USA > New York > Wayne County > History of Central New York : embracing Cayuga, Seneca, Wayne, Ontario, Tompkins, Cortland, Schuyler, Yates, Chemung, Steuben, and Tioga Counties, Volume I > Part 18
USA > New York > Cayuga County > History of Central New York : embracing Cayuga, Seneca, Wayne, Ontario, Tompkins, Cortland, Schuyler, Yates, Chemung, Steuben, and Tioga Counties, Volume I > Part 18
USA > New York > Seneca County > History of Central New York : embracing Cayuga, Seneca, Wayne, Ontario, Tompkins, Cortland, Schuyler, Yates, Chemung, Steuben, and Tioga Counties, Volume I > Part 18
USA > New York > Ontario County > History of Central New York : embracing Cayuga, Seneca, Wayne, Ontario, Tompkins, Cortland, Schuyler, Yates, Chemung, Steuben, and Tioga Counties, Volume I > Part 18
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devoted to the crop, and with more property owners entering into the enterprise. Residents along Seneca and Canandaigua Lakes, observant of the rich profits which were then secured by the Lake Keuka grape growers, and with the added realization that they, too, were possessed of the same natural advantages of soil and climate as offered by the Lake Keuka grape culture, with the result that by the year 1862 the vineyards surrounding and in the vicinity of these three lakes totalled over 3,000 acres.
The rapid increase in grape production soon extended the demand for the fruit, which up until that time had been confined solely to table use. With grapes produced by the ton, whereas but a few years before they were practically a negligible quantity, the problem presented itself of a disposition of the crop, if prices were to be maintained.
It was at about that time that the wine industry in the Lake Keuka section witnessed its inception. A number of Hammonds- port men, prominent among whom was the late Charles D. Champlin, organized the Pleasant Valley Wine Company, the nestor of wine making in Central New York. In the year 1860 the company built a modest plant upon the site of the company's present extensive cellars at Rheims, about a mile and a half south of the village of Hammondsport. While the company at first essayed the production of still wines only, it soon engaged in champagne manufacture in which it became world famous. Mr. Champlin remained a guiding factor in the concern until his death, and his children succeeded to his interests. The Pleasant Valley Company struggled through the period of the War of the Rebellion and then began an era of progress.
The organization of the Urbana Wine Company followed that of the Pleasant Valley Company, or in the year 1865. This company which owns an extensive plant with over fifty acres of well developed vineyard, about four miles north of Hammonds- port on the west side of Lake Keuka, was also organized by Hammondsport men, prominent among whom was the late John Davis, who was for many years superintendent of the business; Mr. Davis' death occurred in 1903, when he was succeeded by James Neel, and upon the death of Mr. Neel, John Davis, a
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nephew of the original superintendent, succeeded to the position. Mr. Davis is both superintendent and treasurer of the Urbana Company.
Others prominent in the development of the Urbana's wine and champagne interests were the late Colonel A. J. Switzer of Bath, an early superintendent and later secretary of the com- pany, and the late D. M. Hildredth of New York City.
The construction of the Germania Wine Cellars in Pleasant Valley, near Hammondsport, followed within a few years. Its builders and owners were Gottlieb and the late John Frey, of Hammonsport. The Germania cellars entered into production of champagne, as well as still wines.
The Hammondsport Wine Cellars, another champagne pro- ducer, were built in the year 1880. The Empire State Wine Company and the Hammondsport Vintage Company within a few years built extensive champagne plants in the village of Penn Yan. The White Top Champagne Company built a modern plant at Gibson's Landing, on the west side of the lake, about twelve miles north of Hammondsport. The Glenn Wine Cellar, later known as the Roualet Cellars, was reconstructed from an old stone mill standing at the mouth of a picturesque Hammonds- port Glen, in the village of that name.
In addition to the aforementioned cellars which specialized in champagne production, the community developed numerous ex- tensive wineries which produced only still wines and brandies. In this number were the Columbia Cellars in Pleasant Valley, near Hammondsport, for many years owned and operated by Sey- mour Hubbs; the Seeley Wine Company in Bath, established by the late Henry Seeley; the Freidell Winery at Hammondsport, owned by J. C. Freidell; the Foster Cellars in the town of Pul- teney, built and for a term of years conducted by the late Jeptha Foster; the Cushing Wine Company at Hammondsport, conducted by the late John Cushing, the McCorn Wine Company, in Ham- mondsport, owned and operated by LeRoy McCorn; the Crescent Wine Company, conducted by the late Ray Hall; the Monarch Cellars at Pleasant Valley, conducted by J. Hoyt Younglove; the Argus Cellars in the town of Pulteney, conducted by the late
SOLDIERS' AND SAILORS' MEMORIAL HOSPITAL, PENN YAN, N. Y.
HIGH SCHOOL, WATKINS, N. Y.
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John Argus; the McCormick Wine Company, conducted by Mc- Cormick & Longwell, in Bath; Rose & Holmes Cellars at Ham- mondsport; the Lake Keuka Vintage Company, which had exten- sive vineyards and operated large cellars at Bath, under man- agement of its owner, Robert Jones. Besides these local wineries, a large cellar was built at Severn-on-Seneca, and the Windner and Maxfield Cellars, both extensive plants, were built at Naples,
While the commercial development of the local wine industry devolved upon local men, the development of the wines of this district to their admitted point of superiority, ranking with the premier products of European wine centers, is confined to a small circle of men, most of whom were natives of the cham- pagne districts of France, and who brought with them a fund of experience as gained in the old world. Jules Masson came to the Pleasant Valley Wine Company in the days of the company's early activities. He had served as a wine maker in France, of which country he was a native. He remained with the company for a long term of years, or until his death, and his sons, Victor and L. J. Masson, succeeded to his interests in the business to the development of which he so materially contributed. Charles Britton, another Frenchman, was likewise identified with the Lake Keuka wineries for a term of years, being an expert champagne maker. The late Jules Crance was champagne maker for the Urbana Company for many years, and to him is largely due the development of the company's premier products. Upon his death, he was succeeded by his son, Eugene. Albert Bricout, a native of France, was for some years active in several of the champagne cellars in and about Hammondsport. Both of the Frey brothers, John and Gottlieb, were expert champagne makers, and gave personal supervision to the output of the Germania Cellars. Charles Wheeler personally directed the production of the champagne at the White Top Cellars. H. G. Layton, of Hammondsport, was champagne maker for a term of years at the Hammondsport Cellars and was later employed by other local wine companies; Henri Roualet, who likewise came from France, was active in the development of the Roualet Cellars which pro- duced the Roualet champagne.
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With approximately 200 active granges in the area and with more High State Grange officers than any other district in the state, Central New York today is recognized as one of the best agriculturally organized sections of the East. From the time of the early pioneers, the agricultural nature of the area was ex- emplified in the formation of agricultural societies. These were the forerunners of the county fairs, they came before labor or- ganizations themselves were effective and they were the agencies which first brought cooperation in farming and marketing.
Granges of today are the modern descendants of these old agricultural societies. The first grange in the area was Highland Grange, twenty-second formed in the state, in Schuyler County. It was organized November 4, 1873. The first granges formed in the other counties are :
Clyde Grange No. 33, Wayne County, January 8, 1874; Junius Grange No. 34, Seneca County, January 8, 1874; North Barton Grange No. 45, Tioga County, January 2, 1874; Chemung Valley, Chemung County, No. 57, January 21, 1874; Academy Grange No. 62, Ontario County, January 18, 1874; Prattsburg Grange No. 112, Steuben County, February 23, 1874; Caroline Grange No. 239, Tompkins County, September 29, 1874; Har- mony Grange No. 372, Cortland County, January 18, 1876; Locke Grange No. 868, Cayuga County, February 2, 1899; Barrington Grange No. 1101, Yates County, March 1, 1907.
The number of granges in the various counties in 1932 were: Cayuga, twenty-one; Chemung, seven; Cortland, nineteen; On- tario, twenty-one; Schuyler, fourteen; Seneca, thirteen; Steuben, forty-four; Tioga, eleven; Tompkins, eighteen; Wayne, twenty; Yates, six; total, 194.
The master of the State Grange is Fred J. Freestone, Inter- laken, Seneca County; the secretary is Frank J. Riley, Sennett, Cayuga County; the assistant steward, Dana P. Waldron, Wol- cott, Wayne County, and Pomona, Mrs. Ida Potter, Hammonds- port, Steuben County.
The death of Past State Master Silas L. Strivings at Castile, Wyoming County, a short time ago, leaves but one surviving past master, Sherman J. Lowell of Fredonia, Chautauqua County.
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State leader from 1916 to 1920, Lowell also served as master of the National Grange in 1919-20. He holds the further distinc- tion of being a past master of Fredonia Grange No. 1, the first regularly organized dues-paying grange in the world. It was established by the founder of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry, Oliver Hudson Kelley, April 16, 1868. President Coolidge ap- pointed Mr. Lowell a member of the Federal Tariff Commission.
Of the many distinguished grange leaders furnished by the Empire State, aside from Lowell, Chautauqua County has given three state masters. When the state grange movement was launched at Syracuse November 6, 1873, George D. Hinckley of Chautauqua County was chosen to pilot the grange craft through the stormy waters of the early days. Besides Hinckley and Lowell, Chautauqua County gave the grange Walter C. Gifford, who served from 1890 to 1894. No other county has had so many state masters.
One of the men whose influence was strongly felt within the grange was William A. Armstrong of Elmira, secretary from 1874 to 1880 and master from 1880 to 1890. One of the founders, he was actively connected with the grange until his death in August, 1890. He also edited and published The Husbandman, official organ of the grange, from 1874 until his death.
Francis McDowell, one of the seven founders of the Order, came to State and National Grange prominence from Steuben County. Generous in financial aid, McDowell was treasurer of the National Grange from 1873 to 1893.
Three state grange masters have died in office, George P. Cushman of Seneca County, George A. Fuller of Jefferson and William N. Giles, who was secretary twenty years and died a year after being elevated to master.
Ellis B. Norris of Wayne, master for eight years, was one of the founders of the Farmers & Traders Life Insurance Com- pany, organized by members of the Order and sponsored semi- officially by the State Grange. Frank N. Godfrey, who suc- ceeded Master Fuller, was a leading advocate of cooperative trading. Willett H. Vary of Jefferson was one of the best par-
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liamentarians the State Grange has ever known. He succeeded Godfrey as master. He favored cooperative fire insurance.
Albert Manning, who filled out Master Giles' unexpired term, will be remembered as one of the founders of the Dairymen's League, and was its first secretary.
Henry H. Goff of Monroe County, secretary of the grange for twenty years, is sometimes called the "Father of Farm Co- operatives" in this state. He was instrumental in organizing the Grange League Federation, one of the largest farm coopera- tives in America.
The present master, Fred J. Freestone of Interlaken, Seneca County, was elevated to the mastership in 1928, after serving as lecturer and overseer. It was largely through his initiative and enthusiasm that at the annual meeting of the National Grange in Rochester in November, 1930, New York had 11,125 seventh degree candidates on the platform, the largest class in the his- tory of the National organization. Governor Roosevelt has honored Freestone by appointing him a member of the State Waterpower Commission.
As a step in making farm boys and girls into better farmers and farmers' wives, the 4-H Club, or junior project movement, has been one of the latest and most effective agricultural pro- grams launched in Central New York. Figures available at the close of 1931 indicated that there are 326 clubs in the eleven counties of the area, with 2,182 boys and 2,005 girls on their roster. In gardening, farming, dairying, poultry raising and other farm activities the boys have made rapid progress. In homemaking and its varied management problems the girls in the various clubs have likewise learned fundamentals that will add to efficiency in the farm home. Both girls and boys have won prizes at both state and county fairs and the interest in their organized farm study program is rapidly increasing. Most of the junior extension work in the region is financed largely through appropriations by the Boards of Supervisors.
Chemung County was the first in the region to undertake 4-H Club work. It was established there July 1, 1919, by Rufus Stan- ley, agent until July 8, 1926. Chemung has sixty-one individual
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4-H Clubs with 284 boys and 241 girls enrolled. Those who have piloted the work there were: Irene Dunn, acting agent from July 19, 1926, to August 17, 1926; C. N. Chamberlain, acting agent from August 18, 1926, to September 20, 1926; F. C. Essick, agent from January 1, 1927, to January 31, 1929, and the pres- ent agent, E. C. Grant, who began work February 18, 1929.
In Cayuga County the work was established May 1, 1929. As 1932 opened, there were forty-one clubs in the county, with 245 boys and 258 girls on the roster. Agents included P. W. Thayer, July 23, 1928, to September 24, 1928; S. B. Dorrance, May 1, 1929, to October 15, 1931; F. R. Sears, appointed October 16, 1931, and still serving.
March, 1928, marked the beginning of 4-H Club work in Cortland County, where forty-one clubs have an enrollment of 337 boys and 270 girls. C. C. Henderson, appointed March 26, 1928, and Elizabeth Woolley, named February 7, 1929, still hold office as agents.
The thirty-two clubs in Tompkins County, where the work began in April, 1922, have 301 boys and 272 girls as members. The agents of that county have included: O. C. Potter, April 4, 1922, to January 31, 1923; W. G. Meal, February 1, 1923, to August 15, 1925; E. W. Hoffman, August 16, 1925, to date. Tompkins acting agents have been P. W. Thayer, January 11, 1929, to June 15, 1929; W. J. Merton, October 1, 1930, to Feb- ruary 15, 1931; R. L. Higley, March 24, 1931, to replace Agent Hoffman on a leave of absence in 1932 because of illness.
In Tioga County there is no club agent, but a few scattering enrollments have been under the direction of the county agri- cultural agent and teachers of agriculture. The two clubs in the county number seventeen boys and twenty-eight girls.
Likewise in Seneca County there is no agent, the work being handled by the county agricultural agent. The five clubs here have sixty-nine boys enrolled.
The assistant agricultural agent in Wayne County directs 4-H work there, where forty-two clubs include 280 boys and 240 girls.
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There is but one club of thirteen boys and four girls in Steu- ben County, where the activity is in charge of the agricultural agent.
The single club of eleven boys and ten girls in Yates County has similar direction there.
Ontario County vies with Chemung in being a pioneer in 4-H endeavor in the region. The work was established in Ontario in May, 1919, and today there are fifty clubs with 367 boys and 429 girls, setting a membership record for the region. From 1919 until 1923 the work was discontinued in Ontario County. Agents have been: H. I. Barber, May 1, 1919, to August 5, 1919; A. H. Saunders, August 10, 1919, to October 15, 1919; Clarence Johnson, February 15, 1923, to March 15, 1928; A. B. Woodard, March 16, 1928, to the present year.
Schuyler County, one of the region's smallest, has one of the largest organizations, embracing fifty clubs with 258 boys and 253 girls. Here the work was established in January, 1926. The agents: Ira LeFever, May 15, 1924, to September 30, 1924, temporary; Ira LeFever, April 1, 1925, to September 30, 1925; R. O. Bale, January 1, 1926, to the present.
CHAPTER XIX
INVENTION AND SCIENTISTS.
RADIO-TELEGRAPH-PROFESSORS ANTHONY AND MOHLER-GEORGE M. PULL- MAN-THE IRON PLOW-THE MOVIETONE-SUNDAE-BLOOMERS-ADDING MACHINE-TILE DRAIN-REVOLVING TURRET-DR. WILLIAM BROOKS- JOHN ALDEN LORING-FLOYD KARKER RICHTMYER-WALTER FRANCIS WILCOX -- DR. EUGENE C. SULLIVAN-DR. HENRY PHELPS GAGE.
In the past eleven years, where once the voice of the red man ranged no farther than the light of his campfire, radio has brought the voice of the world to Central New York. Out of the vastness of the air one night in 1920 there came the strains of music and the clear word of a human voice. It was Dr. Frank Conrad of Westinghouse conducting experiments in radio tele- phony between his laboratory and his home in Pittsburgh. Those experiments led to the operation there of the first broadcasting station on November 2, 1920.
But before that first broadcasting station, radio amateurs in Central New York, who had built radio receiving sets after the government removed its war-time restrictions, were receiving, in the dot dash code, messages from the ether. With the broad- casting station came quick development of radio, until today, little more than a decade after the first station opened, there are as many radio receiving sets in Central New York as there are telephones. And the region itself has broadcasting stations of its own. No longer is there the age-old solitude of evenings on isolated farms. To navigation, to communications, to aviation and other occupations radio has bestowed its bounty. And almost hourly it is touching the lives of Central New York residents with the grace and sweetness of music.
The World War opened to amateurs in Central New York the intriguing possibilities of radio. They were operating their
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little sets before the first broadcasting station existed. One of the pioneers was Charles Heiser of Auburn who, in the summer of 1927 from his station HEME, was the chief transmission point in sending and receiving for the New York Times the radio news from the schooner Morrissey in Baffin Land, north of Nova Scotia, where the Putnam Expedition went on exploration. George Palmer Putnam of New York was in charge and the ship was captained by Robert A. Bartlett, who commanded the "Roose- velt" for Admiral Peary during expeditions leading to discovery of the North Pole in 1909. Later Heiser and other amateurs of the area were in constant touch with Admiral Richard Byrd at the South Pole.
Even before this the amateurs were doing their best to ad- vertise Central New York. Dozens of them sent greetings broad- cast to hundreds of native sons of the district then in distant places, signing the messages for the Finger Lakes Association, a civic organization of Chambers of Commerce. As early as May, 1925, these messages were circling the globe. One of the first responses from Europe came from H. Y. Yesse, Jr., of Lei- den, Holland, where a station of the Noordwyksche Radio Club picked up the greeting on a seventy-six meter wave length.
In January, 1928, at Heisers's invitation, a group of ten amateurs met in Auburn and formed the Finger Lake Trans- mitting Society, which has broadened out until today it covers Central New York. The society at once affiliated with the Ameri- can Radio Relay League and chose the slogan, "The Finger Lakes Call You," to be broadcast to every land. In the summer of 1929 the society was host to the Atlantic Division convention of the American league in Auburn. Meetings of the society are featured by technical talks and an exchange of ideas for advance- ment of radio transmission. Most of the towns in Central New York are now represented in the organization.
Before any broadcasting stations, for regular programs were established in the region, Central New York was being adver- tised over the air from the larger cities. One of the first of these broadcasts, arranged by the Finger Lakes Association, went out of Station WFBL, Syracuse, on March 21, 1925, when between
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10 and 12 p. m. a "native son" program was put on the air. The offerings were entirely by Central New York talent. But before that time other Central New York advertising, through arrangements by the Finger Lakes Association, had gone over the ether. George Cooley on Thanksgiving, 1924, gave a half hour's talk on the region from WEAF, then the most powerful station in New York City. A similar talk went out shortly afterward from Station WJAX, Cleveland, Ohio, through the association's cooperation with the Cleveland Automobile Club and from that time on radio broadcasts from stations through- out America have helped to advertise the heart of the Empire State.
Auburn, birthplace of the society of amateur operators, was the first and only city to date in the eleven Central New York counties to have its own police radio broadcasting station, the sending station being tuned in with receiving sets in the de- partment's "prowl cars." Auburn was the thirteenth city in the United States to apply for a federal police broadcasting per- mit. The apparatus was installed in the new police station opened in December, 1931, and began operation early in 1932, the entire cost being a little less than $10,000. When the radio engineer, Charles Heiser, resigned April 1, 1932, to become an electrical engineer at Auburn Prison, City Manager William B. Patterson eliminated the office and junked the radio equipment with the explanation: "We do not care for it and we do not need it."
In the early days of broadcasting music and talks, portable sending stations were licensed to go on tour and many a Central New York theater was filled with the curious drawn to see a broadcast program from the stage. These low power stations drew large numbers of singers and musicians who desired to try their hand before the microphone. When in Watkins Glen, one of these stations broadcast a talk on Central New York by Wil- liam M. Leffingwell, then president of the Finger Lakes Asso- ciation.
Central New York today has three broadcasting stations. Station WMBO in Auburn, opened by George I. Stevens of Union
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Springs, was licensed in January, 1927, for 100 watts and 1310 kilocycles. In June, 1931, the station was sold to Fred L. Keesee of Buffalo and was operated under the name WMBO, Inc. The full 100 watt power was not used until the transfer, when im- provements in equipment were made. The station is a commer- cial one and operates both day and evenings, with remote con- trol equipment linking it with several churches, halls, dining rooms or clubs.
Station WEAI, owned and operated by Cornell University, Ithaca, had one of the first radio licenses issued, but did not begin broadcasting regularly until August 16, 1929. It is not listed in the Radio Standard Rate and Data Book, because it does not do commercial work. It operates in daylight hours each day except Sundays and provides educational programs chiefly, stressing scientific agriculture.
The only other station is WLCI, a small station operated by the Lutheran Church of Ithaca, being on the air only during church services Sundays, with an occasional evening or after- noon service.
TELEGRAPH.
The railroad era in Central New York gave place to the age of wire. Before many settlers had ever ridden on a train, the frontiers began to hear of the strange telegraph of Samuel F. B. Morse. The first telegraph message was transmitted May 27, 1844, between Washington and Baltimore and soon thereafter it invaded the heart of New York. Extension of the lines gave new impetus to journalism, bringing the daily to augment the weekly. The first telegraph line to Auburn came in 1846 and four years later the first telegraph office opened in Elmira over a drug store. Its wire ran to Canandaigua to connect with the New York Central railroad wires.
Next to the inventor of the telegraph, none did more to make it practical than two men from Central New York. It was Mil- lard Fillmore, thirteenth president and a native of Cayuga County, who as a member of Congress in 1842 procured for In- ventor Morse a government appropriation for the completion of
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an experimental line. Morse's idea was to bury wires. The man who suggested stringing them on poles was Ezra Cornell of Ithaca, founder of Cornell University. Mr. Cornell made a for- tune out of the idea and hastened the day when coast speaks to coast without delay.
In the realm of police communication, the greatest advance in a generation was noted on August 13, 1931, when nine cities and villages of Central New York installed teletype machines, operated in a system throughout the state. In the police stations of each of these communities is a receiving and sending machine, resembling a typewriter, which through electrical impulses made by the keys, receives or transmits to typewritten sheets auto- matically the message. In this way police warnings, queries, re- quests, descriptions of crimes, fugitives, stolen cars, etc., is in- stantaneously sent over a state system.
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