USA > New York > Cayuga County > History of Cayuga County, New York > Part 12
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The bank building was erected in 1834, but was improved in 1878 and extensively remodeled in 1906. It has a depth of one hundred and forty feet and is forty-five feet wide, and is considered one of the most attractive and elegant bank interiors in the state. Legitimate banking in its widest sense is carried on and a safe deposit department and a woman's department are features of the institution. With its capital, surplus and liabilities of stock- holders the bank has a financial strength of half a million dollars to guarantee its ability to meet all legitimate banking demands.
This bank was organized as the Cayuga County Bank, but adopted its present name in 1865, when it became a national bank. The capital was reduced to $200,000 in 1874.
The presidents of the bank have been: Nathaniel Garrow from 1833 to 1839; John Beardsley from 1839 to 1843 ; Nelson Beardsley from 1843 to 1896; George H. Nye from 1896 up to the present.
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The cashiers have been: George B. Throop from 1833 to 1840; Josiah N. Starin from 1840 to 1873 ; A. L. Palmer from 1873 to 1896; Charles Haskins from 1896 up to the present.
The Cayuga County Savings Bank was incorporated by a special act of the Legislature in 1864 as the Mutual Savings Bank of Auburn. The first trustees were: James S. Seymour, Augustus Howland, C. C. Dennis, E. P. Ross, Edwin B. Morgan, C. H. Merriman, Chris- topher Morgan, Benjamin B. Snow, William H. Seward Jr., T. M. Pomeroy, Horace T. Cook, Samuel Adams, Guernsey Jewett, Horatio J. Brown, David Tompkins, Daniel Hewson, and Morell S. Fitch. The organization was effected February 1, 1865, and C. C. Dennis was elected president; H. J. Brown, vice-president; W. H. Meaker, secretary and treasurer, and R. C. Steel, attorney.
The name was changed to its present form July 1, 1875. The Bank commenced business with the Auburn City National Bank and removed with them to their new building in March, 1869. They purchased their new bank property in 1872 and have occupied it since July 31, 1873. H. J. Brown became president July 10, 1866. He was succeeded by Horace T. Cook. Then came Cyrenus Wheeler Jr., then William H. Seward, then William F. Wait, the present incumbent. David Wadsworth Jr., and Edwin D. Metcalf are the vice-presidents and William H. Meaker is treasurer.
William Henry Meaker, treasurer and manager of Cayuga County Savings Bank was born in the village of Owasco, Cayuga County, July 23, 1836, and educated at Cazenovia Seminary, New York. After leaving school he served five years as a drug clerk, coming to Auburn March 22, 1854. From December 4, 1855 until 1871 he was bookkeeper of the Auburn City Bank and then became teller. On February 1, 1865, the Cayuga County Savings Bank was established by him, and he has since been its treasurer and manager, also continuing as teller of the Auburn City National Bank for six years thereafter. He has been in active banking service and banking business longer than any other banker in
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Auburn at the present time. Mr. Meaker served as city clerk from March, 1861 to March, 1862, but otherwise never occupied public office. He was for several years treasurer of the Auburn Theo- logical Seminary, which office he relinquished in 1897 owing to his increased duties from the rapidly enlarging business of the bank. He is a member of the City Club and the Masonic fraternities, being Past Commander of Salem Town Society and trustee and secretary of trustees, of the Auburn Home for the Friendless.
The Auburn Savings Bank was organized under a charter granted by the Legislature of the State of New York, March 19, 1849, as the Auburn Savings Institution. The name was changed to its present form April 24, 1869. The first trustees were Charles B. Perry, Nelson Beardsley, Daniel Hewson, Thomas Y. How Jr., C. C. Dennis, John Olmsted, John L. Watrous, Sylvester Willard, James O. Derby, Spencer Parsons, Samuel Blatchford, and J. N. Starin. Judge Charles B. Perry was the first president, and Charles P. Wood, the first treasurer.
This bank began business on May 19, 1849, in the second-story front room over the store occupied by A. W. Hollister & Co., on the north side of Genesee street. In 1859, the bank was moved to the ground floor at 72 Genesee street.
In 1860, Sylvester Willard, M. D., succeeded to the presidency. He was succeeded by E. R. Fay in 1894. The bank has occupied the present building on the corner of Genesee and South streets since 1871. The present officers are E. R. Fay, president ; E. H. Townsend, secretary and treasurer; William S. Downer, assistant treasurer.
Auburn Trust Company: The Auburn Trust Company was organized in 1906, and was incorporated under the laws of the State of New York on August 27th of that year. The company has a paid-up capital of $150,000 and a surplus of $150,000. Although the institution is of comparatively recent origin it has more than sixteen hundred depositors and its deposits exceed $670,000. This
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exhibition of public confidence is easily accounted for. A glance at the names of the officers and directors of the Auburn Trust Company reveals the source of its strength with the public, to say nothing of the fact that it has resources of $1,000,000. The president is John M. Brainard. The secretary and treasurer, who has the practical management of the bank in his hands, is Ralph R. Keeler, who had twenty-one years' experience in banking, before entering upon the duties of his present position.
Ralph R. Keeler was formerly of the village of Moravia, in this county, and for years occupied successive positions in the National Exchange Bank, the Cayuga County National Bank, and the National Bank of Auburn, which last institution he left to become the secretary and treasurer of the Auburn Trust Company.
The officers and directors are: John M. Brainard, president ; Henry D. Noble, first vice-president; George W. Benham, second vice-president ; D. E. French, third vice-president ; Ralph R. Keeler, secretary and treasurer.
Directors: Henry D. Noble, G. S. Fanning, George W. Benham, Sanford G. Lyon, Ralph R. Keeler, Wilbur B. Barnes, L. W. Mott, Frank A. Eldredge, J. S. Gray, William B. Hislop, Charles S. Cay- wood, Thomas H. Garrett Jr., F. T. Pierson, George W. Bowen, W. H. Moffit, D. Edwin French, James C. Bishop, Willard E. Case, Hendrick S. Holden, Thomas F. Dignum, Franklin P. Taber, Julius Kraft, John M. Brainard, Douglas A. White, P. M. Herron.
Wm. H. Seward & Co.'s Banking House was organized in 1860, as a private bank under the name of Wm. H. Seward Jr. & Co., by General Seward and General Clinton D. MacDougall. The original partnership continued until 1869 when Theodore M. Pomeroy was admitted to the company. In 1870, General MacDougall withdrew, and in 1876 the firm name assumed its present form. Since then changes have occurred in the personnel of the partnership, but Mr. Seward has always been at the head of the institution, and it has
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always been prosperous. The present members are: William H. Seward, Joseph C. Anderson, and William H. Seward Jr.
Edwin R. Fay & Sons, Bankers. This is a private banking house which was established in 1892, by the present head of the firm, E. R. Fay. His partners are Edwin R. Fay, Fred H. Fay, and Charles R. Fay. They do a regular banking business, and pay interest on deposits.
THE AUBURN GAS LIGHT COMPANY.
This company was organized under an act of the Legislature passed February 16, 1848, and on January 14, 1850, the directors of the company assembled at the office of Benjamin F. Hall to organize the board for the transaction of business. There were present: George B. Chase, Philip R. Freeoff, Henry G. Ellsworth, Paul D. Cornell, Zebina M. Mason, Adam Miller, Roland F. Russell, William H. Van Tuyl and Benjamin F. Hall. Roland F. Russell presided at the meeting and Benjamin F. Hall was chosen secretary. George B. Chase was elected president of the company, Benjamin F. Hall secretary, Zebina M. Mason, treasurer, and Thomas Hoadley engineer and superintendent.
A committee was appointed to negotiate a lease of state land on the south side of the Outlet for a site for a gas manufactory, and the secretary was instructed to issue certificates of stock to the stock- holders. The capitoal stock of the company was $20,000.
By September 1, 1850, the company was prepared to light the city, but that very night their factory burned down. They were in operation, however, by October Ist.
In 1861 the company put up a plant for the manufacture of gas from coal. Up to that time they had made it from "Whales Foot" oil and from rosin.
In 1864 the name of Henry S. Dunning begins to appear in the record of the meetings of the directors of the company, and for thirty-eight years thereafter the destinies of the Gas Light Company were practically directed by him and his son and successor, David
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M. Dunning. From January 1, 1865, until January 1, 1869, Henry S. Dunning was secretary, treasurer and superintendent of the company. On the latter date D. M. Dunning became secretary and treasurer, his father continuing as superintendent until January 1, 1871, when D. M. Dunning assumed all three offices and filled them continuously until 1902. Henry S. Dunning died in March, 1871, and thereafter D. M. Dunning became the guiding genius of the Gas Light Company, until it was sold to outside parties in 1902.
From 1869 to 1871 the plant of the company was greatly enlarged, and from time to time thereafter improvements and additions were made to keep pace with the demands of the business.
During the first fifteen years of the life of the company a great deal of experimenting was done, and dividends were not always declared, but the capital was increased from time to time to keep the corporation alive. From 1871, however, until 1902, when D. M. Dunning was at the helm, regular half-yearly dividends of four per cent. were paid, without a single omission. In 1869 the capital stock was increased to $100,000, and in 1873 it was raised to $1 50,- 000, at which figure it remained until 1902.
The stock of the company being a good investment, the stock- holders invariably held it, so that it remained in the same hands, and as men died off it passed into estates or the hands of widows By the year 1900, there were barely enough male stockholders to form a board of directors. Also the demand for franchises of one kind or another were being sought, and following the advice of Mr. Dunning, the directors decided to sell. Mr. Dunning opened nego- tiations with three different parties who were desirous of acquiring the Auburn gas business, with the result that the company sold out to Edward H. Palmer of Geneva for the sum of $350,000. All those holding stock in the old company brought it in and it was turned over to the purchaser.
Soon after the sale to Mr. Palmer a competing franchise was granted to Syracuse parties, who built the large gas works at the
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corner of Clark and North Division streets and laid distributing mains throughout the city. Active warfare was at once commenced with the old company and prices were reduced for a time. The inevitable result was the consolidation of the two companies, Mr. Palmer purchasing the stock of the new company, and under his management the gas business of Auburn is now maintained. He is giving the city excellent service and supplying a good quality of gas. The gas is manufactured at Geneva, N. Y., and is a by-prod- uct of the Interurban Coke Works of that city. It is brought to Auburn through a six-inch pipe, under a heavy pressure, which is reduced at the storage holders where it is stored in this city.
WHEELER RIFLES.
Company M., Third Regiment N. G. N. Y., locally known as the "Wheeler Rifles" or Second Separate Company, was organized May 24, 1881, following the disbandment of the old Forty-Ninth Regi- ment New York State Militia in August of the year previous. The new Company took its name from the Hon. Cyrenus Wheeler, Jr., then mayor of the City of Auburn, who took a great interest in the growth of the young organization.
The first officers of the company were Captain Wm. M. Kirby, First Lieutenant, F. H. Griswold, Second Lieutenant H. S. Dunning, First Sergeant F. A. Wright, Quartermaster Sergeant C H. Carpen- ter, Sergeants G. H. Nye, Francis Vincent, W. G. Cowell and S. L. Bradburn and Corporals W. H. Olmstead, G. E. Congdon, J. D. Murray, B. A. Ferris, G. W. Nellis, C. J. Barber, F. A. Smith and Isaac W. Haight. The company attended its first tour of duty at the State Camp at Peekskill in July, 1882 and its last tour at that post from June 28 to July 5, 1896. The company was on duty at the switchmen's strike at Buffalo from August 17 to 27, 1892. It volunteered for duty in the War with Spain and left Auburn for Camp Black, Long Island, May 1, 1898. It was mustered into the United States service as Company M. Third New York Volunteers
Canin , Medcalf
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on May 17th. On September 13th, the company returned to its home station and was mustered out of the United States service December 15th of the same year. In the reorganization of the National Guard, following '98, the company was designated Com- pany M., Third Separate Battalion N. G. N. Y. July 21 to 28, 1900, the company as part of the Third Battalion performed a practice march along the shore of Lake Ontario from Oswego to Fair Haven, and in 1903, 1905 and 1907 attended the Fourth Brigade camps at Farnham, Erie County. The company has always given much of its time to rifle practice and for the last three years has won the highest figure of merit in the state at rifle shooting. In January, 1897, Captain Kirby was promoted to state inspector of small arms practice with the grade of major. He is by brevet a lieutenant- colonel. Lieutenant C. J. Barber succeeded to the Captaincy in June, 1897, and served as its commanding officer until his retirement in March, 1904. He was succeeded by Captain Jennings, who was promoted June 15, 1904. The company now has no assistant surgeon, Lieutenant A. F. Hodgman, being promoted to captain and assistant-surgeon of the Third Regiment November 1, 1907.
To comply with the United State Army regulations in relation to the organized militia, the First, Second and Third Separate Battal- ions of the Fourth Brigade were united to form the Third Regiment N. G. N. Y., in command of Colonel Wm. Wilson, G. O. 14, A. G. O. March 30, 1907.
The present Company is in a flourishing condition and for the last three years has had no difficulty in keeping its enlistments up to the full strength allowed by the State. Its present officers are : Captain E. S. Jennings, First Lieutenant W. C. Case, Second Lieu- tenant C. T. Whelan, First Sergeant C. M. Vernier, Quartermaster Sergeant F. S. Johnston, Sergeants C. A. Hickok, B. C. Mead, C. T. Holden and Frank Abar, Corporals W. H. Styles, A. D. Stout, W. L. Holder, C. J. Earley, F. W. Andrews, C. B. Howk, A. M. Koon and M. E. Keating.
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CHAPTER XI.
SCHOOLS OF AUBURN.
An Account of the Public Schools of Auburn, and A History of the Academy by B. B. Snow, to which is added a sketch of the High School.
One hundred and twelve years ago, or in 1796, Hardenbergh's Corners consisted of a few scattered cabins in the midst of a forest. The dwellers in those primitive houses were pioneer settlers who had located their dwellings about the "Corners" not so much for sociabili- ty as to be near the grist mill of Captain Hardenbergh.
Near where the Church of the Holy Family now stands, on the west side of North street, there stood in 1796 a small log building which was the first institution of learning in the place; the humble precursor of the superb system of schools which are to-day the pride of Auburn. In that little log school-house Benjamin Phelps was schoolmaster, but the number of his pupils could not have been large, for the first white child was not born at Hardenbergh's Corners until 1798. The "scholars" must have been children who came into the wilderness with their parents. The qualifications of schoolmaster Phelps are not recorded. Like that other Cadmus who first taught the Greeks their alphabet, his fame rests upon his having been the original preceptor. Also he rang the first school bell in Auburn, and it was a cow bell with which he called his pupils into the primitive school-room. He was succeeded by Doctor Hackaliah Burt, a very popular man who was distinctly identified with the early history of the hamlet.
While Doctor Burt was teaching in the North street school, a second school was opened in a log cabin out on Genesee street where Division street now crosses it. Jehiel Clark, an enterprising miller from Ballston, N. Y., had erected a flour mill and a saw mill in the
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western part of what is now the City of Auburn, and was endeavoring to make his village a rival of Hardenbergh's. This second school was established to provide educational facilities for the progeny of his borough.
In 1801, Hardenbergh's Corners took a forward step and erected a frame school-house on the east side of South street. It contained but one room, but was painted yellow, and was the pride of the Corners. Doctor Steadman was the first schoolmaster in this building. The second was David Buck who was succeeded by the pioneer teacher, Benjamin Phelps, in 1806.
The fourth school was opened in 1801 in a log building on the north side of what is now Franklin street, between Holley and Fulton. Benjamin Phelps conducted it for a time, but it was abandoned and the building became a dwelling house.
The inefficiency of the early schools was a matter to deplore, and as the village grew, leading men began to give the subject of education serious consideration. The school buildings and their equipments were inferior and the teachers had no training in the art of instruction.
All this led to the establishment of the academy, the history of which, here given, is from the paper of B. B. Snow, in the archives of the Cayuga County Historical Society.
In the early years of the present century, the State of New York, as it became settled, began to be dotted all over with acade- mies. Near the close of the Revolution the New England states had begun the establishment of these institutions of learning, notably the Phillips Academy at Andover, Mass., founded in 1778, and the Phillips Exeter Academy at Exeter, N. H., founded about the same time, both of which have been and are still eminent for their excellence. Doubtless similar institutions less noted were to be found in many New England communities, for whatever his faults, Pilgrim or Puritan, the New Englander has always been a
10
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staunch advocate of education. It was this spirit that those who migrated to the wilds of New York brought with them.
The little hamlet which in later years grew to be the village and still later the City of Auburn had been planted here in the wilderness scarcely a score of years, when the question of providing suitable facilities for educating their children confronted the pioneers .. In the interval between the advent of Colonel Hardenbergh in the spring or early summer of the year 1792 and the year 1810, Auburn had become the county seat of Cayuga County. The rude cabins of the early settlers had given place to more stately mansions. The forests had been cleared away and many of the industries essential to a civilized community had been established. DeWitt Clinton, who visited the village in 1810, says: "It contains three tanneries, three distilleries, one coachmaker, two watchmakers, four taverns, two tailors, six merchants, three shoemakers, two potasheries, two wagonmakers, three blacksmiths, two chairmakers, three saddlers, three physicians, a Presbyterian clergyman and an incorporated library of two hundred and twenty volumes." A somewhat curious conglomeration of the contents of the little village. He adds that it has "about ninety houses, a post-office, the Court House and the County Clerk's Office. Auburn has no Church. The Court House is used for divine worship."
Another authority adds the following industries for the same date: "Five saw mills, four grist mills, two fulling mills, two carding machines, one smithy, and one oil mill"-the last being for the manufacture of linseed oil from flaxseed, which was an important product of this section in the first half of the century.
It is possible that the village at this time contained some four or five hundred inhabitants. The schoolmaster had already come, and a few rude school-houses had been erected in the village and vicinity. But among the pioneers were men who knew the value of better schools, and some who had more or less academic training in their youth in the distant homes from which they came, and none
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who did not appreciate the advantages resulting from a substantial education.
So in the fall of 1810 these men came together and,
"Resolved, That an Academy would not only be conducive to the happiness and prosperity of the village, but of great and lasting benefit to its immediate vicinity, and the neighboring and adjacent towns and villages."
This resolution savors a little of the disposition to advance the material interests of the village rather than the intellectual, but the true spirit of the prime movers manifests itself a little later when the organization is completed.
This was before the era of free schools, and the question at once confronted the projectors-Whence are the funds to carry out this undertaking? A committee consisting of William Bostwick, Dr. Hackaliah Burt and David Brinkerhoff, was appointed to solicit subscriptions to a building fund. The shares were fixed at $20 each, and it was a condition of the subscription that it should not be binding until at least one hundred and fifty shares had been taken.
The committee evidently acted promptly and vigorously. On the seventh of December, 1810, the chairman of the committee, William Bostwick, started the ball by a subscription of $200. He was followed by Robert Dill with a subscription of $400. On the fifth of January, 1811, less than a month from the time they started the subscription list, the committee reported two hundred and five shares taken, amounting to $4,090. A list of the subscribers is appended. It contains one hundred and nineteen names and the subscriptions vary from one share to twenty.
On the fifth of January, 1811, the subscribers organized under the title of the "Auburn School Association," setting forth their object in their articles of association as follows:
"WE, THE SUBSCRIBERS, taking into consideration the necessity of LITERATURE to the welfare of society, that it affords
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nourishment to virtue, and the only means of rational and social happiness; and having also considered that the present state of the population of the village of Auburn and its vicinity requires a literary institution equal in magnitude to an ordinary academy, which by its respectability may hereafter induce an incorporation, have associated and do hereby associate ourselves for the purpose of forming such as institution, and have contributed for that purpose the sums annexed to our respective names."
The organization of the association was effected with Elijah Miller, David Buck, Noah Olmstead, Joseph L. Richardson, John H. Cumpston, John Sawyer, Jehiel Clark, David Hyde and David Horner as the first trustees.
On the thirty-first of January, 1811, Robert Dill conveyed to William Bostwick, David Higgins, Hackaliah Burt, Elijah Esty and Thomas Wright, in trust for the stockholders of the association, five and three-quarters acres of land on the west side of North street, including the present High School site. The lot fronted on North street. from the center of the present Chapel street nearly to the lot occupied by Mrs. S. W. Reed and extended west forty-eight rods. By the terms of the articles of association, Mr. Dill was to have fifty shares of the stock of the association, valued at $20 each, in consideration of his donation of the site.
The trustees at once took measures to secure the erection of the needed building. Messrs. Bradley Tuttle and Jehiel Clark took the contract and during the summer and fall following completed it at a cost of about $4,000. It was accepted by the association, February 3, 1812. Mr. Hall in his history of Auburn, thus describes it :
"The Auburn Academy, standing at the west end of the broad, well shaded field that ran back nearly to the present State street, was a plain, old-fashioned, three-story brick building, sixty feet long by twenty wide, surmounted by an open belfry. The walls outside were pencilled, the woodwork was white and the shingled roof colored brown. The first two stories were divided into rooms
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each by a hall through the center; the upper story formed one large room, into the sides of which seats were fastened and the floor of which was covered with long, double writing desks, with benches on each side. The primary department was on the first floor. The various rooms were warmed by roaring wood fires in the quaint old fireplaces, the large room having one of these at each end. The writing desks were furnished with tops covered with loose sand, in which the first searchers after knowledge took their first writing lessons. Discipline was maintained with the ferrule, and disorder punished, either by shutting up the disobedient in a closet in perfect darkness, or by subjecting them to solitary confinement in a deep hole left by the builders in the wall next to the fireplace."
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