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 39
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 39
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 39
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 39
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neva Conference Seminary. Again varying finances marked the school's progress. Finally in 1872 the property, heavily encum- bered, was sold on mortgage, bid in by the mortgage holders and turned over to the Board of Education on its payment. It then became known as the Union Free School District No. 1 building.
ROMULUS.
Few places have a closer association with the Sullivan cam- paign than Romulus, a community in the town of the same name in Seneca County, upon a plateau between Seneca and Cayuga Lakes. At Romulus the legendary "Seneca Captive," whom rec- ords show to have been Luke Sweetland, a soldier of the Revolu- tion, was held prisoner by the Indians until Sullivan's soldiers so demoralized the captors that Sweetland made his escape.
Such was the appeal of Romulus that twenty soldiers of the Revolution later became residents of the town. Here Degorry Prowitt, a courageous drummer lad of Sullivan, later made his home. To David Wisner is generally accorded the honor of being Romulus' first settler in 1789. However, E. W. Bogardus of Romulus believes that Abram Brown preceded Wisner. An- thony Swartout came with Wisner and located on the site of Willard State Hospital.
Romulus sent fifty men to the war of 1812. The first church in Seneca County was the Romulus Baptist Church in 1795 and one of its first pastors, Rev. John Caton, was a comrade of Wash- ington and LaFayette. Many distinguished citizens have gone out of Romulus. Jeptha H. Wade, former president of the West- ern Union Telegraph Company and prominent bank and railroad director, was born in the town in 1811. Peter A. Dey, former Iowa state railroad commissioner, was born in Romulus in 1825, former judge and grand master of Masons of Ohio, was born the same year in the town. Another native son was Robert E. Mc- Math, former president of the Board of Public Improvements in St. Louis, Missouri, Walter S. Gurnee, former mayor of Chicago, was a former Romulus boy.
The present splendid school in Romulus is a descendant of a little log school built in 1806 neaer the present village. A bank,
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the Farmers Bank of Seneca County, was organized in 1839 in the town. Romulus post office for the town, established in 1802 on the Seneca Lake road, was removed to the village in 1825. Opening of the Geneva, Ithaca and Sayre Railroad gave new impetus to progress. Today Romulus has a National bank and three churches, with an enterprising community spirit that augurs well for the future.
CHAPTER XXXIII
STEUBEN COUNTY.
STATISTICAL-COUNTY ERECTED -- PULTENEY ESTATE-FIRST SETTLEMENTS- COUNTY BUILDINGS-INDIAN OCCUPATION-PART IN MEXICAN WAR-TOWNS -- CORNING-RIVERSIDE-SOUTH CORNING-HORNELL-ADDISON-ARKPORT- AVOCA-BATH -- CANISTEO-COHOCTON - HAMMONDSPORT - PAINTED POST- PRATTSBURG-SAVONA-WAYLAND -- WOODHULL.
Steuben County was erected from Ontario County March 18, 1796. It has an area of 1,398 square miles. Of its land area of 894,720 acres, seventy-nine per cent or 706,899 acres are in farms. It has 5,143 farms, valued at $26,436,523 with their buildings. Steuben has a population of 82,857, of which more than half are rural.
The county has 127 industrial plants. The employes of which, according to the 1929 federal statistics, receive $10,515,670 yearly in wages. The plants pay out $16,284,221 a year for materials, fuel and purchased power and the value of their prod- ucts is $42,368,686. Steuben has 3,134 miles of road, of which 346 are state highway. The number of automobiles owned with- in the county is 23,369.
Steuben County, in addition to its two cities of Corning and Hornell, has fifteen incorporated villages: Addison, Arkport, Avoca, Bath, Canisteo, Cohocton, Hammondsport, North Hornell, Painted Post, Prattsburg, Riverside, Savona, South Corning, Wayland and Woodhull. Bath is the county seat.
There are thirty-two towns, with population given as fol- lows in the 1930 census: Addison, 1,975; Avoca, 1,783; Bath, 8,146; Bradford, 507; Cameron, 704; Campbell, 1,263; Canisteo, 3,391; Caton, 915; Cohocton, 2,514; Corning, 2,997; Dansville, 995; Erwin, 3,414; Freemont, 697; Greenwood, 968; Hartsville, 470; Hornby, 683; Hornellsville, 2,505; Howard, 1,032; Jasper,
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986; Lindley, 945; Prattsburg, 1,421; Pulteney, 983; Rathbone, 695; Thurston, 647; Troupsburg, 1,124; Tuscarora, 839; Urbana, 2,108; Wayland, 3,071; Wayne, 516; West Union, 715; Wheeler, 677; Woodhull, 1,151.
The Seventh Range of Townships was annexed to Allegany County March 11, 1808; the part in the fork of Lake Keuka to Ontario County February 25, 1814; a part of Dansville to Liv- ingston County February 15, 1822; a part of Reading to Yates County in 1824, and a part of Schuyler County February 15, 1822. A part of Steuben County rises to an elevation of 2,500 feet. The Cohocton River flows southeast almost through the center of the county. In high water it was once navigable for barks fourteen miles above Bath. Conisteo River flows southwest of the Cohocton and nearly parallel. Tioga River rises in Penn- sylvania, flows north and unites with the Canisteo at Erwin and with the Cohocton at Painted Post, from the latter place the com- bined stream taking the name of Chemung River.
Steuben County, named after Baron Steuben, was all included in the Phelps and Gorham Purchase. It was sold by Phelps and Gorham to Ribert Morris who conveyed it to Sir William Pulte- ney and others in London. The territory was surveyed into townships and lots by William Bull, for the Pulteney Estate in 1792-93. Sales were made by townships at eighteen and twenty cents per acre.
First settlements were made in 1787-90 by immigrants from Wyoming, Pennsylvania, who located on the Chemung River, in the southeastern part of the county. These early settlers were originally from Connecticut. About 1790 settlements com- menced in the western part, adjoining Yates County. In 1792-93 Capt. Charles Williamson, agent of the Pulteney Estate, com- menced a settlement at Bath. He was a Scotchman and an officer in the British Twenty-fourth Regiment of Infantry during the Revolution but he did not serve in the war, as he had been taken prisoner by the French while crossing the Atlantic. Williamson was accompanied to Steuben County by a large number of Scotch and German immigrants and under his energetic leadership the settlement advanced rapidly.
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The majority of the early settlers came by way of the Sus- quehanna and Chemung Rivers from Pennsylvania. Subsequently large numbers came from Eastern New York, New England and New Jersey. The county was divided by the Court of General Sessions in 1796 into six towns: Bath, Canisteo, Dansville, Frederickstown, Middletown and Painted Post. These comprised the territory now embraced in all the thirty-two towns and parts of Allegany, Yates, Livingston and Schuyler Counties. In 1790 the population of the entire county was but 168; ten years later it was 1,788.
Upon organization of the county in 1796, the county build- ings were located at Bath. A wooden court house, one and a half stories high, with two wings, was built the same year. It was removed in 1828 and another court house of brick erected, to be later again replaced with the present modern structure. About the time of the erection of the first court house, a jail was built of hewn logs, which was superceded by the construction of another jail in 1845.
Today Steuben is the only county in the state with three court houses. Though all other county buildings are at Bath, court houses are located at Bath, Corning and Hornell for terms of both Supreme and County Court. This is to obviate long trips for jurors. A jail was erected at Corning in 1853-54, but now all prisoners are confined at Bath.
Steuben County is closely linked with the bloody Wyoming Massacre in Pennsylvania. Indians and Tories who planned the attack on the white settlement, acting under authority of British officers at Fort Niagara, followed the Indian trail across the Genesee Valley to the Canisteo upper reaches. Then they descended the stream eastward to within a few miles of what is now Hornell, where they cut down large pine trees on the bank and constructed canoes. In these they floated down into the Chemung and thence to the scene of their bloody work. The Chemung Valley from Painted Post to Tioga was at this time dotted with Indian settlements. The massacre was one of the motivating events leading to the Sullivan expedition.
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Steuben County was one of the few in Central New York sending men to the Mexican War. One of the ten companies of 100 men each given by this state to form the Seventh Regiment of New York Volunteers was formed in the county. William E. Shannon of Bath recruited Company A, which he captained, lead- ing it from Bath August 1, 1846, to New York, where it became Company I. On September 26, the command sailed for San Fran- cisco and on April 1, 1847, were taken aboard the U. S. Lexing- ton which took the troops to Monterey for ten months. The com- pany was also at San Diego and San Pedro before being mustered out September 25, 1848. Captain Shannon died of cholera in Sacramento City November 3, 1850.
The town organization in Steuben was complicated. Addison was formed as Middletown in March, 1796, and its name changed April 6, 1808. A part of Troupsburg was taken off in 1808, Cam- eron in 1822, a part of Woodhull in 1828 and a part of Rathbone in 1856.
Avoca was formed from Bath, Cohocton, Howard and Wheeler April 12, 1843. The name is believed to have been taken from Tom Moore's "Sweet Vale of Avoca."
Bath was formed March 18, 1796. Pulteney was taken off in 1808, a part of Howard and Cohocton in 1812, a part of Wheeler in 1820, Urbana in 1822, a part of Avoca in 1843, and a part of Cohocton in 1852. A part of Urbana was annexed April 26, 1839.
Bradford, named for General Bradford, was formed from Jersey (now Orange, Schuyler County) April 20, 1836. A part was annexed to Orange April 17, 1854.
Cameron, named from Dugald Cameron, an agent of the Pulteney Estate, was formed from Addison April 16, 1822. Thurston was taken off in 1844 and a part of Rathbone in 1856.
Campbell, named for the Campbells, early and prominent set- tlers, was formed from Hornby April 15, 1831.
Canisteo was erected in March, 1796; a part of Troupsburg was taken off in 1808, Hornellsville in 1820 and parts of Green- wood and Jasper in 1827. A part was annexed to Troupsburg in 1818.
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Caton was formed from Painted Post (now Corning) as Wormly March 28, 1839, and its name was changed April 3, 1840.
Cohocton was formed from Bath and Dansville June 18, 1812. A part of Avoca was taken off in 1843 and a part of Wayland in 1848; a part of Bath was annexed in 1852.
Corning, named for Hon. Erastus Corning of Albany, was formed as Painted Post March 18, 1796, its name being changed March 31, 1852. Erwin and Hornby were taken off in 1826 and Wormly (now Caton) in 1839. A part was annexed to Erwin in 1856.
Dansville, named from Daniel P. Faulkner, an early and spirited citizen known as "Captain Dan," was formed in March, 1796. Parts of Cohocton and Howard were taken off in 1812, a part of Wayland in 1848 and of Fremont in 1854. A part was annexed to Sparta in 1822 and a part of Cohocton was reannexed April 26, 1834.
Erwin, named after Col. Arthur Erwin, of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, an officer in the Revolution by whom the township was purchased from Phelps and Gorham, was formed from Painted Post January 27, 1826. Lindley was taken off in 1837 and a part of Corning was annexed in 1856.
Fremont, named in honor of Col. John C. Fremont, was formed from Hornellsville, Dansville, Wayland and Howard No- vember 17, 1854.
Greenwood was formed from Troupsburg and Canisteo Jan- uary 24, 1827. West Union was taken off in 1845 and a part of Jasper was annexed in 1848.
Hartsville was formed from Hornellsville February 7, 1844. Hornby, named from John Hornby, an English landholder to a large extent in Steuben and other counties, was formed from Painted Post (now Corning) January 27, 1826. Campbell was taken off in 1831, and a part was annexed to Orange (Schuyler County) April 11, 1842.
Hornellsville (now Hornell), named from Hon. George Hor- nell, one of the early settlers, was formed from Canisteo April 1, 1820. Hartsville was taken off in 1844 and a part of Fremont in 1854.
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Howard was formed from Bath and Dansville June 18, 1812. A part of Avoca was taken off in 1843 and a part of Fremont in 1854.
Jasper, named from Sergeant Jasper, noted for his courage at the battle of Fort Moultrie, South Carolina, June 28, 1776, was formed from Troupsburg and Canisteo January 24, 1827, and a part was annexed to Greenwood in 1848.
Lindley, named in honor of Col. Eleazur Lindley, was formed from Erwin May 12, 1837. The colonel, who settled in 1790 and was original proprietor of the town, served in the Jersey Blues during the Revolution.
Prattsburg, named for Col. Joel Pratt, one of the first set- tlers, was formed from Pulteney April 12, 1813, and a part of Wheeler was taken off in 1820.
Pulteney, named for Sir William Pulteney, was formed from Bath February 12, 1808. Prattsburg was taken off in 1813 and a part of Urbana in 1848.
Rathbone, named from Gen. Ransom Rathbone, who settled in the town in 1842, was formed from Addison, Cameron and Woodhull March 28, 1856.
Thurston, named from William R. Thurston, a rich land- holder, was formed from Cameron February 28, 1844.
Troupsburg, named from Robert Troup, general agent of the Pulteney Estate, was formed from Middletown (now Addison) and Canisteo February 12, 1808. Parts of Greenwood and Jas- per were taken off in 1827 and a part of Woodhull in 1828. A part of Canisteo was annexed April 4, 1818.
Urbana was formed from Bath April 17, 1822. A part was annexed to Bath in 1839; a part of Wheeler was annexed May 3, 1839, and a part of Pulteney April 12, 1848.
Wayland, named for Rev. Dr. Francis Wayland, of Rhode Island, was formed from Cohocton and Dansville April 12, 1848. A part of Fremont was taken off in 1854.
Wayne, named in honor of Gen. Anthony Wayne, was formed as Frederickstown March 18, 1796. Its name was changed April 6, 1808. Reading (Schuyler County) was taken off in 1806,
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Orange (Schuyler County) in 1813 and Barrington (Yates County ) and Tyronne (Schuyler County) in 1822.
West Union was formed from Greenwood April 25, 1845.
Wheeler, named after Capt. Silas Wheeler, the first settler, was formed from Bath and Prattsburg, February 25, 1820. A part of Avoca was taken off in 1843 and a part of Urbana in 1830. The settler for whom the town was named served during the Revolution and was at the attack on Quebec, standing near Montgomery when he fell. Wheeler was four times taken pris- oner during the war. He died in 1828 at the age of seventy- eight.
Woodhull, named for Gen. Nathaniel Woodhull, an officer in the Revolution, was formed from Troupsburg and Addison Feb- ruary 18, 1828. A part of Rathbone was taken off in 1856.
CORNING.
Once known as the El Dorado of the Southern Tier, Corning, on the south bank of the Chemung River, is today a progressive city where enterprise and vision in another generation have been crystalized in advancement equaled by but few communities of the area. With a population of 15,777, Corning is less than forty miles from the soft coal region, with natural gas for heat and light, and cheap electricity for light and power.
The community began its progress with completion of the Chemung Canal in 1833. When the bill for the canal was finding much opposition in Congress, Capt. Vincent Conklin of Horse- heads drove his team to Blossburg, Pennsylvania, in the coal zone and laboriously conveyed a load to Albany, to prove that there were rich coal deposits in Northern Pennsylvania which could be tapped by construction of the canal. Largely as a result of this demonstration of the resources which the canal would bring to Albany, the bill for the waterway was passed April 15, 1829.
Erastus Corning of Albany foresaw the value of the project and in 1835 started organization of the Corning Company which purchased 340 acres of virgin territory on the site of Corning. A company survey showed that a railroad could be constructed from the town site, at the head of canal navigation, to the Bloss-
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burg coal fields. And the cost would be less than that for a canal. A charter was obtained for a railroad to the state line at Law- renceville. There Pennsylvania financiers secured a charter in that state to operate the road to the mines. In 1839 the Bloss- burg Railroad opened. Corning sprang into being.
A newspaper office was opened in 1840 and the Blossburg Advocate appeared. The same year the advance guard of the New York and Erie came. From Piedmont in Rockland County to Dunkirk on Lake Erie, workmen drove piles and spanned rivers with bridges. The Erie road was finished to Corning in 1849 and completed its full length in 1851. In 1852 there were 40,000 tons of Blossburg coal, brought by rail to Corning and transferred there and 50,000,000 feet of lumber were exported. In 1849 Corning stood third on the list of inland shipping ports in the state. Statistics of 1873 show that Corning exceeded in tonnage any other station on the Erie except Jersey City and Buffalo.
This shipping supremacy is maintained today by three trunk line roads entering the city-the New York Central, the Lacka- wanna and the Erie. Division offices of the New York Central are located there and the Erie and Lackawanna not far distant.
Corning by vote of 118 to five on October 25, 1848, decided to incorporate as a village and the first charter election occurred January 12, 1849. About 1840 the "Painted Post" post office had been removed from Centreville to Corning and in 1841 the name was changed to Corning post office. Corning was incor- porated as a city in 1890.
In her schools today Corning takes just pride. But the incep- tion of that pride in education came back in the fall of 1839 when a meeting was held at the home of S. B. Denton to launch a move- ment for organizing a school in the then district No. 14, town of Painted Post, village of Corning. By June, 1840, $300 had been appropriated for building a school. The next September 1 the first school in the village was ready, a structure 24 by 30 feet. The first annual report showed an expenditure for the year of $73 and 66 cents was left in the treasury.
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With 260 pupils requiring an education and accommodations for only sixty, the proposition of building a new school was brought up in 1845. A year later by a vote of twenty to four, the sum of $1,200 was voted for such school, which was put up on the village square. These schools continued to flourish and in 1850 the free school law was enacted. To supply any deficiency in school funds, $1,200 was voted by the village and free schools introduced. The first expensive school was built in 1873 at a cost of $70,000 under the name of Corning Free Academy.
The Corning Library was organized February 25, 1873, and opened in a new building on Erie Avenue February 4, 1874. Today Corning is proud of her great new World War Memorial Library, created in memory of those who gave all in that conflict.
Corning is as enterprising as when pioneers carved the community out of the forest. A few years ago the local automo- bile club boasted the distinction of having the largest membership in the United States for a city of the size of Corning.
The city has forty acres in parks, the main one being Den- nison Park of thirty-eight acres, a result of modern artistic land- scaping. It contains a natatorium of very large size, with clear water pumped for a daily change and purified constantly with chlorification; after being heated by gas, it provides a constant source of joy to the bather and swimmer. Hundreds enjoy this privilege every day in season. Baseball, tennis, croquet, exten- sive playgrounds for the children with every variety of equipment and under intelligent supervision, all provide amusement and healthful occupation of the recreational kind for every member of every family. The facilities are used by people from very long distances and the pavillions are reserved sometimes two years in advance for gatherings of different kinds. The free use of these, together with gas for cooking, make the welcome of Corning felt to the stranger. A free tourist camp site is in the park, with use of the gas for cooking.
No city was ever better equipped with fraternal homes than Corning. Nearly all new, and built for the purpose, in size, ap- pointment and general purpose they form a group of which any community may be proud.
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The Masonic Scottish Rite Cathedral on Walnut Street, the Knights of Columbus Home on Cedar Street, the Elks Home on Walnut Street, the Odd Fellows Temple on Erie Avenue, the L. O. O. M. on Market Street, all provide ample accommodations for the members and to the visitor to the city.
In civic organizations, Corning has the Chamber of Com- merce, Corning Rotary, Woman's Club, Woman's Business Club, Clionian Circle, American Legion and Women's University Club. Nearly all of these organizations function through the Chamber of Commerce, on the broader civic questions and issues.
People of Corning enjoying club life and service have at their disposal three finely appointed clubs in Corning Club, Corning Country Club and Imperial Club. Corning Club, one of the finest clubs in Corning, has always served its members with a high standard. It has made a most happy meeting place for the smaller civic functions and quiet dinners between business associates. Its membership embraces all that is best in the citizenry of Corn- ing. The Country Club, with its location one mile from the city line, gives a twelve months' recreational service to its large mem- bership through its finely appointed nine hole golf course, tennis courts, and winter sports. The club house is finely appointed.
The Imperial Club, for employees of the Ingersoll-Rand Com- pany, the largest air compressor factory in the world, is in a beautiful old Colonial building, to which has been added a large dormitory capacity.
No sketch of Corning would be complete without mention of the development of glass making there on a scale unequaled in the world. Though the ancient Phoenicians are said to have first discovered how to make glass and the Egyptians made sham jewels of glass at least 5,000 or 6,000 B. C., the greatest advance in the art has been achieved at Corning. There the Corning Glass Works has the foremost laboratory and most comprehensive knowledge of glass making possessed by any industrial institution in the world.
The Corning Glass Works were established in 1868 by Amory Houghton, formerly proprietor of the Brooklyn Flint-Glass Works. Members of the Houghton family have expanded the
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plant until it is probably the world's largest. One of the dynamic forces in this development is A. B. Houghton, recently American ambassador to London.
In 1878 Thomas A. Edison brought his dream of an incan- descent electric lamp to the Corning Glass Works. It was but one of the long series of achievements of the company which special- izes in scientific research in the manufacture and application of glass. Westinghouse bulbs are now made at Corning in the great plant which also turns out glass tubing for thermometers and steam boilers, radio tubes and insulators, clinical and laboratory glass, lantern globes, the famous Pyrex ovenware, art glass, cut, engraved and etched, auto lenses and windshields.
The Hunt Glass Works, Inc., makers of fine cut and engraved glass, is another of Corning's glass producers.
The Corning Hospital, with its registered nursing school, was incorporated April 11, 1900; it has a capacity of seventy-five beds, eighteen in wards and seventy-five in rooms, with twenty- five bassinets. The Corning Board of Health in 1912 established a tuberculosis dispensary at the City Hall, where surgical, pedi- atric, orthopedic, syphilis, neurological and tuberculosis clinics are held.
Corning, with its 5,655 families, is today a prosperous city, as evidenced by the 620 personal income tax returns filed there for 1928. It has seven public grade schools, three high schools, one junior high and three parochial schools, in which a total of about 4,600 pupils are enrolled. The strength of Corning's re- ligious life is indicated by the city's three Baptist churches, one Christian Science, one Congregational, one Episcopal, one He- brew, four Methodist, two Presbyterian, three Roman Catholic and three miscellaneous. The city's twenty-five manufacturing concerns turn out products valued at $9,564,045 yearly.
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