By Bill Lattin, Orleans County Historian
Who remembers Muggs? Mr. Thomas DePalma of Fancher was the owner of this mascot for different causes. He went to state and national Legion conventions and walked in many firemen’s parades back in the 1950s.
He was usually seen with a corncob pipe and sunglasses, his trademarks.
Muggs died in 1962 and is buried in the pet cemetery at Hornell. He will be fondly remembered by all who knew him.
By Bill Lattin
Orleans County Historian
RIDGEWAY – In this photo from the 1950s we see the District No. 5 Schoolhouse of Ridgeway. Our picture was taken after centralization into the Medina school system.
This school was located on Route 31 at the Culvert Road. Notice the outhouse which could be accessed easily by students from a side door.
A hand pump at a well appears by the side of the school for drinking water. In our estimation the teeter-totter appears to be located much too close to the highway for the safety of the children.
The building is now a residence.
By Bill Lattin
Orleans County Historian
ALBION – This color post card from around 1910 shows the Orleans Hotel, which was located on East Bank Street and Platt Street in Albion.
Built in the 1860s, it had a two-story porch at the main entrance. Parked in front of that is a hack (taxi), which provided transportation from the N.Y. Central Railroad Depot to the hotel. At the time of this picture it enjoyed a reputation for fine dining.
This building later became Henri’s Inn and was destroyed by a fire 20 years ago.
By Bill Lattin
Orleans County Historian
Shown here are Diana Dragon, co-editor of The Chevron, and Mrs. Marjorie Mahoney, who is presented with a copy of the 1962 yearbook.
The Chevron staff dedicated it to Mrs. Mahoney with the following statement:
“For your unflagging efforts in our behalf, for your sympathetic understanding of our problems, for your eternal smile which greets everyone and every situation, we dedicate to you, Mrs. Marjorie Mahoney, this issue of The Chevron.”
Mrs. Mahoney was a history teacher in Albion High School back in the ’50s, ’60s and early ’70s.
By Bill Lattin
Orleans County Historian
ALBION – Two men have a conversation under the awning of H.J. Bailey’s grocery store on Main Street. One of the men took a dog along for the trip.
This snap shot was taken in the late 1890s. There are some iron hitching posts at the curb.
The Waterman Building, which burned about 30 years ago, is seen in the upper right hand corner. The Burrows Block is the long building in center background.
By Bill Lattin
Orleans County Historian
CARLTON – The stained glass window entitled “The Light of the World” was originally placed in the Waterport Methodist Church in 1935.
It is now located in the Carlton United Methodist Church on Archbald Road at Route 18. This window and a program of human interest stories will be discussed by the county historian at 6:30 p.m. Saturday at the Carlton church. A variety of desserts will be featured with tickets available at the door.
The window is based on the famous 1853 painting by English painter William Holman Hunt (1827-1910) and was created by the Haskins Stained Glass Studio out of Rochester. The evangelical theme is based on Revelation 3:20 and St. John 8:12.
By Bill Lattin
Orleans County Historian
ALBION – In this photo from around 1897-1898 we see the staff of the Orleans County Home, posed on a side porch.
Varnum Ludington of Holley, holding his derby hat, was the commissioner of the poor.
The here was erected on West County House Road in 1878 and torn down in 1962 after the present nursing home was built west of Albion on Route 31.
Frank L. Weller, a professional photographer from Holley, took this picture. Only Mr. Ludington can be identified.
(Orleans Hub featured another Vintage Orleans photo of the “Poor House” on Sept. 10, 2013. Click here to see that image.)
By Bill Lattin
Orleans County Historian
ALBION – Don’t be fooled by this image. It is a trick photograph of the same man.
George Ball is pointing a revolver at himself on the other side of the table.
This “shot” was taken in the late 1890s at the studio of Pollo R. Stillman, a photographer in Albion.
Noted the painted backdrop often seen in old time group photos. Stillman gets an A-plus for this clever manipulation of two images into one in his darkroom.
File photos by Tom Rivers – Al Capurso has been working for about a year to have the federal government name a creek in honor of Elizabeth Gilbert, a pioneer settler who moved to Ridge Road in Gaines in 1807. In this October file photo, Capurso is pictured on a walkway above the creek next to Gaines Carlton Community Church.
GAINES – For about a year Al Capurso has been working to line up support and evidence that an unnamed stream in Gaines and Carlton should bear the name “Gilbert Creek.” Those efforts could pay off soon with a formal decision of support from the U.S. government.
The Orleans County Legislature was the latest to back the effort of naming a creek for a pioneer settler along Ridge Road. The Legislature voted last week to support the naming. The Gaines and Carlton town boards also support “Gilbert Creek.”
The decision lies with the Board on Geographic Names through the U.S. Department of Interior. The group meets next month and Capurso believes he has compiled all the data to sway the board.
If the board approves the name for the local creek, Capurso plans to have a dedication ceremony at noon on May 24. A reception will follow inside the church fellowship hall.
He was driving along Brown Road last year with his son Kenny when they saw the stream and wondered about its source and if it had a name. They discovered the creek begins from feeder sources south of Route 104 near Brown Road. It then marries Procter Brook in Carlton, and then flows into the Oak Orchard River.
Capurso said it meets three standards for naming a creek: The feature is currently unnamed; The stream has an independent and distinct source of flow; and it is historically significant.
About 200 years ago the stream must have caught the eye of Elizabeth Gilbert and her husband, identified in historical records only as “Mr. Gilbert.” They arrived with their two children and a niece in 1807. They picked a spot next to a stream near where the Gaines Carlton Community Church now stands on Route 104, close to the intersection with Brown Road.
A historical marker by the church notes the efforts of Mrs. Gilbert as a pioneer settler.
Early settlers liked to build log cabins close to a source of water. The Gilberts chose the north side of Ridge Road, building their home where there was a rise in the land. The cabin is long gone, but a historical marker notes the pioneering efforts from Mrs. Gilbert. Her husband died in 1808, leaving her to raise the children, and tame the nearby wilderness.
“My passion is certainly pioneer history,” Capurso said today. His family paid to have a historical marker placed on the Courthouse Square last year for a pioneer settler in Albion.
Capurso is preparing a wooden sign for “Gilbert Creek” that would match the one for “Proctor Brook” by the Cobblestone Society Museum. He wants to complement the museum, which is a National Historic Landmark, the only site in the county with that designation.
By Bill Lattin
Orleans County Historian
KNOWLESVILLE – In this photo from around 1900 we catch a view of the railroad dock at Knowlesville.
Hundreds of barrels of apples are about to be loaded into the refrigerator cars on the sidings. These cars had ice boxes built into each end, which were filled with cakes of natural ice. Hence the fruit was preserved during shipment to far off destinations.
Note all of the barrels were hauled to the depot by horse-drawn wagons.
By Bill Lattin
Orleans County Historian
MEDINA – In our photo we are looking at the storefront of the Landauer Brothers in Medina.
The picture was taken in 1902 when Samuel, Jesse and Louis Landauer owned dry goods stores in both Albion and Medina.
This store was located at 445 Main St. and reflects the Bent’s Opera House from across the street in the upper portion of the right-hand window.
By Bill Lattin
Orleans County Historian
MEDINA – This 1890s Queen Anne style house was located on East Center Street in Medina.
For many years it was the residence of Mr. and Mrs. Adelbert J. Richards. He was for decades the leading professional photographer in Medina. A.J. Richards lived from 1868 to 1949.
In the early 1970s this house and one west of it were torn down for a super market, leaving the Richards’ house site for a parking lot.
The present business located there is an Ace Hardware. A Jubillee grocery store was at the site prior to the Ace Hardware.
By Bill Lattin, Orleans County Historian
ALBION – In this photo from the early 1940s, we see men from Orleans County leaving for service in World War II.
The picture was taken from the second floor porch of the Orleans Hotel on East Bank Street in Albion.
Note the old trucks down the street while “charter” buses wait for the men to board.
By Bill Lattin
Orleans County Historian
ALBION – “The Knave Hearts” was performed by these Albion youngsters, circa 1921-1922.
Seated on the floor is Jean Brodie. First row, from left: Kirke Hart, Katherine Hanley Bott, Marjorie Reed Mahoney, Bill Curtis and Margaret Dunshee Landfear.
Back row, from left: Edmund C.R. Lasher (Tweedle Dee), Jack Burbank (Tweedle Dum), LaMont McNall, Russ Scharping, Pricilla Bronson, Charles Owens, Marcia Brown Hart and Albert Mason.
The fantastic costumes would indicate it was an outstanding production.
By Bill Lattin
Orleans County Historian
ALBION – The Dye Hose firemen sat for this group photo June of 1884. In the background off Platt Street is the Albion Village Hall and Fire Department.
First row, from left: Wm Taylor, C. Dunning, P.W. Collins, secretary Warner Thompson, assistant foreman W. Stockton, E. Warner, E. Woods, F. Gould and M. Davis.
Second row: steward B. Butler, M. McLean, treasurer G. Shourds, J. Lewis, J. Bunn, John Bordwell, F. Taylor, J.C. Wilcox, J. Bradley, C.B. Lattin, B. Thurston and C. Higley.
Note the uniforms all have “DH” monograms embossed on them.
