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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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The first known building on the spot that is now 9 Main Street was a wooden structure that shows up in the same photo depicting the corner of Main and Clinton that has been featured in past posts. The earliest I can trace the businesses back is to a gentleman named James Van Valen, who came to Cortland from Madison County and kept a “cash and barter” store in 1845. An ad from 1849 shows it came under the ownership of Daniel Schermerhorn who advertised his takeover of Van Valen’s “old stand” with a new  stock of dry goods, groceries, and hardware. In the 1860sRead More →

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The earliest building that appears on maps was an L-shaped brick structure that at the time was the residence of Robert O. Reynolds (1811-1855). Reynolds was partnered with Hiram Crandall as attorneys and counselors at law, and their office neighbored Reynolds’ home. By 1876 the house was reduced to a square shape and was owned by Julius A. Graham (1827-1902), who once ran the Cortland House and was involved in many different enterprises over the years. The residence underwent renovations in 1895 to form a new business block (#12) that would contain the drug business of Fred I. Graham, and an article from the HomerRead More →

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The beginning of the history of #3-5 Main Street overlaps with that of #1 covered several weeks ago (https://tinyurl.com/zd4y4h). Joshua Ballard is quoted in H.P. Smith’s “History of Cortland County” as saying: “The corner lot where stands the noble brick edifice of Major Aaron Sager and the Dexter House, was once occupied by a tavern building of ordinary size, owned by Grove Gillett, with whom Samuel Nelson, afterwards one of the judges of the Supreme Court of the United States, took board for a time.” This seems to be a reference to an earlier building, perhaps latter replaced by the Barnard block seen in theRead More →

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The first structure on the southwest corner of Main Street and present-day Groton Avenue (at one time named Cortland Street) was called the Lyman Block, a two-story brick structure which is said to have been built around 1816-1817 by Asahel Lym an (1787-1840). Ly man conducted a mercantile business on the spot for about 25 years. By 1855, the same William O. Barnard who owned the Barnard block across the street (see the previous Main Street Monday post here: https://tinyurl.com/zd4y4h) took possession of the location that would come to be referred to as the “dry goods corner.” The Samson name comes into the picture someRead More →

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Like most cities, Cortland has a fair number of streets named after trees. In the old newspaper article (circa 1908) I’ve been using to investigate street names, we see Maple, Chestnut, Elm, Evergreen, Locust, Willow, Greenbush, and Holly Terrace listed. One could probably include Orchard Street in that lineup as well. In the years since 1908, other streets have popped up with tree-type names: Forrest, Pinecrest, Cedar, Oaklin, Redwood, Woodcrest, Rosewood. In previous posts, we have covered Maple (formerly Merrick Street), Willow Avenue, and Orchard Street, and you can find those stories on our blog (Blog : Cortland County Historical Society (cortlandhistory.org)). This post willRead More →

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  The first structure at 1 Main Street for which we have decent documentation is the Bernard Block, which according to the 1863 map included a boot and shoe shop, a milliner’s shop, and a dry goods and grocery store. D. Morris Kurtz briefly describes the building in his book “Past and Present: A Historical and Descriptive Sketch of Cortland, NY” (1883) as being three stories high in front with a sloping roof and only two stories in the rear. It was apparently one of the most prominent buildings in the village at the time, although rather stunted when compared to the building that replacedRead More →

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While perusing the 1888 map of Cortland at CCHS, I happened to spot a small street between Church and Greenbush Streets that was called State Street. How interesting! There is no trace of this street left today if you consult Google maps. The newspaper article I’ve been consulting for information about the streets of Cortland does not list the inspiration of the name of this forgotten street. State Street opened on Port Watson Street a little more than halfway between Greenbush and Church Streets and led directly to the State Normal School. I did not find any resource that indicated that the street might haveRead More →

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As I began to research Sands Street, I noticed that on the 1888 map, it was formerly called Richard Street. I was unable to figure out how it came to be called Richard Street, but the resource I’ve been using for these street posts indicated that Sands Street was named for George S. Sands so we can take a look at what scant information I found on his life. George S. Sands was born on August 19, 1849, in Middletown, Delaware County. His parents were George H. Sands and Jane Smith Sands. His father was a farmer and conducted a country store and post office.Read More →

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Madison Street was also called Suggett Avenue, or at least part of the street was. From previous research into Woodruff Street, I had discovered that Madison Street was named for U.S. President James Madison. Madison was the namesake of Madison Woodruff and a friend of Woodruff’s father. Looking at maps of Cortland, we find that Suggett Avenue and Madison Street existed by 1876 but were not connected to each other. Property in between the two streets was owned by J.A. Schermerhorn and E.F. Simons. Schermerhorn died in 1879, and I could not find an obituary for E.F. Simons, but both of those lots must haveRead More →