Tag Archives: Elmira

Hurricane Agnes: 72 + 50

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In June of 1972, a horrendous flood pulverized our area, when remnants of Hurricane Agnes stalled overhead and poured out torrents.

In Allegany County, just over the line with Steuben, a father and daughter were swept away and lost. Outside Bath, another man was carried off. A Gang Mills firefighter died, looking for the Bath man. Before long another SEVENTEEN were dead in the Gang Mills-Painted Post-Riverside-Corning City-South Corning crescent.

A day or two afterward, three men surveying damage for the Army Corps of Engineers were killed in Hornell, when their helicopter struck utility lines.

The Canisteo, Conhocton, Tuscarora and Tioga all crested at about the same time, just where they were joining (in Painted Post) to form the Chemung. Young Tommy Hilfiger, watching from Harris Hill, saw the wall of water roll down the riverbed, and rushed back to Elmira to save the stock in his store.

This was America’s most expensive hurricane to that date. The Painted Post Methodist and Presbyterian Churches were condemned, and replaced by one United Church. Whole blocks were condemned nearby, replaced by a new shopping center. Much of the east Market Street area in Corning had to go. The Corning and Elmira library buildings survived, and so did Corning city hall, but the institutions all moved to new construction.

Corning and St. Joseph hospitals survived. St. Joseph’s sent its patients to Arnot, which pushed its “walking wounded” out and told them to make their own way home… often on foot. Corning Hospital, knee-deep in frigid muddy water, shipped their patients to the hospital in Montour Falls, stretched out in the back decks of station wagons driven by community volunteers. The Penn Central railroad bridge in Corning crashed into the Chemung, taking a line of fully-loaded coal cars with it. Railroads across the northeast went broke.

Houses and businesses were washed away, and some never found. Thousands of cars were under water, and though many of them were put back into useable condition, none of them ever worked quite right again.

Keuka, Lamoka, and Waneta Lakes all burst their banks. Parts of Bath and Penn Yan flooded, as did some or all of many other towns. Owego, Binghamton, and Wellsville were all badly hit. Corning Museum of Glass flooded, and so did Corning Glass Works, and most of “the flat” in Corning, and lots of Horseheads, and most of Elmira. Two radio stations cobbled together resources to get one transmitter on the air. The Corning Leader and Elmira Star-Gazette cranked out joint daily issues on a mimeograph.

People lost precious family treasures, and much disappeared from the records. A few years ago, at Steuben County Historical Society, we were called on to help a family find the grave of an infant sister. The funeral home in Horseheads lost all its records in 1972. Happily, we were able to help.

And then people shoveled out. Glass Museum professionals invented new ways to restore documents and artifacts, and their methods are still used worldwide. Amo Houghton announced that the Glass Works was staying put. Volunteers arrived from across the nation. Visionaries created new plans for downtown Corning, Elmira, and Painted Post. People started dividing time into two epochs: BEFORE the flood, and AFTER the flood.

Next year marks the 50th anniversary of “The Flood,” and memories are slipping away. At Steuben County Historical Society we are mounting a “72 + 50” campaign to gather copies of memoirs, diaries, documents, photographs… whatever (other than newspapers, which we already have) tells the tale of the flood as Steuben suffered it. We’re collecting county-wide, OR donate to your local historical society – and if you’re in other counties, reach out to your own societies and agencies there.

It’s often easy to overlook that Hurricane Agnes was a major national (another 100 dead) and international (Mexico and Cuba) disaster. But it’s also OUR story, right here. And we don’t want it to be forgotten.

Lots Going on at Chemung County Historical Society Museum

Chemung County Historical Society in Elmira has several very interesting exhibits up just now.

*What took us there last week was an EMBROIDERY EXHIBIT, “When Needle, Thread, and Fabric Meet”… all contemporary work, not historical pieces.

*These are dozens of creations from members of the Chemung Valley Chapter, Embroiderers Guild of America. Some works LOOK like historic pieces… many serious needleworkers are very interested in antique designs and techniques, and “samplers” – some of them copies of historic pieces – give them a chance to dig in with multiple approaches in one composition.

*But other works are clearly modern pieces, sometimes with caution thrown to the wind.

*In one picture piece, butterflies stand out three-dimensionally from the fabric. In several others, every square millimeter of the surface is stitched. In others, the design stands alone, stark and self-confident in a sea of fabric.

*Cross-stitch, stumpwork, needlepoint, and bargello are among the techniques on exhibit. If you don’t like butterflies, you might like tigers. Anything goes.

*Another special exhibit was on CARTOONS BY EUGENE ZIMMERMAN (“Zim”), a Swiss immigrant who lived in Horseheads, and was nationally enjoyed for decades on either side of the turn of the century.

*This was especially interesting to me, as I’m a cartooning fan who worked hard at documenting Zim’s books in the Grand Comics Database (www.comics.org). This exhibit includes a review of Zim’s life and career; samples of his work; print blocks of his cartoons, with demonstrations on how they were used; his drawing board and other tools.

*Particularly moving was the original, the very cartoon he had already sketched out in pencil, and was inking literally on the day he died, mocking Depression-era radio radicals Huey Long, Hugh Johnson, and Father Coughlin. It was the last work ever from his hand, after a long and well-loved career.

*Believe it or not, time was when the N.A.A.C.P. was considered a radical, even subversive organization. This made the exhibit on the CENTENNIAL OF ELMIRA’S N.A.A.C.P. CHAPTER all the more interesting. The national organization was barely a decade old when local residents asked for help with “fair housing” issues – owners refusing to sell or rent to African Americans.

*After that issue was addressed the chapter went into abeyance until revived during the Great Depression and World War II, when there were numerous employment issues to be dealt with. Elmira chapter members also engaged in historic national actions, such as Freedom Rides and the several Marches on Washington. And the work continues as the struggle continues.

*Another exhibit focuses on the CENTENNIAL OF ELMIRA’S KIWANIS CLUB, which for many years was in the top ten worldwide for membership. Kiwanis have supported local parks, and athletics, and the Arctic League, and much, much more.

*The Museum has an ongoing program of focused exhibits on Chemung County municipalities in turn. Just now the spotlight’s on BALDWIN, the rural town east of Elmira.

*In the Brick Barn Gallery is a large exhibit, GETTING AROUND: TRANSPORTATION IN CHEMUNG COUNTY. I found this to be a great deal of fun. I enjoyed seeing trolley paraphernalia, including a horrifying safety booklet, “The Little Girl Who Didn’t Think.” More entertaining were the annual early-1900s bicycle tags, receipts for which supported sidepaths… dedicated bike tracks that ran alongside the execrable highways.

*Canals, early autos (with all their marvelous retail accessories), and horse-drawn vehicles… including a sparkling phaeton with the fringe on top… all come into the story, along with buses, the Chemung County Airport (now Elmira-Corning Regional) and Schweizer sailplanes.

*Of course the permanent galleries, A HISTORY OF CHEMUNG COUNTY and MARK TWAIN’S ELMIRA, are always open, and always a pleasure. The Zim, embroidery, Kiwanias, and N.A.A.C.P. exhibits are through September, so if you want to see them you need to hop to it. Baldwin is up until January, and “Getting Around” until May. The museum’s open Monday through Saturday, 10 to 5. Adult admission is $5, with seniors, students, children and members either discounted or free, depending on category. We don’t even live in Chemung, but we usually go at least once a year. Really, it’s worth the visit.

Just for Fun, in County Chemung

Life goes on (and on and on), and it’s easy to get into a rut, even if it’s a good rut. There’s always stuff that “we’re gonna do some day,” but never quite get to, especially if it’s local. (It seems like there’ll always be time to do that….)

*Then there’s the stuff that we never really notice, of hardly ever think about! But there’s fun, even if it’s low-key fun to be had, so this week let’s look at some fun things to do in Chemung County. Not necessarily spectacular… just fun.

*Play a giant game of chess on the carpet of Steele Memorial Library in Elmira.

*For that matter, just visit the library, which is the largest (out of 49) in the five-county region.

*Enjoy a walk around the pleasantly picuresque campus of Elmira College. (And enjoy the fact that the college is still downtown, and hasn’t fled for the suburbs.)

*While you’re on campus, stop in at Mark Twain’s octagonal study, which was originally just outside the city… it’s where he wrote Huckleberry Finn, A Connectcut Yankee, and other classics.

*Walk around the pond at Sperr Memorial Park, seeing what birds you spot and keeping an eye peeled for muskrats.

*The Big Flats Trail runs through the park and alongside the ponds. It’s a straight level rail trail that makes a great walk, and even encourages relucatant walkers.

*Explore the trails at Big Flats Community Park. If you have young kids, take them to the playground there. They’ll probably like the stegasaurus.

*Take a hike at Tanglewood Nature Center.

*Hike or bike on the Lackawanna Rail Trail, which runs right through the city and is now 8.7 miles long.

*Hike on the Catharine Valley Trail, another rail trail, which you can pick up near Pine Valley and follow all the way to Watkins Glen.

*Visit the lookout on Harris Hill, especially if it’s good weather for the sailplanes to be landing and taking off.

*Go on inside, and visit the National Soaring Museum.

*In season, play miniature golf at Harris Hill Amusement Park.

*Catch a show at the Clemens Center.

*In the right season, take in a Collegiate League baseball game with the Elmira Pioneers at Dunn Field, or a Federal League hockey game with the Elmira Enforcers at First Arena.

*Go shopping – not normally much of an attraction for me. But there are several opportunities that you may find fun.

*If you’re into crafts, the general Consumer Square area has Michael’s, Hobby Lobby, and Joanne Fabric (in three different shopping centers).

*Not far from Michael’s there’s also Barnes & Noble, where you’re bound to find at least one book you’d like. (Maybe including some of mine!)

*How many places still have a comic book store? Heroes Your Mom Threw Out is in Elmira Heights.

*Elmira Heights is also home to Hesselson’s, “where it’s fun to poke in the corners” – outdoor supplies, hunting goods, hot tubs, and who knows what else?

*While you’re thinking of outdoor supplies, the huge Field and Stream store in Consumer Square is fun just to wander through, though they’d no doubt be pleased as punch if you also bought something.

*The Christmas House in Elmira is open July through January!

*If you want to take in a movie on the big screen, you have the 10-screen multiplex Regal at Arnot Mall; the old-time downtown walk-in theater (The Heights) in Elmira Heights); and, in season, the Elmira Drive -In.

*Have fun!

Check Out the Clemens Center

We don’t visit the Clemens Center very often. And that’s a mistake on our part.

*What sparks this observation is our recent enjoyment of a performance the Platters, the Drifters, AND the Coasters… three singing groups whose dulcet tones inhabited the airways of the 1950s and 1960s with songs such as “Down by the Boardwalk,” “Do the Locomotion,” “Let’s Do the Twist,” “Sentimental Journey,” “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes,” and many, many more. They were rock and roll, with a touch of rhythm and blues.

*The crowd was overwhelmingly (ahem) our age, old enough to remember getting these performances first-time and first-hand on hi-fi’s and transistor radios. We saw only two very young people, and the place was packed. The last words of the performance were, “Rock and roll is here to stay!” Which seems a safe bet.

*Besides concerts, Clemens is also a venue for plays and musicals… “The Sound of Music” is coming up soon… by top-level professional touring companies. A few years ago they deepened and enlarged their stage, giving them the opportunity to book in shows such as “Les Miserables” or “The Phantom of the Opera,” where the huge, elaborate sets are half the show.

*There are also numerous school performances at various age interests, which is a real blessing for area students, giving them a chance to experience professional theater and music. We had a similar experience growing up in Rhode Island, where the school systems took advantage of Trinity Square Repertory Company and the American Shakespeare Theater. Those were life-changing opportunities.

*The Orchestra of the Southern Finger Lakes makes its home in the Clemens Center.

*Clemens Center (originally Keeney’s Theater) goes back almost a hundred years, and from time to time they book in a silent movie. Today it’s often forgotten that the studios commissioned scores for those films, and the sheet music accompanied the film cans. Theater orchestras accompanied the films.

*Or sometimes the music was a solo tour de force by a single musician. When Clemens Center has a silent movie, the theater organ rises up from beneath the stage. The organist performs the entire score, without a break, through the whole movie, in full view of the audience. The organist gets a standing ovation at the end, and the organist deserves it.

*Once a venue for vaudeville and silent movies, the theater was ravaged by floods in 1946 and 1972, then condemned for highway expansion. Local agitators and fund-raisers saved it and reopened as a non-profit in 1977 with a perfomance by Ella Fitzgerald.

*Even with a large crowd and a downtown setting in the heart of Elmira, we found it very simple to get into the dedicated parking garage ($3 for the evening), then to get out again and be on our way afterward. It’s only a few steps from garage to theater and back, though we will note that the elevator was out of order, AND that some floors were missing an out-of-order sign, which created some frustrations and some slow-downs. On the other hand, some people kept pressing the button even WITH an out-of-order sign right there. So you never can tell.

*The rest of the ’18-’19 Broadway Series includes Cinderella, Chicago, Jersey Boys, Something Rotten, and The King and I. Seasonal performances for the next two months include Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: The Musical; Orchestra of the Southern Finger Lakes Holiday Concert; The Nutcracker in Motion; Common Time Choral Group – a Holiday Celebration; and the Annual Arctic League Broadcast. Plus there are school performances, comedy clubs, and more. Really, you should check it out.

Dollhouses and Miniatures — at the National Soaring Museum

Have you been to the National Soaring Museum lately?

*If you haven’t been lately (or at all), think about a trip up Harris Hill to take a look. I think you’ll get some pleasant surprises.

*The annual dollhouse and miniatures show that used to sparkle up the winter at Curtiss Museum has migrated over to the Soaring Museum, and we stopped in to see it on a February Saturday.

*We’ve been regulars at the show, and even sometime exhibitors, since the 1995-96 season, so we encountered some old friends, as well as making some new acquaintances.

*Right in the lobby we found pieces from the late Marie Rockwell’s collection, such as a southwestern “adobe” house complete with cermaics and needlepoint carpets in Navajo-style designs… an exacting and delightful attention to detail.

*Most of us are accustomed to dollhouses for play, but miniaturists work for showing, rather than playing (though making and showing are forms of play themselves). Scott Hopkins’s camper is open on one side and the top for better viewing. It even includes an outhouse behind the camper.

*Sue McGoun created an amusing upstairs/downstairs house, where the downstairs hosts a pair of stereotypical 1950s parents in 1950s setting, while the upstairs is populated with, and furnished by, today’s 21st-century teenagers.

*Each item shines on its own merits. Stacy Clark’s instricate rosewood “chinoiserie” furniture (exhibited on its own) is inlaid with mother-of-pearl. Pam Burton’s Halloween House was created in a lengthy labor of love. Ron and Shirlee Cornwell created a large farmhouse, but it springs to the fore because of the outdoor Christmas display.

*Long-time area residents might recognize Fritz Meyers’s piece – a large-scale model of the Atlantic gas station in Big Flats, complete with double service bay and two pumps out front.

*Will Parker creates unusual eye-catching model train layouts, including an X-scale figure-8 with windmill and stone cottages – the more you study it, the more you find, and the more you lose yourself in Will’s little world.

*And that’s just (some of) what’s in the lobby! Downstairs there’s a large mansion by Joyce Merletti, and a “community” of three mansions and three cottages, from Marie Rockwell, Lillian Elwood, and Helen Keeton. Undergoing some work in the restoration shop, but accessible for viewing, is a fully-furnished four-story mansion with excellent sightlines through its chock-full interior.

*As if that weren’t enough, there’s a small but impressive collection of Eastern Orthodox icons “written” (that is, painted) by Joyce Merletti. And in the upstairs mezannine hallway are a half-dozen nature paintings by C. F. Lawrence. In “All But Forgotten,” a blue jay perches on a dilapidated “park bench,” surrounded by overgrown grasses and under an overcast sky.

*The female cardinal in “Fallen Silent” perches on an old bell, and even without touching it you can feel the rust on the bell.

*So why is all of this at the Soaring Museum? Is not completely new… NSM has a history (and a future) with quilt exhibits, for instance. The board and new director Trafford Doherty (like me, a former director at Curtiss) are looking forward to more changing exhibits with more variety, connecting the place more directly with the local community, on top of being what I believe is the only soaring museum in the western hemisphere. And more about THAT in a future blog!

Steele Memorial Library — a Cool Place

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*Our five-county region has 49 public libraries, and the largest of these is Steele Memorial Library in Elmira… which is itself the largest city in the five counties.

*Both the 1923 main branch and the old much-missed South Branch were clobbered in the 1972 Hurricane Agnes flood, along with most of the rest of the city. Records were lost, thousands of books were ruined, and the structures were severely stressed. This led to creation of a new facility, opened in 1979, well-located for downtown at Church Street and Clemens Center Parkway.

*Maybe the most attractive thing about Steele – it has the largest collection in the area. It’s been designated the central library for Southern Tier Library System, meaning that anyone with a card at the other 48 member libraries may borrow materials, either in person or by inter-library loan.

*The architecture itself screams “1970s!”, which gives it a retro charm all its own. Besides checkout and rest rooms, the lower level offers new books, rental books, periodicals, the children’s section, the young adult section, the video discs, and the audio discs. There are cases for library and community exhibits.

*It also has a carpeted chessboard, with pieces a couple of feet high. It doesn’t make the game any different, but it provides an added layer of fun and even goofiness.

*A massive freestanding staircase and elevator lead up to the mezzanine – nonfiction, adult fiction, adult graphic novels, science fiction, mystery fiction, mass-market paperbacks, computers, a locked section of rare books, and a VERY helpful reference department – I made use of their services several times while I was writing a book about the 1972 flood. From the mezzanine you also get a good look at the lower level, which is neat if you’re looking for family members or cool if you’re just people-watching. You can also follow the chess match from on high, which gives you delusions of grandeur.

*Besides the chess area (and the sheer number of books), here are some things that are neat about the Steele Memorial Library.

*There are three dedicated graphic novel sections – one for adults, one for kids, and one for young adults. The offerings run from old-time newspaper strip collections to currently mainstream to edgy and avant-garde.

*A large screen shows the Weather Channel.

*It’s downtown – a sign of commitment to (and by) the city and its people.

*Even though it’s downtown it’s easily reached, and it has good on-site parking (not always the case with urban libraries).

*You can walk to Light’s Bakery, and to the Chemung Valley History Center. You can walk a couple of blocks, and take a look at the river.

*Public events take place in the green spaces nearby.

*Steele Library introduced me to historian (and deadpan comedian) Simon Schama, and also to former Elmira resident Graham Sale, the cartoonist who created “Men in Hats.”

*Steele Library helped me out when I was trying to document turn-of-the-century cartoonist (and Horseheads resident) Eugene Zimmerman’s books or the Grand Comics Database. (I put Graham Sale in there, too.)

*The library memorializes John Dorman Steele, 19th-century E.F.A. principal and major figure in American education.

*It’s a very handy place if you’ve got someone in either of Elmira’s two hospitals!

Baby Boom Christmas — Do YOU Remember?

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Christmas is a lot of things to a lot of people, but for almost everyone Christmas includes nostalgia and memories. Sometimes they’re very profound, and sometimes silly and trivial… but even those can be heart-gripping.

Not too many of us actually remember the one-horse open sleigh days, but even memories from “modern times” can seem like another world. For instance, back in the Baby Boom of the 1950s and 1950s…

*You might have gone shopping at M. Cohn & Sons on Liberty Street in Bath, where “Kaynee Pigskin Parade Coordinates rate a rousing cheer” for scoring “another fashion goal with the boys!” These Coordinates were “ivy-neat,” and indeed the young lad in the ad looks like he belongs at Princeton, with jacket, flat cap, and knife-cut creases on his slacks.

*You might find a Dacron blouse and tweed skirt for $12.98 at Mary Kirkland Shoppe in Painted Post, and you might hope that they made you look as elegant as the ecstatic lady in the ad.

*To get the most from your new blouse and skirt you might need Spirella Foundations, custom-made for each individual, measurements taken in the privacy of your home by Mrs. Bertha Crippen of Bath. If you don’t know what we’re talking about, don’t worry about it. You probably weren’t there anyway.

*You might be getting a new hi-fi phonograph from W. T. Grant (in Bath and elsewhere), with four speeds, two speakers, and a hefty price tag of $49.95 (but with convenient terms and no down payment).

*You might be heading out to shop A&P for Holiday Foods and a Wide Selection of Festive Money-Savers, including Butterball and Blue Ribbon oven-ready turkeys at 36 cents a pound.

*You (or your mother) might be playing the Acme Cross-Out Game, with 3500 prizes worth $35,000! Mrs. Doris Doloisio of Cortland and Mrs. Elizabeth Anderson of Canandaigua each won mink stoles!

*If you saved up a hundred dollars in your Christmas Club account, you could make your Christmas “the merriest ever!”

*You could be financing your Christmas shopping by saving Triple-S Blue Stamps from Grand Union (turkeys 39 cents a pound), or with S&H Green Stamps from Cohn’s.

*You might be hoping for a Western Flyer bicycle from Western Auto… maybe accessorized with a Cadet speedometer advertised in “Boys Life.”

*You might be enjoying “the light refreshment” of soda (In glass bottles! Made with cane sugar!) from Pepsi-Cola Elmira Bottling Co., Inc.

*You might be shopping at Rockwell’s in Corning, or at Iszard’s in Elmira, or at Agway almost anywhere.

*You might be arranging special gifts for the milkman and the paper boy.

*You might be haunting the newsstand for “Archie’s Christmas Stocking,” or for the annual Christmas issues of Uncle Scrooge, Dennis the Menace, or Sugar and Spike.

*You might have ordered “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens from the Arrow Book Club, and you might be sweating out a delivery before school lets out.

*You might be hoping to start vacation early with a snow day, and guarantee a white Christmas. What do YOU remember?

“Going to Church”

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Our area benefits a lot from tourism, and tourism is… whatever somebody wants to see or do. Railfans will bushwhack through the brush for half an hour to get to the place where the tracks USED to be, and consider it the best morning they’ve ever spent. Genealogists haunt the cemeteries. Some people enjoy wine tastings, though many others find that the most bizarre waste of time they could imagine. And golf is something you get, or you don’t get; there’s no middle ground.

Both tourists and local folks (not just here, but anywhere) often miss the thought of churches as places of interest. They have historical, social, architectural, religious, spiritual, and ecclesiastical significance, and they’re not usually hard to find. “Where there is a church there is civilization,” in the words of Lord Peer Wimsey. Our region has quite a few interesting edifices for churches and places of worship.

The FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH in Bath is a standout by any standard. Its late 19th-century incarnation was largely funded by the Davenport family, entrepreneurs and benefactors of fame in the county seat. The massive stone edifice rises dramatically on the courthouse square, right on the axis of Liberty Street.

Visitors come literally from around the world to view the sumptuous sanctuary, magnificently designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany. The church hosts drop-in tours on Wednesdays following the Fourth of July and through August, and by appointment.

ST. THOMAS EPISCOPAL CHURCH, farther up Liberty Street, is a fitting counterpoint to First Presbyterian. Also a massive stone structure, with a sky-piercing spire, the St. Thomas edifice is the oldest in Bath village. The congregation is now celebrating its bicentennial.

The EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF THE GOOD SHEPHERD, by contrast to these breathtaking edifices, is a lovely century-old cobblestone creation, with craftsman-style touches, tucked quietly away on a side street in Savona. GARRETT MEMORIAL CHAPEL, meanwhile, is a jewelbox Norman Gothic style church on Keuka Bluff, with services on summer Sundays. The winemaking Garrett family built it in memory of a son who died young.

TEMPLE BETH-EL, an impressive understated structure on Church Street in Hornell, is interesting as home to the only formal Jewish congregation in Steuben County.

If you go looking for HARRISBURG HOLLOW METHODIST CHURCH outside Bath, you won’t find it. What you WILL find is the steeple – JUST the steeple – standing there for all the world like the lamppost in Narnia.

TOWN LINE CHURCH in Rathbone is interesting (to me, it’s also familiar), because it follows the old New England pattern of two front doors leading to two side aisles, rather than the more common central door and a central aisle.

Reverend Thomas K. Beecher (brother of Harriet Beecher Stowe) ministered at PARK CHURCH in Elmira, where a statue honors his memory. During his time here he led the church in creating a large up-to-date facility with banquet hall, social rooms, play space, and library – the forerunner of the modern mega-church.

George Pullman (the sleeper-car millionaire) underwrote PULLMAN MEMORIAL UNIVERSALIST CHURCH of Albion in honor of his father. It was built with local Medina sandstone and includes 56 (!) Tiffany windows.

ST. JANUARIUS CATHOLIC CHURCH in Naples has a remarkable 1966 edifice that delightfully complements its vineyard setting. It also features a chalet roof, and its floor plan represents a grape leaf. This is a fine example of modern church architecture, at once thoughtful and innovative. It draws from, adds to, and fits into its surroundings.

And, of course, you should see ST. GABRIEL’S CHURCH in Hammondsport – just because it’s the coolest Catholic Church in the coolest small town in America!

An Ugly History — the Ku Klux Klan in Our Area

In 1925, the Ku Klux Klan held a two-day regional rally at Yates County fairgrounds, and a four-day regional rally at Chemung County Fairgrounds, culminating in a fourth of July fireworks spectacular by 250 Klavaliers from Altoona, Pa. The Klan openly held meetings and rallies in dozens of our communities, and burned crosses in dozens of our communities. They held parades in the streets of our communities, and motor cavalcades along our country roads. Members in dozens of churches applauded when Ku Klux Klan members paraded in wearing their robes. Very often the ministers were members. So were police chiefs, county treasurers, presidents of common councils. In several counties they controlled the Republican Party for years.

How did this happen?

In 1915 there appeared a silent spectacular of the silver screen, Birth of a Nation, which glorified the Ku Klux Klan, depicting blacks as monsters and their white sympathizers as dupes. Canny organizers (who made fortunes on memberships and sales) took advantage of this free advertising, adding in whispered warnings about “the foreign:” Jews, Catholics, immigrants, and city dwellers, in addition to African Americans. Rural whites were already being pressured economically – SOME ONE must be responsible, and the Klan had ready answers, PLUS a program to do something about it! AND all the usual benefits of joining a lodge.

These people were also angry (or frightened) at modernization. Votes for women; independent, educated African Americans; movies and radio making people long for something more; new technologies changing the economy; strong unions; religious ideas different from what they’d been used to; modern art; new advances in science; the fact that more Americans now lived in the city than in the country. AND Al Smith was our governor! Catholic! Urban! Progressive! Child of immigrants! He didn’t even believe in prohibition! “Take back our state!”

It’s hard for us to fathom today, but people were fiercely proud of their membership. There was a K.K.K. filling station in Bath, and another in Painted Post. There are K.K.K. gravestones in Canisteo. Members painted K.K.K. on a cliff in Cameron Mills, and maintained it for decades. The Klan had its own meeting house in Cameron Mills into the 1950s. Newspapers reported K.K.K. funerals, and K.K.K. weddings.

Yates County Historical Society has a minute book from the ladies’ auxiliary, the Keuka Klub. They had meetings with 20 to 40 members present, gathering at Milo Second Baptist Church, Penn Yan Methodist Church, and a Grange hall, then rented the Moose Hall for $125 a year.

They had lectures, singing, quilting bee, relief for the sick, etc. In June 1925 they minuted “stores in Penn Yan who are Prodident.” The spelling was not even phonetic, making us wonder whether they even understood what Protestantism was historically.

On one occasion Klan members marched in a circle in front of St. Michael’s church in Penn Yan. Father Hugh A. Crowley (pastor 1922-1930) came out and told them that if they didn’t leave he’d kick their asses. He was a big man, and they left. At a rally in Bath the speaker demanded that any Catholics in the audience leave, insisting that he only wanted to spare their feelings.

The N.A.A.C.P. fought the Klan, and so did the Grand Army of the Republic, though those Union veterans were growing few and frail by then. A mob chased Klan speakers off in Elmira in 1923. When 6000 people in Buffalo joined up the mayor had a policeman infiltrate the group and steal the membership list, which the mayor then published. African Americans from Bath crisscrossed the region jawboning mayors, who generally said they couldn’t stop peaceful parades. But anti-mask laws sprang up, and statewide the 1923 Walker Law, with some exceptions, required organizations to report annually on their memberships, oaths, and bylaws.

The Klan reportedly was still burning crosses on people’s lawns – in Prattsburgh, for instance – into the 1970s, and they still exist in small numbers today, but the big fever died out by the end of the 1920s. Scandals involving the national leadership disillusioned many. Al Smith left the scene. The N.A.A.C.P. conducted a vigorous campaign educating American about lynchings, and finally the Depression got everybody’s minds onto other things.

It’s a very ugly part of our history, but sad to say it’s also a significant part. I’ll be reporting on these chilling days in Steuben County Historical Society’s next Winter Lecture, 4 PM Friday March 6 in Bath Fire Hall – free and open to the public.

Elmira Faces — Part Two

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Last week in this space we looked at that wonderful billboard on Church Street, just as you enter Elmira from I-86. Seven famous Elmirans gaze benignly down on arriving visitors, and last week we looked at three of them – Mark Twain, John Jones, and Ernie Davis.
Of the seven probably two are pretty much instantly recognizable to the broad body of Americans: Mark Twain, and Brian Williams.
Brian Williams has been giving the news for many years. Unfortunately for the last few weeks he’s also been making the news, and not in a good way.
Williams was born in Elmira and lived there until his middle-school years. In adulthood he became a broadcast newsman, working his way through the usual round of local stations to the CBS flagship station in New York City, and then to network news on NBC. He got a Peabody Award in journalistic excellence for Hurricane Katrina coverage, and anchored the NBC Nightly News With Brian Williams for ten years. Walter Cronkite spoke warmly and admiringly.
Since New Year’s, though, he’s been placed on six months unpaid suspension for inflating personal experiences during our latest war in Iraq, along with other questionable statements.
As a longtime newsman myself, I agree. Mistakes happen and can be forgiven, but they’ve got to be honest mistakes, conscientiously arrived at, and they’ve got to be corrected when discovered. Only then can the public trust you.
At the same time, I cynically and sourly note that this never hurt, for instance, Ronald Reagan’s career. He continued telling stories to wild applause, even though both he and his applauders knew they’d been proven to be lies, and millions still consider him a secular saint. All the more reason for news reporters to be above reproach.
Another face may puzzle out-of-towners unfamiliar with it, though they may recognize his name: Tommy Hilfiger. The design and clothing magnate began his life and his career in Elmira, even losing his store (when he was 21) in the Hurricane Agnes flood. He appears at some length in the WSKG public TV documentary on the flood, and his observations really add color and depth. Since then he’s parlayed the business into what just about anybody could consider a pretty reasonable success.
There’s just one woman on the billboard, and that’s Colonel Eileen Collins. Born in Elmira of immigrant parents, she made herself useful at Harris Hill in quest of flying lessons. She graduated from Elmira Free Academy, Corning Community College, and Syracuse University – besides getting two master’s degrees – and joined the Air Force, eventually becoming a space shuttle astronaut.
Taking nothing away from Sally Ride, Valentina Tereshkova, and others, Eileen Collins actually piloted, and finally commanded, her spacecraft, making her the highest-flying American woman ever. There’s a special gratification to know that Blanche Stuart Scott of Rochester became America’s FIRST woman pilot with a 1910 flight in Hammondsport, neatly bracketing the first woman pilot and the highest woman pilot right here in the Finger Lakes.
I could have written these columns much earlier if I could have figured out who the seventh figure was. He looked like a chef… in fact, he looked like Emeril. Or maybe he was one of the local NASCAR drivers? My son Erik broke the logjam by just casually remarking one day, “Looks like a movie director.” Hal Roach!
Yes indeed, that master of magical movie mirth and mayhem was born (and lies buried) in Elmira. Arriving in Hollywood as far back as 1912, Roach started as an extra but was soon directing and producing, most notably with Harold Lloyd, Will Rogers, “Our Gang,” and EXTRA most notably – Laurel and Hardy. He was shrewd enough to make a strong early move into television, producing new shows and retailing his old movies. He was just short of 101 when he died. His Wikipedia article points out that he had outlived many of his “Our Gang” child actors. He’d also brought the world a lot of laughs, and what could be a better epitaph than that?
So… a social critic, a freedom fighter, an athlete, an astronaut and pilot, a designer and entrepreneur, a news reporter, and a pioneering producer of comedies. All of them welcome you to Elmira, their old home town. Really, that’s a delightful billboard. Well done.