USA > New York > Monroe County > Brighton > Sesquicentennial History of the Town of Brighton, Monroe County, New York, 1814-1964 > Part 2
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PERRIN
S. HAET
WHEALER
J. B. NORRIS
Ta. YALe NURSERY
BLOSS
ROCH BESTILLE MFG CO.
H. 1 J. BECKWITH
MONROE
AVENUE
HENRY J. PECK
IMONROE JUE HOTEL
AVENUE
J. M.
/10/ 1 2/1B BUCKLEY
CORNELOS TOBIN
13/7
2345
GERTRUDE TERWILLIGER
ELMWOOD
NO
FRANK GEISEN
AVENUE
BUCKLE
W.L. BISHOP
1902
Twelve Corners 1902
market. Several extensive nurseries are located in this town, these being mostly fruit, notably, apple nurseries." Those listed or shown on maps were the Hooker, Gould, Babcock, Yale, Norris, Ellwanger and Barry, Dagge, Wilson, Mooney, Vick, and H. J. Peck & Sons. These records go back at least as far as 1872 and probably earlier than that.
In the search for a stable economy, and in the roaring heyday of the Erie Canal, the Brightonians retained a strong social consciousness. In the years from 1828 to the Civil War a series of reform movements "burnt over" west- ern New York. Religious revivals, temperance and penal reforms, the abolition of slavery, and the expansion of education found a friendly atmosphere in Brighton. By 1865 there were nine established school districts employing eleven teachers. In 1814 at the first town meeting three school commissioners and two school inspectors were elected.
The Clover Street Seminary provided educational opportunities of the highest caliber to youngsters from far and near. In 1838, Isaac Moore, dis- satisfied with the district school, engaged his sister-in-law, Celestia Bloss, to tutor his children. The school soon outgrew the Moore house (now the Edward Harris Jr. house on Clover Street). In 1845 Moore gave five acres at the corner of Elmwood Avenue and Clover Street to Miss Bloss for a school. Center of its activities was what is now the Joseph C. Wilson home. Under
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A. M. BUCKLA
SOUTH
Miss Bloss's guidance the school flourished, serving not only the boys and girls of the best Rochester families, but students from as far away as Michigan, Tennessee, and Canada, In 1868, after her death, the Seminary became St. Mark's School for Boys.
Celestia Bloss's brother, William, was in the forefront of the reform move- ments. He ran a thriving and lively tavern in Brighton Village until he turned to temperance. In the spirit of his new-found cause, he dumped all the tavern's liquor into the Erie Canal and sold the building. The deep humani- tarian feelings of Bloss caused him to lash out at evil where he saw it. The denial of women's rights and slavery he detested the most. An uncompromis- ing abolitionist, he edited an abolitionist newspaper in Rochester, the second in the country. Deeply religious, Bloss was responsible for the conversion of
MT. HOPE CEM
BOUGHTON 1.
ELWANGER 2. BARRY
WEST BRIGHTON HOTEL
3.
$ 15. C.MURRAY 14 WAGON SHOP
PETERSON
4.5
13. S. PIKE
F. TURK 5.02 W. t.S.S.6. SCHOOL NOS
12. MRS. BOOTH 4. J. ELLIS
MONROE CO. FAIR GROUNDS HALF MILE TRACK
MT. HOPE AVE
E.D. VAUGHN 7.FAIRGROUND HOTEL
S.WHITE
10. R. BOOTH
J.A. FROST 9.1
1812
West Brighton 1872
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his friend, Zebulon Brockway, warden of the Monroe County Penitentiary.
As warden of the county workhouse located in Brighton, Brockway had a host of sinners under his charge. He and his friend Bloss conducted Sunday School for the inmates. When they had served their time he blessed them and sent them on their way. In 1858, after four years of this, Brockway realized that his Sunday Schoolers often landed back in prison.
He began to develop a program which would prevent second and third offenses. He recommended indeterminate sentences to allow time for reform- ing prisoners, instead of mere punishment: this was to be accomplished through a work program designed to teach skilled trades to the inmates. Thus Brockway began penal reform in America, and for that matter, in the world. The penitentiary building in which he worked still serves as the county penitentiary.
The great struggle over abolition, culminating in the Civil War, remains, after a century, a transcendent event in the history of Brighton. In the person of William Clough Bloss, the town had a resident who became nationally known for his work in behalf of abolition. Many residents, including the Warrant family, participated in the work of the Underground Railroad in helping escaped slaves to safety in Canada. And when war came, Brighton men were quick to join Father Abraham's legions. During the course of the war, about two hundred Brighton men joined the Union Army, and at least fourteen made the supreme sacrifice.
After the Civil War the country, tired of reform, shifted its interest to the economic sphere. Industrialization created a new society. Like the town of Tryon earlier, the new economic developments left Brighton Village in their wake. The Village became an incorporated municipality in 1885, but with the decline of the Erie Canal, the little community had long since lost its primary economic reason for existence. Brighton Village was annexed by the city in 1905.
From the Civil War until the turn of the century Brighton to a degree seemed out of place in the new industrial order. Aside from the nurseries heretofore mentioned and from a few brick plants, most notably the Rochester Brick and Tile Co., and the Rochester German Brick and Tile Co., which located in Brighton to use a vein of clay near the Twelve Corners, the town lacked any industry which could support a large population. The Rochester metropolis on its Eastern and Southern borders almost totally eclipsed the Brighton Village.
In this quiescent period for Brighton the town maintained its links with Rochester. Transportation lines, beginning in 1862 with the establishment of the Rochester City and Brighton Railroad, made the connection possible. Brighton also offered entertainment and diversion for Rochesterians. Crit- tenden Park, in West Brighton near the Genesee River, was at various times
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the site of the Monroe County Agricultural Fair, the location for early air shows, and the site of the Rochester Driving Club's harness races. In 1895 the Rochester Country Club opened on the other side of town at Elmwood and East Avenues. It established itself as the pioneer golf club in the metro- politan area, and one of the earliest in the United States.
After 1900 the city began to change the character of Brighton. The first effect of the suburban movement on Brighton was the loss of its most popu- lous area, Brighton Village. Because of the loss, Brighton's population in 1920 was less than it had been at any time since 1840.
Through the late years of the 19th century, Brighton had been the home of farmers and a few leading families who lived in handsome homes and played a role in city and county affairs as well as those of the Town of Brighton. As the century ended and the 20th century began, they were joined by families from Rochester seeking "country homes" similar to those being built in communities outside of New York, Boston, and other large cities. Much of this growth followed Rochester's East Avenue eastward develop- ment, the street in the 1870's and 1880's having won recognition as the city's most fashionable thoroughfare. Clover Street, noted from the early days of the town for its fine homes, also was the scene of much building, as were other streets intersecting East Avenue, some of them new, others dating to earlier days. These included Landing Road, Penfield Road, and Elmwood Avenue.
The first suburban homes were spacious, their architecture Georgian, Tudor, or even Spanish, as their owners' taste might dictate. Most of these homes had extensive flower gardens, and many also had large vegetable gardens, or- chards, and stables. However, these large establishments soon were followed by less pretentious, but nonetheless highly attractive homes. As the guns of World War I sounded in Europe, carefully-planned suburban developments were making their appearance. From the beginning, much effort was lav- ished on the design and planting of these developments, establishing a trend which has made Brighton one of the most beautiful suburban towns in America. The fact that many of the homes were to be built on what had been nurserymen's land, plus the town's long "green thumb" tradition, helped make it a gardener's Mecca.
But it was not until after World War I that Brighton's rapid growth as a suburban town began. From 1920 until the "real estate depression" of 1926, building developments multiplied. Areas of growth included Monroe Avenue from the city line to the Twelve Corners and the Browncroft neighborhood. The Home Acres development with its attractive homes and curving streets is perhaps typical of the era. Off East Avenue one of the most ambitious and elaborate developments in the East was envisioned by the developers of the Barnard Tract, including such notable streets as Sandringham Road, Esplanade Drive, and Ambassador Drive. Still the fact that many great mansions were
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built in the area did not save this venture from becoming one of the town's famous financial failures. Expensive roadways of the Barnard Tract, complete with sidewalks and street lamps, but bare of homes, were to be a bizarre fea- ture of Brighton until the post World War II building boom finally brought homes to these streets.
Another unusual development was Meadowbrook, near the Twelve Cor- ners, inspired by the Eastman Kodak Company's desire to provide attractive housing for rising executives. Although Kodak never played a direct role in the development, Meadowbrook to this day has a strong Kodak feeling. The growth of this tract and others in the 1930's brought into the community many new business executives, scientists, physicians, lawyers, and other pro- fessional men. As these newcomers moved into the community, the old rural quality of Brighton gradually was lost. By the mid-30's Brighton was a "bedroom" community, and in many ways essentially a satellite of Rochester.
As the old identity was lost, however, a new identity began to develop. When World War II brought special stresses and strains, a new sense of community was born as townspeople of diversified backgrounds joined to aid the Red Cross, the USO, and other patriotic enterprises. The increasing size of the community through the 1920's and 1930's was mirrored by the growth of the school systems, and the appearance of new school buildings.
But the physical growth of the period before World War II was to be only a slender forerunner of the explosive increases in population after 1945. As rapidly as building restrictions eased after the war, new homes flooded through all sections of Brighton. A zoning code modernized and tightened in the early 1940's guided the growth of the town.
Paralleling this rapid growth, there developed a new sense of community identity. A major step was the construction of a town hall in Elmwood Avenue. Completed in 1951, this attractive brick and limestone structure provided not only modern housing for the town's offices, but also a true com- munity meeting place and quarters for a town library. Brighton Memorial Library, the product of the interest and devotion of many citizens, has become one of the most unusual and effective institutions of its kind in New York State.
Religious needs of the growing population were met by the organization and construction of new churches, as well as by the transfer of religious or- ganizations long located in Rochester, among them First Baptist Church, Temple B'rith Kodesh and Second Reformed Church.
Community organizations proliferated. The long-active Brighton Kiwanis Club was joined by a Rotary Club and a Lions Club. The town Red Cross branch took on increasingly widespread chores, and a town organization was set up to handle Community Chest solicitation-which it did with notable success.
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The town's new community strength was sorely tested on the warm after- noon of September 21, 1951, when gas explosions destroyed or damaged more than 40 homes. Loss of life miraculously was only three persons. The com- munity's police and fire departments, with aid from neighboring communi- ties, and with wide citizen support, functioned with great effectiveness in the emergency.
Noteworthy also was the increasing importance of the role played by many residents on the national scene. Brighton residents in science, medicine, and other professions, as well as in business, brought the town increasing recog- nition. In Marion B. Folsom the community gained its first U. S. cabinet mem- ber and in Kenneth B. Keating, the town had first a Congressman and then a U. S. Senator. Frank E. Gannett, the noted publisher, was backed for the Republican nomination for President of the United States. He also distin- guished himself as a philanthropist.
Throughout its history and despite the town's affluent reputation, its citizens have been characterized by an awareness of civic and social responsibility. The traditions established by Oliver Culver, William Clough Bloss, and so many others have been carried on.
Brightonians of 1964, living in one of America's most beautiful suburban communities, have not lost sight of the needs and hopes of other Americans less fortunately situated.
EDITOR'S NOTE:
There are several spellings of Allen's Creek in the book. The orig- inal settler of that section was Capt. Timothy Allyn from Groton, Conn. (see pages 12 and 13). Over the years a number of variations have appeared. We have used the spelling as it was on the maps and documents we found.
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DATELINE OF THE HISTORY OF BRIGHTON
1610 · Etienne Brulé came into area.
1612 . Champlain map showed Irondequoit Bay.
1669 . La Salle landed on the shores of Irondequoit Bay.
1721 . Peter Schuyler established Fort Schuyler.
1788 . Oliver Phelps and Nathaniel Gorham secured title to the Genesee Country.
1789 . John Lusk arrived from Schenectady and built a log cabin on Irondequoit Bay.
1790 . Orringh Stone arrived here and built a log cabin on the site of the Stone-Tolan House.
1796 . Town of Northfield, Ontario County.
1797 · Village of Tryon at Indian Landing.
1800 · Oliver Culver arrived.
1808 . Northfield became Boyle, Ontario County.
1813 . Boyle changed to Smallwood, Ontario County.
1814 . Town of Brighton was set up to include Rochester east of the river to Irondequoit Bay, and from Lake Ontario to the township of Henrietta. This new town came into being at the first town meeting held at Orringh Stone's Tavern on April 5, 1814.
1820 . Congregational Church built on site next to what is now the Brighton Cemetery.
1823 . Rochester made its first annexation, 357 acres, from Brighton.
1825 . Opening of the Erie Canal, full length.
1839 . Town of Irondequoit set off from Brighton.
1885 . Brighton village of 640 acres incorporated.
1905 . Brighton village annexed to City of Rochester.
1918 . Opening of the Rochester section of the Barge Canal.
1925 . Brighton Fire Department was reorganized into the organization which it is today.
1926 . West Brighton Fire Department organized.
1927 . Ellison Park opened as the first county park.
1932 . The Brighton Police Department was organized.
1951 . September 21 - a very warm afternoon when Brighton was rocked by gas explosions originating from Twelve Corners. Many homes were destroyed in the vicinity of Twelve Corners, Bel Air, Home Acres and Meadowbrook.
1953 . March 22 - The new Town Hall of Brighton was dedicated.
1964 . One hundred fifty years of the Town of Brighton celebrated.
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HISTORICAL HOUSE TOUR INFORMATION
MRS. ERNEST WHITBECK, JR., Chairman; MRS. DAVID FULTON, Co-chairman
DATES: Saturday, June 27th . Sunday, June 28th-12:30 p.m .- 5:30 p.m.
TICKETS: On sale at Brighton Sesquicentennial Information Center.
There will be a bus tour for a small extra charge.
Refreshments will be served in the Barn of the Stone-Tolan House on East Avenue.
It is requested that visitors abide by the following rules, for the protection of the property so kindly lent by the owners:
Please park cars outside all driveways.
Please do not smoke.
Please do not ask the use of facilities.
Children under 14 years are NOT invited to make the tour.
Houses may be visited in any order. To avoid traffic congestion, it is sug- gested that you follow a route of your own choosing.
The Brighton Sesquicentennial Committee and the owners assume NO responsibility for injury or loss of property to persons on this tour.
High heels prohibited. Please wear flat heeled shoes. Spike heels damage fine old floors beyond repair.
The Brighton Sesquicentennial Committee wishes to acknowledge the grati- fying response of the owners of historic property in the area.
The early pioneers who cleared this land from the Genesee River to Irondequoit Bay left well-built farmhouses and country estates still cherished as landmarks today. All still standing are evidence of the fine craftsmanship of the early settlers.
Many houses of architectural interest cannot be opened at this time. Ap- proximately sixteen houses may be visited on Saturday, June 27th, and Sunday, June 28th. Different houses may be seen each day, together with the Stone-Tolan House on East Avenue, Brighton's oldest landmark, where a special exhibit of early farm tools and artifacts will be on view in the barn. Refreshments will be served here. A number of churches are also open to tour visitors. Those churches which are open have a sign in front of them and are listed with the churches on page 53.
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Map Showing Historic House and Landmark Tour
Green Numbers / Homes Open Green Letters / Landmarks
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BRIGHTON SESQUICENTENNIAL 1964 TOUR OF HOUSES
Saturday, June 27th
1. Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell Jossem 190 Rich's Dugway Road
2. Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Wilson 1550 Clover Street
3. Dr. and Mrs. William Sullivan 474 Winton Road South
4. Mr. and Mrs. Bernard Schilling 2169 Clinton Avenue South
5. Mr. and Mrs. Grover Strong 1600 Crittenden Road
6. Mr. and Mrs. Harry Rice, Jr. 2005 Westfall Road
7. Mr. and Mrs. Frederick Pickles 490 French Road
8. Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Quick 1564 East River Road
Sunday, June 28th
9. Mr. and Mrs. William Roby, Jr. 248 Landing Road South
10. Mr. and Mrs. Maro Hunting 1237 Clover Street
11. Mr. Robert G. Hobstetter 1600 Highland Avenue
12. Mr. and Mrs. William Little 2762 Elmwood Avenue
13. Mr. and Mrs. Arnold Swift 661 Highland Avenue
14. Miss C. F. Warrant 1956 West Henrietta Road
15. Mr. and Mrs. M. L. Gillespie 1415 Crittenden Road
16. Mr. and Mrs. Richard Van de Carr 281 Edgewood Avenue
Open Both Days . Stone-Tolan House . 2370 East Avenue
NOT OPEN/ LANDMARKS
A. Miss Elizabeth Holahan, East Boulevard
B. Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell Williams, Hoyt Place
C. Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Adams, 895 Highland Avenue
D. Ft. Schuyler, Ellison Park
E. Council Rock, Opposite Stone-Tolan House
F. Abner Buckland House, 1037 Winton Road
G. Hooker House, 1075 Clover Street
H. Samuel Hall III, 1675 Clover Street
J. Isaac Moore, 1496 Clover Street
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STONE-TOLAN HOUSE Miss Ellen Tolan . 2370 East Avenue
This is the oldest house in Brighton. Built in 1790,* by Orringh Stone, it was the first tavern in the Genesee Country. Located on main transportation lines, it was a well known stopping point for travelers. Here in 1814, the early settlers held the first town meeting and organized the town government. John P. Tolan purchased the property and the frame building in 1860. The house is now owned by the Landmarks Society, and Miss Ellen Tolan, who lives in the house now, is to remain there for her lifetime. The grounds are being replanted and restored by the Allyn's Creek Garden Club. This organization has put much time and money into this project and should be proud of its efforts.
The original Stone Tavern was the one-story attic rear section of the present building. It was 25 by 30 feet, constructed of post and plank with clapboards on the outside. A large fireplace, 9 feet wide and 4 feet deep, dominated the west wall opposite the door. Off the north end, a plank wall divided a smaller room from the main room; there were a door and two windows in this room. Under this was a five-foot cellar.
Though a relatively simple wilderness building, the house shows considera- ble architectural refinements in such things as the wooden quoins at the corners.
*Peck History of Rochester p. 78.
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MR. AND MRS. MITCHELL JOSSEM 190 Rich's Dugway
This charming little house overlooking Ellison Park on Rich's Dugway is the home of an artist. Mr. and Mrs. Jossem completely remodeled it in 1958 to meet their needs and interests.
It must be presumed that this is one of the houses originally built during the early days of Brighton.
The early settlers in this area were predominately Dutch and were small plot gardeners. Some are still "gardening" this area today.
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CLOVER STREET SEMINARY Mr. and Mrs. Joseph C. Wilson . 1550 Clover Street
出2號
This stately house was originally built as the Clover Street Seminary, which provided exceptional educational opportunities to students from near and far. In 1838, Isaac Moore, dissatisfied with the district school, engaged his sister- in-law, Celestia Bloss, to tutor his children. Realizing that his children would benefit from the presence of companions, Mr. Moore invited neighbors' children to attend the classes. The school soon outgrew the Moore house (now the Edward Harris, Jr. house on Clover Street). In 1845, Moore gave five acres of land at the corner of Clover Street and Elmwood Avenue to Miss Bloss for a school. She strongly believed in a liberal education for both sexes, and her school was one of the early attempts at co-education. Under her able guid- ance, the school was transformed from a family tutelage to a well known and high standing seminary, serving not only the daughters of prominent Roch- ester families, but also students from as far away as Michigan, Tennessee and Canada. In 1868, the Seminary became the St. Mark's School for Boys.
This house is one of the finest examples of early Brighton architecture, a superb example of craftsmanship in the Greek Revival Style. The brickwork is particularly notable. The garden, grounds and swimming pool have been developed under the guidance of Katherine W. Rahn. Note the woodwork and fireplaces in the double parlor, and the library.
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AMASA DRAKE HOUSE Dr. and Mrs. William Sullivan . 474 Winton Road South
This lovely old farmhouse looks much the same on the exterior as it did when it was built in 1834 by Amasa Drake. This property adjoined the land of the Hooker Nursery on Clover Street. One interesting feature of this house is the carving around the moldings. Dr. and Mrs. Sullivan have remodeled the inte- rior some, mainly building a beautiful modern kitchen in the wing of the house.
03萬
Amasa Drake was an engineer and a farmer. Before coming to Rochester he worked on the Erie Canal. He was made Supervisor of the building of the Rochester Aqueduct. Tradition has it that he was descended from Sir Francis Drake. He had six children.
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MR. AND MRS. BERNARD SCHILLING 2169 Clinton Avenue South
Timothy Wallace, a farmer, came to Monroe County at the age of thirty-one from Massachusetts and purchased the property in Brighton which is now 2169 Clinton Avenue South, He and his wife, Olive, owned the property until 1867. According to newspaper accounts he was elected in 1842 to the Monroe County Agricultural Society, in 1855 as Supervisor of Brighton and Inspector of the Work House. In 1865 he was appointed warden of the Monroe County Insane Asylum.
The brick house in Greek Revival style was probably begun in the late 1830's and consisted of the center block and north wing. A preliminary sketch for this suggests the initial idea, which was changed in the final execution. A matching south wing was added perhaps in the 1840's. Builders' guides and carpenters' manuals, such as those written by Minard Lafever and Asher Ben- jamin, often furnished the models for houses and designs for mouldings, doors, portals and balustrades.
From 1867 to 1887 the house was owned by Henry Harrison Hickox and William Hickox, when it became a two-family house. Ownership passed in 1887 to Albert Michel, in 1911 to George A. Michel, and in 1913 to Solomon Berman.
After a few more owners and a change back to a single-family structure, Bernard and Susan Schilling acquired the house. They have made no structural changes and have modified the interior only slightly to accommodate a collec- tion of books and paintings.
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THE CRITTENDEN HOUSE Mr. and Mrs. Grover W. Strong · 1600 Crittenden Road
The Crittenden family originally owned land from Methodist Hill to Mt. Hope Cemetery. Chauncey Crittenden built the original homestead, which still stands back of the present house, in 1815. In 1830, the large frame house was built by Chauncey's son, Austin, for his bride, Sarah Warrant.
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