USA > New York > Tompkins County > Landmarks of Tompkins County, New York : including a history of Cornell University > Part 17
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 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111 | Part 112 | Part 113 | Part 114 | Part 115 | Part 116 | Part 117 | Part 118 | Part 119 | Part 120 | Part 121
Under the National Bank Act this institution was reorganized in 1866, becoming the Tompkins County National Bank. The commodi- ous building now occupied by the institution was erected by it in the year 1838. In 1892 a Safe Deposit Department was added, in an exten- sion made to the original building.
MERCHANTS' AND FARMERS' BANK .- This financial institution was organized under the law on the 18th of April, 1838, with a capital of $150,000, which was equally divided between the three brothers, Timothy S. Williams, Manuel R. Williams, and Josiah B. Williams. After the death of the first two named, the bank continued with Josiah B. Williams as president, and was absorbed by the First National Bank in 1873. Charles E. Hardy was cashier during most of the life of the bank, and until his death.
THE FIRST NATIONAL BANK .- This bank was organized in 1864, with a capital of $150,000, by the following named persons: John McGraw, John Southworth, Ebenezer T. Turner, Ezra Cornell, Douglass Board-
163
CITY OF ITHACA.
man, John C. Stowell, Joseph Esty, E. S. Esty, Alonzo B. Cornell, and George R. Williams. The capital remained as at first until 1873, when the Merchants' and Farmers' Bank was absorbed and the capital raised to $250,000, and so remains. The first president was Ebenezer T. Turner, and the first cashier, Alonzo B. Cornell. John McGraw suc- ceeded Mr. Turner as president: J. B. Williams next occupied the position, and he by Douglass Boardman, who filled the position until his death in August, 1890, when George R. Williams assumed the office. Henry B. Lord became cashier of the bank in 1866, and has faithfully and efficiently served in that capacity ever since. The direc- tors of this bank, besides the officers named, are as follows: John C. Stowell, vice-president; Calvin D. Stowell, F. M. Finch, Albert H. Esty, Samucl B. Turner, Truman Boardman, S. D. Halliday, R. B. Williams, Clarence H. Esty. The bank statement of October, 1893, shows a surplus of $50,000; undivided profits of $33,770.50; and loans and discounts of $330,140.89. Deposits, $375,000.
SAVINGS BANK .- The first act incorporating the Ithaca Savings Bank was passed April 17, 1863. No action was taken under that act and the charter was revived by an Act of April 3, 1868, which named the following directors: Ezra Cornell, Douglass Boardman, John H. Selkreg, William Andrus, Joseph Esty, John Rumsey, John L. Whiton, Leonard Treman, Obadiah B. Curran, George W. Schuyler, Wesley Hooker, and their successors. Ezra Cornell was made the first presi- dent of the institution, and was succeeded at his death, in 1814, by John Rumsey, who had been vice-president from the first. He held the position until his death in April, 1882. John L. Whiton succeeded him on the 22d of January, 1883, and on his death Leonard Treman was elected, January 24, 1887. He died on the 26th of May, 1888, and on June 6 succeeding, Roger B. Williams, the present president, was elected. The other officers at the date of organization were William Andrus and George W. Schuyler, vice-presidents; Obadiah B. Curran, treasurer and secretary; F. M. Finch, attorney. The office of vice- president is now filled by John H. Selkreg, first vice-president; John C. Gauntlett, second vice-president; W. J. Storms, secretary and treas- urer; Myndersc Van Cleef, attorney. In 1890 the bank erected the handsome and substantial building, a part of which it now occupies, at a cost of about $60,000, besides the site.
The Ithaca Trust Company began business on the 7th of December, 1891, transacting a regular banking and trust deposit business. Its
164
LANDMARKS OF TOMPKINS COUNTY.
capital is $100,000. Following are the first and present officers and directors of the company: President, Franklin C. Cornell; vice-presi- dent, Francis M. Finch; secretary and treasurer, Frederic J. Whiton ; cashier, William H. Storms; attorney, Mynderse Van Cleef; directors, Charles F. Blood, Franklin C. Cornell, Albert H. Esty, Francis M. Finch, Elias Treman, Lafayette L. Treman, Samuel B. Turner, Charles E. Van Cleef, John C. Gauntlett, Levi Kenney, William H. Sage, David B. Stewart, Mynderse Van Cleef, Frederic J. Whiton, Charles M. Williams, Emmons L. Williams.
RECORDER'S COURT .- This court was established in the city by the law which founded the city government, May 2, 1887. Previous to that time the justices of the peace, constables and police had been relied upon to protect the property and persons of citizens of the place. The new charter provided that the then acting police justice should fill the office of recorder for the remainder of the period for which the justice was elected; but it so happened that the office of justice was vacant on the incoming of the new government, and the mayor appointed D. F. Van Vleet as the first regular incumbent of the position. He held the office until March 1, 1888, and was succeeded by Myron N. Tompkins, who was elected for a term of three years. Clarence L. Smith suc- ceeded him and served until March, 1894. He was succeeded by Eron C. Van Kirk, who was elected recorder for a full term.
The recorder has jurisdiction over all criminal business in the city, without a jury, and is empowered to hold courts of special sessions, and to admit to bail all persons charged with crime before him in cases of felony when imprisonment in the State prison on conviction cannot exceed five years; with other various powers usually attaching to that office. The salary is $1,000 and use of an office.
COURT HOUSE, JAIL AND CLERK'S OFFICE .- The present court house, built in 1854, occupies the original site selected at the formation of the county in 1817. The structure at the time it was removed had some- what changed during the thirty-seven years it existed, but still had a most venerable appearance. It was of wood, two stories high, and with a tower or steeple the architectural beauty of which was at the best unimpressive. The basement and a single room in the rear on the west side were the jailer's quarters for himself and his family; the front room was for jurors. A wide hall ran north and south through the building, with doors on either side, and on the east side were six cells for the safe keeping of prisoners, unless those who were detained
..
6 Van Nik
165
CITY OF ITHACA.
chose to saw through the wooden sides or doors or manipulate the very simple locks, which lacked nothing in size but were sadly deficient in security. It was a very patient prisoner who would long remain there in confinement. The locks at one time caused the jailer to become suspicious and he called in a locksmith to examine them. Going into his own rooms for keys, he found on his return that the expert had opened the doors by the aid of a crooked nail.
The second story of the building was the court room, heated by stoves and lighted in the most primitive manner. John Graham, the murderer, was allowed by the sheriff to stand in the front window of the court room and attempt to address the crowd below, just before his execution on the 5th of May, 1842.
The steeple of this court house was partially burned at the time of the destruction of the Baptist church by fire.
Under the law of 1817, which organized Tompkins county, the free- holders of the new county were required to give bonds in $7,000 to be expended as the Board of Supervisors should direct, and Luther Gerc, William R. Collins and Daniel Bates were the commissioners designated to superintend the erection of the building. On the 13th of April, 1819, an enabling act was passed by the Legislature empowering the supervisors to raise $3,000 with which to finish the court house and jail.
The commissioners who constructed the present court house seem to have been impressed with the idea that a vaulted room was the proper thing, and sacrificed acoustic and heating properties to please the eye. Thus judges, attorneys and litigants have lost volumes of eloquence which floated away into the peak where the mercury marked blood heat while the crowd shivcred below. Under orders of the court the supervisors roofed over the room, and it is now possible to hear what is said therein and avoid the danger of freezing in zero weather. Money has also been appropriated to replace the old style furnaces and ventilate the structure.
A law was passed on the 21st of March, 1821, providing for the erec- tion of a county clerk's office, the supervisors being authorized to raise $1,000 for the purpose. Luther Gere, Nathan Herrick and John John- son were the commissioners appointed by the act.
This old clerk's office eventually became unsafe and inadequate for its purpose, and measures were adopted for building a new one. The old building was demolished and work was begun on the present clerk's office on the 2d of April, 1862.
166
LANDMARKS OF TOMPKINS COUNTY.
A new stone jail was erected on the east side of the court house lot in 1854. At that time the cells therein were deemed more than ample to contain all who might be confined there at any one time, but on many occasions their capacity has been fully tested. The jail cost be- tween $15,000 and $16,000.
STREETS .- The streets of Ithaca in years past were not such as to reflect the utmost credit upon the city, or to give the greatest pleasure to those who were compelled to use them most. But in quite recent years a sentiment has come into existence which will soon work a great change, the influence of which is already manifest. Under the act of 1882 the Ithaca Paving Commission was created in 1892, consisting of O. H. Gregory (deceased December 27, 1893), Holmes Hollister, Charles F. Blood, and ex-Mayor Henry A. St. John became a member by virtue of his office. This commission has taken an advanced view of the needs of the city as to its streets, and already most gratifying progress has been made in paving several of the principal streets in the most substantial manner.
THEATER .- The village and city were long in need of better accom- modations for public entertainments before measures were adopted to secure them. Finally in 1893 the Lyceum Company was incorporated, with a capital of $31,500, for the purpose of erecting a modern opera house that would be worthy of the city. The following are the officers of the company: E. M. Treman, president; C. H. White, vice-presi- dent; B. F. Jervis, secretary; Fred. J. Whiton, treasurer. Directors: E. M. Treman, C. H. White, B. F. Jervis, F. J. Whiton, M. Van Cleef, R. A. Crozier, Charles M. Williams, L. L. Treman, S. B. Turner. Stockholders: Elias Treman, R. H. Treman, Robt. Reed, John Fury, Geo. H. Baker, R. B. Williams, Gco. R. Williams, Wm. B. Esterbrook, De F. Williams, N. S. Hawkins, R. Wolf, F. W. Phillips, F. W. Brooks, S. H. Winton, J. M. Jamieson, L. R. King, Levi Kenney, H. E. Dann, J. M. Mckinney, C. E. Treman.
The site selected is a central and convenient one, the main entrance on Cayuga street, and the services of the well known theatrical archi- tects, Leon Lempert & Son, of Rochester, secured. Plans were drawn and the work of construction was vigorously pushed during 1892-93. M. M. Gutstadt was given the management, and on the 27th October, 1893, the house was opened.
This theater is one of the finest in the State in all respects. It is on the ground floor, with balcony and gallery; is steam heated; has a
167
CITY OF ITHACA.
seating capacity of 1,200, and four private boxes, and nineteen loges ; sixteen exits from the auditorium on State, Cayuga and Green streets. There are fourteen commodious dressing rooms, and the stage is forty by sixty feet, with a height of twenty-six and one-half feet in the proscenium arch. The cost of the theater and its furnishings was about $65,000. Since its opening, the Lyceum, as it has been appro- priately named, has had upon its stage many of the first class traveling companies, who have received a liberal patronage. The members of the Lyceum Company have conferred a permanent and worthy institu- tion upon the city.
PUBLIC HOUSES .- The first public house in Ithaca that is entitled to the name was probably the one built by Luther Gere on the southeast corner of Aurora and Seneca streets in 1805, of which he was the owner and landlord. According to Mr. King, in 1806 a Mr. Hartshorn kept a tavern "just across the street south of the village hall," and another stood on the site of the Tompkins House, which was kept by Jacob S. Vrooman. The tavern above referred to as kept by Hartshorn was built by David Quigg, and was, with a brick office built by Alfred Wells, removed in 1865, to clear the site for the Cornell Library. Vrooman called his house the Ithaca Hotel. In 1809 Luther Gere built the then grand edifice, mentioned by Mr. Clinton in his journal, which became widely known as the Ithaca Hotel, Mr. Vrooman having meanwhile changed the name of his house to "Tompkins," in honor of the then new governor, Daniel D. Tompkins. On the 27th of July, 1813, Mr. Gere sold his house to Elnathan Andrus, having occupied it only two years; he soon afterward removed to Cincinnati. Returning in 1816, he again took the hotel, but for only a short period; and in that or the following ycar he began erecting the "Columbian Inn," on the northwest corner of Owego (State) and Cayuga streets, previously the site of a little red house occupied by Higby Burrell. Gere's new house became a popular resort. It was afterwards kept by Joseph Kellogg, Jacob Kerr (from New Jersey), and Moses Davenport be- twcen 1822 and 1825. Among them Abram Byington and Michael Blue kept the house, the latter in 1836; still later.a Mr. Houpt was the landlord, and William H. Brundage kept the house for a time. Sewell D. Thompson, who kept the Clinton House in 1862, was the proprietor of the Ithaca Hotel in 1842-3. In 1831 the Columbian Inn was the scene of the murder of Mrs. Guy Clark by her husband (previously described), and naturally suffered from the unwelcome notoriety, and
168
LANDMARKS OF TOMPKINS COUNTY.
soon after Mr. Brundage's proprietorship the building was dismem- bered, the larger part becoming the "Carson Tavern," on the west side of Cayuga street, between State and Green streets. By a some- what strange coincidence that part of the building was the scene of another murderous plot, the result of which was the killing of a shoe- maker, John Jones, in 1841. This part of the old hotel was burned June 10, 1845. Two other parts of it afterwards became dwellings.
The popular "Grant's Coffee House" was built by a Mr. Teeter before the year 1811, for his own use; but he was soon succeeded by Jesse Grant, an enterprising business man, who gave the house its well known name and its great popularity. Mr. Grant had for a time after his arrival in Ithaca kept the hotel built by a Mr. Gere, corner of Seneca and Aurora streets. The Coffee House was burned in 1833 or 1835, and the Grant block erected on its site, after its occupancy by wooden buildings for a period. It was again burned in the forties and the present structure then erected. In comparatively recent years Chauncey L. Grant, son of Jesse, kept a coffee house on the same site.
The Clinton House was begun in 1828 and finished in 1831, in sub- stantially its present form. It was for many years the most imposing structure in the village, and even now has not lost its dignified appear- ance, with its 120 feet of front and lofty pillars. The barns of the former Columbian Inn occupied a part of this site and became a stable for the Clinton House. The house was greatly improved in 1862, and has on several occasions been altered internally. Its registers have borne the names of many of the most eminent men in the State. The house was kept for many years by Sewell D. Thompson, leasing it in 1850 for fifteen years; but before the end of the term he purchased a one-third interest in the property, and Ezra Cornell bought the other two-thirds. Mr. Thompson subsequently became sole owner and was. a popular landlord for more than thirty years. The house in now owned by John M. Smith and kept by Charles Bush.
The old Ithaca Hotel, built by Mr. Gere in 1809, was used as a hotel for more than half a century, but fell in flames in the great fire of Au- gust, 1871. The old house had been popularly managed after 1866 by Col. W. H. Welch, and for a few years before it was destroyed, by his son, O. B. Welch. The new hotel (the present one) was finished in 1872 at a cost of $64,000. It was opened by Colonel Welch and his son, and successfully conducted by them until the death of Colonel Welch in 1873, when a stock company bought the property, and the
169
CITY OF ITHACA.
management was placed in the hands of A. Sherman & Son, formerly of Syracuse. In 1880 Frederick Sherman withdrew from the business. In 1885 the management of the house passed to its present proprietor, Henry D. Freer, who has successfully conducted it since. Mr. Freer is also proprietor of the Taughannock House, a very popular resort at the celebrated falls of that name in the town of Ulysses. At this house he has made great improvements recently, and it is kept in first-class style.
-
The Tompkins House, corner of Seneca and Aurora streets, is one of the historic hotels of Ithaca and dates back to 1832. It was originally a story and a half structure, but in 1865 it passed into possession of Samuel A. Holmes and A. B. Stamp, who rebuilt it and made it sub- stantially a new structure. Mr. Holmes withdrew from the manage- ment of the house in 1877, and Mr. Stamp conducted the house until E. B. Hoagland took it. The firm is now Hoagland & Lacey. Besides these three old and well known public houses, there are, perhaps, a a dozen others of various kinds in different parts of the city, most of them established in recent years and not calling for especial mention in these pages.
MANUFACTURES .- In the course of the preceding pages many of the early manufactures of Ithaca have been necessarily alluded to, but a brief review of the various industries, past and present, is desirable. It has been stated that several of the very early, as well as later, man- ufactories were situated on Fall Creek. This property was owned in early times by Benjamin Pelton, 1 the conspicuous pioneer, who bought nearly 200 acres on lot 94. On the 26th of May, 1813, Mr. Pelton sold to Phineas Bennett 170 acres from the north end of lot 94, and in 1814 the latter built a grist mill a little east and south of the site of A. M. Hull's present mill. The water was carried to the wheel in a wooden flume framed into the rock along the south side of the stream, from a point above the main fall down a considerable distance, when it was taken in a channel in the rock. Bennett gave Pelton a mortgage for
1 Mr. Pelton was in the Revolutionary army as a lieutenant and a captain ; was present at the attack on Quebec, and stood near General Montgomery when he fell. After the war he drew three bounty lots of 600 acres each, but not in the town of Ulysses. He may have exchanged a part of that land with Van Rensselaer for his Ithaca possessions. He was father of Richard W. and E. G. Pelton, and brother of Dr. William Pelton. He died in Ithaca at his residence on Seneca street about the year 1830.
22
170
LANDMARKS OF TOMPKINS COUNTY.
$4,000 on the property, which was assigned to George Wells; he fore- closed it, and the property was bid off by David Woodcock for $3,200, on the 11th of January, 1817. In some manner Mr. Bennett and his son seem to have again acquired or to have retained an interest, as in- dicated by the fact that December 14, 1816, they conveyed to Abner Howland the land on which stood the chair factory of the latter, to- gether with "water from the falls" sufficient to run the factory. On July, 14, 1819, the Bennetts conveyed to Barney McGoffin and Ansel Bennett for $1,600 " all the plaster mill and carding room in same, for and during the time the same shall stand." This plaster mill and carding machine had, of course, been established in the mean time.
On the 22d of April, 1817, David Woodcock and others conveyed to Frederick Deming and Jonathan F. Thompson, for $600, a piece of land fifty feet square immediately east of the bridge over Fall Creek. Those two men built an oil mill on the land, and were soon (1820-21) succeeded by Thompson & Porter, who added a distillery. Thompson & Porter were already leading merchants in the village. In June, 1822, Mr. Thompson sold his mercantile interest to his partner, Sol- omon Porter, and greatly increased his distilling business; he adver- tised at one time for 100 head of cattle for stall feeding. Above the oil mill stood a saw mill which Bennett had rebuilt about 1816-17; it was probably first built before Bennett's purchase of 1813. Just above this saw mill a dam was erected across the creek into which the water from Bennett's plaster and grist mills discharged through a flume in the rock. In 1822 a small foundry stood near the saw mill and was owned by Origen Atwood and Sylvester Roper; it is said that the smelting furnace was made of a potash kettle.
On the 9th of November, 1827, Jeremiah S. Beebe bought of David Woodcock 125 acres of land, including the grist mill before referred to. The mill then had two run of stones and was carried by an overshot wheel. At that date the plaster mill was under lease to Gere, Gunn & Nichols, and the distillery was leased to Gere & Gunn for ten years. Mr. Bcebe continued to operate the grist mill without much alteration until 1830, when he entirely rebuilt it, and engaged Ezra Cornell to run it. In the following year he began the construction of the histor- ical tunnel. This then remarkable engineering project was carried forward under Mr. Cornell's direction and finished in the summer of 1832. It was cut from the rock, about two hundred feet in length, twelve feet wide and thirteen feet high, and was completed at the small
141
CITY OF ITHACA.
cost of $2,000.1 A dam was built above this tunnel from which the water flowed through the tunnel and then through an open raceway to the mills. The old flume was abandoned.
On December 1, 1838, Horace Mack, of the firm of Mack & Ferris, and John James Speed (see history of the town of Caroline), of the firm of Speed & Tourtellot, purchased the Beebc grist mill and power for $26,000. They carried it on only one year. They built the old store- house at the steamboat landing to facilitate their grain handling. April 1, 1840, Mr. Mack conveyed his interest in the mill to Chauncey Pratt and Chauncey L. Grant. In 1840 the Ithaca Falls Woolen Man- ufacturing Company purchased the property and enlarged the mill and put in woolen manufacturing machinery, making the building five stories in height. This organization seems to have been badly man- aged; stock was taken by farmers and other citizens to a large amount. In the latter years of its existence it was conducted at a loss, the de- ficiency being made up by assessments, until in 1851 the entire build- ing and its contents were destroyed by fire. It had, however, been disused some time previous to the fire. In 1854 Henry S. Walbridge became owner of the property and built a new grist mill on the old foundation. He failed in business and the property passed to posses- sion of A. M. Hull, who has conducted the mill ever since. A stock company has just been formed called the Fall Creek Milling Company, of which A. M. Hull is president.
On the 16th of July, 1819, Otis Eddy and Thomas S. Matthewson purchased of Phineas Bennett (before mentioned), and others, a small
1 " I have this day paid a third visit to Fall Creek for the sole purpose of viewing that stupendous work of art called the Tunnel, which conducts part of the waters of the creek from a point a few rods above the first fall, and within sight of the second, to the mill site at the bridge. The entrance for about twenty feet is from 16 to 20 feet in width, top square, allowing for the ruggedness occasioned by the blast- ing, The remaining 180 feet is pretty much in the shape of an arch way, making the same allowance for the effect of blasting. Along this subterranean passage, to accommodate those who wish to pass through it, Mr. Beebe has had pieces of scant- ling placed transversely about four feet above the base at proper distances through- out the whole length, over which are laid strong oak plank; on these we walked safely through, the water rolling on below us, and over our heads a solid roof of rock from twenty to forty feet thick, till it reaches the soil above. This magnifi- cent work of art-the Tunnel-of which perhaps there is nothing in this country in the annals of individual enterprise to exceed it, was commenced as above mentioned in 1831." Mr. Southwick, from whom we have before quoted in these pages, and who wrote the foregoing, was nothing if not enthusiastic when writing of Ithaca.
172
LANDMARKS OF TOMPKINS COUNTY.
piece of land, four rods by five, on which they built the first paper mill in Tompkins county. Chester Walbridge soon afterward obtained an interest in the business, and continued until April 1, 1822, with Mr. Matthewson, Mr. Eddy having retired in August, 1820. In October, 1823, Mack & Morgan purchased an interest in this mill, then publish- crs of the American Journal and proprietors of the bookstore on State street. The mill for years afterwards did a large business in making printing and writing papers, one part of it being devoted to the manu- facture of wrapping paper exclusively, under the management and partial ownership of James Trench. Both mills finally passed to Mack & Andrus, by whom they were improved from time to time. The white paper mill was nearly destroyed by fire in 1846. The proprietors im- mediately built a white paper mill at Forest Home, then known as Free Hollow. In 1851 they rebuilt the brick mill at Fall Creek and removed the manufacture there, abandoning the Forest Hoine property. Mack & Andrus were succeeded by Mack, Andrus & Woodruff; Andrus, Woodruff & Gauntlett; Andrus, Gauntlett & Co. ; Andrus, McChain & Co., and finally from Mrs. Mary L. McChain, the wrapping mill passed to its present owners, Enz & Miller, in 1887. Wrapping paper is principally made, about twenty-five tons a week being turned out.
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.