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Sophie Clough

Main Street Monday ~ 51-55 Main Street

2024-12-11
By: Sophie Clough
On: December 11, 2024
In: Places

We finally reach the last block on the north side of Hubbard’s Corners, that is, the intersection of Main and Court Streets! Bertha Blodgett tells the story of Jonathan Hubbard in “Stories of Cortland County” as follows: “Jonathan Hubbard must have been an unusual man. You will remember that he was one of the first men to push his way through the forest which covered all of Cortland County in 1794, and from a high tree on Court House Hill he looked over the land. He made up his mind that right at the foot of that hill, toward the east, would be a futureRead More →

Main Street Monday: 56-60 Wallace Building

2024-10-23
By: Sophie Clough
On: October 23, 2024
In: Places

The most concrete information I have about the early use of the northwest corner of Main and W Court Streets comes from a deed between Ebenezer Hopkins and Oliver W. Brewster. In 1828, Brewster purchased the property which he used as a female seminary. But the deed indicates that the lot was “known and distinguished by the Ballard stand,” with reference to it being a tavern. This “Ballard” appears to be Joshua Ballard (1774-1855), who in the village of Homer built an inn on the corner of Main and Albany Streets that would later be known as Wisdom’s Gate. In 1819, he moved to theRead More →

Main Street Monday: 43-49 Schermerhorn/Newberry Building

2024-09-02
By: Sophie Clough
On: September 2, 2024
In: Announcements, Places

Glimpse above the third-story windows of the building at 43-49 Main Street and you’ll find a stone marking it as the J.J. Newberry Building. Indeed, Newberry’s occupied the structure for sixty-five years from 1927-1992. But, built in 1879, it was initially known as the Schermerhorn building, later called the A.M. Collins block. Prior to the block’s construction, it appears that there were two separate frame structures on the lot, one serving as James A. Schermerhorn’s law office, and the other housing various businesses. These include the drug store of Aaron Sager from 1857-1861, and a shoe business owned by a revolving door of partnerships (FitzgeraldRead More →

Main Street Monday: 50-54 Messenger/Taylor Hall Block

2024-05-22
By: Sophie Clough
On: May 22, 2024
In: Places

The Taylor Hall block is chock-full of history and stories, that it is simply impossible to cover it all in a single post! To dive into all the events, performances, dances, masquerades, concerts, and speakers that graced the Taylor Hall stage alone would likely fill a book. Therefore, this will simply be a brief, surface-level overview. As I often like to do, I first went to Smith’s “History of Cortland County” to see what he had to provide on the early history of the location. What I found proved confusing and contradictory. For those that read the post on the Taylor Building (44-46 Main Street),Read More →

Main Street Monday: 41 Main Street (Edgcomb/Carbulon building)

2024-03-07
By: Sophie Clough
On: March 7, 2024
In: Places

41 Main Street is a small structure, but if I got my history right, its bones are made up of one of the oldest buildings that remain on Main Street! In 1860, brothers Isaac and Martin Edgcomb purchased the lot south of Cloyes and Garrison’s grocery to move their harness business there. Presumably, this is when the location first became occupied by a building, although I remain somewhat unsure given how the area is presented in maps. Sometimes it appears that the neighboring buildings must have been too close to allow for any kind of building to be put there, and other maps make itRead More →

Main Street Monday: 37-39 Main Street

2024-02-15
By: Sophie Clough
On: February 15, 2024
In: Places

This portion of Main Street was for a long time a grocery, then department store, and finally an experimental mall in an attempt to draw business back from the suburban strip malls. In 1843, Isaac M. Seaman began a grocery and meat business at the spot, described as the only one of its kind in the village at the time. He then partnered with Leavitt Cudworth until 1847. The mantle was taken up by B.K. Aldrich, followed by G.N. Copeland. In 1852, David C. Cloyes bought out Mr. Copeland and continued the business until 1878. From this point, the building starts to be referred toRead More →

First Main Street Monday of 2024! 44-46 Main Street- B.F. Taylor building

2024-01-23
By: Sophie Clough
On: January 23, 2024
In: Places

This is another location where the early history is something of a mystery, and I’m not even sure of the accuracy of what I did manage to find out. Smith’s “History of Cortland County” provides a date of about 1863 for an early structure, at which point the firm of Mills & Goodrich (dealers in hardware, stoves, and tinware) moved a frame building from the corner of Main and Court Street to the spot to serve as their new store. Smith indicates that in its old location, the building had been occupied for many years as a seminary. This would refer to Cortland’s female boardingRead More →

Main Street Monday! Central Avenue & 35 Main Street

2023-11-06
By: Sophie Clough
On: November 6, 2023
In: Places

This Main Street Monday also covers the history of Central Avenue! At least in part. Before the formation of Central Avenue, formerly called Railroad Street, a building stood on Main Street at what would become the street entrance. The first structure we can date there is from 1841 which is the earliest I can find a business under the auspice of J.C. Pomeroy & Co., dealing in dry goods as the “Cortland Exchange” in the “new white building one door north of Wm. Elder.” James C. Pomeroy had previously been in business with William Elder in the building next door, at the location of modern-dayRead More →

Main Street Monday: 36-42 Main Street

2023-09-15
By: Sophie Clough
On: September 15, 2023
In: Buildings, Places

  This week’s Main Street Monday is a triple hitter with the First National Bank building, Fireman’s Hall, and the County Clerk’s Office building. We must first review a bit of information from two Main Street Monday posts ago when I covered the history of the Calvert Block (30-34 Main Street); the portion of Main Street that now contains 36 and 38 was once part of the Josiah Hart estate, and in 1865 he gave a portion of the land over to the village, allocated for the building of a fire engine house at 38 Main Street. At the same time, a part was givenRead More →

Main Street Monday: 31-33 Main Street

2023-08-22
By: Sophie Clough
On: August 22, 2023
In: Buildings, Places

Central Avenue, c.1915, with the Burgess painted advertisement. We finally approach Central Avenue in our historical journey down Main Street! This time we are taking a look at 31-33 Main Street which has over the years been referred to as the Union Hall block, the Collins block, and the Burgess block. But its beginnings are believed to stretch back to about 1815 when Obadiah Boies presumably built his dwelling in that location. We are lucky enough this time to be able to include a story from when his house was being erected that includes a bit of drama: Nathan Luce and his crew were conductingRead More →

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Cortland County Historical Society
25 Homer Ave
Cortland, New York, 13045
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