99 Years Ago in Elmira, New York

Compiled by Allen C. Smith from the Elmira Star-Gazette 1908

January 2 Today it is Mayor Sheehan, and Elmira has passed another milestone in her political history and it is former Mayor Brockway. Mr. Brockway has set a standard for emulation by the heads of the city government for decades to come. The Star-Gazette congratulates the former mayor on the excellent work he has done.

January 2 UNCLE TOM'S CABIN AT LYCEUM TONIGHT

January 3 Edwin M. Hart, window decorator for the Barker, Rose & Clinton Company, has been awarded the first prize for displaying the Never-Slip Horseheads so cleverly during December. Elmirans will remember the window display in which the horseshoes were shown at their best when used on the steep, icy incline leading to Santa Claus headquarters.

January 3 OFFER GOOD JOBS IN CIVIL SERVICE - Examination to be held in Elmira this month. Several pay well.
Forest planting assistant: $900 per year
Teacher, Indian service: $50 per month
Computer: range from $1,000 - $1,200 per year
Scientific assistant in seed testing: male $1000 per year, female $840 per year

January 6 All men have their hobbies, but if you want to see those that have the hobby of hobbies, go to the big chicken show that opens tonight at Bundy Hall. A few squirrels and other small wild animals will be shown.

January 6 CHOCOLATE PIE IS HEALTHFUL [headline]

January 11 [front page headline and story] After running away from her parents in Galeton, Pennsylvania, with Luigi Cellalo, an Italian about 30 years old, pretty little Mary Marrone, 15 years old, came to Elmira with her lover on Wednesday. Among her exciting movements has been her secretion by her lover, an offer of $100 reward for her return to her father, stolen, bound and gagged by the Black Hand, taken away from her lover and held for ransom, later recovered, again secreted by her lover from the police who searched for her and finally taken into custody and held at police headquarters until her father's arrival.

January 14 Miss Mary Marrone and her lover, Luigi Cellalo, were placed on an Erie train yesterday afternoon and sent back to Galeton. The police were unable to press a charge against them. Before going, demure and pretty Mary, aged 15, let out a string of abuse coupled with unpleasant sounding Italian swearwords which showed she could be anything but genteel at times.

January 15 More arrests in the sacrilegious snowballing episode at the Grand Central Avenue Free Baptist Church have been made. The four boys mentioned threw snowballs through the open front door of the church into the interior, seriously interfering with the meeting.

January 16 Boys get a public flogging as a penalty for snowballing. Soundly flogged by their parents in the basement of City Hall. Detective Gradwell’s stout and pliable razor strop, a broadband of leather with a handle, was the flog.

January 22 There are 5,000 millionaires in the United States, 2,000 of whom live in New York.

January 23 In the Lyceum Theatre last night a battle scene was presented in which it was necessary to fire off a revolver in a barrel to imitate the sound of a big piece of artillery. Soon everyone in the house began to sneeze. The barrel used had been used to store pepper. The dust floated throughout the theatre.

January 24 Greatest cowboy picture ever produced at “The Grand” - “The Hostage”, Pathe’s latest and most beautifully colored - Thrilling and exciting scenes for Friday and Saturday - Will draw the crowds - Admission 5¢

January 27 Chicken thieves have been active for the past several days in the northern section of the city. Last night thieves visited the hen-coop belonging to Mrs. Cedarholm of 915 Davis Street and took five chickens. Resident have obtained various firearms and other weapons and are ready for the chicken thieves, should they ever be caught at work.

January 28 Two men arrested plead guilty to using crooked dice in a game. Pal squeals when he does not get his share.

January 29 A large white bull-dog created a commotion in the Lyric Moving Picture Theatre on West Water Street last evening. The dog came into the theatre with its owner and during the exhibition of a picture stood in the aisle near the curtain. At a certain portion of the picture, a little boy falls from a high wall into a sluiceway and struggles in the water. The picture is a colored one and the realistic scene was too much for the dog to withstand. With a little whine he ran to the edge of the curtain and jumped squarely at the pictured water and the little boy.

January 30 Saturday the general offices of the Kennedy Valve Manufacturing Company will be moved from Bleekman Street in New York City to the manufacturing plant in Elmira.

February 2 Two 1908 American [brand] cars, a Tourist and a Roadster [models], were received by the Willys-Crew Motor Company yesterday. The Tourist was used by Miss Lillian Russell in her play “Wildfire” at the Lyceum last evening. Made a fine impression.

February 12 The conductors of the local streetcar company who run the Pennsylvania Avenue cars are being persecuted by a gang of boys who reside near the Northern Central shops and who put in some of their time near the corner of Pennsylvania Avenue and Miller Street. These boys, it is alleged, jump on the cars, pull the trolley off the wire, snowball the conductors and ride for nothing.

February 12 Youths of the city will lose only public playground. Baseball diamond in Riverside Park being planted with trees and shrubbery. Nearby residents object to the noise. Mayor opposes plan.

February 14 If a tall woman, 25 years of age, of dark complexion, and wearing a wart on the side of her nose, a light colored coat and a red skirt, should call at your front door and say that she wanted to tell your fortune, close the door and lock it, fasten all the windows and don’t go out of doors until the police have responded to your telephone call. That is the only way you can protect yourself against being hypnotized and robbed.

February 18 Good skating on Eldridge Lake is being enjoyed by many people this afternoon. The ice has frozen evenly since the thaw and the lake provides good skating.

A Confederate Prisoner Remembered in a Northern Town

By Diane Janowski ©2006

Allen Smith and I are double historians - in our hometown of Elmira, New York and in our adopted hometown of New Roads, Louisiana. We co-authored Image of America: The Chemung Valley - a pictoral history of Chemung County, New York. In New Roads (Pointe Coupée Parish) we are involved in several history projects including the Pointe Coupée at the Millennium photography project.

We often discuss the differences and similarities between the North and the South. In their March 2006 visit to Pointe Coupée Parish, we spent an evening with Pointe Coupée historian Brian Costello and began a conversation about the Civil War. A question came up - Elmira had the infamous Elmira Prison Camp between 1864 and 1865 - did Costello know of any Pointe Coupée soldiers who were sent to Elmira? He believed there was one - named Fortlouis. Interest piqued in us - who was this soldier and what circumstances brought him from New Roads to Elmira. Before leaving Louisiana, we stopped along a sugar cane field on Gremillion Road and collected a bag of Pointe Coupée dirt. I had a purpose.

Back home in Elmira, I began research. Between internet history sites and emails to Costello, I pieced the information together and found Michel Fortlouis.

Number 995 in the death list of 2,950 Confederate prisoners of war at the Elmira Prison Camp, was Corporal Michel Fortlouis. Fortlouis and his two brothers, Leopold and Theophile, enlisted in the Pointe Coupée (Louisiana) Artillery Company B in June 1861. The Pointe Coupée Artillery Company B fought at the siege of Vicksburg, and with its losses was consolidated into Company A, which joined the Army of Tennessee and was active in the Atlanta Campaign. Michel Fortlouis, however, went missing at about the same time as the beginning of the Atlanta Campaign in April/May 1864. Union troops captured Michel Fortlouis in Clinton, Louisiana on August 20, 1864. He was received at Ship Island, Mississippi on October 5, 1864, subsequently received in New York City on November 16, 1864, arrived at the Elmira Prison Camp on November 19, 1864, and died in Barracks No. 3 on November 29, 1864 of pneumonia - just ten days after arriving in Elmira. His marker in Woodlawn Cemetery is erroneously marked “L. Forthewis.” Michel Fortlouis was 27-years old. Both his brothers survived the war.

On Memorial Day 2006, we visited Fortlouis' grave and in our own quiet ceremory gave him the dirt from home, and affixed his marker with his correct information.

New Book! Elmira Prison Camp

The Elmira Prison Camp existed from July 1864 to July 1865 and housed more than twelve thousand Confederate prisoners of war. Nearby, Woodlawn National Cemetery holds the graves of 2,950 Confederate soldiers who died in Elmira. The graves were dug, and meticulous personal information was recorded under the direction of John W. Jones, a former slave from Virginia. Jones played an important role in the Underground Railroad in Elmira in helping Southern slaves pass through the area.

His Mother Called Him “Harry” - Elmira’s Little Rascal

by Diane Janowski

©2006 All rights reserved by author

Harold “Hal” Roach was an Elmira, New York boy, born the son of Charles and Mabel Roach of Columbia Street on January 14, 1892. Although others called him “Hal,” his mother called him “Harry.” Young Hal’s first job was as a newspaper deliverer. One of his customers lived on East Hill at Quarry Farm - Samuel Clemens, affectionately known as Mark Twain..

In several newspaper interviews, Hal said his childhood in Elmira was a happy one. In one interview Hal said, “Elmira was a fine place for a boy to grow up.” He recalled playing in Grove Park as a child. After his death in 1992, Elmira renamed the park pavilion in his honor.      

Hal claimed to have “attended and been kicked out of almost every school in Elmira.” St. Patrick’s, Booth, and Elmira Free Academy schools officially claim him as a former student. He attended EFA for a short period and played football on its team. After his EFA expulsion in 1908 at age 16, Hal’s father “strongly suggested” that Hal leave home in hopes that “travelling would help him grow up.”

Roach went as far from Elmira as he could - Alaska. He mined for gold and when that did not prove advantageous, he delivered mail for two years in “Uncle Sam’s service” (in Alaska) riding a horse for long distances through the wilderness. After nearly losing one foot to frostbite, Hal decided upon a less strenuous job. While on vacation in Los Angeles, he happened to meet some people connected with the motion picture business, and because of his riding skills learned while delivering mail, he secured himself a job as an extra in a movie. As an extra, the director placed him in a gambling den scene. The director did not know the game nor did the other extras, but Hal did. Hal straightened out some details, and the director rewarded him a regular job.

Hal worked hard and finally became the assistant director. Eventually in 1915, he formed a company with Dan Linthicum. Dan supplied the money, while Hal supplied the brains. They took the first letters of their names, R-O-L-I-N, as their company name. The companies who bought their movies went broke and with Rolin’s capital down to zero, Roach decided to risk it all on one last effort. Their next movie had no story, or “rhyme or reason.” Hal called it “Just Nuts” and sent it to the Pathè Movie Company. Pathè bought it and asked for several more. Hal’s company had several good players - Harold Lloyd, Harry Pollard, Bebe Daniels, and others.

Rolin had its own studio, several directors and all the money it needed. Hal worked hard for his success. Elmira’s Regent Theater (red arrow in the photo marks the theater on Elmira's East Water Street) made famous his “Lonesome Luke” comedies locally. In 1919, Roach formed Hal Roach Studios in Culver City, California.

Neither Mr. Roach bought nor wrote any scenario. He thought out comedy situations, outlined his ideas to his company, and put his crew to it. This method proved successful.

Under Roach's creativity, his studio produced the Our Gang/ Little Rascals short film comedy series beginning in 1922 with silent shorts, then sound short films beginning in 1929. the series continued until 1938. Roach's Little Rascals were unlike most other films with children in lead roles, in that they portrayed children as real children - not imitating adults. Roach's children characters often were in positions of poor versus rich. The Little Rascals also included female children and African-American children (although portrayed steriotypically) as lead characters.

In 1937, Mrs. Roach visited Elmira to renew acquaintances with her old friends. She told the Elmira Star-Gazette that since she moved to California in 1916, she had met Joan Crawford, Mary Pickford, Claudette Colbert, and Jean Harlow. Mrs. Roach said that she was proud of her son, and that she and her husband were reluctant to leave Elmira when Hal coaxed them to move to California “where there was real living.” She said that she did not regret moving west although she missed her friends in Elmira. She lived at her son’s studio in Culver City, California until her death.

Sources:

Elmira Advertiser, September 15, 1916.

Elmira Star-Gazette, June 13, 1937.

Elmira Star-Gazette, January 12, 1992.

http://www.answers.com/topic/our-gang

Let Us Entertain You

By Joe Swanke

©2006 All rights reserved by author

Back in the 1920s, 30s, and 40s, us hometown folks in Elmira, New York enjoyed the entertainment of our own nightclubs, dance halls, public dances, taverns, and restaurants. Some excellent show business celebrities visited from the big cities of Rochester, Buffalo, Binghamton, and Syracuse, as well as traveling entertainers from throughout the country who would stop by to do a few shows. We had our own entertainers who sang to us, set our feet to moving, and made us laugh.

Clarence “Curley” Johnson of 758 Spaulding Street and his orchestra played at many venues, including the Majestic Ballroom. The Majestic’s advertisement read; ‘The Atmosphere of the Majestic Ballroom is enjoyed by hundreds of dancers. We suggest you pay a visit to the Majestic soon. Admission: Gentlemen 40¢, Ladies 10¢.

Marshall Terry was a coal dealer by day, but by night he was an Elmira show business celebrity. He could really make the crowd dance at the Rock Springs pavilion (not to far from today’s Exit 57). Also, at Rock Springs, you could have heard Earl Hines - “America’s Foremost Jazz Pianist.”

Sometimes Elmirans drove out to Salubria Lake Park near Bath, New York to hear “Howard Tresp and his Californians.” Do not let the name fool you - they were really from Buffalo!

Born and bred in Elmira, the Reilly Brothers’ (James, Michael, Thomas, and William) Orchestra was popular at the Glen Eden restaurant on the Watkins-Montour Highway. The “8 Bandoliers” played jitney dances at the Ritz Ballroom. “The “Harmony Kings” often played at the Shappee School of Dance.

When Ray Dunn, of East Second Street, came home from the United States Army, he made Elmirans laugh at the Melody Garden Restaurant (near the west entrance to Eldridge Park). He billed himself as “Ray Dunn, The Stuttering Comedian.”

Clubs and fraternal organizations had their own musical entertainment. The Masons had their “Masonic Quartette” with Claude Denson as the manager. The Grotto Club had the “Grotto Band” with Frank Hauver as the manager.

The Majestic and Lyceum Theaters had their own orchestras for their productions.

Nothing was too good for the Chateau Artuso at Horseheads Junction (near today’s former Toshiba plant). Owner Joseph Artuso sometimes brought in entertainers from outside our county. “The Sunshine Sisters” came all the way down from Rochester. Artuso also starred “Earl Stebbins and his Musical Saw.”

Whenever they played, local acts were well supported. Acts included “The Cotton Club Pickers” who called themselves “The Hottest Colored Band in the Southern Tier,” and “Louis Steeple and his Cotton Pickers.” Elmira’s own Helen Monroe of East Market Street sang some great songs. “Smith’s Dance Band” always got the crowd on its feet. Don Redman and his Orchestra often played in our area. Don claimed his band was the “most popular colored dance band in the world.” If you lived in Millport, “The Collegians” often played the dances at Alco-Haven.

On Fridays, you could eat a fish fry and listen to music by “Ed, Rose, and Stub,” at the Eastside Restaurant on Sullivan Street. Southsiders might remember the White House Tavern, known as “Elmira’s Little Nite Club.’’ “Uncle Seth & Company” played there often. Andrew’s Restaurant on Grand Central Avenue often featured the musical stylings of “Rip and Babe and their Guitar.”

Back in the 1920s, a well-known dance band for high schoolers was “The Five Melody Boys.” The band was favored at local proms and school dances. They practiced their tunes in a garage on West Clinton Street.

If you wanted to see something different, the Crystal Tea Room in Elmira Heights heldover Charlotte Gilchrist, an “Oriental” dancer, for an extra whole week because “…the crowds just won’t let her go.” The Crystal Tea Room also billed the “Silver Moon Orchestra.”

You could smell the corned beef and cabbage a block from the Collins and Mahany Restaurant on Davis Street, and inside you could hear the music of “Jiggs and Maggie.” “Shufflin’ Sam and his Gloom Busters” were the frequent attraction at the Garden Hotel on the corner of East Water and Fox Streets. 

Ross Hammond of Davis Street was a machinist at the Eclipse plant by day. In the evenings, he would musically entertain the folks at the Collegiate Tavern at the corner of college and Thurston Streets. The Coney Island Restaurant on South Main Street often presented Betty DeVere, singer, and accordionist.

Accordionist Charles “Chuck” Leone was around a long time. He played throughout Chemung County. He also worked by day at the Eclipse plant. When Chuck was not a solo act, he performed with his band “Chuck Leone and his Neapolitans.”

How about a delicious barbecue sandwich while listening to Mann’s Orchestra? They often played at the Brookside Inn on upper Lake Street. “Harry Springer’s Orchestra” often played at the Mayfair Club in the Rathbun Hotel. Harry lived on Fourth Street. The Newtown Inn on West Miller Street hosted the “Taverneers.” The Ideal Restaurant on South Main Street often invited vocalist Betty Kennedy to perform. “Foster Clark and his Musi-casters” liked to play at Jerry’s Grill at the corner of Orchard and East Water Streets. Another entertainer there was the well-known Miss Ida Lamb of Dewitt Avenue. If you liked “cabaret-style” dancing and music, every evening you could go the Comfort’s Inn on West Miller Street. Every Saturday they had an oyster supper.

Clubs also needed entertainment. The International Order of Odd Fellows sometimes hired the “4 Aces Orchestra.” The Eagles’ Club on Lake Street liked to be entertained by the “3 Scamps.”

If you liked “cabaret-style” dancing and music, every evening you could go the Comfort’s Inn on West Miller Street. Every Saturday they had an oyster supper.

So remember, even though we didn't have big time show biz types - we did our part to entertain ourselves in the days before TV.

Portrait of America: Jack Delano's Erin, New York Photos

by Ned Stihm ©2005

Photographs taken near Erin, New York

September 1940 by Jack Delano

Delano's image notes at bottom

I found these photographs at the American Memory site of the Library of Congress. What were they? What did they mean? Who was Jack Delano? He wasn't from Erin.

In September 1940, a man and a women in a beat up car arrived in Erin, New York. Of course, the townspeople were interested in the strangers, but in the spirit of upstate New York - were interested "from a distance." The strangers made some friendly inquiries at the general store, got back in their car and drove off in an easterly direction toward Rumsey Hill Road. The strangers were Jack and Irene Delano representing the United States Farm Security Administration.

Jack Delano graduated from the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts earlier that year. After graduating, he applied and was hired by the Farm Security Administration as one of a team of photographers to travel the United States and photograph the Depression's devastating effects on people, and the impact of wartime mobilization.

Roy Stryker was the head of the FSA photographic department. He did not instruct his team of photographers to bring back any particular photographs, but rather wanted them to roam about freely. Roy wanted them to observe Americans at home, at work, and at play, with an emphasis on rural and small-town life, the effects of the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl, increasing farm mechanization, displaced people migrating West or to big cities, and mobilization for World War II.

Jack was assigned to travel the east coast. He and his wife, Irene, certainly had a knack for meeting people and made friends with strangers easily. Irene, also an artist, made drawings that supplemented the photographs taken by her husband. One morning in September 1940 the Delanos arrived in Erin, New York and looked around. They found the people and places in the photographs here on the Rumsey Hill Road (between Erin and Van Etten). About 1o more photographs of this area exist - please visit the Library of Congress website to see the others.

The FSA was a reorganized version of the 1935 Resettlement Administration that granted low-cost loans and assistance for poor farmers, created camps and settlements for migrant workers, controlled river pollution, and fixed areas of soil erosion. The RA also had an Historical Section whose purpose was to produce photographic records of rural life. In 1937 the RA was renamed the “Farm Security Administration” or FSA. While working for the FSA, Delano delivered a substantial review of eloquent photographic portraits, home interiors, and landscapes in rural areas.

Jack Delano worked for the FSA from 1939 to 1943 then went on to do many other things. He chronicled life in Puerto Rico - loved Puerto Rico so much that he and Irene moved there - worked as a military photographer, a filmmaker, a composer, and an illustrator of children's books designed in collaboration with his wife.

All the FSA photographers contributed 164,000 black-and-white film negatives, 107,000 black-and-white photographic prints, and 1,610 color transparencies into the FSA/ Office of War Information (FSA /OWI) Image Collection. The vast collection depicts Americans at home, at work, and at play, with an emphasis on rural and small-town life, the adverse effects of the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl, and increasing farm mechanization, displaced people migrating West or to industrial cities in search of work, and America's mobilization for World War II. The FSA was renamed four times between 1937 and 1946, and continues today as the Farm Service Agency under the United States Department of Agriculture.

Writer’s note: I had an idea. Is the little girl in these photos alive? Do these families still live there? It's been 65 years. So I checked the telephone book. Sure enough! There were several families today on the same rural road with the same last name. I thought how perfect is this, so I contacted the families. The families did claim to have always lived there but do not/did not know anyone from the photos or their names.

Resources:

http://www.fsa.usda.gov/FSA/webapp?area=about&subject=landing&topic=ham-ah

http://www.sites.si.edu/exhibitions/exhibit_main.asp?id=41

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/index.html

Photographs are from the Library of Congress American Memory

Notes are Jack Delano's

Image info from top to bottom

1. Mr. Uhro Miki, [correct spelling Urho Maki] Finnish farmer in the submarginal area of Rumsey Hill, near Erin, New York. Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA-OWI Collection, [reproduction number: fsa 8c28847]

2. Small daughter of Mr. Uhro Miki, [correct spelling Urho Maki] Finnish farmer in the submarginal area of Rumsey Hill, near Erin, New York. Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA-OWI Collection, [reproduction number: fsa 8c28866]

3. Mrs. Morrison farms in the submarginal area of Rumsey Hill, near Erin, New York. Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA-OWI Collection, [reproduction number: fsa 8c28829]

4. Mrs. Ben [Anna] Harris [age 58], feeding her goats outside her house in the submarginal farm area of Rumsey Hill, near Erin, New York. Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA-OWI Collection, [reproduction number: fsa 8c03141]

5. Small daughter of Mr. Uhro Miki, [correct spelling Urho Maki] Finnish farmer in the submarginal area of Rumsey Hill, near Erin, New York. Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA-OWI Collection, [reproduction number: fsa 8c28863]

6. Mrs. Ben [Anna] Harris [age 58] preparing the evening meal. The Harrises come from Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. They have goats and sell goats milk. Live in submarginal farm area of Rumsey Hill, near Erin, New York. Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA-OWI Collection, [reproduction number: fsa 8c03113]

7. Mr. Miller, farmer and minister. He is the only Negro farmer in the submarginal area of Rumsey Hill, near Erin, New York. He came about seven years ago after having farmed in Tennessee and New Jersey. His farm is on the very crest of the hill and he is doing a little better than most of his neighbors. His two boys go to high school and his wife works in town. Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA-OWI Collection, [reproduction number: fsa 8c03173]

8. Mr. Ben Harris [age 56]. He comes from Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. Has goats and sells goats milk. Does hardly any farming. Lives in the submarginal farm area of Rumsey Hill, near Erin, New York. Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA-OWI Collection, [reproduction number: fsa 8c0314]

Maria Smolka, Young Victim

by Jennifer Ach
©2005 All rights reserved by author

Eleven-year-old Maria Smolka took the trolley to downtown Elmira, New York on Friday, June 13, 1930. In her hand, she carried a basket of candy that she wanted to sell to office people. Maria had bright eyes and a big smile, and everybody like her. After an afternoon of candy selling, she thought about her early evening piano lesson. Maria had an upcoming piano recital and had scheduled extra lessons that week in preparation. She wanted her piece to be perfect.

At the corner of Main and Water Streets, a new building for the Gorton Coy department store was under construction, and a tunnel-like wooden structure was built over the cement sidewalk to protect passersby from injury.

At 4:45PM, during rush hour traffic, the cement sidewalk and the wooden structure collapsed, sending more that 20 people into the excavated pit on the west side of the project.

An hour later, little Maria’s broken body was found beneath a sidewalk block. She had died instantly. Mrs. Effie Corey suffered a fractured skull and died the next day. Injuries to other pedestrians ranged from broken bones to cuts and bruises.

Officer Carroll was on patrol about 20 feet away when he heard the creaking of timbers and saw the enclosure fall into the pit. Lee Hee, a chef at Cipriano’s Restaurant, was halfway through the tunnel when the crash came.

Witnesses speculated that the piling of large bundles of steel rods on top of the enclosure, and the weakened gravel foundation may have precipitated the collapse.

Maria Smolka had lived at 222 Elmwood Avenue and was in the fifth grade at School One in Elmira Heights. She loved to play piano. Her parents had had fifteen children, and Maria was the tenth of their children to die.

The Owego, Elmira, & Bath Stage Coach

A typical stage coach of the time

by Diane Janowski
©2008 All rights reserved by the author


Almost two hundred years ago in Elmira, New York there was an inn at 206-208 Baldwin Street that was a stage coach stop. In 1820, the “Owego, Elmira, and Bath Stage Coach Company” provided transportation services much like today’s bus lines.


In 1819, the Elmira inn was the “hotel stopover” for the Owego, Elmira, and Bath Stage Coach Company. The O W & B was part of a larger system of travel through the northeast. It was a 76-mile piece of a traveler’s puzzle that stretched from the northeast states to New York City to Angelica, New York in the “west” with connections north and south along the way. New York City to Angelica via the O E & B line was 316 miles and took about 5 days.


Getting to Elmira was a rough trip though. On Tuesdays and Saturdays, a west-bound stage coach loaded with passengers and mail left  Owego, New York at 6AM, stopped for lunch in Athens, Pennsylvania and arrived in Elmira at 6PM just in time for dinner. This was the evening stopover. The Elmira inn does not have a recorded name but served meals and gave lodging to those in need. The next morning travelers awoke early, ate a hearty breakfast then got back on the coach at 6AM, stopped for a lunch in Painted Post, New York, and arrived in downtown Bath, New York at 6PM. Not bad for a 36-hour trip and only 76 miles.


Going the other way, east-bound travelers left Bath at 4AM on Tuesdays and Saturdays, arrived in Elmira at 6PM. I can’t explain the extra two hours traveling east. The next morning the stage left Elmira at 4AM and arrived in Owego at 6PM. There’s another extra two hours that I can’t explain - must be a time difference or else they spent more time eating lunch.


The Elmira inn was made of red brick and was a beautiful example of Colonial architecture. At some time in the late nineteenth century an extension to the rear was added to accommodate visiting actors and actresses of the Mozart Theatre around the corner. Apparently, many hotels at the time barred thespians as boarders. In the twentieth century the building was known as the “Mozart Bungalow” - a hotel for actors and actresses who played at the Mozart Theatre around the corner on East Market Street.


The building was razed around 1940. Most recently the site was the New York State Employment building.


____________

Owego Elmira & Bath
Mail Stage (Twice A Week)


This line will commence running twice a week, after the 1st of April next, --Days of starting and arrival as follows:


---Leave Owego on Tuesdays & Saturdays, at 6 am & breakfasting at Athens, arrive at Elmira at 6 pm.
---Leave Elmira on Wednesdays and Sundays, at 4 am and breakfasting at Painted Post, arrive at Bath at 6 pm.


RETURNING
---Leave Bath on Tuesdays & Saturdays, at 4 am and breakfasting at Painted Post, arrive at Elmira at 6 pm.
---Leave Elmira on Wednesdays and Sundays at 4 am and breakfasting at Athens, arrive at Owego at 6 pm.


This line of stages intersects the Newburg and Canandaigua line at Owego--the Southern line, at Tioga Point--and the Geneva line at Bath----at which latter place it also intersects a line leading directly to Angelica, situate about 30 miles from Olean, one of the places of embarkation on the Allegany river, and about 18 miles from Oil Creek, the nearest place of embarkation, and which empties into the Allegany at Olean; at which place boats of any size are always kept ready for travelers, for the purpose of descending the Ohio River.


Persons traveling from New York, or from any of the Eastern States, to the S. W. States, will find this the shortest, cheapest, and most expeditious route.  The distance from New York, via Owego, Painted Post and Bath, to Angelica, is 316 miles, which is performed in about 5 days.


Good teams and careful drivers will be kept on the route, and no pains spared to accommodate passengers.  The Stage horses are good.


S. B. LEONARD - March 30, 1819


A daily stage (Sunday excepted) operated between Cuba and Rushford from about (162.  ?probably 1862) It left Rushford for Cuba at 5:30 a.m. arrived in Cuba for the 8:34 a.m. express west. It left Cuba on arrival of the mail train at 3:24 pm, reached Rushford at 6:45 pm. This stage coach apparently delivered the mail from the Rawson Post Office. Lyndon residents received their mail from the Rawson Post Office. At one time each resident took their turn carrying the mail from Rawson to the Lyndon Post Office. Sometime it was carried on horseback.


Owego Gazette, Owego (NY), January 24, 1826