USA > New York > Tioga County > Owego > Owego. Some account of the early settlement of the village in Tioga County, N.Y., called Ah-wa-ga by the Indians, which name was corrupted by gradual evolution into Owago, Owego, Owegy and finally Owego > Part 31
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A very destructive fire in the night of October 16, 1870, burned the solid row of wooden stores and shops ex- tending from the county jail (now the telephone exchange) on the north side of Main street to and around the Lake street corner south to L. D. Durphy's
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brick building, now occupied by G. A. Durussel as a jewelry store.
In the evening of Feb. 6, 1872, a wooden row of buildings on the east side of North avenue, occupying all the ground between the building now oc- cupied by B. F. Lyke as a laundry and 1. W. Smith's grocery store was burned.
In the morning of April 14, 1872, an- other wooden row on the west side of Lake street, extending from the Chamberlain block to Aaron Ogden's cigar store, was burned. In the morn- ing of October 10 of the same year all of the wooden row of stores on the east side of the same street between the Gazette block and the Central house was burned, together with Muzzy & Warren's livery stable.
Wheeler C. Bristol's five-story brick flouring mill in Central avenue was burned in the night of February 21. 1873. In the morning of the 17th of the following April a fire broke out in the Park hotel barn in Central avenue, which was burned, together with N. T. Burton's bakery and other wooden buildings on the west side of North avenue.
The Erie railroad depot was burned in the night of January 24, 1874, and the fire engine house in Main street in the afternoon of the 1st of the follow- ing February.
In the night of April 28, 1875, a row of wooden buildings on the west side of North avenue, extending from N. T. Burton's new brick block to and in- cluding John Barry's carriage manu- factory, was burned, and early in the morning of December 29 the Union
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house on the west side of North avenne was also burned.
The Congregational church on the west side of Park street was burned in t e morning of December 3, 1877, and the residences south owned by Miss E. H. Bates, M. D., and J. L. Matson were partially burned.
Samuel Archibald's tannery on the south side of the river, just below the bridge, was burned in the morning of September 1, 1878.
George Thurston's planing mill on the east side of North avenue, opposite George street, was burned in the night of April 2, 1881. Miles F. Howes's planing mill on the south side of Ade- line street was burned in the morning of January 30, 1884.
The extensive grain drill and wagon works of Gere, Platt & Johnson at the northeast corner of Central avenue and Temple street were burned in the morning of June 19, 1888.
The Canawana flouring mill, owned by Dorwin, Rich & Stone, which stood on the ground where the electric light plant is now, was burned in the morn- ing of March 19, 1889.
C. A. Hill's saw mill and planing mill on the west side of Central avenue was burned in the morning of June 21. 1890.
Joel A. Hamilton's novelty works on the west side of William street, east of Main street, were burned in the night of July 13. 1891, together with Alfred Hill's house.
In the night of March 15, 1892, the Ahwaga blanket and knitting mill on the south side of Adeline street, near the Lehigh Valley railroad station, was burned.
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The hay press of E. H. House on the east side of North avenue, near the Erie railway, was burned in the even- ing of March 25, 1893. In the morning of May 11 in the same year the whole interior of Storrs, Chatfield & Co's hardware store at the northwest cor- ner of Front and Lake streets was burned out.
The Pennsylvania house, Joel A. Hamilton's novelty works, and other buildings on the south side of Front street, below Park street, were burned in the night of December 4, 1895.
Dean & Burt's flouring mill on the east side of Central avenue, between Temple and Fox streets, was burned in the evening of February 27, 1896.
In the afternoon of November 9, 1899, the interior of Wilson opera house on the west side of Lake street was burned out. The fire was caused by the explosion of some celluloid films in a moving picture machine. The theatre was entirely burned five years later, in the morning of February 28, 1904.
Sauerbry & Birdsall's carriage fac- tory on the east side of North avenue. between South Depot and John R. streets, was burned in the morning of January 24, 1903.
This is a record of the principal fires in Owego for more than one hundred years. The building of a water-works system in 1880 has ensured a practi- cally inexhaustible supply of water for fire purposes and since it was built there has been no large fire. It is worthy of note that within the last sixty years the entire business portion of Owego has been swept over by fires-on both sides of Front street
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rom Parker's lane to Church street, both sides of Lake street, both sides of Main street from Church street to Central avenue, and both sides of North avenue from Temple street to Main street.
Some Account of "Old Bet," the "Liv- ing Elephant," Which Was the First "Menagerie" to Visit Owego and Was Exhibited in the Bates Tavern Carriage Barn, and of the First Cir- cus, Which Came in 1826 and Ex- hibited in the Tavern Barn Yard, and of Other Tent Shows That Came Here Later.
The first "menagerie" that came to Owego was an elephant, and it was the first elephant ever exhibited in the state of New York. It came here in the summer of 1813 and was ex- hibited in the carriage barn of the old Bates tavern.
This carriage barn was a large red building which stood adjoining the lot on the north side of Front street where Ahwaga hall now stands at the east. In the rear was the barn where the stage horses were kept. The en- trance to this barn yard was between the tavern and the red barn.
The coming of the elephant to Owe- go was announced in the newspapers under a big heading as "A Living Ele- phant," and was described as follows:
"The elephant is not only the lar- gest and most sagacious animal in the world; but, from the peculiar manner in which it takes its food and drink of every kind, with its trunk, is acknowl- edged to be the greatest natural curi- osity ever offered to the public. The one now offered to the view of the curious is a Female. She will lie down and get up at the word of command.
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She will draw the cork from a bottle, and with her trunk will manage it in such a manner as to drink its con- tents. She is thirteen years old, and measures upwards of twenty feet from the end of her trunk to that of her tail; twelve feet around her body; up- wards of eight feet high, and weighs more than five thousand pounds. Per- haps the present generation may never have an opportunity of seeing an Elephant again, as this is the only one in America, and this is perhaps its last visit to this place. -Admit- tance 25 cents .- Children half price. Hours of exhibition from 8 o'clock in the morning until 6 in the evening."
This elephant was known among showmen as "Old Bet." She was ex- hibited by a showman named Bailey, who travelled at night, and in the day- time kept the animal in a barn and covered her with hay, so that people could not see her by peeping through the cracks at the side of the barn. A camel and a monkey completed the outfit. There was no other wild ani- mal show in Owego until 1833.
The first equestrian performance ever given in Owego was that of Blanchard & Newell's circus, in 1826. The show did not have to exceed ten performers and about a dozen horses. The company came unannounced, and the advertising was done by one of the troupe, who went through the street and announced the arrival of the show in a loud voice, something in the manner of the side-show "barker" of the present day. The performance was given in the barn yard, in the rear of the old Bates tavern, which was at that time kept by Philip Good- man. The show had neither tents nor seats, and the spectators had their choice of standing or sitting upon the ground. The ring was made by
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throwing up a circle of earth in the middle of the yard. The performance consisted of the feats of a strong man, horseback riding without saddle,comic singing, etc. The band was composed of drums and a fife. While the performance was in progress the up- per windows of the hotel were all oc- cupied by "dead head" spectators. No performance was given at night, as in those days of tallow candles there was no known way of lighting the ring.
The next show to visit Owego was the circus of Angevine, Titus & Bur- gess. This show started from Putnam county. Its tent consisted of a centre pole and canvas sides, but no top. The tent was pitched on the lot on which the Robert Cameron brick block now stands at the northwest corner of Front and Park streets in the summer of 1827. The circus ring was a solid wooden curb, made in curved sections, about eighteen inches high and six feet long, and painted. The pieces were held in place by iron spikes, driven into the ground, and the earth was heaped up against the curb from the interior. The rings constructed in this manner were in use about twenty-five years, but as so many riders were injured by falling or be- ing thrown upon them, the curb was finally abandoned altogether. In its place were substituted red curtains, suspended by rings from iron stakes, with an earth ring, as now. The tent was supplied with seats, similar to those in use at the present day.
The first animal show came in 1833, and exhibited on the lot on the east side of Court street, south of the pres ent county clerk's office. This was the
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first tent show with a canvas top to visit Owego.
The first circuses were advertised by a bill poster, who rode horseback through the country, carrying his handbills in his saddle-bags. These bills he fastened on trees and barns along the wayside with tacks. Isaac J. Greenwood, in one of the Dunlap society publications, has thus de- scribed the circuses from 1817 to 1820:
"At first they were but small affairs consisting of a couple of wagons, four horses, and some half dozen perform- ers, mostly tumblers and vaulters, with perhaps a trick man and that indis- pensable-a clown. There was no band save a fiddle or two; no lady in gauze and spangles, no ring-master, and no tent; but they carried some six-foot poles, around which, planted in a circle, was stretched at each per- formance, a canvas to keep them from the gaze of outsiders, while a few boards served to build an outside platform, raised just above the ground, for acrobatic performances, jig-danc- ing, and the like; the rest of their loads was baggage, cooking utensils, and provisions. The place of exhibi- tion was open to the sun and rain, though in time a covering suspended from a centre pole was introduced. There were no seats, except such as could be borrowed from the ladies, but sometimes the wagons were drawn in, so that the back crowd could mount upon them, and two hundred and fifty spectators, at an entrance price of twenty-five cents was a big house. Usually a man went ahead who pla- carded all conspicuous places, pro- cured the five-dollar license, and hired the ground; then presently a bugler on horseback announced the approach of the show, and on the village green the clown would be proclaiming the time of performance."
About the year 1840 circuses began to advertise by means of posters, with pictures thereon of prancing horses,
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flying acrobats, etc., printed in colors. There was a blank space on the bills, in which the names of towns and dates of performance were filled in with crayon. These bills were put up in the barrooms of country taverns. They were fastened to the wall with tacks and when the circus was gone one of the showmen carefully took down such of the bills as had not been mutilated by the jack-knives of bar room vandals, and they were used again in other villages.
The visits of the circus in those days were "few and far between." Among those that exhibited here were Buckley, Weeks & Co.'s, Sept. 3, 1835; a show known as "The Ampitheatre," Aug. 19,1836; Purdy, Welch, Macom- ber & Co.'s menagerie, Aug. 19, 1837; and Buckley & Co's circus, July, 1838, and May, 1839.
In those days there was a rough element among the people not only in the village, but in every direction out- side of it. When a show came to town there was much drunkenness, with consequent fighting and disorder. It was for this reason that many quiet citizens objected to the coming of the circus; besides it was complained that the circus carried all the loose change out of town. Some of the village trus- tees, too, objected to circuses, think- ing they tended to demoralize the peo- ple. So, when the agent of Welch, Bartlett & Co.'s Broadway circus ap- plied to the Board of Trustees for a license in August, 1840, his application was refused. The next year, however, the "Victoria Arena and Great West- ern Circus" had no difaculty in obtain- ing a license and showed on the 3d of June. In 1842, when Rockwell, Stone
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& Co.'s circus made application for a license, there was a tie vote. S. S. Tinkham and T. P. Patch voted in favor of license, and Jonathan Platt and Charles R. Coburn against. Judge Drake, the president of the village, decided the matter by voting in favor of license, and the show exhibited on the 3d of June. No circus license was granted until 1844. Welch, Delevan & Co.'s agent applied to the board, in July of that year, when David Wallis and Isaac B. Ogden favored granting a license and Sylvanus Fox and A. P. Storrs opposed it. The matter was again decided in favor of the circus by the vote of Judge Drake. After this licenses were not refused to circuses.
Circuses for many years pitched their tents on the lot at the northwest corner of North avenue and Main streets. This ground was a vacant lot owned for many years, by Samuel Standish Tinkham and extended from the corner to David P. Tinkham's house, which stood where the Park hotel is now. The wooden fire engine house was moved from Court street to the west end of the lot in 1851, and the block on the corner was built by Thomas I. Chatfield in 1853.
In 1850 circuses were larger and re- quired more room. From that time and for several years later all the cir- cuses exhibited on the east side of North avenue between John R. and South Depot streets. This was then a vacant lot, extending back the entire length of John R. street.
The Yankee Robinson Circus. and Theatre.
In August, 1859, Yankee Robinson's combined circus and theatre exhibited
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under a large tent on this lot. After the equestrian performance in the ring a theatrical performance con- cluded the entertainment. This was given on a stage about four feet high at one end of the tent, with good scenery. The characters were for the most part sustained by the acrobats and gymnasts, and the production was a meritorious one. The play was called the "Days of '76" and the scene was laid in the United States during the revolutionary war. R. J. Miller, professional known as Yankee Miller and an uncommonly good comedian, played the leading comedy part, that of a Yankee. He died at Fort Wayne, Ind., in 1877, while travelling with his nephew's theatrical troupe. Yankee Robinson's wife, equally good as a comic actress, played the character of a Yankee girl. In the company was also Harry Evarts, a circus rider, who was afterward one of the owners and tambourinist of Booker & Evarts's minstrels. He came to his death in May, 1889, while travelling as press agent of Adam Forepaugh's circus, in a railroad accident near Hamilton, Canada. The cars caught fire and Evarts's body was burned in the wreckage. Billy Pastor, famed as a circus performer, and a brother of the well-known Tony Pastor, was also a member of the company, and also a boy named Gibbons, a most remark- able contortionist, who came several times afterward to Owego with cir- cuses and who was billed as Don San- tiago Gibbonaise.
Robinson owed a printing estab- lishment a bill for posters to adver- tise his show. While at Owego the show was attached by the sheriff of
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Tioga county to satisfy the claim, and Robinson was compelled to cancel his dates ahead and remain here a week, being unable to obtain bondsmen dur- ing that time. A man named Field, who claimed to be the owner of the show, came and replevied the property, and one fine Sunday morning Robin- son folded his tents and went on his way rejoicing. The company per- formed every evening to large crowds during its enforced sojourn here, and the manager declared that his week here had been more profitable to him than it would have been had he gone on his advertised route.
Robinson was a unique character. He was a shoemaker, then successive- ly a travelling showman, an exhibitor of scriptural paintings, a tragedian, a Yankee comedian, a dancing master, and finally a circusman.
Washburn's Indian Show.
Some account may be of interest here of a big tent show, which was organized in this vicinity. In May, 1854, E. S. Washburn visited Owego with an Indian show and gave an ex- hibition at Patch's hall,in Lake street. He afterward, during the winter of 1854-5, lived at Owego, boarding with John Loveland in the second story of the old Walter Ogden honse, which was afterward the "Diamond store," and which stood on the west side of North avenue on the ground now oc- cupied by George Snyder's brick build- ing. With him was a full blood Mo- hawk Indian, six feet tall, known as "Joe Washburn," and his sister, a handsome Indian girl, who afterward became Washburn's wife. She was known as Princess Ne-os-ko-le-ta, and later as the Princess Wynima. Both
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names were the same in the Mohawk tongue, and the meaning of them is "Prairie Flower."
During his residence here, Wash- burn, in company with Col. Theron Seymour, who had been landlord of the Ahwaga house, and Frank Phelps, of Elmira, who had been travelling through the small towns with a hall show, organized an Indian tent show on a large scale, to travel the next season. Loveland, who had been travelling the previous season with teams, giving a show in country tav- erns, was the business manager. They secured twelve Onondaga Indians and a few gymnasts, and went upon the road, in the spring of 1855.
In addition to the genuine Indians, several white men living in Owego and vicinity, among whom were Almon W. Gonld and Joseph D. Hollister, joined the show and made themselves up as Indians by coloring their faces and hands and dying their hair. The show had a brass band, the musicians be- ing also "fake" Indians. A side show was attached to the circus, in which a minstrel performance was given, Hol- lister playing the bones. Gould, who was something of a musician, played a guitar with the orchestra during the Indian performance.
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The show consisted of a scalping scene, rescue from burning at the stake, war dances, and the delineation of other pleasant little Indian festiv- ities and customs. A representation of the historical scene of Pocahontas saving the life of Capt. John Smith was also given, the show closing with the cheerful revolutionary tragedy of the murder of Miss Jane McCrea. "Joe Washburn" was advertised as
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"the celebrated Chief, Red Jacket, the most eloquent Indian orator liv- ing."
The show made its first stand at Union, Broome county, where the can- vas was blown down in a storm and a canvasman's arm was broken by a falling guy pole. Thence they went to Great Bend and Montrose, Pa. When they reached Pittston, Washburn was informed that in the Wyoming valley a bitter feeling still existed against all Indians on the part of the descendants of those who perished in the massacre, and that they had arranged to pick off the Indians, one at a time, with rifles, knowing that if arrested no jury could be found to convict for the murder of an Indian, the state of feeling being so high. The show exhibited at Pitts- ton on a Saturday, and Washburn went ahead to Wilkes-Barre, where he learned that the report was true. He accordingly changed his route, los- ing a week's time and the expense of billing half a dozen towns. He after- ward came to Owego, exhibiting on the north end of the park, May 10, 1855.
With Washburn's show were Isa- . dore and Victoria Barnes, singers and dancers. They were from Union, where their father was a blacksmith. At the close of the show season they came to Owego and lived about a year in Bell street. They first came to Owego with Meeker's theatre, danc- ing on the stage between the pieces. Afterward they travelled with Frank Phelps's hall show.
The Indian show was not a success- ful one and soon disappeared from the road. E. S. Washburn was afterward for several years owner of a travelling
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vaudeville and burlesque show known as "Washburn's Last Sensation," in which his wife, who had an excellent voice, was a singer. He died Nov. 12, 1886, at the Chaffee house at Susque- hanna, Pa.
Washburn's daughter, Lillian Wash- burn, became an actress with her father's company .as soon as she was able to talk. She has been continu- ously on the stage ever since. Wash- burn had two adopted sons, Leon W. Washburn and William Washburn. In 1903 Leon Washburn was proprietor of L. W. Washburn's circus and men- agerie, the Washburn minstrels, and four Uncle Tom's Cabin companies. Frank Phelps died at Lincoln, Neb., in 1888.
"The Babes in the Woods," the First Travelling Show to Visit Owego, Ex- hibits in the Goodman Coffee House Dining Room-Theatrical Companies Produce Standard Plays under Dis- advantageous Conditions-The First Theatrical Company Performs at the Court House and Later Arrivals Play in the Coffee House Dining Room and in a Loft over Jonathan Platt's Store.
The first hall show in Owego of which any account can be obtained was Sickles's "Babes in the Woods." It consisted of paintings of battles of the revolutionary war and the war of 1812, and a combination of panorama and moving figures, delineating the old nursery story of the "Babes in the Woods." It showed the sleeping chil- dren and the birds covering them with leaves. At the conclusion an angel descended and carried away the chil-
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dren, and the wicked uncle was seized by a huge snake.
The performance was given in the dining room of the old Goodman coffee house (afterward the Franklin house), on the northeast corner of Front and Court streets, about the year 1826. The admission was twelve and a half cents. After the show the paintings, etc., were removed and a dance was given, in which all who chose to pay participated.
Sickles was a violin player and a singer of comic songs. His wife ac- companied him, and assisted him in moving the figures. Among her other duties in connection with the show was to imitate the ch.rping of birds, which she is said to have done to per- fection. Simon Springsteen, afterward proprietor of the Owego foundry and machine shop, which stood on the ground now the northeast corner of McMaster and Delphine streets, travelled with the show as violinist three or four years. They went south to New Orleans, and visited a large portion of the United States. Richard Manning, of Owego, who died here in 1832, also travelled about two years as a violinist with Sickles's show.
Sickles's home was at Sherburne, N. Y. He accumulated considerable property and retired from the show business. After his death his son-in- law, George Cox, visited this county with the same show, and exhibited at Flemingville and Newark Valley. Yankee Robinson, the circus proprie- tor, began his career as a showman with Sickles's "Babes in the Woods."
The first theatrical exhibition ever given in the village of Owego by pro- fessionals was in the winter of 1833.
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There was at that time in the minds of many people a narrow prejudice against actors and theatricals, which was common, not only to very small villages like Owego of that period, but prevailed to some extent also in the cities. There were, however, many in the community of more liberal ideas, but they were in advance of their age.
In 1826, a debating society existed in Owego, known as "The Forum." Its discussions were held at the old court house and were listened to by such ladies and gentlemen of the village as chose to be present, the invitation be- ing a general one to the public. On the 16th of March of that year, as we learn from an old copy of the Gazette, the subject discussed was, "Are the- atrical representations more injurious than beneficial to society?" The re- sult of the discussion is not known, but it is very probable that the de- cision was one not at all favorable to the advancement of the drama.
At a meeting of the village board of trustees at the store of Gurdon Hewitt on August 1, 1831, the following reso- lution was adopted:
Resolved by the Trustees of said vil- lage that no circus or other public show or exhibition shall be permitted within the bounds of said village un- der the penalty of ten dollars for each and every offence, and that each and every person acting or assisting in any such show or exhibition shall be deemed an offender within the mean- ing of this ordinance.
James Pumpelly was president and trustee of the village, and the other trustees present at the time of adopt- ing the resolution were judge Latham A. Burrows, Gurdon Hewitt and Ezra S. Sweet.
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