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Last week we talked a little bit about the Plank Road, but I should have really started with earlier roads and ways of traveling in the late 18th and early 19th centuries when white settlers were first making their way to the area which encompasses Cortland County today. The Tioughnioga River was one of the primary methods of transportation for the Indigenous peoples of this area along with well-traveled land trails. These methods of travel were perfect for people without horses and wagons, but not conducive to ox carts laden with people and household goods traveling from New England and other places. One of theRead More →

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  When I started working at CCHS eight years ago, I had never heard the term “plank road,” and I bet many of you have never heard the term, either. A plank road is exactly that, a road made of wooden planks. Two parallel stringers were covered with planks of wood 3-4 inches thick and 8 feet long. The planks were not secured to the stringers, but they stayed in place because of their own weight. The ends of the planks were not trimmed because the extra projections were often useful when wheels went off the road. In my mind, it does not seem likeRead More →

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There is no street sign to indicate it’s there, but believe it or not, Blodgett Street still exists, kind of. If you look at this 1902 Sanborn Insurance map, you can see it is parallel to Port Watson Street and a turn off from Pendleton Street. On the Google map, it is merely the entrance to a parking area. Blodgett Street is named after Hiram Curtis Blodgett, a name we have encountered before when I wrote about the Floral Fountain Trout Park. I’m positively captivated by that place, so if you missed that article last year, here it is: https://www.facebook.com/CortlandCountyHistoricalSociety/posts/3438608786206742   Unfortunately, there is notRead More →

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  Did you know that Maple Avenue used to be called Merrick Street? As near as I can tell, it was named for David or Danforth Merrick, a father, and son who came here from Massachusetts in 1800. The newspaper article I’ve been using as a starting point for research says that the “Merrick family owned a large tract covering what is now Lincoln and Maple.” The 1855 map of Cortland, the 1876 atlas, and the 1888 map do not show a large tract owned by the Merrick family in that area so perhaps they owned land in that area prior to 1855. It’s unclearRead More →

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  A.k.a. Homer Avenue, this street started out as Adams Street. It was named after Major John J. Adams because he owned land along the street. Eventually, the street was renamed Homer Avenue because it leads to Homer. Our maps of 1855, 1876, and 1888 all show it as Adams Street so I’m not sure when the name change occurred. John J. Adams was born on July 12, 1789, in Northumberland, Saratoga County. A family group sheet in the Adams family file lists his parents as Oliver Adams and Catharine Hackely. The Adams family moved to Cortland County around 1804 and settled in Preble. PrebleRead More →

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It’s time to tackle Clinton Avenue. As far as I can tell, this street has had three names in its lifetime. The first was River Street because it led to the Tioughnioga River. The second was Mill Street because it was the road leading to the Red Mills. It was renamed Clinton Avenue after New York State Governor DeWitt Clinton (1817-1828, two terms). Clinton is largely remembered for constructing the Erie Canal. According to the maps I consulted at CCHS, in 1855, the street was called River Street, but “Mill” was penciled in beside that. In the 1876 atlas, the street is labeled Mill StreetRead More →

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Moses Butterfield first came to Homer in 1803, bought land on Lot 47, and built a log house. He planted some corn and returned to Connecticut to ready his family for the move back to Homer. He returned in October of the same year with his (second) wife and four children by his first wife. They spent an evening with Deacon Miller and went to their land the next day. Mrs. Butterfield was discouraged to find that their new dwelling had neither a door nor a roof. Moses went to work and before long they had both floors and a roof made of logs (noRead More →

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According to the 1888 map of Cortland Village, L.M. Loope owned property near Copeland Avenue and according to our reference article on how the streets in Cortland were named, he is the namesake for Loope Street. Lucian Melvin Loope was born on November 8, 1845, in Solon and was the youngest son of J.H. Loope, “one of the oldest living pioneer settlers of this county.” Lucian was educated at the Cincinnatus and Cortlandville academies as well as the Oneida conference seminary in Cazenovia. He taught school for a few terms while he completed his own education. After he finished school, he traveled west for aRead More →

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While looking through “Grip’s Historical Souvenir” recently, I noticed a woman named Marion L. Weatherwax who was a clerk for the Cortland Standard. It made me remember that I had seen Weatherwax Street on the 1888 map of Cortland in the entryway at CCHS. Today the street is called Bement Place, so what’s the scoop? This one is not exactly solved, but I wanted to share the avenues (pun intended) I took to try to find some answers. Our starting point was the 1888 map where the street is labeled and the property in that vicinity was owned by B.F. Weatherwax. The first place IRead More →

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Graham Avenue is a street that brings back fond memories for me. As a teen, I worked summers at WSUC-FM, the college radio station. I often had a morning shift and rode my bike up there from my great grandmother’s house on Rural Avenue. It was always so peaceful and quiet at 5:00 am. It was still usually cool, but heat and humidity were just lurking around the corner. When I was at the radio station, I had no idea who Brockway Hall was named after (George Brockway, I know now), and I never gave a thought as to how the street was named. JuliusRead More →