USA > New York > Tioga County > Owego > Early Owego, N.Y.; some account of the early settlement of the village in Tioga County, N.Y., called Ah-wa-ga by the Indians, which name was corrupted by gradual evolution into Owago, Owego, Owegy and finally Owego > Part 22
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41
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stands. Eldridge Forsyth, who was then a boy of fifteen years of age and worked for Mr. Pumpelly, assisted Deacon Perry in the work of obtaining and planting the trees.
The Indian Trails at Owego, Which Were Used .as Public Roads by the First. White Settlers and until High- ways Were. Regularly. Laid Out- , The Streets as Established by the Village Trustees.
When the soldiers of Clinton's and Sullivan's, amaies passed down the Susquehanna through where the vil- lage of Owego is now the land was it'll covered with pine, hemlock, and other trees. . It was all. woods except a natural clearing on the Hat east of the Owego creek. There were no roads whatever; nothing but Indian trails. When the first white settlers came here in 1785 from Montgomery county the Indian trail was the only feasible path for the whole distance. Judge Avery says:
"It generaliy ran along the bank, near the river, but from the Round Hill at Nanticoke, it left the river and did not strike it again until near the farm of the late Col. Camp at Camp- ville. Below the narrows' it also diverged and came upon the bank again near the homestead of Mr. Leonard {Stephen B. Leonard, now the property of James A. Archibald], a little more than a mile above Owe- go. From that point it followed the river bank to Owego.
"Upon the other side of the river, the trail was uniformly directly upon the bank, except: where, to avoid curves, the distance was. shortened by following a more direct line. Both trails are described as having been wide enough for the passage of horses,
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with packs, cattle, etc., and in many places interposing no obstacles to wheeled vehicles."
The Indian trail on the north side of the river extended along the river bank down to the Owego creek at its mouth, crossing the creek and follow- ing the river bank down through the town of Tioga to the "narrows" at Tioga Centre." The mouth of the. .Owego creek is now about three times as wide as it was then; and it was easily forded. .
'This Indian trail was the first road used by the earliest settlers at Owegos who built their houses on the north side of the trail, with woods. in the rear of their dwellings. The houses fronted on the river and the Indian traif was between them and the stream. After Front street had been laid out as a road west of where the river bridge is now the Indian- trail remained and was for several years a beautiful walk.
Along this trail on the river flat in the town of Tioga farm houses 'were built and the places where they stood are indicated by the shallow wells which supplied the families with water and which still remain.
Another Indian trail was the "Cay- uga lake trail.". It entered the north part of the present village of Owego and extended direct to the river. It was nearly identical in its course with the street now known as McMaster street. The two trails met each other on the bank of the river, near where Mrs. Eliza J. Pride's residence is now. It is in this vicinity that the skeletons of many of the aborigines have been disinterred at various times.
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As the country became settled this trail was gradually used as a public highway and it was known as the Lake road, and the name was also applied later to that part of Main street as it extended from MeMaster street west across the .Owego creek on its way to Athens, Pa. As' late as 1833 in deeds of property along this road in the town of Tioga it is men. tioned as 'the lake road."
The highway up MeMaster street was later called the Cayuga road, and it was also known as Cayuga street as late as 1837. It : was originally opened to acconunodate lumbermen: who reached the river at its foot. Gen. Anson Camp owned at an carly day an ark yard at the foot of this street, where vast quantities of lum -. ber were shipped down the river.
. The Cayuga road was regularly laid out as a highway by Lemuel Brown and Ahijah Foster, commissioners of highways, in 1806. That portion be- tween Main and Front streets was subsequently known as Chapel street. tso called because the old Methodist church, then known as. "the chapel," stood on the southeast corner of it and Main street. After the academy was built in this street, in 1883, the name was changed to Academy street.
McMaster street received its name in honor of James McMaster, the orig- inal owner of all the land on which the village is situated, who lived on the south side of Front street, near the lower end of Academy street.
The old village plot comprised the greater portion of lot number twenty- three in James McMaster's "half township." . It was surveyed by Amaziah Hutchinson, in 1788 and
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1789, and the survey was completed by David Pixley, Jr., in 1789 and 1790. The western limits of the village ex tended but a short distance west of the present village park; its eastern limits were a little east of Paige street. The northern tier of lots. was south of where Temple street now is.
When Amaziah. Hutchinson sur. veyed the village plot the present Lake · street was a narrow road through the woods. In 1862 Henry Steward and Solomon Williams, com- missioners of highways, laid out a highway extending from the north end of Lake street worth. It extended in a direct line a little east of and nearly parallel with the present North ave- ne (where there was then no street) to a point a little north of Talcott street at the south line of Joseph and Lemuel Brown's lot. Thence it ex- tended north where the present high- way runs. Lake street was then nar- rower than it is now, and on each side of it was a rail fence.
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When Hutchinson's survey was. wade: Pront street was known some- tintes as "the main street," sometimes as "Water street," and also as "the river road.": In 1795, it was made into å highway, and not a particularly straight one.
The street now known as Main street first extended from Lake street west lo .McMaster street. It was . sometimes known as "Second" street and also as "Back"street, it being back of Front street, the main high- way .. Main street and its extension as a highway into and through the town of Tioga was not then in existence, and its present course was .then .cov. cred with woods. and brush. When
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William Pumpelly, surveyed the ex- tension of this street east the ground was so covered with thick underbrush that he had considerable difficulty in cutting his way through it.
The only streets at Owego at .that time were the road along the river . bank, the Cayuga lake trail ( MeMas- ter street), Back street, and the high- way from Lake street north.
When Amaziah Hutchinson made his survey of the village in 1788-9 a street, or lane, was laid out between the lots in Front street now occupied , by the residences of Howard. J. Moad and J. C. Kenyon. This lane crossed Back street and extended as far north as where Temple street is now. The street now known as Paige street, ex- tending from Front street north as far as the present Temple street, was also laid down on this map as a lane. These lanes and the streets already mentioned were the only ongs in the settlement previous to the year 1800.
In 1802 the road extending from the north end of what is now Lake street to near Talcott street was discon- tinued as a public highway and a new road was opened, which afterward be- came successively known as the Owe- go and Ithaca turnpike, Ithaca street, and North avenue. . The next year a bridge was built across the Owego creek, and all the travel from Owego west went byBack street, the old river road having been abandoned.
The old "Owego and Ithaca Turn- pike Road Company" was incorporated by an act of the legislature, passed April 6, 1807. Its directors were Mason Wattles; John: . Hollenback, Lemuel Brown, Eleazer Dana, Charles Pumpelly, John H. Avery, Nathan
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Camp, Jabeż . Brown, . John. Smith. Archer Green, Eleazer Smith, and others. The turnpike was surveyed by Richard W. Pelton and laid out bx .. Gen. Jolm 'Tillotson and Col. Henry Bloom, two of the commissioners ap- pointed by the governor of the state for that purpose. : The date of the survey was April 18, 1808. The stock of the company consisted of 2;000 shares of $20 cach. Mr. Dana, Mr. Avery, and John Smith were appoint- .ed by the act a committee to receive subscriptions.
The rates of toll established were as follows: For every wagon with two horses, or oxen, twelve and one- half cents, and three cents for each additional animal; for every one horse cart, six cents; for every coach, coachee. phaeton or curricle, with two horses, twenty-five' cents; for every sulky, chair, chaise, or other one horse pleasure carriage, twelve and one-half cents; for every cart drawn by two oxen, eight cents, and four vents for each additional. ox; for every horse and rider or led horse, four ceats; for every sleigh, or sled; Six cents; for every score of horses, cattle or mules twenty cents; or of hogs. or sheep, six cents; and for every two, horse. stage or wagon, twelve and one-half cents.
The Owego terminus of the turn- pike was Main street, now the foot of North avenue. The original intention of the turnpike company had been to enter Owego by the Cayuga lake road (McMaster street.) At that time there were two taverns in. Owego. One-the Bates tavern-occupied the site of the present. Ahwaga house; the other, the Laning tavern, afterward
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known as the Franklin house, stood on the north side of Front street, near the Court street corner. ... Capt. Luke Bates and Gen. John Laning were the · respective proprietors of the - two taverns. There was great rivalry at. that time between the two houses, and each landlord wanted the road to terminate in the vicinity of his house. The contest became so bitter that the turnpike directors, finally; compro- mised by fixing upon the present foot of North avenue, which was about equally distant from each of the two taverns, as the terminus.
The first turnpike gate was three and one-half miles north of this vil- lage, in the town of Tioga. The next was Smith's gate, at the "half way house," in the town of Candor. About the year 1832, Geo. Bacon, of Owego; Horace Giles, of 'Spencer, and Lucius Humphrey, of Candor, were the high- way commissioners, appointed by the governor of the state.
At that period the turnpikes had be- come in bad condition. A resident of the Montrose turnpike, living six miles south of Owego, complained to. the commissioners of the bad state of : that turnpike and called upon them to examine dt. The result was that the commissioners tore down the gate of the Montrose turnpike, which gate was four miles south of Owego, and soon afterward threw the gates of the Owego and Ithaca turnpike open free to the public, and they were never afterward closed.
After the great fire of September, 1849, an effort was made to have North avenue extended down to Front street, but there was such a bitter op. position on the part of those owning
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property in Lake street, who knew . that such extension would greatly de- preciate the value of their lots, that the project was abandoned.
The next street opened was the one now known as Ross street, which was laid out by Asa Camp and John R. . Drake, commissioners ; of Highways, November 48, 1812, and was for sev eral years known as the "upper cross street" it being then in the extreme eastern limits of the village.
On the 26th of February, 1821, a. street known as Fourth (how Fox) street was laid out by William Pum- jelly and Elisha Bundy, commission ers . of. highways. As surveyed it crossed where Paige street is now and. continued on east for some dis tance, and finally turned off diagonally across the lots until it intersected Main street. :
In 1810, Lemuel Brown and Abijah Foster, commissioners of highways, had laid out a road running from the river road to Back street, near where Paige street now runs. The road was. abandoned in 1820, and that portion of the street now known as Paige street extending from Front to Main street was surveyed and laid out.
The village of Owego was- incor- porated by an act of the state legisla- ture April 4, 1827. On the 4th day of the following June, a meeting of free- holders was held at the old court house for the purpose of organization. William Platt and Eleazer Dana, jus- tices of the peace, held the election, and Ezra S. Sweet . was . appointed clerk. James Pumpelly, Eleazer Dana, William A. Ely, Harmon Pumpelly, and Jonathan Platt were chosen trus- tees.
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The trustees at once took measures to put the streets in good order. On July 3 a meeting of the taxable in- habitants was again held at the court house, when the trustees presented. an exhibit of the improvements which they deemed it expedient to make, and the sum of $300 was voted for the purpose of improving the streets and making sidewalks.
The few streets that had been laid out .. were erooked and but little better than lanes. Houses, which had been built before the street lines were surveyed, were . in some instances standing where the sidewalks were to run. These houses had to be removed, nstaly aganist the wishes of the owner, and frequently not until after the aid of the law had been invoked- and in more than one instance while their work was in progress, builders were stopped, they having set their buildings beyond the street line. The village streets were designated as fol: lows:
The river road from William street to Ross street was . named Front street. . The street which had been variously known as Back street, Sec ond street and Main street was called Main street li extended from Mc- Master street to Ross street.
The street at the east end of the 'village, which had been known as "the upper cross street," was named Ross street. It was so named in honor of Major Horatio. Ross, a mer- chant, who lived in the house, which is still standing on the southwest cor. . ner of Front and Ross streets. At the time the street was first opened, in 1812, the house was occupied by Dr. Samuel Barclay. This house was built
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by Dr. Barclay, and was successively owned by Major Ross, Charles Tal- cott, Thomas Farrington, and Lieu- tenant B. W. Loring.
That portion of Paige street ex- tending from Front to Main streets was named Leonard street, in honor of Stephen B. Leonard, who lived in a house which stood on the southeast corner of that street and Front street, and it was so called as late as 1837. From Main to Fox streets, the same street was called Paige street, in honor of Dr. Joel S. Paige, who lived on the northeast corner of Main and Paige streets.
Dutch alley now known as Church street, was a narrow lane. It extended only from Front to Main street, and was named Church alley by the trus- tees.
The old Ithaca and Owego turnpike road, now called North avenue, was not then a street. .
The street now called Lake street was named Ithaca street. The latter name was afterward given to the street now called North avenue.
There was for many years an ark yard on the bank of the river near the foot of the street now known as William street, on which account, probably, the trustees called : that street Ark street.
These were the only thoroughfares recognized as streets by the board of trustees. There were no sidewalks, with the exception of narrow wooden ones in front of some of the stores, and the pathways, which were fre: quently on but one side of the street, were uneven, ungraded, and followed the natural course of the ground:
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The first sidewalks laid by order of the trustees were as follows: The en- tire length of the north side of Front street; on the west side of Church alley; on the west side of Ithaca (now . Lake) street; on the west side of the public square; on the north side of Main street from where the lot on which the new grade school building How stands to Mrs. John Laning's house, which stood near the present . corner of Main street and Central avenue, and on the west side of the turnpike to the Presbyterian meeting house, which stood where the present church now stands. But little atten- tion was paid to the order of the Trustees, and but few sidewalks were laid. The only ones. built were. m front of the business places, and they were narrow and. constructed of planks, laid lengthwise. .
Front street, from Church to Court street was first paved with cobble stones. in the' summer of 1839, by James Erwin, of Smithville, Chenango: Co., who also paved Lake street in the fall of the next year.
In the fall of 1836, the board of trustees decided to have a new sur- voy and map of the village made. Stephen Dexter came from Ithaca for that purpose and made the survey and map. In running his lines, Mr. Dexter cut off in many instances land from the door yards of some of the property owners, which caused some dissatisfaction. But his survey was correct and the street lines as now existing are in accordance with his map. The map was filed in the county clerk's office, whence it was borrowed or stolen, many years ago. Mr. Dex- ter always believed that it was de.
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stroyed by some property owner who had suffered by his survey.
Church alley was private property until 1836, the land being owned by Charles . Pumpelly and Latham A. Burrows :: They deeded. the property to the village as a public street in September of that year, and in con- sideration were 'exempted from all ob- ligations to make sidewalks.or flag the street. The name of the alley was at the same time changed to Church street." The extension of Church street from Main street, to the. Pres- byterian church yard was afterward agitated, but it was not made until 1816. The street was surveyed and laid out by Charles R. Coburn, who was afferward a teacher in the Owego. academy, and subsequently state su- perintendent of schools in Pennsyl vania.
Main street did not for many years extend farther east than its present junction with Spencer avenue. East of that point the land was covered with serub oak trees: It was after- ward extended past Paige street to about where the Catholic church now . is, and . when the village was incor- porated its eastern termination was at its junction with Ross street. It was proposed, in 1837, to widen it to 66 feet from Church street east, but as that would necessitate the removal of some of the houses owned by Charles Pumpelly and others, between Church and Paige streets, it was made only 64 feet wide.
Main street was extended through G. W. Hollenback's lots to John street, June 17, 1850, and from John street to the east bounds of the cor- poration, in April, 1854, and a street
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was at the same time ordered to be laid out from the east termination of the extension to the Liste road: Main · street fromn McMaster street to the Owego creek bridge was not regularly laid out as a highway until June, 1838, by the commissioners of highway of the town of Owego.
In May, 1837; the trustees decided to open a-street three rods wide from North avenue to Paige, street. . The land was owned by Charles Pumpelly, who objected to having a street opened through his property and re- fused to move his fences. Owing to .. his opposition, the street was not opened until June, 1838, when the pathmaster, in pursuance of orders, tore down the fences and Temple street was opened to the public.
This street was for several years known as Third street. Its name was. changed to Temple street in honor of Jotham . Temple, a blacksmith, who lived a little west of where the brick school house iu. Temple street now stands. Temple's shop was on the west side of North avenue, a. little south of Temple street ..
Temple was evidently something of a humorist. In an advertisement m the Gazette, dated April 25, 1839, an- nouncing that he had purchased Samuel Babcock's blacksmith shop, he signs his advertisement, "Jotham Temple, Anvil Organist for the Peo. ple."
Temple street was extended from North avenue west to McMaster street. Jan. 24, 1853. At that time the land from North avenue to Central avenue was like a deep ditch and it required much filling to bring the sur-
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· face up to a level with the rest of the street.
The old Ithaca and Owego turnpike, which was for a time commonly known as Turnpike street, was, as has already been mentioned, called Ithaca street. in reciprocation, one of the principal streets in Ithaca was called Owego street. March 3, 1842, Ithaca street was surveyed by Stephen Dex. ter, and on the 8th of the same month its name was changed to North ave- nue. In retaliation for the change. the authorities of Ithaca a few years afterward changed the name of Owego street in Ithaca to State street.
In 1878, the board of trustees, to gratify a whim of Dr. James Wilson, who was the owner of several brick stores in North avenue, changed the name of the street to Broadway. This absurdity was displeasing to nearly everybody, and the street continued to be called North avenue. The village newspapers invariably mentioned the. street by its old name. March 28. 1881, a petition, requesting the restor- ation of the name of North avenue to the street, was presented to the board of trustes, and granted.
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Fox street was so named in honor of Capt. Sylvenus Fox, who lived at the southeast corner of that street and North avenue. In May, 1841, Stephen Dexter surveyed the street and re- duced its width from four to three rods. The street, as then surveyed, extended from Paige street to the old Cayuga and Susquehanna railroad track, which extended down through the village a little east of where Cen -- tral avenue now is. In 1851 an un- successful effort was made to have the trustees extend Fox street east to
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Green street. The street was not ex- tended west to MeMaster street until 1857.
Dog alley, sometimes known as Hickory street, was a . "cul de sac" .ex. tending from Main street a few rod's north. It was also sometimes called Duncan street from the house of William Duncan being in the street. The name of Dog alley was naturally unpleasing to the residents of the street, and in February, 1848, they ap plied to the village trustees to have the alley regularly laid out as. a street. In connection therewith they wanted another street opened, to ex- tend from the north end, which was then where the Temple street corner now is, east to the old railroad( now Central avenue). Nothing was done in the matter until November, 1850, when the alley was widened to 43 feet and its name changed to Liberty . Street. The street was extended north, to Fox street 'in August, 1857.
John street from .Main to Front street was opened June 17, 1850, through lands of George. W. Hollen back, who named the street in honor of his uncle, Jotm Hollenback, who at the thne of his death was the owner of much of the land in that part of the village: . When Main street was extended from John street east, April 17, 1854, Fulton street was opened.
Farm street was laid out in May, 1858. Walnut street, now known as Division street; was opened in Sep- tember of the same year. The land for these streets was given to the vil- lage by George W. Hollenback. There: is, or was, another Division street in the western part of the village, ex tending from Main street near the
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electric light plant north and nearly parallel with the canal that supplies the plant with water power.
Tinkham street was opened from North avenue to Spencer avenue in May, 1855, and so named in honor of Samuel Standish Tinkham, who lived at the corner of that street and North avenue. April 28, 1856, the name was changed to Chestnut street.
Forsyth street was a lane twenty- four feet wide. When it was laid out as a street May 4, 1857, it was wid- ened to forty feet. At the time the · street was laid out Elisha Forsyth had a crop of corn growing on a part of the land which was required for the street, which land he had rented for two. years. He released his claim to the land on condition that the street should be named Forsyth street, and it was so named.
Spencer avenue at its south end covers what was for many years' a large poud of water, supplied by a liv- ing spring. There had been a lane from Main to Temple street, a little east of the present avenue, which lane was closed several years before the avenue. was opened. The land was owned by Charles Pumpelly .: The portion of the present avenue extend ing from Temple to Fox streets was for many years a lane two rods wide. known as Furnace lane. This lane was so called as it led . to an iron foundry, or furnace, which stood in Main street in the southwest corner of what is now the M. E. church property. This furnace was known as the Owego furnace and was conducted by Joel Smedley & Co. Furnace lane was surveyed by Stephen Dexter in
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July, 1853, and accepted as a street Ang. 16, 1858.
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At the north end of the lane lived several Irish Catholic families, and the street was named St. Patrick street, in honor of their patron saint. St. Patrick street was extended south from Temple street to Main street in May, 1863, and was made forty feet wide. At a meeting of the village trustees in 1870 there was some talk . of changing the name of the street. Wakely Spencer, the street, commis- sioner, happened to be present, and. as a joke, ira A. Post, one of the trus- tes, moved that. its name should be changed to Spencer avenue. His motion Was seriously considered and adopted, and the street has ever since been known by that'name.
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