1803. Both men later rose to high levels in State and local affairs.
Wellsburg's early school house was a small log cabin that stood near the Baptist Church. It burned in 1859 after more than 50 years of service. A new frame school house was then built on the present school grounds. It served the community well until 1906 when it was replaced with the present building to which, in 1928, the brick portion was added. From 1928 to 1950, Wellsburg rated as a high school but after that date re- verted back to elementary classes only.
The school on lower Maple Avenue was built in 1843 and served until 1940. The Comfort Hill school, built in 1850, was aban- doned in 1922. The South Creek school, better known as the "Roushy School", was in existence as early as 1852 and con- tinued through until 1957 when it was abandoned under the Consolidated Elmira School System instituted at that time.
It is said that the greatest celebration in this town was the 1879 Centennial observance of the Battle of Newtown. Many thou- sand people attended that event. It was held in the vicinity of Lowman.
In contrast, it is said, the greatest calamity was the Wellsburg fire of 1912. In two hours' time, some twenty buildings in the business section were destroyed. It left a dismal site for near a full decade.
The Indian is gone, the log cabin long since past. The village pump is but a memory in the minds of old, old timers. The 40
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mile an hour biplane that Rogers flew over this town in 1911 is a far cry from the sound-barrier-breaking jets that streak over- head today; it's progress.
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TOWN OF BALDWIN
In the southeastern section of Chemung County lies the scenic rural town of Baldwin. Named for the Baldwin family who were early settlers, the town originated from the old town of Chemung on April 7, 1856.
The total land area of Baldwin is about 16,000 acres. Principal entry into the town is along well paved roads leading from El- mira over Jerusalem Hill and from the villages of Lowman and Chemung. The elevation of the countryside rises gently along these roads into the steep rugged hills and mountains of the town. This is upland country pushed and shaped together by the glaciers of the Ice Age.
Through two main valleys, ranging roughly north and south, flow Baldwin Creek and Wynkoop Creek, the principal water- ways. About 1813 the first settlers forced their way through the tall stands of virgin timber bordering these streams. Fol- lowing Indian trails and by means of blazed trees such men as the Granger brothers, Charles and Warren, and Levi Little forged their way near the headwaters of those streams and helped form the two main settlements, North Chemung and Hicks.
North Chemung is the principal village and is centrally located along Baldwin Creek. Located here are the Town Hall, the Union Methodist Church, and the North Chemung Cemetery.
North Chemung was first called Hammond Corners, the name derived from the Jason Hammond family shortly after their arrival in 1815. The present name of the village was adopted in 1843 with the establishment of a postoffice.
It was here that from 1825 until 1900 small industries and shops flourished. During the early years the loud hiss of steam oper- ated saw mills filled the air as logs from the abundant forests were made into rough boards. At first the settlers made their own houses and as lumber became a surplus it was hauled to Elmira, loaded on barges, and via the Chemung and Barge Canals went into the making of other communities. Lumbering was a principal way of life.
However other craftsmen applied their trade and contributed to the economic life of the community also. Coopers toiled in their sheds fashioning barrel staves and hoops which held crackers, butter, cheese, vinegar, apples, and many other things.
The ring of the blacksmith's hammer filled the air as he made shoes for the horses, implements for the farm and home, and forged the ironwork for the wagons. Dairying became an im- portant means of income and several creameries operated in the town.
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As the early years passed, the growth of population expanded northward to the present limits of the town of Erin. A small village called Hicks began in the valley of Wynkoop Creek. Named after the Isaac Hicks family the settlement flourished during the middle 1800s. (Hicks church, built in 1910, is a familiar sight with its unique bell tower.)
Social life in small communities, such as North Chemung, was, in the early days, very much localized. Family get-togethers were popular. However, weekends and holidays were the oc- casions for celebrations. Then the fiddlers' rasping tunes would fill the evening air as square dancers thumped the floors of the front rooms and scuffed up the dirt in the hay barns. The Bartlett farm on top of the Hogback Road was a favorite place for these affairs which lasted into the small hours of the morn- ing to the tunes of the "Old Gray Mare" and "Turkey in The Straw."
Other occasions for social life were the medicine shows and the vendor of kitchen utensils with his wagon hung with pots and pans and knicknacks dear to the heart of the housewife. There used to be a converted wagon shop near the East Road at North Chemung that served as a place for the traveling medi- cine shows to perform and sell their patent medicine. Here the villagers would gather in the evening to hear the performers recite bits of verse, play their tunes, and declare the virtues of their product.
Pack peddlers and traveling junk dealers also provided a par- ticular kind of social life for the townspeople.
By 1875 the population in Baldwin had expanded to 1006. How- ever, the Industrial Age had gathered force and new and better ways to do things and make products began to force the hand craftsman from the scene. Gradually people began to leave the town and make their living in the factories of Elmira and else- where.
Communications became easier by the forming of the North Chemung Telephone Company in 1904.
The numerous one room school-houses of yesteryear served to give a good education to our forefathers. Out of these schools in Baldwin came such prominent men as Chauncey Hammond who served as a state assemblyman and state senator; U. S. Collson, serving as a sheriff of Chemung County, Lester Collson, present Superintendent of the Chemung County Highway De- partment, Levi Little as a county sheriff, and others.
The first schoolhouse was built about 1821 in North Chemung. It was located on the front section of the North Chemung Cemetery and was later moved across the road to its present
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site. To this day that part of the cemetery is known as the "Schoolhouse Plot".
As the population enlarged more schools were built. They grew with much activity until the 1940s and 1950s when mount- ing costs and more rigid state education laws made it impracti- cal to keep the doors open. Contracting for sending the pupils to Elmira, Waverly, Van Etten, and Wellsburg began and con- tinued until the consolidation of many rural schools with the Elmira school system in 1957.
Today, North Chemung and Hicks are largely residential areas. Most of the inhabitants travel to Elmira to work and take part in the social, business, and political life. Dairying is the main pursuit of about 60 farms. Reforestation has gained some movement.
The town of Baldwin occupies a unique place among the towns making the county of Chemung. Today, there is no industry in the town, there is not a gas station there, no public trans- portation system operates, and there has never been a railroad in the town. The year 1961 finds Baldwin a serene town of about 700 inhabitants infused with the traditions of yesteryears.
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TOWN OF CHEMUNG
The Town of Chemung was erected March 22, 1788, as an "original" in old Montgomery County. It is the oldest town in the Southern Tier and, because of its early size, the mother of all other Chemung County towns. It was named after a Revolutionary War Indian village destroyed by the Sullivan Expedition in 1779. The name, in itself, means "Horn place" and an interesting old account relates how, in 1782, a band of Indians told Daniel McDowell, their captive: "Here, our fathers found a big horn in the river." Actually, the "horn" was the tusk of a mammoth or mastodon and one of the same size can now be seen at the Historical Center in Elmira.
Pioneer settlement in this town began as early as 1785 (before the Indian title was extinguished). Most of the early settlers staked their claims along the river on the rich flat lands. These people were, for the most part, New Englanders who had previously located down the Susquehanna River in the present Wilkes-Barre, Pa. area but were unable to get a clear title to those lands. Here, the land was leased from the Indians until the State, through treaties, cleared their claim. Lots were then "patented" to the settlers. The few Indians that stayed on after the arrival of the pioneers were friendly and moved on west before the year 1800.
An early name for Chemung village was "Buckville"-after one of the early families. Mail service was established as early as 1800 or 1801 and, soon after, Elijah Buck a store keeper was made postmaster. It is said that William Wynkoop, for whom Wynkoop Creek is named, ran a tavern here as early as 1788 and built the first frame house. Daniel McDowell, before mentioned, was another early settler. He clerked in a trading post for In- dians at Tioga Point. Later, he became the first Town Clerk of Chemung. Up the river, lived "Jake" Lowman, the trader, and Waterman Baldwin, a Revolutionary War scout and Indian fighter who, with his brothers, more than once outsmarted a war party and retrieved captivated frontier women and their children. He later became the first Indian agent to Cornplant- er's Senecas, and, in the dead of winter, would strike out on foot from Chemung through the wilderness for such distant places as Fort Washington in Ohio.
Then there was Joe Batterson who lived on the south side of the river where the tall stone chimney still marks the homestead cabin's site. Joe drove the first stage and was later killed by Indians. Another was Jake Snell whose wife brought Abraham into the world July 5, 1784, when the first families were pushing their way into the lower end of the valley. Hardy and colorful were these people and as independent as the Continental Con- gress. By 1790, there were 2,391 credited to the Town of Che- mung-though the town then extended from Big Flats to Owego (and the census taker reached out as far east as Binghamton and west to Hornell-just to make sure he had them all).
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Personalities mentioned here are but random samples; there were many others equally colorful and important. A search of your local histories will reveal who they were. Truly, all were legendary figures.
The coming of the Erie Railroad in the late 1840s and the Junction Canal in the early '50s marked a new era in the lives of the people. Commerce and industry thrived everywhere along the line. The village, now called Chemung, became an important shipping point. Schools, which at first had been difficult to reach, were springing up all over the town. In fact, by 1869, there were 15 districts in Chemung and a schoolhouse in every one.
The Junction Canal eventually proved to be a leaky and troublesome affair and was abandoned in the early '70s. The Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad, which came through in the early 1880s, created enough competition to cause the Erie to double track its line in '84. Both have been recently merged and the "Lackawanna" roadbed abandoned.
The Elmira, Corning and Waverly (Electric) Railway, which came into Chemung about 1906, was abandoned on Mar. 31, 1930. Paved highways have long since replaced most of the old dirt roads. Schools are fewer and many have been aban- doned in favor of the advantages offered by centralization and consolidation. Direct local passenger and mail service on the railroad likewise was abandoned some time ago but, place names and sectional names have a tendency to stick; they are traditional reminders of the past.
Today, along Route 17, you will find historical markers desig- nating: Old Chemung, the peace town; New Chemung, the war town; the Old Sullivan Road, and the site of the Chemung ambuscade where several Continental soldiers lost their lives in a skirmish with the Indians.
High on Narrows Hill, facing the west, you will see a barren spot where, 'tis said, the Indians for centuries kept a signal fire, and, not far north, is an ever-flowing spring where they held secret councils to lay their plans of conquest; while, down along the river are huge elms that were growing when those red men ruled the valley.
In this town are many such interesting sectional names as: Rose Valley, Hide-away, Katydid, Peach Bluff, Norway, Hog Back, and Rattlesnake Run; Hickory Hill, Oak Hill, Maple Hill, Shoe- maker Mountain and Glory Hill. All are more or less associated with legends, for example:
On a pre-determined day, more than a century ago, a band of Millerites (an early religious faction) ascended to the top of
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the mountain we generally refer to as Waverly Hill. There, with appropriate ceremony, they looked at the sky and waited in full expectation that it was the Judgment Day and the world would come to an end. Fortunately, it didn't! But the mountain thereafter was officially named "Glory Hill."
On the south side of the river you will find more such inherited applications as: Greeciantown, Dutchtown, Hanyan Hollow, Red Mill Cut, and the White Wagon Bridge. Here also, near the Ashland town line on the Wellsburg-Wilawana road, you will find a boulder with a bronze plaque commemorating the site where, in 1789, the "Chemung Baptists" instituted a church, the first of any denomination in Central and Western New York.
Further, if you cross the line into neighboring Pennsylvania, you will hear of Stony Lonesome, Johnny Cake Hollow, and Queen Esther's Glen.
Half-French, Indian Queen Esther Montour had a husband Echo-ho-hund. He was the chief or governor of the Delaware Wolf clan. That is the tribe which, 200 years ago, gave us the name for our town: CHEMUNG.
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VILLAGE OF ELMIRA HEIGHTS
The village of Elmira Heights is situated north of and adjoining the city of Elmira. Its five hundred-odd acres are half in the town of Horseheads and half in the town of Elmira. It was started as an industrial center and still has many industries in, and bordering, the village.
Its northwestern section is the land that was given in the first land grant handed out in New York State by Governor Clinton after the Sullivan expedition. It was given to Judge John Suffern for whom Suffern, N.Y. is named. Judge Suffern's son-in-law, John S. Suffern, built the first house in this area in 1804 and it still stands on West 11th St., and is the residence of Robert Putnam. The first settler was Thomas Whitney, who had a log cabin on what is now lower Oakwood Ave. Gradually it was divided into nine farms owned for the most part, by the Carpenter, McCann and Suffern families.
In 1832, the Chemung Canal came through this land, followed in 1849 by the first train that ran from Elmira to Jefferson (Watkins Glen,) on the Chemung Railroad. In 1881-1882 another set of tracks cut through Grand Central Ave. and that explains why part of the street is on one side and part on the other side of the tracks. In 1881, the Elmira, Cortland and Northern Rail- road built the Canal Railroad a short distance east, which, in 1896, the Lehigh Valley took over.
In 1871, Dr. Edwin Eldridge bought swampy Serpent Lake and made a park with flower gardens and a lake, now known as Eldridge Lake. North of it the State Agricultural Society bought land and held state fairs until 1892.
In 1891, a group of enterprising Elmira businessmen decided to encourage industry to come into this area. They formed the Elmira Industrial Association with a capital of $100,000. Their plan was to buy up the nine farms, survey the land and divide it into factory sites and 2,160 lots, which were to be sold by allotment. They invited industries to locate here because the railroads were near for shipping. For a year lots were sold at $200 apiece, each buyer hoping to draw a lot with one of the farmhouses on it. The plan was a huge success. Industries started to build and lots sold at a rapid rate. On Oct. 24, 1893, the drawing was held at the Lyceum theater in Elmira. Two churns were placed on the stage, one for the names of the lot holders and one for the numbers of the lots. One of each was drawn by chance and the two put together. It was an exciting event.
Over night the village began to take shape. Muddy lanes be- came streets and stores were established to supply the people. Industry began to progress: there was The Elmira Glass Factory that made window panes, three knitting mills, a table factory, The Clipper Chilled Plow Co., The American Bridge Co., The Eclipse Co., a shoe factory, a ladder factory and many small enterprises such as a rolling mill and a motorcycle shop where Glenn Curtiss, the famed aviator, worked. There were about
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25 small hotels and one large one, the Oak Ridge Hotel, to ac- commodate the many workers. Streetcars ran through the In- dustrial Grounds. A water system was started and stores and houses were built.
In 1896, it was realized that the community needed a name and a form of government. On April 19, 1896 the village was in- corporated. The two most popular names were Factoryville and Elmira Heights. In a referendum the majority voted for Elmira Heights. The first mayor was Frank E. Kelsey, who was followed a year later by James McCann.
A town hall was built and a fire company organized. It was a thriving community made up of people from Elmira and north- ern Pennsylvania. Nearly 300 Belgians worked in the glass factory. Many other workers were Ukrainians who came from the mines of Pennsylvania.
Changes were rapid until 1910 when people and factories be- came more settled. Cinder paths became board walks, small hotels became business establishments and more houses and churches appeared.
The growth of Elmira Heights is best shown by its schools. In 1894 construction was started on School One. In 1901, the first graduating class had five students. In 1916, the first Thomas A. Edison High School was erected. In 1921 the Nathan Cohen School, then known as School Two, was built. Finally in 1931 a third school, the Lincoln School, was needed. Elmira Heights now has a new centralized school system, and the new Thomas A. Edison Junior-Senior High School. School One is gone and . classes are held in the "old" high school, now known as the Mary Thurston School. The school district has 97 classrooms with 106 professional staff members. There is an enrollment of 2,103 students of which, 900 are in the Junior-Senior High School. Elmira Heights was the first in New York State to in- stitute a non-graded program in the elementary schools, ad- vancing according to achievement instead of by grade. Elmira Heights has gained nation wide recognition with this plan.
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