main street

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 andRead More →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →