USA > New York > Seneca County > History of Seneca Co., New York, with illustrations descriptive of its scenery, palatial residences, public building and important manufactories > Part 32
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62
In the spring of 1817, Main Street had been extended a quarter-mile at each end to its present limits. Williams Street was open from Virginia to Swift, with few houses .. Barns and sheds only stood upon the cross-streets. Virginia was open to Williams, by a lane, to bars opening into a narrow, cleared field, and all beyond was a native forest. Martin Kendig was at work on his brick, and Quartus Kuight was finishing the Eagle Tavern. Near where now stands the parish school-house was the first school building, twenty hy thirty feet on the ground and two-storied, the upper for girls, the lower for hoys, and used occasion- ally for religious services. A. Masonie lodge was established in 1817, at which ceremony an interesting and able address was delivered by Rev. D. C. Lansing, of Auburn. Isaac Rosa was installed the first Master, with sufficient assistants. He was succeeded by Dr. Charles Stuart, William Brusten, Jesse Fifield, and Jesse Clark. C. Fairchild was chosen as the storm of Anti-Masonry burst over the land and made the members sigh for a lodge in some vast wilderness. Reuben Swift had carried on rapid and durable improvements; years later, ill health compelled a resignation, and Williams settled in Waterloo with his family; his health, too, gave way; he went to New York in his private carriage to consult with physicians, and died while in the eity. Seth R. Grosvenor, his brother-in-law and executor, disposed of his property in the village by sales at auction. Waterloo, in 1821, is summarized as a place containing five hundred inhabitants. There were three flouring-mills, the Waterloo Mill, then a great custom and merchant flouring- mill, the old Bear Mill, and the flour- and grist-mill of John Watkins, in Scauyes; an oil-mill, Kendig's fulling-mill, near the bridge; a scythe-factory, part on the race; three saw-mills, a distillery, seven stores, six public-houses, three physi- cians, and six lawyers. The taverns of Waterloo, in the fall of 1821, were Sol- omon Dewy's, opposite the mills ; the "Green," since burned, on the lot where later was erected James Webster's mansion; the Eagle, since hurned, on the present site of Towsley's fine block; the Waterloo; two on opposite sides of Main Street, ahove Dr. Welles's residence; two in Scauyes, and one at the west end, kept by Mrs. Phobe Smith. The stores were known as follows: a country store by Charles Swift, in a building used in 1870 as the Christian Church; a second, kept by Elisha Hill, in the front room of J. B. Tubb's house; a third, on Slack and Gridley's corner, hy John Rice; and a fourth, by Richard P. Hunt, in the front rooms of the Eagle Tavern; Murray Maltby had a store on the corner opposite the hotel at Court Square; Benjamin Maltby kept a book- and drug-store, next door west; and Kane ran the grocery aforesaid. Drs. Welles, Fifield, and Loring were the physicians; and S. Birdsall, Jesse Clark, John Burton, Judge John Knox, and Michael Hoffman, were the lawyers. In a community busily engaged in preparing for themselves homes, things most imperative receive first attention, as in raising the bents of the grist-mill and staking out the grounds of the old cemetery. This grave-yard was laid out on the occasion of the burial of a son of Reuben Swift. It is characterized as having been a most forbidding spot, to which
86
HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY, NEW YORK.
no road led. Along what is now the public square were trees, stunted briers, and various growths of bushes, while beneath were pools of water which made the journey difficult as the occasion sad, and the burial-place gloomy and desolate.
We have so far noted a brilliant growth of the village; handsomely situated, endowed with superior manufacturing facilities, and occupied by enterprising peo- ple, its future seemed assured. Then came the location of the Erie Canal to the north, the division of shire privileges with Ovid, and the embarrassment from com- pany speculation in village lots invalidating titles, each contributing its share to retard the growth of the place. Despite all these, the natural advantages are so manifest, the people so energetic, that the coming day may yet see Waterloo a city, large in its manufactures and its population. It is observable that for years the growth of the place has been constant, and it now offers superior inducements to location as a place of residence or a business point. In 1815, the town of Junius appointed its first board of School Commissioners and Inspectors. Gardner Welles, John Knox, and. Thomas Magee were chosen to the former office, and John Burton and Stephen Haynes to the latter. In 1817, the Centre School-house was erected, and at the same time a newspaper was started and the Presbyterian Church organ- ized. In 1818, the Episcopal Church was organized, and had services in school- house and court-house. Samnel Williams came to Waterloo in December, 1821, with a stock of dry goods and various other wares, and located nearly opposite the Waterloo Mill. At the "Corners" was a jeweler's shop kept hy Colonel Caleb Fairchild, who is still a resident. A dozen buildings are all there was of " Back," now Williams Street. The Waterloo Hotel and the court-house were the best edi- fices in town. In 1822, villager and farmer had little money, and business was done on credit or by barter. If a house was to be built, there was barter for the timber and orders on a store for the carpenters. A merchant remarked that he wonld wager that his customers had not an " average sixpence each in their pockets as they came into his store." Farmers borrowed money of the merchants and paid their harvesting ; repayment was, sometimes reluctantly, made with wheat, which rose in the winter of 1822 to sixty-two and a half cents per bushel. Village cus- tom was not remunerative, judging from the remark of a merchant that "if he had all the village custom it would break him."
The Presbyterian Church was erected in 1823, and is remembered as occasioning by the fall of a part of the timbers the death of one man and the maiming of others for life. The village was incorporated on April 9, 1824. Reuben Swift was elected president, John Watkins, Gardner Welles, J. W. Bacon, and Jesse Clark, trustees, and Caleb Fairchild, clerk. Various ordinances were passed regulating the government of the place. The Presbyterian Church was dedicated in 1824, and in 1825 came Lafayette, whose visit was made memorable by his cordial treatment of old soldiers and the depressing influence of life lost by the explosion of the cannon being fired in honor of his presence. A select school for young ladies had been opened in 1823 by Mrs. Newell, and in 1825 a seminary of the same class was begun by Mrs. Elder, and later an English and classical school by Festus Fowler. In 1822 the Waterloo Republican was commenced under direction of B. B. Drake, and the year after, William Childs began to issue the Seneca Farmer. Abont 1825, the Waterloo and Seneca Cirenit of the Methodist Episcopal Church began to bear its part in sustaining religions senti- ment, and was followed by the Baptists, who have struggled on in the midst of embarrassments.
In 1827, Samuel Williams built the fourth brick building in the village; John Sholes became lost of the Green Tavern, kept the pioneer stage horses, and boarded the drivers till the company, owing him three hundred dollars, failed. Board was two dollars per week. The Pioneer Stage Line ran in opposition to the old Sherwood Line, which last proved the stronger. The Dewy House was kept hy Captain Earl, and later by George Spade. The Waterloo Hotel, by Joseph Failing, afterwards by Mr. Van Alstyne. Edmund Gay bonght Fairchilds' watch-maker shop for a dry goods store. He afterwards removed it and erected the four-story brick on its site. About this same time the first brick row of two- story stores was built from Gay's lot along the mill-race west. The brick cost but two dollars and fifty cents per thousand, and the lime little more than the burning. These buildings have since heen enlarged and raised a story, at double the original. cost. In 1829, Chapman was hung on the flats west of Seanyes Bridge; James Rorison officiated. People came in crowds from great distances to witness the. repulsive sight. R. P. Hunt had now built a wooden store on the site of Hunt's block, and there removed his goods. George Parsons quit his tavern, built a house opposite the Green Tavern, and with William A. Strong bought the old oil- mill and made linseed-oil by a hydraulic press. In 1833, the Seneca County Bank was chartered, and went into business in the Waterloo Hotel on Court Square. In 1833, Seth Grosvenor made his first sale of village lots by.auction, and many on the back streets sold for little more than farm prices. John Rice. gave way to Nathaniel Lee, who took the store, put in a stock of goods, and built a pail factory below the oil-mill. A large business was done in the manufactory,
and a staple article produced. The Waterloo Woolen Manufacturing Company was organized in 1836. First building erected in that and the following year. Beginning with cloth manufacture, they changed to shawls, which have been their product for the last quarter of a century. Their buildings occupy considerable space and present a fine appearance. Their presence has been in various ways a benefit to the village.
The first Rail-Cars came through Waterloo on July 5, 1841; the people awaited in great excitement the arrival of the first train from Rochester, and there were many who regarded with wonder this application of steam as a motor. The train ran through to Seneca Falls, and returned with many passengers. That village was then the terminus of the road east. This excellent road has been instrumental in accelerating and establishing the growth and stability of the village from that time till the present. No important event especially notable has occurred since that date not elsewhere mentioned.
A prominent object and a beautiful structure is the Towsley House, erected on the site of the old Eagle Tavern, by Alonzo Towsley. This house was begun in 1870 and completed in 1872. On Main Street it measures forty feet, and on Virginia Street one hundred and fifty feet. Its north width is nearly twice that of the south. The structure is four-storied, and surmounted by a mansard roof. The ceilings of the first and second stories are fourteen feet in height; of the third, twelve feet eight inches, and of the fourth, eleven feet eight inches. The brick required exceeded one million, and the entire cost was one hundred thousand dollars. The builder, while greatly contributing to the credit of the town and convenience of its visitors, made himself poor by the undertaking. Mr. Towsley has, however, the eredit of erecting a hotel nnexcelled between New York and Chicago in thorough workmanship.
Of private residences, that of Moses H. Swift is the largest. It was first built. in 1820, by Elisha Williams and Reuben Swift, who employed the best carpenters; and although of wood, it has had the endurance of brick or stonc. Improvement was made by the present owner in 1871. The old Mansion House, having within the half-century been owned by others, has now reverted to a son of its original builder. The residence of the late Joseph Wright, and now of J. C. Halsted, on the" corner of Virginia and Williams Streets, was one of the earliest built brick houses in the place. It was enlarged and improved hy Mr. Wright, and ornamented by two imposing towers. The present owner has also greatly improved the edifice. The house of Abram L. Sweet is an ornament to the village. It was enlarged and improved in 1860. Among less pretentious homes are those of P. P. Howe, whose grounds contain the growth of the primitive forest, and of Jacob Selmser, on Virginia Street, of modern build-imposing and costly.
The first Bridge built across the canal on Virginia Street, with stone abutments, dates in 1836. It was constructed by F. Gage, as Superintendent of the Cayuga and Seneca Canal. Its span was sixty feet, its width fifty-two feet. It had two- eighteen-feet wide carriage-tracks, two six-feet sidewalks, and cost two thousand eight hundred dollars. This bridge was removed in 1856, and the present con- structed. Its span is seventy-two feet ; width, fifty-two feet ; cost, five thousand two hundred dollars. In 1837,.three stone arches were constructed hy F. Gage in the river on Virginia Street. . On May 26, 1838, five stone arches were let for a total of one thousand two hundred and forty dollars to Mr. Gage, and at the meet- ing of trustees, August 28, 1838, two more arches and abutments were authorized, completing the ten arches on Virginia Street Bridge, which gave a length of two. hundred and forty feet, and 'a width of forty. The total cost of the work was two thousand six hundred and thirty-six dollars. The abutments for the Short Levee and Locust Street Bridges were built by Messrs. Towsley & Gage in the spring of 1856.
Dating from 1846, the merchants most prominent find brief mention. The visitor to Waterloo during 1846 found Magee & McLean in the Inslee' store, opposite the woolen-mills; D. S. Kendig in a grocery, next west of the National House; John C. Watkins and E. Fatzinger in the old Fatzinger store, now used as an office, and Crosby & Morgan on the site of the post-office. Inslee, Bear & Wagner were the leading business firm during that year. The Commercial. Block was built by Edmund Gay in 1841-2; it is now occupied in part by Joseph Brooks's clothing store.
The water-power at Waterloo has invited manufacture. We name the leading. interests: A stock cotton company had a building on the site of the malt-house; destroyed by fire in 1864, it was rebuilt by A: H. Terwilliger & Co. T. Fatz- inger & Co. had a distillery until 1870, when the Woolen Company bought the. property and later demolished the building. P. P. Howe had also a distillery till. 1860, when the house was converted to a custom-mill, and as such is now run. The. brick mill, south side, now run by Messrs. Reamer, Pierson & Becker, was the former. property of J. G. Markell & Co. The former firm also run the Fayette Mill, which:" was built on the site of the old Bear mill, demolished in 1832. This mill was; crected by the firm of Lucas & Alleman, sold in 1855 to W. W. Wood and James,
PLATE XXIX
NATHANIEL SEELY.
LAURA SEELY.
RES. OF NATHANIEL SEELY, BUILDING MOVER. WATERLOO, N. Y.
St. Paul's ( Episcopal ) Church & Parish School Waterloo
FURNISS & LUCAS
W.H. SEELY. AR SLAUSON & J. E GEROW.
WARNER &SMITH
ROOTS and SHOES
Furniss & Lucas, Grocers.
W. II. Seely, Slauson & Gerow, Boots & Shoes . | Merchant. Tailors.
Warner & Smith, Dry Goods. Groceries & Crockery.
Waterloo
87
IHISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY, NEW YORK.
McLean, and by them rebuilt and enlarged, and sold to the present owners in 1860. The old Waterloo Mill, erected by E. Williams, was run by John Sinclair & Co. and by Peter Robinson. In 1849 it was bought by the Woolen Company. John Watkins erected flouring-mills on the island, and later these became the immense distillery of Mr. MeIntyre. In early days there were three eil-mills: one by Moses Severance, later in use for turning machinery by Angnstus Clark; a second by Charles C. Elliott and James C. Wood, on Bear's Race, south side. Later, both mills became the property of Messrs. Kendig & Wilson. The third mill, built by William W. Wood, stood just south of the iron-works. The old mill was changed to a custom-mill, and was burned down in 1855. Augustus Elder ran a tannery fer a time, and the property was, in 1846, converted to a foundry; it is now occupied by A. Latourette. A tannery on the south side, run by Charles T. Free- body, passing through the hands of Samuel Hendricks and Hendricks & Watkins, is displaced by a private residence and garden-spot. A paper-mill was built in 1827 by Messrs. Ephraim Chapin, Elias and Elihu Marshall, and William Barnes. The building stood on the present site of Selmser's saw-mill. Its dimen- siens were forty by one hundred and seventeen feet. It bad a stoue basement, and was a frame of two stories. Business was commenced in the fall. Four engines for paper-manufacture were used. A thousand pounds, daily, of writing-, printing-, and wrapping-paper were produced. This mill was the second in the United States to manufacture paper by machinery. About forty operatives were employed. The proprietors were known as the firm of Marshall, Chapin & Co .; in 1828, Marshall sold to Jesse Clark and Albert Lucas; then the business was conducted by Lucas & Co. On September 29, 1829, Ira Johnson and Franklin Gage bought out Clark & Lucas. The firm was now known as Johnson & Co. Chapin sold to his partners, and the business was con- ducted by Johnson & Gage, who were owners when the building was burned, December 7, 1833; the loss was twenty thousand dollars. So perished one of Waterloo's early and most important industries. At the foot of Swift Street was the foundry and machine-shop of John Purdy, now used as the wheel manu- factory of William B. Clark. A second foundry, started by Messrs. Willett & Scantleberry, had a brief existence. The Waterloo Yeast Company, elsewhere reported, began its present heavy business in 1866. An organ manufacturing company was started in 1866 by Messrs. Roth, Holleran & Miles. In respect to present business, the various trades and manufactures are fitly represented. A reference to the directory connected with this work will exhibit the leading pro- fessional and business meu of the village. In churches, the history following will show a good record. In schools, the system, well founded, has much of promise. In manufactures, the various mills and factories are flourishing. The Waterloo Observer represents the publishing interests. Lodges, Societies, and Posts offer opportunities for congenial association. An excellent Fire Department, consisting of two steamers and a hand-engine, manned by volunteers, permits the destruction of no building. An active Historical Society continues to gather curious and valuable relics of the past. Good physiciaus of known repute attend the sick, and well-versed attorneys are prompt in sceuring the just ends of law. The resi- dences of the village are tasteful and commodious. While many business houses are of brick, frame buildings prevail as hemes. Among these are the old and time-worn, the new and fresh. Handsome lawns, shaven by the mower, are traversed by walks, laid with broad stone, leading to the various entrances. Ever- green trees ornament the yards, and carefully cultivated gardens everywhere attract the eye. Broad streets are lined by rows of the soft maple, and the sidewalks are made permanently of broad sheets of stone er made durable by macadamizing. The square, where once the old militia gatherings took place, has by a handsome growth of young timber been transformed into a park. Although outstripped in the race for precedence by points remote, Waterloo has advantages which will ever commend it as a desirable place of residence and an attractive manufacturing and business locality.
The Waterloo Fire Department dates its origin from February 2, 1826, when the sum of seventy-five dollars was raised to purchase ladders for a hook-and- ladder company. The motion to purchase a fire-engine after the formation of a committee to ascertain its cost was lost. No action was taken until December 23 of the year, when six ladders for fire use were ordered, three of thirty feet each, and three of eighteen; and Reuben Swift, Jesse Clark, and Albert Lucas were authorized to construct the same at ninepence per foot. Three dollars were allowed for iron-work on the short ladders. A beginning being made, we find that on May 11, 1827, Calvin Gay is engaged to construct three fire-books, each twenty-five feet long, and to contain twenty pounds of iron each, and three of fifteen feet in length, to contain twelve pounds of iron each, receiving fifteen pence per pound for iron, and sixpence per foot for poles. A committee of seven were appointed November 22, 1830, to purchase an engine not to exceed in price eight hundred dollars, and a tax to pay the same to be levied upon obtaining the said engine. Anticipating its arrival, a fire company was enrolled, having twenty-
five members, who were to be known as " Firemen of Engine Company No. 1." Officers were elected, but the meeting to decide upon the tax, from a total of one hundred and twenty-five votes, cast seventy-one against tax, and the company, after retaining its organization till 1834, presented its resignation, which was accepted. On December 4, 1832, a company of twenty-five men were appointed as firemen for Engine Company No. 2, and shortly after this action a tax of one thousand dollars was voted for an engine, and a second committee on purchase appointed, and again their action was restricted. Finally the purchase was made, and permanent organization effected. On March 6, 1855, " No. 3" was supplied with a new engine at a cost of eight hundred and eighty dollars, and on the same month and day of 1864 a steam fire engine was purchased of H. C. Silsby & Co. for four thousand dollars. Thus is outlined the opposition and meagre appro- priatiens which met the primary attempts at organizing a fire brigade, and the liberality of a modern date which has provided the village of Waterloo with an efficient machinery, engineered by reliable and capable men, as a precaution against the spread of conflagrations."
Since the appointment of a Fire Board, May 15, 1839, the following-named, with dates, have served the village as Chief Engineers of its Fire Department : Benjamin Folsom, from May 15, 1839, to April 7, 1843; Henry Hopper, one year ; F. Gage, five years; C. S. Swift, one year; P. P. Howe, frem May 5, 1849, till April 9, 1852; Isaac Richardson and H. C. Vreeland, one year each ; Levi Fatzinger, two years ; Philander Durham, Lorenzo Davis, S. R. Welles, one year each ;. W. Quinby, 1856-57; Elias Johnson, 1858-59; R. P. Kendig, 1860-62; W. Quinby, 1863; H. C. Welles, 1864-68; I. L. Huff, 1869-70; George Murray, 1871-73; Seth J. Genung, 1874-75; and Charles W. Van Cleef, 1876. The present organization is as follows: one hoek and ladder com- pany, thirty men ; one hand engine-Seneca No. 4-sixty men ; two steamers- Protection No. 1, and Torrent No. 3. Present board of officers: Chief Engineer, Charles Van Cleef; First Assistant Engineer, J. Fletcher Oram; Second Assist- ant Engineer, William Sweet ; Secretary, James Batsford; Treasurer, Seymenr May. The department as now constituted is held in high repute, and maintains the reputation won by many years of experience.
THE CHURCHES OF WATERLOO.
Previous to 1814 religions services had scarcely been known, and the dead had been buried without benefit of clergy: The Sabbath was lightly regarded, and Oliver Gustin's refusal to shoe a horse on that day excited the surprise and contempt of his would-be customer. Population increased and religious services were held. These meetings were first conducted without a preacher's aid. Scriptures and printed sermons were read; all sang, and prayer was offered. Occasional missionaries tarried over and preached of an evening. All went to hear them, of whatever denomination. Ephraim Chapin, later a resident of the village, Roger C. Hatch, Shipley Wells, father of the Hon. Henry . Wells, founder of Wells College at Aurora, and Mr. Pomeroy, father of Hon. Theodore MI. Pomeroy, ex-member of Congress, and Mayor of Auburn in 1875, were of the preachers in early days. Shipley Wells became a citizen of the village in 1818 or 1819, and kept tavern iu a house built by Colonel John Chamberlain, the present property of Asa G. Story. There was neither salary for the minister nor church to occupy, and, in common with tradesmen, they blended the professional temporarily with whatever offered a livelihood. The Centre school-house, erected in 1817, answered, with the court- house, for a place of worship, and with this date begins the history of the different denominational societies of the village, commencing as the pioneer organization with that of the Presbyterian Church. The primary mecting to effect the forma- tion of a society was held July 7, 1817, in the just completed school-house, which stood on the lot now held by the Episcopal Parish ; the Rev. Henry Axtell, of Geneva, officiating on the occasion. The original members of the church were Isaac Rosa, Joel Tubbs, Daniel Pierson, John Van Tuyl, Jane Van Tnyl, Lucretia Irving, Elizabeth Turner, and Rachel Parsons. On the 10th of the fol- iowing November, pursuant to netice, under the act providing for the organiza- tion of religious societies, a society was formed to take the corporate name, "The Presbyterian Society of Waterloo," and Reuben Swift, John Van Tuyl, Alexander Rorison, Jesse Fifield, Peleg Pierson, and Parley Putnam, were made corporators er trustees. These trustees were divided into three classes of two members each, one of which was to vacate its office annually. The Board appointed E. D. Whit- tlesey, Esq., Clerk, Dr. Jesse Fifield, Treasurer, and Seth M. Maltby, Collector. The first meeting called by the trustees to secure stated preaching, was held in January, 1818, and a subscription ordered to raise a salary to obtain the services of a minister half the time; and a committee was appointed to ask the congrega- tion at Seneca Falls to divide with them the benefits of the ministration of a Christian minister. Accordingly, during the following month, the Rev. William Bacon began to divide his labors between the two congregations, and continued them until March, 1819. He was succeeded by Rev. George Allen, who labored
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.