A couple of weeks ago we visited Tioga County Historical Society, where it was opening day for a new exhibition on manufacturing and advertising in Tioga. I was thrilled to see a Monarch motorcycle. The company had been in Addison and in Elmira Heights before moving to Owego, and was pretty much contemporary with Glenn Curtiss.
*We were both very impressed to see how MUCH Tioga County has manufactured over the years. IBM, Lockheed-Martin, and Endicott-Johnson are all modern-day manufacturers. But in addition to their products, and in addition to motorcycles, Tioga folks have made farm machinery… iron bridges… dairy products… household implements… ladders… furniture… chairs… carriages… and swords for the movie “Braveheart.”
*They also had a substantial business providing seeds.
*The extent and variety of manufacturing in what’s actually a small county (both geographically and in terms of population) may reflect Tioga’s location between the cities of Binghamton, Elmira, and Ithaca, not to mention the proximity of Binghamton University and Cornell. Combine these advantages with good road and rail routes, and you have a recipe for success.
*Tioga’s legal history goes back to 1791, when it was split off from the then-huge Ontario County. Broome and Chemung would later be created from Schuyler, as would parts of Chenango and Schuyler.
*Owego is the county seat, but Tioga also has Spencer, Candor, Nichols, Waverly, and Newark Valley – among others. In 1957 prominent Mafiosi gathered for a summit conference at a private home in Apalachin. When they noticed a state trooper keeping watch nearby they panicked, despite the fact that there was nothing illegal about the gathering in and of itself.
*Police soon rounded up (we could even say rescued) dozens of smartly-dressed city boys whose suits and wingtips just didn’t serve in the woods and the cornfields. They said that they had heard that the host was sick, and had all just coincidentally arrived at once to bring him good wishes. This public spectacle forced J. Edgar Hoover to admit the existence of the Mafia, something he had roundly denied up till then.
*Apalachin is also home to the Blue Dolphin, a justly-popular restaurant at Exit 66 on I-86. We eat there whenever we can contrive an excuse.
*John D. Rockefeller lived in Richford as a small boy. Walter Taylor, founder of the Hammondsport winemaking dynasty, was brought up in Owego. The Bodine family of NASCAR fame all graduated from Waverly High School. Another native-born Owegan was Tom Platt, U.S. Senator and powerful Republican boss of New York. His much-younger second wife (whom he disinherited) became a student of Glenn Curtiss, and one of the first woman aviators.
*The Susquehanna River flows right along the edge of Front Street in the county seat of Owego, and overflows badly from time to time. There were catastrophic floods in 1935, 1972, and 2011. Sullivan’s army ravaged its way through Tioga during the Revolutionary War.
*Tioga Downs is in Tioga County. A standardbred course, Tioga Downs also offers flea markets, concerts, and “racino” gambling opportunities, recently being expanded under new state action.
*Interstate 86 crosses through Tioga from east to west (and the other way, of course).
*Tioga has at least 55 listings on the National Register of Historic Places, and at least 35 state historic markers.
*The county is rather bigger than Chemung, but has a population a good deal smaller… about equal to the combined populations of Elmira City, Corning City, and Bath Town. There is one state park (Two Rivers, near Waverly), but numerous town and county parks. It’s in the state-identified 14-county Finger Lakes region for purposes of tourism promotion, but doesn’t actually touch any of the lakes. (Neither do Wayne, Monroe, or Chemung.) Like much of the Southern Tier, Tioga is good deer and turkey country. The Finger Lakes Trail goes through the Town of Richford.
*Tioga County is a good place for a nice, quiet visit. It’s a shame it’s so overlooked, among its bigger neighbors. Think about stopping by. We like it. Maybe you will too.