By Bill Lattin
Orleans County Historian
ALBION – On April 1, 1950 Helen Burrows Hudson, first vice president of the Arnold Gregory Memorial Hospital in Albion, broke ground for a new hospital building.
Here she is about to lift the first shovel of dirt in this ceremony. Onlookers in the background include, from left: Peter Snell, “Doc Hawks,” Dr. Dorothy Cooper, Muriel Northrup and Frances Weale.
By Bill Lattin, Orleans County Historian
ALBION – It appears these were the Republican faithful in 1956. They were perhaps gathered at the Albion Town Club for a reception honoring Harold Strassen, center, a candidate for Senator at the time.
From left to right: Hamilton Doherty, Paul Miles, Barbara Moore, “Dick” Eddy, Strassen, Harold Hill, Thomas Heard Jr., and Robert Heath. They appear to be wearing badges that state: “Orleans County for Eisenhower.”
By Bill Lattin
Orleans County Historian
ALBION – In this picture from circa 1890 we see members of the Lorenzo Burrows Jr. family posed in front of their residence on Main Street in Albion.
Seated in the little surrey with fringe on top is Lynn Moore Burrows (1884-1944). The ponies hitched to this were named Dot and Dime.
For many years this house was the offices for Cornell Cooperative Extension next to the Post Office.
By Bill Lattin
Orleans County Historian
HOLLEY – The forerunner of the present day Stockham Lumber Co. in Holley was the N.L. Cole Lumberyard on Geddes Street.
This was owned by Nerville L. Cole, who later owned a lumberyard on West Avenue in Albion.
Our photo from around 1920 shows Cole’s delivery truck with hard rubber tires on wooden spokes. Products advertised on the building include: lumber, coal, wood, fertilizers, mason’s materials, cedar posts and builder’s hardware.
By Bill Lattin
Orleans County Historian
This picture was taken in 1983 during the annual Pumpkin Festival at the Cobblestone Museum.
Here we see examples of pumpkins entered in the jack o’ lantern contest. Individuals posted on the platform include, from left: Marsha Bolton, Dee Dee States, Pamela Frame, Allison Lattin, unidentified boy and Adrienne Lattin.
At the time Ms. Frame from Fairport was a guest cellist through the Orleans County Council on the Arts. Hence the jack o’ lantern displayed on the smal standl with a cello carved into it.
Photos by Tom Rivers
MEDINA – Dr. Doodle, a toy manufactured by Fisher-Price in 1957-61, was among the toys on display during a program about Fisher-Price at Lee-Whedon Memorial Library today.
Larry Lackner shared toys from his collection as well as highlights of his research about the company including its time in Medina from 1970 to the late 1990s. Lackner worked for the company in Medina from 1972 to 1997, starting as a material handler and ending as a quality control inspector.
Fisher-Price turned the former Heinz plant into a manufacturing center for toys. At its peak, Fisher-Price had 950 workers in Medina.
The Little People were a very popular toy and are currently a finalist for the Toy Hall of Fame at the Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester.
Tuggy Turtle was made by Fisher-Price from 1959-1961.
Elsie’s Dairy Truck was made by the company from 1948-1950. Lackner said he regretted that the packaging for the toys always said made in East Aurora even though Medina was “Toy Town,” producing many of the toys.
By Bill Lattin, Orleans County Historian
In this picture from around 50 years ago we see Gov. Nelson Rockefeller, left, shaking hands with our assemblyman, Alonzo Waters of Medina.
“Lon” served in the State Assembly under governors Dewey, Harriman and Rockefeller from 1949 to 1965.
Because of his friendship with Rockefeller, Waters was able to get the governor to come to Orleans County several times.
When Nelson Rockefeller was running for governor in 1962, he made a stop in Albion and spoke from the front steps of the courthouse. In this picture we see a large crowd of people gathered here for the rally.
A bus which his party came in may be seen in the background. A sign posted on the bus simply states: “Go Rockefeller.”
The First Presbyterian Church also shows in the background. A number of local residents may be recognized in the crowd assembled here.
By Bill Lattin
Orleans County Historian
WATERPORT – This picture was taken on Sept. 17, 1950. It shows a National Railway Historical Society special touring train crossing over the Oak Orchard River trestle in Waterport.
This event was headed by the NRHS Rochester Chapter. The train was destined for Niagara Falls on the “Hojack.”
Our photo was taken from a high cliff above the waterfalls looking in a northeast direction. The cars are being pulled by two steam engines numbered 1286 and 1280.
Photos by Tom Rivers
CARLTON – I’ve driven by the “Fording Place” historical marker numerous times, but never stopped to read it until Friday.
The marker was put up in 1932 by the State Education Department. It is at the corner of Oak Orchard River Road and Clark Mills Road, about a mile west of Brown’s Berry Patch.
The marker is north of a shallow part of the Oak Orchard River where Indians and early pioneers would cross. “The Oak Orchard Trail from Batavia to Ontario crossed the creek here.”
I didn’t know ford meant to cross. John Denniston, a long-time local resident and president of the St. Mary’s Archer’s Club, knew all about it. I was at the Archer’s Club on Friday and Denniston pointed to a shallow part of the river, where lots of fishermen now converge in the fall for the annual salmon run.
By Bill Lattin
Orleans County Historian
When this picture was taken in 1947, Bryan Snyder, right, of Barre was retiring as president of the Orleans County Farm Bureau – Home Bureau and 4-H Club Association.
Here he shows his successor, Howard Dunham of Knowlesville, the association’s books and reports for 1946 as he turns over the job to the new president.
By Bill Lattin
Orleans County Historian
GAINES – Neighbors on the Gaines Basin Road, Stanley Swierzinski and Nahum Lattin, butcher a pig in 1939.
Nahum’s dog Duke acts a little camera shy as he peers under the pail.
This was a common sight on farms back in those days as neighbors helped neighbors on joint projects.
By Bill Lattin
Orleans County Historian
ALBION – When South Main Street was made wider along the west side of the Courthouse Square in 1954, an old fire cistern was discovered.
There were several around the village that the Fire Department could tap into before there was a municipal waterworks. In other words, firemen had a supply of water in case a fire broke out in one of the buildings around the Courthouse Square.
The Pullman Memorial Universalist Church shows in the background of our photo. The old cistern was being filled in when this picture was taken.
By Bill Lattin
Orleans County Historian
MEDINA – Members of the Medina’s Azuliket Club posed for this picture in the 1940s, wearing costumes for a special event.
The group was organized as a card club in 1923, and met in members’ homes.
Front row, from left: Betty Wells, Ida Housden, Grace Rugg and Nellie Barnes.
Back row: Laura King, Belle Cooper, Jo Turner, Elsie Ferguson, Bertha ?, Peg Dygert, Mary Douglass and Dora Warren.
Provided photos – Pasquale DiLaura, right, and his son Ellis DiLaura discuss stone specifications. Ellis went on to succeed his father as owner of the O’Brien Quarry and DiLaura Construction.
This photo, taken about a half century ago shows the completed Manitou Road bridge over the Lake Ontario State Parkway. The DiLaura Stone Co. did the Medina Sandstone work on the bridges and culverts on the Lake Ontario State Parkway in the 1950s and 1960s, perhaps the last major public works project with local Medina Sandstone.
BROCKPORT – A new exhibit opens in Brockport today by the great-granddaughter of a man who kept the Medina Sandstone industry alive in Orleans County from the 1920s through the 1960s.
The sandstone business was a powerhouse in 1900, employing about 2,000 people. But by 1920, it was struggling against cheap competition – cement.
In the 1920s and ’30s, Pasquale DiLaura was urged to leave the Albion area and join many of his quarrymen friends who left the area to the work in the auto factories in Detroit and Michigan.
DiLaura decided to stay put. He bought a quarry on Howard Road in the Town of Clarendon. The quarry was cheap. Its previous owner, the Orleans County Quarry Company, hadn’t paid the taxes.
Workers are pictured at the O’Brien Quarry on Howard Road in the Town of Clarendon. Pasquale DiLaura purchased the O’Brien quarry in 1939 after the previous owner, the Orleans County Quarry Company, owed back taxes. Although his quarry company was named DiLaura Stone Co., he never changed the name of the quarry. This photo is one of about two dozen featured in an exhibit opening today at A Different Path Gallery on 27 Market St.
Sadie Malone, left, and Gerry DiGirolamo dress stone at the quarry.
While many of the quarries shut down, DiLaura kept promoting the product and gave it about 40 more years of life.
He wrote letters to U.S. senators and the Works Progress Administration in Washington, D.C., urging them to pick a project with Medina Sandstone for the public benefit. DiLaura led the crews that built the Hamlin Beach State Park. He taught the young men in the Civilian Conservation Corps how to cut stone. Many of those structures endure about 80 years after they were built.
Jennifer Wells-Dickerson was looking over family photographs, and showed them to a friend in an arts guild in Brockport. That friend helped Wells-Dickson enlarge and display photographs of her great-grandfather and his employees working in the quarry and on major local projects, including Hamlin Beach and the Parkway.
There is an opening reception for the exhibit today from 7 to 9 p.m. at A Different Path Gallery on 27 Market St.
Photo by Tom Rivers – Jennifer Wells-Dickerson and her mother Suzanne Wells are pictured in the gallery displaying photos of quarry workers in the 1950s and 1960s, with a few photos from before that era.
Wells-Dickerson, 34, works as a professional jewelry maker. She lives just across the Orleans County line in Hamlin. She first researched the local quarry industry as a high school student for a class project.
She has become more interested and appreciative of the quarry workers and her family’s role in the business because she sees the stonework almost every day at the Parkway and Hamlin Beach.
“I appreciate hand-made things and the craftsmanship,” she said. ‘It’s the opposite of what we have today.”
Her great-grandfather kept detailed records with his ledgers and calculations for how much stone would be needed for projects. Jennifer’s mother, Suzanne, remembers Pasquale always having a ruler in his pocket or hand.
Masons from the DiLaura Stone Co. check their work on the walkway on one of the bridges of the Lake Ontario State Parkway. Pasquale DiLaura is at center with the ruler.
This crew takes a break in 1962 while working in the quarry. Pictured include Roosevelt Fields (leaning on truck at left), Pasquale DiLaura (center), Sadie Malone, Gerry DiGirolamo, (?) Passarell, Margaret Ann DiLaura, and Ellis DiLaura (in cab).
Suzanne, a retired Albion art teacher, has looked over Pasquale’s records and developed deep respect for his drive to keep the industry alive in the county – and keep local men employed.
He was a Medina Sandstone ambassador and persuasive salesmen, securing the contracts and work at Hamlin Beach and the Parkway. The family also has his rough drafts of letters he sent to Cleveland and other cities, suggesting Medina Sandstone for public works projects.
The Brockport exhibit includes one of his drawings of the Manitou Bridge stone work, a list of names of his employees and a letter from the Albion branch of the Journeymen Stone Cutters Association of North America.
The union sent a letter on May 27, 1938 to Harry L. Hopkins, director of the W.P.A. in Washington, D.C. The letter says that Pasquale DiLaura had operated a quarry for 20 years, including during the Great Depression, keeping “a large number” of the stone cutters on the payroll even without an outlet for the material.
The Stone Cutters said, in its letter to the WPA, that DiLaura “has proven himself a real friend of the working men of this community.”
DiLaura would pass the business to his son Ellis, Suzanne’s father.
Wells-Dickerson hopes the exhibit in Brockport will shine a light on the quarry workers.
“A lot of people drive down there and they don’t know who’s behind it,” she said.
She also hopes to have the exhibit at other locations, including libraries and galleries in Orleans County.
Photo by Jennifer Wells-Dickerson – The DiLaura Construction Company did the stone work on the culverts and bridges along the Lake Ontario State Parkway.
Photos by Tom Rivers – Stone pillars hold up large iron gates at the entrance of Boxwood Cemetery on North Gravel Road. The entrance also includes a chapel, built in 1903 from Medina Sandstone.
MEDINA – One of the area’s grandest burial grounds, Boxwood Cemetery, may soon be recognized as a historical asset, a status that could help Medina secure grants for improvements at the cemetery on North Gravel Road.
The Village of Medina and the Boxwood Commission are working with the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation to have Boxwood put on the state and national registers of historic places.
Kathy Blackburn, Boxwood Commission chairwoman, said a decision at the state level is expected in December. If approved, Boxwood would join three other Orleans County cemeteries with the historic designation: Mount Albion Cemetery, Millville Cemetery and Hillside Cemetery in Clarendon.
Boxwood Cemetery has many retaining walls made of Medina Sandstone. Some of the walls need repairs.
The commission was reinvigorated last year and wants to draw more people to the cemetery for events and also make needed improvements to the site, Blackburn said.
The historic designation from the state and federal government could help the village obtain grants for resetting headstones, fixing sandstone walls, fighting erosion and tackling other projects.
The commission has made progress in the past year, Blackburn said. It has replaced the door in the chapel from 1903. A house on the cemetery has been cleaned out and the commission is debating the future for the house, perhaps as a museum.
The cemetery is home to many prominent Medina residents, including S.A. Cook who operated a bustling furniture company in Medina.
Blackburn wants to see more events at the cemetery, including lantern tours. She wants to see more flowers by grave sites.
For the second year Boxwood is participating in “National Wreaths Across America Day” on Dec. 13. For $15, wreaths can be purchased and placed at the graves for veterans. For more information, click here.
“It’s remembering and honoring the fallen, and teaching our children,” Blackburn said.
She would like to have 100 wreaths in Boxwood, and expand it to other local cemeteries next year. The Dec. 13 event will also include a ceremony with the Honor Guard and a 21-gun salute.
