Fairview Manor, fine dining establishment in Ridgeway, destroyed by fire in 1937
Photos from Orleans County Department of History: Owned by Harvey L. and Blanche Hill, this fine dining establishment was located at the corner of Knowlesville Road and Million Dollar Highway/Rt. 31 in Ridgeway.
By Catherine Cooper, Orleans County Historian
Illuminating Orleans, Volume 6, No. 5
RIDGEWAY – “Service and Satisfaction” was the stated motto of Fairhaven Manor, a very successful fine dining enterprise which hosted innumerable meetings, banquets and parties during the 1920s and 1930s.
Conveniently located on the north-west side of the intersection of the Knowlesville Road and Million Dollar Highway/Rt. 31, it was owned and operated by Harvey L. Hill and his wife, Blanche.
The substantial house was built as a residence for A.M. Brinsmaid in 1870. It changed hands several times and was purchased by the Hills. They added a large dining room on the south side of the building. Rooms were also available.
Unfortunately, the establishment was destroyed by fire in the early morning hours of Friday, April 9, 1937. The fire was believed to have started in the cellar, possibly from an overheated furnace. Sleeping on the second floor, the Hills were awoken by choking smoke around 2 a.m. They managed to escape to the roof of the addition using a rope made of sheets. They, along with the manager, Thomas Fitzgerald and farm hand Donald Latta, had a narrow escape. Mr. Hill then ran, without shoes, to the home of his son, Percy, three quarters of a mile away, to summon the Medina Fire Dept. Assistant Fire Chief Ranallo responded with two pumpers, but a strong northeast wind and a lack of water stymied their efforts. The garage and barns were saved, but only the cellar walls of the Manor remained.
Remarkably, the Medina Rotary Club bell survived the blaze. The Club held their weekly meetings at Fairview. Dr. Harry F. Tanner left the bell under the entrance staircase following the April 6 meeting. The bronze bell, which had been presented to the club in 1923 and was used to summon members to meetings, had somehow fallen through to the basement during the fire. Its mahogany base was destroyed but the bell was in good condition.
(Left) Orleans Republican ad., July 4, 1928. (Right) Unidentified boys, Fairview Manor barn in the background.
The Hills did not rebuild. Mrs. Hill died the following year, and Mr. Hill died in 1961. They are buried at Tanner Cemetery, Ridgeway.
The Dept. of History file on Fairview Manor states that “the dwelling place which now occupies the site was moved there from the grounds of the N.Y. S. Training School in Albion.”
However, in a History of Knowlesville (1958), Lois Higgins wrote:
“The house that was moved to the spot of the Fairview Manor disaster had previously stood on the south side of West Avenue (Knowlesville), between the rear of the Hatch house and the Frank Higgins house”
Can any of our readers clarify this discrepancy? Or identify these two boys? (Email Catherine.cooper@orleanscountyny.gov)
