Moving forward, covering the history of the west side of Main Street between W. Court and Tompkins Streets will be pretty easy! This entire block belonged throughout much of the 19th century to the Randall family.
The date of arrival for brothers William and Roswell Randall to Cortland varies from 1812-1814. The earliest deed for them comes from 1813. Originating from Connecticut, their parents were Robert Randall and Lucy Pendleton. The Randall brothers set their sights on the developing village of Cortland which had just been chosen as the county seat. They knew it was bound to become a bustling, growing site for business and industry, so they kicked it off by setting up a store on the north corner of Main and Port Watson Streets (more about that store in a later post!). The brothers also dealt in potash (used for making lye for soapmaking) and whiskey, two important early commodities that were shipped on the Tioughnioga via arks. Additional business ventures included a hotel and a bank.
William and Roswell were shrewd businessmen, and they each amassed a little empire, erected fine estates, and held plenty of real estate in the southern portion of the village of Cortland. At our location of interest for this particular post, on the corner of Main and W. Court Streets, William Randall (1782-1850) built his second mansion in Cortland in 1828. It was a grand colonial-style stone and yellow brick building, with spacious grounds and gardens, and orchards and pasture lands sloping up Courthouse Hill in the rear. In addition, greenhouses were an attraction for visitors to see a cactus or orange tree growing.
The home was furnished with the finest, beautiful things purchased out of New York City. In an image of the parlor, we see three portraits and a pianoforte that have made their way into the CCHS collections! William and his wife, Betsy Bassett Randall, had three children; William Randolph, Antoinette, and Wilhelmina. The last of these to reside in the home was Wilhelmina who never married and died at the advanced age of 93 in 1913. She was remembered as gracious and good, kind to the poor, hospitable to friends and although retiring in disposition was universally admired and loved. One of her childhood friends was Alonzo Blodgett who on every New Year’s Day would dress in his best and ring the front bell of the Randall home to call upon Miss Wilhelmina as he’d done for 60 consecutive years. They talked of the old days when the mansion rang with the laughter of young people as the family kept open house for New Year’s callers.
In 1928, a history of the house was written up by Edward D. Blodgett (son of Alonzo Blodgett) to mark its one hundredth birthday. At the article’s close Blodgett reflects that “one man said, and it is the voice of all, ‘If I could not see the old Randall house when I return to Cortland I would never want to go there again. It would be like Hamlet with Hamlet left out.’ 1828, 1928! What about 2028? Shall the people of Cortland have realized their priceless treasure and will the fine old house be standing?”
We find ourselves now in 2025, and the William Randall mansion long gone.
In 1935, the few distant surviving members of the Randall family sold the antique furnishings and the mansion was put up for sale. CCHS circulated petitions among the residents of the city of Cortland with a request that the city’s common council purchase and control the mansion. Ideas for how to use the property ran from turning it into a park and community center, alternatively used as city hall, or serving as a county museum (CCHS at the time had a room in the Courthouse, so certainly could have used the space!). George Brockway felt it would be better razed and replaced either with a new building to be used as city hall or used for commercial purchases. With taxes apparently already proving a burden to the local people, it did not prove an immediately obvious decision for the city. The purchasing price was $75,000, not including the costs of renovations. The decision was put to a vote from the residents of the city, who turned down the chance to preserve it.
Several years later the northern corner was sold to Montgomery Ward who erected a new building known now as the Marketplace Mall. Meanwhile an addition to the post office crowded in on the mansion from the south. In 1942, George A. Brockway, who had purchased the Randall property, offered it as a gift to the city with the sole purpose that it be used as a parking lot. This offer was rejected on the basis that it was seen to be too costly to prepare the lot for use and maintain it.
Bits from the estate began to get removed and spread about the area; George Brockway took the handwrought ornamental iron gate and posts from the front of the property and placed them before his home on W. Court Street. They at some point ended up on Church Street, then to Tompkins Street to adorn the front of the Alumni House. Although removed some years ago, it is our understanding that the gate is still in possession of the college and will soon be put back. Another relic is a covered well that along with the hand carved balustrade and main hall stairway, as well as the iron wrought posts that decorated the entry steps, came into the possession of R.P. Higgins, Sr. at 70 Tompkins Street. While we do not know the fate of the stairs, the well is visible on the lawn of a home on East River Road. And in a twist of events, this research directly led to CCHS coming in possession of the iron wrought posts from the Randall Mansion steps, until recently still adorning the front stairs at 70 Tompkins Street! Finally, a garden house was first moved to Jere Wickwire’s home at 7 Reynolds Ave, and is now available for all to see at the Genesee Country Village & Museum.
To the regret of many in the community, the old William Randall mansion was partially demolished in 1943, the shell remaining until the spring of 1944. In 1947, one section of the vacant lot was purchased by the Tioughnioga Post of the Veterans of Foreign Wars. The VFW commissioned Carl W. Clark to design for them a new home, which was in use until recently. And for the remaining piece of land between the VFW and Montgomery Ward, it became the city parking lot that George Brockway had been advocating for all along.
Montgomery Ward closed in 1977, and the building has been repurposed as a kind of mini mall.
In 1993 the Mall housed an arcade, fitness studio, health foods store, café, and Lotsa Knots. Many locals can remember when Passions, then Blue Frog occupied the spot that is now the bustling, busy Bru 64. It is nearly impossible to trace each and every business there, but what shops do you remember frequenting over the years?
~Sophie, Collections & Research Assistant