A hundred years back and more, there lived in Corning a remarkable family – mother, father, and three daughters – that left its mark on history, without doing anything actually historical. On the other hand, they had a whale of a lot of fun.
*The reason we know them particularly is that Isabel Walker Drake (the mother) was a pioneer in the new age of photography that had been made possible by George Eastman, up in Rochester. She used high-quality equipment (as she could afford to do), including a panorama camera with a pivoting lens. She had a clear eye and a steady hand, and she knew when to grab an interesting shot. Her photos will be the subject of a free Steuben County Historical Society presentation by Charles R. Mitchell (Friday Dec. 1, 4 PM in Bath Fire Hall).
*In addition to her artistry, Mrs. Drake mastered the technical side of photography, developing her own negatives and printing her own photos. Whenever she had a question, she just got on the phone and called Mr. Eastman.
*Mrs. Walker’s father had been a member of Congress, her brother-in-law was an owner of Corning Building Company, and her husband James was an owner of First National Bank on Market Street, so she probably had easy entry into George Eastman’s circle.
*The big brick house at 171 Cedar Street, now part of the arts organization of the same name, was their “starter home.” They later built a much bigger and finer place, next to the T. G. Hawkes mansion, up in the Corning Free Academy neighborhood.
*Just so you get the picture, that home (now gone) had its own schoolroom, stage, and pipe organ (which was later donated to Pulteney Presbyterian Church). Musicales and extravaganzas were part of life in the Drake home. The girls were educated at home, tutored by Professor Borstelmann, who operated the Corning Conservatory of Music. The Langdons of Elmira were among their friends.
*When they weren’t at home they were often out at Drake’s Point on the west side of Keuka Lake. One of the cottages there at the Point is now Lakeside Restaurant. The family arrived by riding the train to Hammondsport, then taking their naphtha launch from there.
*Madge, Dort, and Martha attended Ogontz Academy in Philadelphia… the only school in America with required military drill for girls. Photos show them fishing, sledding, playing baseball, skating, snowshoeing, sparring with boxing gloves, messing about in boats. On at least one occasion they brought a pony up onto the porch (and mother photographed it).
*Mrs. Drake photographed Glenn Curtiss flying the “June Bug,” and Geronimo touring the 1901 Pan-Am. She photographed trips to summer on Block Island, and to visit gold mines out west (including maneuvers by “Buffalo Soldiers”).
*It couldn’t last. They appear to have always spent more than they made, and the panic of 1913 wiped them out. Cousin Sid Cole was killed in World War I. The home and the summer home were lost, the girls went to work, and Mrs. Drake’s five boxes of albums with outstanding photos were rescued decades later by an alert antique hunter who snatched them up for a song, had some of them published in “American Heritage,” and donated them to Corning-Painted Post Historical Society.
*Mary Anne Sprague, who knew the Drake family, said, “They had fun. And they WERE fun.” And so they were. Their photos show it. And they also show our world, as it was so long ago, when no one dreamed of World Wars, and the 1900s still sparkled.