Steuben County Historical Society

We hear that Christmas is coming! So here are two Christmas trees, each from Hornby Congregational Church... one from 1965, and the other all the way back last year, in 2019... and apparently both on the same spot? Unfortunately we have no identifications, so if anybody recognizes any of the folks in the 1965 photo, we'd be happy to hear about it. By the way, if you're a Hornby fan, check out Hornby Historical Society's Facebook page!

Cohocton Central School (now Wayland-Cohocton Elementary School) is one of half a dozen or more Steuben County schools created as New Deal projects in the 1930s. Perhaps the most eye-catching feature of the school is its tower, and a satellite view makes clear that the tower is in the form of -- an octagon! We don't know for a fact, but we assume that this is a nod to Cohocton's own Orson Squire Fowler, the great 19th-century promoter and philosopher of the octagon house. This photo is from yearbook endsheets in the 1950s. In addition to the tower, the decorative features present a very pleasing appearance.

It's a fine summer's day in Painted Post, and former mayor A. D. Stevens is out for a drive! Or at least he's out for a photograph, in his gleaming Regal Buick convertible, with military-style wheels and a right-side steering wheel. Notice that the street is still unpaved, which was commonplace in those days. And just when WERE those days? Can anybody tell us what year this model would have been new?

Last week we shared a photo of an engine and workmen at the Erie shop in Hornell, and Erie Railroad dominated Steuben transportation for a hundred years after its completion in 1851. We thought it might be fun to run a little Wednesday miniseries on the OTHER Steuben County lines, starting with the other major player, the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western. The DL&W (Delay, Linger, and Wait, according to impatient passengers) created the white-clad advertising figure of Phoebe Snow to emphasize their use of clean hard coal (anthracite)... but that was on the PASSENGER trains, not the FREIGHT trains, like this one pulling into Bath under its own private fog bank. With the general decline of rail traffic, and the devastation of Hurricane Agnes, the two major lines would later merge to form the Erie-Lackawanna.

"My brave lad sleeps in his faded coat of blue; in a lonely grave unknown lies the heart that beat so true." Richard Hill of Savona has very kindly shared this photo and information: "The 24th NY Infantry was recruited in Oswego county, but contained at least two Steuben County natives. The man on the left is 2nd Lt. Ten Ecyk Pawling, a Bath native. 2nd Lt. Pawling was killed Aug 29, 1862 at the 2nd Battle of Bull Run. Lt. Pawling is buried Bath's Grove Cemetery. The man... in the center is Capt. Orville Jennings, from Oswego county. Capt. Jennings was wounded at the 2nd Battle of Bull Run. The man on the right is 1st Lt. Richard L. Hill, a Steuben county native, born in the town of Wayne. Lt. Hill was severely wounded at the Battle of Cold Harbor June 6th, 1864. He was left for dead, but was rescued the next day. He was transported to a hospital in Washington, recuperating for nearly 6 months. He eventually moved to Corning, and died there in 1902. He is buried in Corning's Hope Cemetery." Thank you very much, Richard, for sharing this with us. See more

Election Day 2020 From Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, November 19, 1863 "...and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish fr...om the earth." We are thankful for the right to vote! Here are a few pictures of when I went to vote this morning in the Town of Rathbone. There was a bit of a glitch with the computer system just before I voted, but she got it all taken care of, and we were on our way to cast our ballet. Go out and vote today. The poles are open until 9:00 PM in Steuben County. See more

Art Hansen was a NYS Department of Transportation engineer for 31 years, and a Director at Maple City Savings and Loan. But he was inducted into the Steuben County Hall of Fame 2020 class because in 1964 he founded the ARC of Steuben, which since then has grown to become one of the County's largest employers. Mr. Hansen was the ARC's first president, and served on the board until he passed away in the year 2000. According to their mission statement, "The Arc of Steuben, a not-for-profit organization, is a partnership of dedicated people committed to working together to support people with disabilities and their families."

Looking back three years at this Town Line Cemetery album in Cameron Mills, NY. Wonderful memories from that day. What do you remember? Janie

Looking back 86 years ago on Election Day here in Steuben County. "Steuben County to be "Dry" for Nine Hours Election Day." The Evening Leader, September 12, 1934. MHS/JF 11/3/2020 ~ Please go out and vote today!

Magee House is closed for election day! But from our artifact collection we present this campaign scrim, created to razz William Jennings Bryan when he orated at Bath's Pulteney Square in 1900 on his second presidential quest, running as an anti-imperialist. New York Governor Theodore Roosevelt, who was running for vice-president with McKinley, also campaigned in Steuben that year. Whoever lettered this piece apparently succumbed to force of hundred-year habit and started to put down 1800, rather than 1900.

Much of Steuben County is snow-dusted this November morning, which justifies us in trotting out this March, 1966 photo of a County blower on Hornby Road, at the Cummings farm. Hornby was created from Painted Post (now Town of Corning) in 1826, and gave up land to create Campbell (1831) and part of Orange (now in Schuyler County, 1842). Wonder how much snow lies in our future by the time THIS March rolls around?

Addison, NY, Eben S. Chatfield, Owner of Addison Foundry on Tuscarora St. Posted 10/31/2020. MHS/JF Janie L Ferguson

When Juliette Gordon Low started Girl Scouting (then called Girl Guides) in Savannah, Georgia back in 1912, girls from the Female Orphan Asylum formed a large part of the membership. That tradition continued at the Davenport Asylum for Female Orphans (usually called the Davenport Home), which operated from 1864 to 1958 in Bath, across the bridge from our Magee House. While there were other Girl Scout groups in the village, Silver Birch Troop was explicitly the orphanage troop, where activities included frequent hikes to Mossy Bank, sometimes followed by picnics.

We are sad to relate that Carol Reynolds passed away on October 17. She and husband Harry (a former board member) have been long-time members, supporters, and volunteers... here we see her at the 2005 History Fair. Many of us think of Carol as Sally Patchin, from her frequent portrayal of Wayland's basketry, art, and crafts dynamo. She was active in Girl Scouting, girls' softball, Wayland Historical Society, school board, and much more. Safe journey, Carol. Give our best to Sally Patchin.

Addison, NY Beauty

Earlier this month we looked at the oldest known photos of Steuben County. This one we can't date as precisely as we'd like, but we do know that it was taken between the summer of 1868 (when the brand-new Corning Flint Glass Works was built) and 1875 (when they added a third furnace and stack). There's a crowd of workers at the left, but if it's possible to pull out any detail on them, we don't have the technology. This stereoscope card was used with a special hand-held viewer to give the illusion of depth -- the 20th-century "View Master" used much the same principles.

This facility in Jasper is one of the many creameries (and a few cheeseries) that once dotted the Steuben County landscape. Often operated as co-ops, they allowed local producers to capture another level of profit in the hierarchy ending with the consumer. Every morning of the year, regardless of weather or family tragedy, the street out front would be chocked with wagons, sleighs, and buckboards, delivering the day's highly-perishable output... for some farms, as little as a single can. Who's that fellow peeking around the corner, on the porch roof -- and what's he up to?

Robert McCloskey, writing in Maine, said that fall was the season to measure time not by the rise and fall of the tide, but by the come and go of the school bus. Between the two World Wars these vehicles became common sights on our highways, and one-room schools faded out proportionately. It took a while for them to get standardized... some Fremont kids got a ride in the bread truck every morning, while Davenport Home girls in Bath went to school by sledge for a week after an especially bad blizzard in 1940. Mercury Aircraft even made buses for a while, buying an existing enterprise in Penn Yan. Jane Schryver kindly shared this photo of the District 4 bus in Wayland.

Another foggy morning here along the Canisteo River. Enjoy your weekend, Janie

On October 24, 1929, a precipitous stock market crash began on Wall Street -- since 97% of Americans owned no stock, it was only passing interest to most of them, though they soon would learn that it portended worse days to come for everyone. This very stock ticker, like all the others in the country, would have run hours behind as transactions overwhelmed communications, leaving buyers and sellers bewildered as to where matters actually stood, or even whether their companies still existed. Keuka Club was a private association that maintained a clubhouse and boats in Wayne, and this ticker was one of the amenities they found necessary to enjoy their stay at the lake. It's now in the Curtiss Museum.