History of Oneida County, New York, 1667-1878, Part 101

Author:
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Fariss
Number of Pages: 932

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Previons to 1800 a tavern, ealled the " Rome Coffee- House," was ereeted on the ground later occupied by the stores of E. H. Shelley and H. W. Mitchell. The main building was a three-story frame structure, with two-story " lean-to's" on the east and west, having sloping roofs. It is not now known by whom this tavern was built, but it was kept in 1800 by Solomon Rich, who afterwards removed to the town of Western. About 1804 its landlord was Parker Halleek, who carried on a tailor-shop in the bar- room. The Masonie fraternity of Rome held their meetings in one of the upper rooms of this building, previous to the

379

HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

ercetion, in 1824, of the " Masonic Hall," now the Univer- salist Church. In 1839 the lower part of the " Coffee- House" was converted into stores, and the upper portion used for building apartments. One of the individuals who kept a store here, about 1842, was Mr. Avery, now of Chicago, and long prominently connected with the " Na- tional Watch Company," at Elgin, Ill., and after whom one of the watch movements manufactured by that company is named.

West of the ground now occupied by the new building of the Central National Bank, and across the alley, there stood very early a one and a half story frame store, occupied in 1814, and several years after, by Jay Hatheway, who moved across the street about 1823, and was succeeded in the " red store" by John Eddy. The old building rotted down or was torn away about 1828, and the site was covered the same year by a three-story frame building, erected by General Jesse Arinstrong and Martin Galusha, who carried on a general mercantile business. This building was burned in 1844, and the present structure erected the same year by G. N. Bissell.

West of this was a two-story frame building, creeted about 1800 or soon after. Previous to 1810, Dr. Matthew Brown had a drug-store here, and he and Dr. Blair were afterwards associated in the same business. Dr. Brown sold out in 1811, and removed to Rochester. Stephen Hubbard had a store here as carly as 1815, and soon after associated with him Oliver Grosvenor, the two continuing in business until about 1826. In 1827, Dr. Arba Blair and Abner B. Blair kept a drug-store in the building, and others after- wards. It was destroyed in the fire of 1844, and the present edifice built the same year by Henry G. Giles.

Previous to 1810 the ground between the store of G. N. Bissell and the Central National Bank was owned by Stephen Hubbard. Next west was an alley, and next was a small one and a half story frame building, occupied as a millinery establishment by Miss Marsh, who afterwards be- came Mrs. Arden Seymour. Various other buildings were erected at later dates, west of this, for stores, shops, offices, etc.

The ground where the Central National Bank now stands was vacant until 1817, when William Wright erected upon it a brick building, which he used for a store.

Across the alley, the grounds were purchased by William Wright from John Barnard about 1804. A small frame dwelling, a story and a half in height, was then standing upon it, and was used by Mr. Wright for a store before he built the brick one above mentioned.

Still west of the site of this building there was erected, previous to the year 1800, a frame building, which became known as the " MeGraw House." The property was pur- chased about 1807 by Deacon Elijah Worthington, and about 1810 he erected upon the west end of the lot a small frame building, which he occupied as a hat-store for about twenty years.

The next lot west was purchased about 1800 by Na- thaniel Mudge, who, about 1804, erected a small frame building on the east end, to be used as a tin-shop. This shop was rented and used by the United States Government in 1812 for a recruiting-office. Among the citizens of

Rome who responded to the call for troops during that war were Major Samuel Dill, who was at Sacket's Harbor ; Joshua Hatheway, Quartermaster-General ; his son, Jay Hatheway, Paymaster ; and his subsequent son-in-law, Judge Beardsley, Adjutant. John Westcott was Colonel of the Rome regiment; Joshua G. Green, Lieutenant-Colo- nel; and Messrs. Rudd, Hinckley, Fillmore, Church, Gran- nis, and Peek, Captains,-all of whom went to the Harbor.

On the ground at a more recent date occupied by the store of Williams & Edwards a small frame building was erected previous to 1800, and occupied about 1819 by Ephraim Shephard as a dwelling-house. Judge Roberts afterwards used it as a law-office. It was burned about 1851, and probably the next year the present brick store standing on the site was built by the Lynch estate.

About 1810 there was erected on a part of the site of the present " Northern Hotel" a two-story frame house, with a wing ou the east side. Dr. Alden lived in this house at an early date, using the wing for an office. He removed to Redfield, Oswego Co., previous to 1820. Judge Beardsley occupied the building about 1820, and used the wing for his law office, and after him Leonard Dunton lived in it, and used the wing for a tailor-shop. The building was burned about 1838, and J. M. Orton, then owning the premises, built a part of the present hotel, in which he kept a cabinet-shop. Jacob Stevens purchased the prop- erty, and about 1850 converted it into a hotel. In 1856 he gave it the name " Fremont House," after General John C. Fremont, Republican candidate for President in the cam- paign of that year. A few years afterwards he changed the F to a T, and it was for a number of years called the " Tremont House." It is at present known as the " North- ern Hotel."

About 1800 a one and a half story frame dwelling stood on the site of A. Ethridge & Co.'s store, and in 1810 and for years after it was occupied by Nathaniel Mudge, Sr. It was burned about 1837, and the lot remained vacant until Mr. Ethridge erected his store upon it.

A " town well" has been mentioned, located at the inter- section of James and Dominick Streets. There was another at the crossing of Washington and Dominick, and still another at the corner of James and Embargo. In their day these were great institutions, and not only were they used to quench by their waters the cravings of thirsty men and animals, but the cold fluid was brought into requisition on the occasion of fires near at hand.

A building known as the " Vine-covered Cottage," which stood on the site of Mr. Marriott's blacksmith-shop, on Dominick Street, was occupied about 1825-26 by Levi Howard, a constable of Rome. Mr. Il. was the proud father of a likely boy, aged twelve. In the course of events the latter was taken siek, and as a cheap and effective eure for his ills a blister was applied to him, warranted to draw! The boy slept in a trundle-bed, in the same room with his parents, and long after the drowsy god had closed the lids of the latter in slumber the pain of the blister kept the boy awake and uneasy. To lie still with the blister doing its work so earnestly was out of the question ; suddenly a happy thought crossed the boy's brain, and action followed. With undoubtedly a smile of supreme satisfaction he re-

380

HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

moved the blister from his own person and placed it carefully upon that of his sleeping father. It must be understood that the duties of a constable "in those days" required considerable travel, and Mr. Howard always went on horseback. The power of the blister was so effectually demonstrated upon him that he found it inconvenient for several weeks to ride on horseback, or even to sit down. It is not related whether the lad received any punishment or not, but his "little joke" was no doubt fully appreciated, and different treatment given him in subsequent eases of sickness, in order that his rising genius might not have too rapid growth.

Quite early in the present century Dominick Lynch erected thirty-five tenement-houses in the village.

A State arsenal was built before 1810, on the site of St. Peter's Catholic Church, and was destroyed by fire a few years previous to 1850. The United States Arsenal, with its magazines, workshops, and officers' quarters, was erected in 1813, the work being superintended by Major James Dalliba, of the Ordnance Department. In 1873 the United States Arsenal property here was sold to Messrs. Mudge & Ames, who converted it into a knitting-factory, work in the latter line being commenced in December of the same year. The interior of the mills was recently de- stroyed by fire, and although efforts have been made to repair the buildings, put in new machinery, and start again, the works are not now running, and the institution is prac- tically out of existenee.

George Huntington, mentioned previously as the first merchant in the place, resided here until his death, which occurred September 23, 1841, in the seventy-first year of his age. Mr. Huntington was a fine-looking man, and pos- sessed great excellence of character. By the Oneida In- dians he was called " A-i-o,"-" handsome." His brother, and for many years business partner, Henry Huntington, eame to Rome in 1798, and was also a man of strict integ- rity and worth. The Utica Bank was chartered in 1812, and Mr. H. was president of it from that time until his death, Oct. 15, 1846. He lived to be eighty years old, and was considered the wealthiest man in the county.

Among the other early settlers of Rome was Hon. Joshua Hatheway,* who came previous to 1800, and lived here more than forty years. He died December 8, 1836. He served both in the Revolution and war of 1812; was long a judge in the Common Pleas and county courts of Oneida County ; and on the 4th of July, 1817, cast the first spadeful of dirt in the work of excavating the Erie Canal. His father, him- self, and six brothers were with General Stark at the battle of Bennington.

Captain Samuel Perkins, a veteran of the Revolution, a soldier under General Anthony Wayne in his Indian cam- paigns, and a participator also in the exciting events of the war of 1812-15, held for eighteen years the position of ordnance-keeper under the government, and died at the United States Arsenal in Rome, December 30, 1837, aged seventy-five years.

On the north side of Dominiek Street, and west of Wash-

ington, there stood as early as 1810, on the site of the brick block built by R. W. Pritchard and N. Kling, a small dwelling. About 1814 it was occupied by Marinus W. Gilbert, who afterwards removed to Watertown, where he died. In 1815 there were a number of fine young ladies at Mr. Gilbert's, and a " dancing-master" who came to the place in that year evinced a decided liking for one or more of them. " He went late one evening, towards midnight, to give them a serenade. A serenade in those days was an entire new feature to all Romans except dancing-masters, and the family did not understand the matter at all when they heard the singing and the violin. A brother of the girls got up out of bed, went into the yard, drove the dancing-master off, broke his fiddle into a dozen pieces, and gave him such a trimming as made him keep step quite lively to music of another sort. The brother was under the impression that the man was a burglar, or had come there to make a disturbance. The dancing-master, in relating the occurrence afterwards, was very indignant at what he called Tom Gilbert's boorishness, and deelared that the brother did not know anything about fashionable life, nor how to salute a lady."

The portion of the village south of the canal has long been known as " Canal Village." Previous to 1820 there was not a solitary house or building of any kind between the New York Central Railroad and the Poor-House, and all the intervening space was a swamp, with mud between the bogs from knee- to waist-deep. It was covered with timber, and next to impassable ; in fact, it was entirely so in all seasons except winter. A road had been cut through it and a cross-way of logs built, which, when the mud was frozen in the winter, could be traveled by teams. In the winter of 1817-18 the Legislature granted a charter to Jeremiah B. Brainard and Isaac G. Green and their asso- eiates to construct a turnpike on that route. The road was built and the first tolls taken October 20, 1819. J. Burr Brainard, who came to Rome September 10, 1813, the day of Commodore Perry's famous vietory on Lake Erie, shoveled the first gravel to go on this turnpike, and collected the first tolls after it was completed. Upon the completion of the Erie Canal from Montezuma to Utica, in 1819, Mr. Brainard built in "Canal Village" the tavern long known as the " Mansion House," on the south side of the canal and close beside it, on lands belonging to the turnpike com- pany. This was the first building erected south of the railroad, and was kept both as a hotel and toll-house. It has long been removed. Among those who served in this building as landlords were James Thompson, Benjamin I. Starr (both these also kept the " American," at the corner of James and Dominiek Streets), J. B. Brainard, Charles Moseley, and M. D. Hollister.

The next building was ereeted the same year by the State, and extended across the canal. Here tolls were taken, and a chain was stretched aeross to detain boats until their tolls were paid. B. B. Hyde was the first collector of tolls, and Thomas J. Hyde, later of Verona, clerk. Colonel John Westcott, of Rome, paid the first canal tolls, on a raft of timber. This old building, which was painted yellow, stood upon piles driven into the marshy ground, and a year or two afterwards was purchased by B. B. Hyde, placed north

# This name is upon the court records written Hatheway and Hathaway.

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HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

of the canal, enlarged, and converted into and used by him and N. H. Leffingwell as a warehouse, the first one in Rome. It was painted red, and subsequently used for a brewery by John O'Neil, and finally destroyed by fire.

The next building erected was the "Canal Coffee-House," built in 1824 by Daniel Whedon. It was a two-story tavern, and kept at different times by Alva and IFiram Whedon, Norman Butler, Samuel Henderson, A. J. Roe, and Marvel & Sons. It was also finally burned down.

Following this was a small groeery building erceted in 1826, by John O'Neil, immediately west of the " Mansion House."

In 1826, Hiram Whedon built the first dwelling-house in this locality. It stood north of the " Canal Coffee-House." Alva and Hiram Whedon lived in it a number of years, and carried on a cooper-shop a little farther north. The latter was also built in 1826, and in 1835-38 was used as the first place of worship for those now constituting St. Peter's Church. It was finally converted into a dwelling.

For the first ten years after its settlement Canal Village grew slowly. In 1844 the canal-bed was changed to nearly the same place where had been located the canal of the Western Inland Lock Navigation Company, and this change called away all the " Yankees" from Canal Village, which immediately began to fill up with foreign immigrants. The principal growth has been sinec that time, and the popula- tion is now almost or entirely foreign.

The New York Central Railway was completed through Rome on the 4th of July, 1839. The " Railroad House", was built the same year by H. A. Foster. This building is now known as the " Curtiss House."

Caleb Putnam's tannery has already been mentioned as occupying the triangular space between the railroad, the canal, and James Street (east of the latter). Opposite the taunery property and near James Street, there stood at one time a hotel. This was out of use, old and dilapidated, more than fifty years ago.

West from James Strect some distance a pottery was carried on by Norman Judd as early as 1813, and about where the coal-yard now is was an ashery, owned by Messrs. George & Henry Huntington, and afterwards operated by Levi Green. Next west of the latter establishment, towards Washington Street, Elijah Worthington erected a shop about 1822 for the manufacture of hats.

The " Armstrong. Block," on the west side of James Street and south of the canal, was built in 1843-44 by Jesse and E. B. Armstrong.

The corner of James and Whitesboro' Streets, north of the canal, was built upon at an early day. About the year 1800 John Barnard crected a two-story hotel, with a piazza in front, on the north part of the present site of Stanwix IIall. It had a front of fifty feet on James Street, and extended back forty feet. Ou the corner of the streets named, and where the south part of Stanwix Hall now is, was a small red building, occupied as early as 1812 by Nathaniel Mudge, Sr., as a groecry. The tavern was kept in 1812 by Benjamin Hyde, Sr. Enos Gilbert after- wards became landlord and proprietor, and in 1815 sold to Elisha Walsworth, who kept it till about 1825, when Thomas Ford became proprietor, repaired the building, and

put in a brick front. He kept it until about 1833, when his son, John A. Ford, became the owner, and named the tavern "Stanwix Hall," in order to perpetuate the name in the locality of the fort, then leveled and destroyed. In 1838, Giles Hawley purchased the Mudge premises on the eorner, and afterwards sold them to John A. Ford, and the latter, in 1843, erected a brick building south of the old one. The brick part became the hotel, and was first kept by M. E. Jenks, of Troy. The old part was left standing, and used principally by M. L. Kenyon and Giles Hawley for a stage-house. M. L. Kenyon purchased the whole prop- crty about 1845, raised the roof of the brick part, tore down the Walsworth Hotel, and in its place erected the brick block which runs to the original " Putnam Hotel" property, on the " Hill Block" corner. M. D. Hollister kept " Stanwix Hall" in 1847-48, E. R. Robinson in 1849, Hager & De Ryther in 1850; since then it has been kept in turn by J. L. Watson, N. M. Clark, A. W. Churchill, George Wood, Hiram Nellis, W. B. Sink, Henry Hepburn, Wheeler & Churchill, A. J. Sink, R. W. Barr, and the present occupant, J. Q. Perley. The entire property was purchased of M. L. Kenyon in 1861 by A. J. Sink, who still owns it. "Stanwix Hall" is announeed on the arrival of trains at the depot to be the " principal hotel in the city," and as the intelligent passenger hears its name spoken there are awakened in his mind memories of the days of " long ago," when the smoke of battle, the shriek of the bullet, and the yell of the savage awakened the echoes in the dim old forest aisles around the belcagucred fort, within which a brave and hardy garrison held forth valiantly in defense of their lives, their property, and their country.

On the site of the " Merrill Block," corner of James and Dominick Streets, a Mr. Devereux kept a store or grocery as early as 1804.

Much of the preceding matter is taken from articles published in 1871 in the Roman Citizen, and copied by the Rome Sentinel. These articles were from the pen of D. E. Wager, Esq., who has done much towards rescuing from oblivion a large amount of interesting and historieal lore regarding Rome and vicinity, and who is still engaged in the work. Another article, accompanied by a map, was published in the Sentinel of March 31, 1874, showing the village as it appeared in 1810, with descriptions and loca- tions of buildings. A copy of the map is presented on the following page, together with the article as it appeared. The buildings are numbered on the map, and the numbers in the description correspond with them, beginning at the cast end of Dominick Street and going west.

" A map of Rome in 1810 is substantially one of Rome at the com- meneement of the present century, for the changes were not so rapid nor so marked in that period as those of the present day. The census of the town of Rome in 1800 shows a population of 1459, and the census of 1810 shows a population of 2003,-a gain in the whole town of only 544 in ten years. And further, the descriptions of the buildings generally state (where it can be remembered) the year each building was erected, so that our readers can judge for themselves as to the growth of Rome.

" It should be borne in mind that Dominick and James were the main, and, practically, tho only streets in Rome sixty-five and seventy years ago. It is true, Washington Street was opened then, as now, but no buildings stood thereon, except that of Dr. Mathew Brown, who resided, about 1806, on the site now occupied by the

382

HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

residenee of Mr. J. B. Jervis, and perhaps with the exception of the house of the Rev. Moses Gillett, which stood on the site of the briek block near the Universalist Church, and that of the house of M. L. Brainard, built by Bleecker Lansing. As it is difficult to ascertain whether those two houses were built before or after 1810, we have omit- ted them from our map. James Street did not run farther south than the present location of the railroad, for all below that was a miry eedar swamp. Liberty and Court Streets were opened between James and Washington Streets, but no farther. The foregoing and Whitesboro' Road and the Floyd Road (which used to be the Indiau path to Oswegatchie) were the only opened streets in Rome at the time we write of (between 1800 and 1810). The numbers in the deserip- tion and those of the buildings, as described on the map, correspond.

" We commence at the east end of Dominick Street, aud go west on the north side thereof.

ling a little west of the site now occupied by the residence of Dr. Cobb. Afterwards, and before 1810, he erected, as the addition or main part, a part of the dwelling of the late Mrs. Merrill. The part erected in 1794 now stands on the east side of James Street, north of Embargo.

"No. 6 .- As early as 1804 a large frame building, used as a store at that time by a Mr. Devereux, stood on the corner where the Merrill Block is. It was afterwards occupied by Levi Green. Fifteen or more years ago it was used as a vinegar-factory by Mr. Rathbun, near the Black River Canal.

"No. 7 .- On the American corner a three-story frame building was erceted soon after 1800. It was called ' The Hotel,' and at the town-meeting in Rome, in 1806, it was voted that town-meeting the next year be held at ' The Hotel.' The sheds were in the rear, and access to them was from James Street. West of this hotel, and

ROME 1810

COURT

72 E

72× 8

= 672

75 14 73

167

9 66

LIBERTY

₪ 63

79 80

₲ 62

@ 67

STONE ALLEY

JAMES

2.59

25 24 23 22 21 201

19 18

5 15

7.3

12 11 10 9

₩158

DOMINICK

51 50 49

48 47 46 45

43.42 41

40 13938

34 33

32 31

28 27

1 56

Co'S CANAL

INLAND NAVIGATION

1 53 5

" DOMINICK STREET-NORTH SIDE.

"No. 1 .- Prior to 1810, a large, square frame dwelling occupied the site on which stands the present residence of II. K. White. The southeast corner of the fort had been leveled off, and that dwelling ereetcd thereon by Dominick Lynch very early in the present con- tury. It was occupied by his son James; it was burned about 1824. "No. 2 .- In the southwest corner of the lot was the land-office of Mr. Lynch, now a part of the dwelling of Patrick Martin, near there.

" No. 3 .- Fort Stanwix originally extended through from Domi- nick Street to what is now Liberty Street, and the block-house was in the centre (about where Dr. Kingley's barn is). The ditehes around the fort were near Dominiek, Liberty, and Spring Streets, and the west diteh elose up to the house where H. M. Lawton resides (formerly Judge Foster's house), and the wing of that house was erected where the diteh was. We give the fort on the map as it looked when creeted, although it should be borne in mind that it originally embraced the site covered by the Lynch -house.

"No. 4 .- Prior to 1800, part of the house spoken of as Judge Foster's house was ereeted on that site by Cieero Gould as a tavern. It was used as such for many years, and old persons have informed us they remembered the time when the sheds and fence extended across the street at that point. The house was afterwards enlarged.

" No. 5 .-- In 1794 George Huntington crected a small frame dwel-

about where the jewelry-store of M. M. Davis is, was a lane, or alley, leading to the rear.

"No. 8 .- Just west of the above lot was the ' White Lot,' cm- bracing what is now the ' Empire Block.' Next to the alley, and on the cast end of the ' White Lot,' was ' White's Hotel.'

"No. 9 .- On the west end of the ' White Lot,' where N. P. Rudd's store is, was a small frame dwelling, occupied before 1820 by Stephen White. Between this dwelling and 'White's Hotel' (ereeted by Stephen White's father) was an alley, or lane, running to the rear, where Stephen White had a wagon-shop. That alley was about where J. B. Tyler's store now is.

"Next west of the ' White Lot' was the 'Starr,' or 'Hubbard,' Lot. That lot extended west so as to include a part of the land now occupied by C. F. Greene's drug-store. Where R. T. Walker's store now is, Mr. Starr, as early as 1804, erected a frame dwelling. Jon- athan B. Brainard did the carpenter work, and Oliver Greenwood, who had a shop on Liberty Street, near where Dr. Seudder now re- sides, made all the nails used in the building. Stephen Hubbard afterwards owned the premises.

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History of Oneida County, New York, 1667-1878, Part 101

Author: Publication date: 1878 Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Fariss Number of Pages: 932

Author:
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Fariss
Number of Pages: 932