Tag Archives: Corning NY

Steuben County — 225 Years!

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Happy birthday, Steuben County! Steuben was created 225 years ago, by separating territory from Ontario County. Land agent Charles Williamson, founder of Bath and a tireless promoter, had pushed the project through the legislature.
The County was much bigger back then, but it only had six legal municipalities – officially Towns, or as I sometimes call them “supertowns,” since all the municipalities of Steuben… and parts of four other counties! – were created from these original six.
BATH originally included what’s now Bath, Urbana, Wheeler, Prattsburgh, Pulteney, and Avoca, plus parts of Cohocton and Howard. This is the area that gave us Glenn Curtiss and several of our U. S. Representatives, besides hosting the county seat and county fair, giving birth to our grape and wine heritage, and becoming an incubator of fish culture.
CANISTEO included today’s Canisteo, Greenwood, West Union, Hornellsville, Hornell City, and parts of Jasper and Troupsburg, not to mention Almond, Alfred, Andover, and Independence (all in today’s Allegany County). This was the beating heart of railroading for our region, and is still significant in that field.
DANSVILLE covered our modern Dansville, Fremont, and Wayland, with parts of Howard and Cohocton along with North Dansville and Ossian (Livingston County) plus Burns (in Allegany). Here we find the gorge of Stony Brook, and much of our rich muckland.
FREDERICKSTOWN (now Wayne) was spelled just about any way you wanted. All that’s left in Steuben County are the Towns of Wayne and Bradford. But it also included what we know as the Schuyler County Towns of Tyrone, Reading, Orange, and some of Dix, AND the Yates County Towns of Barrington, Starkey, and the part of Jerusalem covering most of Keuka Bluff. Keuka, Waneta, and Lamoka Lakes largely bound Wayne and Bradford.
MIDDLETOWN is now Addison. Back then it stretched over today’s Addison, Cameron, Rathbone, Thurston, Tuscarora, and Woodhull, plus parts of Troupsburg and Jasper. With Major General W. W. Averell, and the men of Troupsburg who suffered exactly 50% casualties, “Middletown” contributed mightily to saving the nation in the Civil War.
PAINTED POST is now the Town of Corning. Besides that Town it covers our Hornby, Campbell, Erwin, Corning City, Lindley, and Caton. Besides being the seat of our glass industry, old Painted Post also has our only institution of higher education, SUNY’s Corning Community College.
And that ain’t all! Our sheriff’s office is also 225 years old! Some of our sheriffs have been very prominent men, including Dugald Cameron, for whom a Town was named. John Kennedy and John Magee were heroes in the War of 1812. Magee, who also served two terms in Congress, was the last sheriff to be appointed and the first to be elected… not to mention building the 1831 Magee House, formerly Davenport Library and now the Steuben County History Center. When WVIN radio host Dave Taylor-Smith was blocked by his doctor, Sheriff Jim Allard stepped up on less than 24-hour’s notice, and became the first person other than Dave to “jump in the lake” (Salubria) to raise “Tyrtle Beach” funds to support youth programs.
And don’t stop yet! Benjamin Patterson Inn also got its start in 1796. Charles Williamson had it built and installed “Hunter Patterson” to run it, offering a hostelry that would prove a key link in the European development of the area. It’s now Corning’s oldest building, at the heart of Heritage Village of the Southern Finger Lakes, showing local life in days gone by – all the way back to when George Washington was president. I’m a member! Have been for twenty years! You might like it. I sure do.

Time-Traveling Through the 1920s — Part Two!

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Two weeks ago in this space we took an imaginary time-travel trip, to visit places and buildings that enjoy their centennials here in this decade – starting with the Village of South Corning (1920), and working our way up to the Babcock Building (once Babcock movie theater) in Bath (1924).
Sliding to Painted Post, a few blocks down from the 1923 municipal building, we can jump ahead to 1925 and see Painted Post High School, which was advanced enough to be written up in contemporary architecture magazines.
Swing way up to the northwest, past North Cohocton, and another timeslip brings us to the striking Tudor Revival-style Rowe House, built in 1926 and now on the National Register of Historic Places.
Way to the south, and yet another year ahead in 1927, Woodhull High School was opened. This was a gratifyingly large and advanced institutuion for that rural area. Like Painted Post High School, Woodhull’s was impressive enough for the architecture magazines to take note. It’s now the town hall.
Tucked up in Steuben County’s northwest corner, if we go another year ahead to 1928, we can get in on the official opening of Stony Brook State Park. It was still largely undeveloped at the time, but Al Smith and Robert Moses had the vision to see what it could become. We should still thank them for it.
Another time-skip, to 1929, and we can watch the first kids walking down the short Valerio Street to Addison Central School, yet another example of communities and school planners building for the modern age, and preparing their children to thrive in it. (The state was financially encouraging new school construction at the time.)
Then in Bath we can join a well-dressed crowd (including kids in colonial costume) at Pulteney Park, where the Daughters of the American Revolution have gathered to dedicate a memorial to Charles Williamson. Williamson, who energetically developed this region in the 1790s, certainly deserves a memorial, but we can be amused by the D.A.R. sponsoring it. Williamson WAS in the army for the Revolutionary War, but on the OTHER side. Still, he founded Bath AND Steuben County.
Finally, we can make our way to Corning, where a large and well-known hotel has been demolished for replacement by an even larger, and far more modern, hostelry. The Baron Steuben Hotel is open for business, right at Centerway Square on Market Street. And its massive elegance still looks great, as it makes a home for the Chamber of Commerce, the city visitors center, the County Visitors Bureau, Finger Lakes Wine Country promotions, and more. It’s seen a LOT going by down on Market Street in the last century or so. And it looks like it’s not going anywhere for the century to come.

Sidewalk History Spotting — Free Packet With Six Walks!

Steuben County Historical Society conducts two historic walking tours every summer (weather and illness permitting!). We’ve put together a “Sidewalk History Spotting” packet with notes from four of them – in Wayland, Canisteo, Addison, and Corning’s Northside – plus information on established historic walking tours in Bath and Hammondsport. If you e-mail us via steuben349@yahoo.com, we’ll send you the free 20-page packet as a pdf attachment.

We hope that this will give you a way to get some fresh air and exercise (while socially distanced!), besides spotlighting some of our communities and pointing out a little history. Once you’ve had a guided look at history “from the sidewalk,” you’ll probably spot more on your own as you walk or drive through “old Stew-Ben.” Here’s a little sampling of what each walk has to offer.

At the heart of ADDISON is the Canisteo River. In fact, sometimes the river is IN the heart of Addison, but modern flood control makes that a rare occurrence nowadays. Eagles and osprey hunt for fish and build their nests along the river, so keep your eyes peeled.

Two small parks on the south side collect several memorials, and one of them honors Mr. Valerio. When the new central school went up in 1929, he paid to pave the street and put in the sidewalk, because it broke his heart to think of children walking to school through mud.

Cross the Main Street bridge and the railroad tracks (once the Erie main line) and you can climb the little hill to Wombaugh Park, surrounded by beautiful homes and historic churches. It’s a little showplace for the carpenter gothic style.

CANISTEO also flooded frequently in days gone by. In the late 1800s a trolley ran through the village and connected it with Hornell.

Canisteo’s green along Main Street has been a gathering place just about ever since the village was born. Greenwood Street has the Wesleyan church, which was a-building from 1934 to 1942; the 1856 Methodist church, whose pastor was the only local white Protestant minister we’ve found who opposed the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s; and the 1880 Baptist church, whose two very different towers give evidence of a long-ago lightning strike.

Further up Greenwood you get the cemeteries, including two stones inscribed K.K.K. by proud Klan members a century back, the schools, and the famed Canisteo Living Sign.

CORNING NORTHSIDE: While Addison and Canisteo both lie on the Canisteo River, Corning is divided by the Chemung. The Northside area around Bridge Street includes Benjamin Patterson Inn, built around 1796 and now the heart of Heritage Village of the Southern Finger Lakes.

The first block or two north of the bridge includes a commercial area largely built from 1900 to 1920 or so. Grace Methodist, North Baptist, and the old St. Vincent’s each have historic edifices, while Ontario Street has large old homes, a former church, and a 19th century fire station. All of this was under water in the Hurricane Agnes disaster of 1972.

WAYLAND is not on a river, but it was on two major railroads. It has Bennett’s Motors, an auto sales and service business opened by two brothers when they got back from World War I, and still in business until the end of 2019. It also has a Legion hall built by veterans – when they put it up in 1920, they included a good-sized movie theater – just what every town needed back then!

Wayland also has historic churches, of course, the old Main Street business district, and Gunlocke Library. When it opened in 1974 it was the first modern library built in Steuben since Hornell’s, in 1911.

For BATH our packet has just a short section introducing the existing random-access audio tour. Bath of course includes historic churches, the fairgrounds, the county buildings, the Liberty Street business district, and a number of fine old homes, including our own 1831 Magee House.

Our HAMMONDSPORT section likewise is short, introducing a historic tour created for a Girl Scout Gold project. Any tour of Hammondsport of course includes Keuka Lake, plus Glenn Curtiss history, the village square, more old homes, and the Elmwood Cemetery.

So that’s enough to keep you busy for six trips on six days! We’ll be happy to send you a packet!