Landmarks of Tompkins County, New York : including a history of Cornell University, Part 14

Author: Hewett, Waterman Thomas, 1846-1921; Selkreg, John H
Publication date: 1894
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason
Number of Pages: 1194

USA > New York > Tompkins County > Landmarks of Tompkins County, New York : including a history of Cornell University > Part 14

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ITHACA IN 1835.

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LANDMARKS OF TOMPKINS COUNTY.

The following persons were reported February 4, 1831, and consti- tuted the company: Benjamin Drake, Erasmus Ballard, David Wood- cock, Hart Lee, George P. Frost, Peter De Riemer, Oristes S. Hunt- ington, William Hoyt, John Chatterton, Jonathan Shepard, Ira Tillotson, Daniel T. Tillotson, John Hollister, William Cooper, Asaph Colburn, Isaac B. Gere.

On the 16th of April, 1834, the village charter was again amended relative to the prompt and proper filing of assessment rolls; prohibiting the erection of wooden structures within 100 feet of Owego street, between Aurora and Cayuga streets, with some other minor changes. This was the first step towards establishing fire limits.

Again in May, 1837, further charter amendments gave the trustees power to raise $1,000 for building and repairing bridges in the village; $800 for contingent expenses, and $600 for lighting the streets. Pro- vision was also made for more thorough assessment of taxes on prop- erty.

In the years 1834-5 Ithaca was visited by an intelligent man who was apparently a devoted apostle of the pen, with a desire to give to new scenes visited by him names to suit his own fancy. This was Solomon Southwick, and he wrote a series of sketches of Ithaca and its surround- ings, which were gathered into a small pamphlet and thus preserved. The pamphlet is now very rare, and we quote from its pages to show the conditions at the time under consideration. After paying a high tribute to Simeon De Witt, and giving an elaborate description of the natural scenery in the vicinity, Mr. Southwick briefly noticed the ex- isting five churches in the village, the academy, then under direction of William A. Irving, and the three newspapers, proceeds to describe the business interests of the place as follows:

MECHANICAL ESTABLISHMENTS .- There are at least thirty-six of these, and from a statement published under sanction of the meeting of the mechanics of Ithaca, in July last, of which Ira Tillotson was chairman, it appears that the number of me- chanics was then as follows:

Tanners, 12; boot and shoemakers, 31; tailors, 13; carpenters and joiners, 46; blacksmiths, 26; harness makers, 12; coach and wagon makers, 17; silversmiths, 11; gunsmiths, 5; copper and tin smiths, 12; machinists, 10; furnace men, 9; hatters, 14; millers, 7; cabinetmakers, 14; turners, 3; coopers, 10; chairmakers, 6; printers, 12; painters, 14; bakers, 7; bookbinders, 4; papermakers, 7; manufacturers, 30; brewers, 4; plowmakers, 4; stone-cutters, 6; buhr stonemakers, 3; weavers, 5; rope- makers, 1; millwrights, 2; patternmakers, 2; boatbuilders, 6; lastmakers, 3; soap and candle makers, 2; masons, 20; milliners, 5.

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VILLAGE OF ITHACA.

It will be noted that many of these trades have since been erowded out of the place and several of them out of existence by the great industrial ehanges eaused by the introduction of machinery.

Continuing, Mr. Southwiek notes the following details of various industries :

TRADING ESTABLISHMENTS .- Bookstores, 2; dry goods merchants, 23; hardware, 2; jewelers, 3; druggists, 3; grocers, 16; total, 49, all now doing business successfully ; and there is a prospect of an addition to the above number this fall (1834).

MILLINERY ESTABLISHMENTS .- There are five of these, two of which do business to the amount of about $4,000 each.

PAPER MILL .- The one within the village is that of Mack, Andrus & Woodruff; it is situated at the foot of the tunnel stream on Fall Creek. The amount of paper manufactured annually is $20,000. The same gentlemen employ in their printing office, bookbindery and bookstore, twenty-three hands.

OLYMPIC1 FALLS FLOURING MILL .- J. S. Beebe, proprietor. This mill has two run of stone; employs from two to five hands, and can turn out from eighty to ninety barrels of flours daily. It is conducted by Ezra Cornell, and ground last year 40,000 bushels of wheat.

PLAISTER MILL .- Situated the same place. J. S. Beebe, proprietor. Turned out 800 tons of plaister last year.

MACHINE SHOP .- Situated at the same place. Building owned by J. S. Beebe. Proprietor of the business, Lucas Levensworth. The principal articles manufac- tured here are pails, tubs, keelers, measures, etc., of which, in the aggregate, from 20,000 to 30,000 articles are turned out yearly. This establishment employs twelve hands.

CHAIR FACTORY .- At the machine shop, at the foot of the Olympic Falls, 2,000 chairs are manufactured yearly by Barnaby & Hedges.

ITHACA FURNACE .- Dennis & Vail, proprietors, situated at the foot of the tunnel stream, at the Olympic Falls. This is an extensive establishment where all kinds of castings but hollow ware are turned out; especially all kinds of mill gearing, rail- road castings and finished ware. About 175 tons of iron fused in a year, and a large quantity of wrought iron used up in finishing. It has been in operation six years. ['This last statement would give the year of the founding of the furnace as 1828.]

There is another furnace near this which melts about seventy-five tons yearly.

PLOW MANUFACTORY .- Silas Mead, at the same location, manufactures yearly about 200 plows.

WOOLEN FACTORY .- S. J. Blythe, proprietor. This factory dresses from 500 to 700 pieces of cloth annually, from eight to fourteen yards per piece ; and cards from 12,- 000 to 14,000 pounds of wool yearly.

The woolen factory of James Raymond is of the same description as that of Mr. Blythe, and does business in its various branches to a large amount.

1 The name " Olympic" applied to the falls was one of Mr. Southwick's inven- tions, and does not seem to have been adhered to.

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LANDMARKS OF TOMPKINS COUNTY.

ITHACA IRON FOUNDRY AND STEAM ENGINE MANUFACTORY .- Proprietors, Cook & Conrad. Does pretty much the same kind of business as the Ithaca Furnace of Dennis & Vail, and turns out in the aggregate a large amount of work annually.

SAW MILL DOG FACTORY .- Hardy & Rich, proprietors. This dog is a patented article; sells at $150 a set. Total business, $7,500 annually. Lumber sawed with this dog brought fifty cents extra per 1,000 feet.

Mr. Southwick then gives a lengthy description of Bennett's patent steam engine, of which sufficient is said, perhaps, in a description of the "smoke boat " of Mr. Bennett in Chapter VII. Mr. Southwick, like many others, appears to have been most enthusiastic over the engine, for he says, "that it will save nine-tenths of the fuel now em- ployed, we are well convinced." It was also to " immortalize its in- genious and persevering inventor," and "redound to the honor of Ithaca as the seat of the invention." It of course did neither.

Of the hotels Mr. Southwick wrote as follows:

HOTELS, OR PUBLIC HOUSES .- Of these there are a number in Ithaca, such as the Clinton House. the Ithaca Hotel, and the Tompkins House, etc., and without intend- ing to disparage any of the others, there is a sufficient reason for taking a particular notice of the Clinton House. The proprietors of this house are Jeremiah S. Beebe, Henry Ackley and Henry Hibbard. It is a noble structure and cost from $25,000 to $30,000.

The Clinton House is kept at present by Mr. Thaddeus Spencer, a very obliging landlord, and is well furnished and well provided with the best of furniture and the choicest viands.

Concerning the exports and imports of the place, Mr. Southwick says :

In 1828 the exports and imports were 18,748 tons. On this basis a prospective cal- culation was made that in 1837 the tonnage of exports and imports would amount to 56,047. The amount of tolls in 1828 were $37,625.76; and the calculation for 1837, $118,810.64. From this estimate coal was entirely omitted.

He says further :

On the 1st of January, 1834, it appears from the report of the Committee on the Commerce of Tompkins County, the exports, as estimated by the market value, amounted to $1,216,872.15; the imports to $981,200, exclusive of staves, heading, white wood, cherry and oak lumber, and many other articles not there stated; total, $2,197,872, of which at least $1,648, 404 is claimed as belonging to the trade of Ithaca. This report is signed by seven of the most respectable merchants and traders, and is no doubt strictly true.

LUMBER AND SHINGLES .- We have been furnished by a respectable Lumber Mer- chant with a statement of the lumber and shingles exported from Ithaca during the present year (1835), from which it appears that the quantity of lumber shipped by thirteen dealers, exclusive of a few small shipments, was 15,040,000 feet, worth in

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VILLAGE OF ITHACA.

market 8270,000. The shipment of shingles by the same dealers was 38,000 bunches, worth in market $61,750.

Who shall say that it was not a promising period for Ithaca? The whole number of families in the town was then 925, and the number of inhabitants 6,101: males, 3,079; females, 3,022. Number of voters, 1,084. Grist mills in the town, 6; valuation of raw material used and manufactured therein, $127,200; valuation after manufacture, $152, - 350.00. Number of saw mills, 13; valuation of raw material, $6,905. -

EAST VIEW OF ITHACA IN 1836.

00; after manufacture, $13,810.00. Number of fulling mills, 4; valu- ation of raw material, $8,000.00; after manufacture, $11,700.00. Number of carding mills, 4; valuation of raw material, $3,700.00; after manufacture, $4,200.00. Number of cotton factories, 1; valua- tion of raw material, $15,293.00; after manufacture, $22,000.00. Number of woolen factories, 1; valuation of raw material, $1,000.00; after manufacture, $3,000.00. Number of iron works, 3; valuation of raw material, $12,500.00; after manufacture, $25,000.00. Number of ashcries, 1; raw material, $500; after manufacture, $700. Number of rope factories, 2; material, $550; after manufacture, $1,050. One paper mill; raw material, $13,000; after manufacture, $25,000. Four tanneries; valuation of raw material, $21,600; after manufacture, $30, - 700.

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LANDMARKS OF TOMPKINS COUNTY.

The village corporation then contained 3,923 inhabitants, an increase of 831 in the preceding five years. In summing up the future prospects of the village, Mr. Southwick quotes from the language used by Charles Humphrey before the State Legislature in 1834, as follows:

The village of Ithaca is compactly built, mostly inhabited by respectable and thriv- ing mechanics, and almost all the various a ticles required by the surrounding country are here manufactured. It has several handsome public buildings. As an evidence of its comparative importance I can state that on some days of each week fifteen mails are opened and closed, five daily stages arrive and depart, besides several three times, twice, and once a week; a steamboat also traverses the lake daily.

The prosperity which seems to have been enjoyed in Ithaca from 1830 to 1835, as partly indicated by the foregoing few pages, was des- tined to meet with a severe check. Something has already been writ- ten of the disastrous panic of 1837, the effects of which were especially severe in Ithaca. The death of Gen. Simeon De Witt in 1834, the division of his property by Commissioners Ancel St. John, Richard Varick De Witt, and William A. Woodward, who mapped and put on the market the entire estate, fostered the spirit of speculation before unknown and never since experienced. The marsh, from the steam- boat landing to the head of the lake on both sides of the Inlet. was platted, and the 400 acres of the Bloodgood tract south of Clinton street was laid out in 50 by 100 feet lots. This last 400 acres had been pur- chased by ten persons, some of whom resided here and some in New York city, who paid $10,000 per share. The De Witt estate was di- vided into two equal parts. A syndicate of ten purchased one of these parts for $100,000. The other half was sold by Richard Varick De Witt, as executor, to Levi Hubbell, for $100,000, taking in payment a mortgage for the full amount. This mortgage was sold to the Bal- timore Life and Trust Company for $80,000. The company failed and under orders of the court, George F. Tallman became owner, and his deeds are now held by hundreds of citizens of Ithaca.

Not only were house lots marked off all over the corporation limits, but farms outside were thus utilized. The Jacob M. McCormick farm, now owned by Solomon Bryant, on the Mitchell road, was mapped and sold off in lots: the Jacob Bates farm, one and one-half miles on the Danby road, was on the market in the same shape; the Nathaniel Davenport farm, one and one-half miles from the village on the Tru- mansburgh road, the same, and many other large estates around the

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VILLAGE OF ITHACA.

village were mapped and platted, in the confident belief that the lots would soon be sold for large price; and it must be acknowledged that there was, during the height of the fever, ground for the largest of ex- pectations, if the receipt of enormous sums for land could be accepted as a safe guide. The prices asked were often startling. A half block near the Inlet, between Seneca and State streets, now occupied partially by the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Station, and partly by Fulton street, was owned by Henry Ackley, who refused $20,000 for his interest; and there were numerous similar cases.

VIEW OF ITHACA TAKEN FROM WEST HILL, 1839.

The moving cause of this fever of real estate speculation, outside of the general operation of like causes elsewhere, was the supposed cer- tain construction of the Sodus Bay Canal between Cayuga Lake and Lake Ontario, which was to constitute a waterway of ship-carrying capacity which, with the Ithaca and Owego Railroad, reaching to the Susquehanna River at the latter place, were to make Ithaca the great central city of the State. Real estate purchased one day was resold on the next often at double the former price, and then rctransferred the succeeding day at an equally increased valuation. Some well known wealthy and conservative citizens insisted all through the earlier stages of this speculative cra, that there was no basis for such a condition of the market; but they finally became imbued with the enthusiasm of the hour, went in on the crest of the last wave and were left by its 18

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subsidence stripped of property and financially ruincd. 1 Under execu- tion against some of the owners, the Bloodgood tract, before men- tioned, finally fell under the auctioneer's hammer.

It was only natural that this great speculative movement in Ithaca should find sympathy in and extend to the outer towns bordering upon it; not to the extent prevalent in the village, but, nevertheless, in a marked degree. These outer towns suffered, but as the wave was less in height, so the end was less disastrous, although its effects remained for years.

The years following 1837 were characterized by unusual business depression, which was supplemented and intensified by the disastrous failure of the Ithaca Woolen Mills at Fall Creek, stock in which had been pressed upon and was held by residents of nearly all, if not all, the towns of the county, and which proved utterly valueless.

In 1842 the general bankruptcy law was taken advantage of by many debtors, who, under its provisions, relieved themselves of immense liabilities. In years following very low prices for labor and real estate prevailed. In regard to labor, as an example, the Board of Trustees of the village of Ithaca, by resolution, fixed the pay of laborers for the corporation, in 1847, at 621/2 cents per day.

Nothing interrupted the progress of Ithaca for many years after the period which we have just had under consideration, with the exception of the great flood of 1857, and the place seemed surely destined to ful- fill the most sanguine of the early prophecies. It was a stirring, active community, with few idle and unproductive inhabitants. Writing in 1847, Mr. King said: "Situated in a fertile section of country, and possessing natural advantages for communication with the eastern markets, at an early day it promised the realization and results which we now behold." But from about 1847 to 1855 the growth of the place was slow, the cause for which probably existed in the influence of vari- ous railroad lines which gave advantages, even though but little

1 One of the cities that suffered most severely from the effects of this class of land speculation in 1837-8 was Buffalo. There everybody caught the fever, and to such an extent was the business carried on that it often became tragic in its results and sometimes decidedly humorous. It is related on excellent authority that one prom- inent physician was drawn into the whirpool and became so distracted with his pros_ pective gains, that on one occasion, when asked by a very sick patient how a certain remedy was to be taken, replied: "One half down, and balance in two monthly installments."

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VILLAGE OF ITHACA.

superior, to other points. This influence, which is one of the most potent in deciding the destinies of particular localities, could not be estimated by the early inhabitants, nor very closely even by those of the later years. But during the six or eight years just preceding the last war another period of more rapid growth and greater prosperity seems to have begun. The population rose from 6,843 in 1860, to 10,107 in 1870, and the increase in business and permanent improve- ments far exceeded those of the previous twelve or fourteen years.

The great flood of 1857 passed into history as a remarkable one, both in destruction of property and loss of life, and is worthy of notice as the most disastrous of the several similar events that have visited Ithaca. Previous to the 17th of June of that year there had been con- stant yet moderate rains, which filled the streams to a somewhat un- usual degree. About 12 o'clock, noon, of the day last named a fearful thunder storm arose, an immense bank of low-lying clouds passed over the village and settled in the Six Mile Creek valley, where it remained for four hours, discharging terrible sheets of water. The stream in the valley in the town of Caroline swept away dams, the accumulating waters reaching Ithaca about seven o'clock in the evening. Halsey's mill dam, just east of the present electric car power house, succumbed to the pressure, and the timbers composing it crushed the plaster mill, swept out the foundations of the grist mill and carried two barns on the flood down against the stone arch bridge on Aurora street, where they were crushed like egg shells. This bridge had a height of about twenty-two feet and a span of nearly thirty feet, with a race waterway on the north side of the main structure. Stoddard's tannery, above the bridge, on the north side of the stream, was swept away, as was also the creek banks on South Tioga street near to the line of Green street. Before the stone bridge gave way, about eight o'clock, water flowed down State street, then planked before it was paved, floated off the planking, filled all the cellars in the main part of the village, swept down Aurora street, reaching the top of a picket fence corner of Buffalo and Aurora streets, and, spreading out, finally reached the lake.

In the barns above mentioned, Matthew Carpenter and Daniel Reeves were engaged in attempting to save some horses. Reeves jumped to the bank when the building struck the bridge and thus es- caped ; Carpenter was drowned. When the arch of the bridge col- lapsed, David Coon and Moses Reeves went down with the wreck.

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LANDMARKS OF TOMPKINS COUNTY.

Coon was drowned, Reeves escaping by being swept into the swamps just east of the present fair ground. Putnam, the owner of the brew- ery, attempted to cross the Clinton street bridge, was caught by the flood, climbed a huge poplar tree which was washed out, and was drowned. The bodies of Carpenter and Putnam were recovered the next day and Coon's three days later. Every bridge on the stream was swept away, and no communication was established across until the succeeding afternoon, when a rope and a small boat were utilized for the purpose. The volume of water was so great that all the north and west parts of the village were submerged until the succeeding Novem- ber. Stoddard's steam boiler was carried nearly a quarter of a mile down stream. A large stove used for drying wool floated about half a mile, and the 8-horse engine was dug out of the gravel forty rods below the old tannery. But the balance wheel, weighing 600 pounds, was never discovered. A stake standing in the bed of the creek was found to be a wagon tongue, the body and wheels of which were entirely submerged; the wagon was recovered by being dug out. The money loss reached nearly $100,000.

In March, 1865, the melting of an immense body of snow swept out all the railroad bridges between Ithaca and Owego, and suspended operations on the road for six weeks.

Finally came the first gun of the great rebellion, and the nation was precipitated into a bloody war, which for five years was to command the energies and means of the whole country. Its immediate effects in Tompkins county have been described in Chapter IV, and all that remains to be said here concerning it is, that from the beginning to the close of the struggle Ithaca, as the headquarters for the county, was a center of military enthusiasm and activity. Public meetings followed each other rapidly, at which the most generous and patriotic action was taken for the good of the great cause, while the ranks of the several regiments raised in this vicinity were swelled by volunteers who were rewarded with liberal bounties. The inflation of the currency and the material demands of the war gave a powerful impetus to the business , of the whole north. Every community felt it. Money was plenty, and while public improvements in the village stagnated during that period, private enterprise was active, particularly towards the close of the contest, as will be noticed in the succeeding pages ; and when peace finally settled upon the country, the returning soldiers, with a facility of adaptation to circumstances that was marvelous, fell into the ranks

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VILLAGE OF ITHACA.

of workers, and for several years the whole country rose upon a wave of prosperity.

It will be interesting and valuable for comparison with the foregoing lists of business establishments, to note those that were in existence at the close of the war. The location of the various merchants and me- chanics is made quite clear to the reader of to-day, by giving the names of present occupants. It is believed the following list is complete with the exception of some very small concerns; as far as possible the then existing establishments are located, with reference to the present oc- cupants of the various stores and shops, for the benefit of those who cannot remember as far back as 1865:

Andrus, McChain & Co., books, etc. (now Andrus & Church).

Seymour & Johnson, general store (Morrison corner).

Schuyler & Curtis, drugs (now Schuyler Grant).

John Kendall, dry goods (now store of T. Kenney).

F. Brooks, hats and caps (now H. H. Angell).

John Van Orman, boots and shoes (now Bernstein, clothing).

F. A. Partenheimer, boots and shoes (hotel next to Wolf's cigar store).

J. C. Gauntlett, drugs (now West Bros., shoes). George E. Halsey, drugs (now White & Burdick).

Burritt, Brooks & Co. jewelry (now A. B. Kennedy).

L. Millspaugh, harness (now Kearney Brothers, clothing).

Teeter & Hern, groceries (now F. W. Phillips).

Miss Stillwell, millinery (now Phillip Harris).

F. Deming, furniture (now E. W. Wolcott).

O. B. Curran, drugs (now Platt & Colt). Jesse Baker, boots and shoes (now B. Mintz, clothing).

Sawyer & Glenzer, at Inlet, same as now.

Kenney, Byington & Co. (now L. Kenney).

Sedgwick & Lewis, photographs (now McGillivray).

Morrison, Hawkins & Co., dry goods (now Hawkins, Todd & Co.).

H. J. Grant, tobacco (now A. H. Platts).

Treman, King & Co., hardware (same as now).

John Rumsey, hardware, etc. (now C. J. Rumsey & Co.).

Stowell & Hazen, dry goods, etc. (now Rothschild Brothers).

W. M. Culver, hats and caps (now Rappuzzi).

John L. Whiton, bakery (now M. W. Quick).

L. J. & A. C. Sanford (now Ithaca Hotel billiard room).

A. F. Baldwin (now C. B. Brown).

W. H. Kellogg & Co., tobacco, factory on north side of Seneca street, where the brick Wick house stands.

H. F. Mowry, provisions, three doors west of the Tompkins County Bank.

James M. Heggie, harness (now John Northrup).

Ed. Stoddard, leather store (now George Simpson bloek north of Hotel).

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LANDMARKS OF TOMPKINS COUNTY.

A. H. Fowler, dentist (over present post-office).

Bartlett & Hoysradt, dentists (in Clinton Hall Block). George W. Apgar, books (now National Express Office). Northrop & Ingersoll, spring beds (now C. L. Stephens). Philip Stevens, market, same as now.

Tolles & Seeley, photographs (now E. D. Evans).

STATE STREET ABOUT 1866.

S. L. Vosburg, jeweler (now Ed. Jackson).

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Landmarks of Tompkins County, New York : including a history of Cornell University, Part 14

Author: Hewett, Waterman Thomas, 1846-1921; Selkreg, John H Publication date: 1894 Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason Number of Pages: 1194

Author: Hewett, Waterman Thomas, 1846-1921; Selkreg, John H
Publication date: 1894
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason
Number of Pages: 1194