Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – This week I made a shocking discovery in Albion. There is an old boot scraper behind the DAR House in Albion.

I first encountered one of these last summer in Rochester at the Charlotte-Genesee Lighthouse, which dates back to the 1820s.

I like historic hitching posts and carriage steps. Orleans County has a lot of these, perhaps more than anywhere else.

I’ve been looking for an old boot scraper around here. I thought if we had one it could tie into a possible hitching post-carriage step trail. I hadn’t seen any until I stopped by the DAR House on Wednesday. Mounted in a stone block by the back door stands a cast iron boot scraper.

“They are really old,” said Bill Lattin, the county historian. “These things go way back and you just don’t see them around.”

Lattin knew about the one at the DAR House. He has one at his historic cobblestone house, mounted in a curb. He also has a mobile boot scraper. His two, plus the one at the DAR, are the only ones he knows of in the county.

“They go back to a time when there were a lot of muddy streets,” Lattin said.

Folks back then would scrape off the mud, and sometimes manure, from their shoes before going inside.

The boot scraper at the DAR complements one of the finest buildings in the county.

The DAR House was first built in 1840 on North Main Street at the Linwood Street intersection. The house was enlarged by Orson Tousley in the mid-1800s. The Greek Revival building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Tousley’s daughter Florence followed her father in owning the site. She married George Church, the son of Sanford Church, one of the most prominent people from Albion.

Florence was one of the founding members of the Daughters of the American Revolution in 1925. She left the house to her son Sanford T. Church, who sold the house to Emma Reed Webster in 1929. She then donated it a few months later to the DAR, which remains an active local organization.

I did a Google search for boot scrapers, and found these interesting articles (click here and here). If anyone knows where more of these might be locally, send me an email at tom@orleanshub.com.

Photo by Tom Rivers

ALBION – A historic marker will be erected on the right of way at 223 South Clinton St., in front of one of Albion’s grandest old homes.

The Village Board agreed to let Gar Trusselle, owner of the house, put up the marker.

Trusselle lives in the William V. N. Barlow House, a brick building that was built in the 1870s and features a mix  of architectural styles, including Second Empire, Italianate, and Queen Anne.

Barlow was a prominent architect and builder during Albion’s boom days in the mid to late 1800s. Barlow designed the county courthouse and the mansion on Main Street that later became Swan Library.

Winners to be recognized at Civil War Encampment

Press release, GCC

MEDINA – When Genesee Community College hosts the Civil War Encampment at its Medina Campus Center next spring, organizers want to recognize the efforts of dedicated citizens who work hard to preserve the county’s history.

GCC is accepting nominations for “Heritage Heroes Awards.” Nominations will be accepted through Jan. 31, 2014.

“Residents of Orleans County take great pride in their heritage,” said Jim Simon, Associate Dean of GCC’s Orleans County Campus Centers in Medina and Albion. “We want to recognize the time and investment of individuals who are tireless advocates for local history.”

Nominees for Heritage Heroes can be any age but posthumous nominations will not be accepted. History professionals and GCC employees are also not eligible for the award, nor are those who serve on the awards selection committees. Nominees must be Orleans County residents. Nominations will not be retained for future consideration.

Derek Maxfield, the Encampment coordinator, pushed to create the award for local Heritage Heroes.

“We’re excited to initiate these awards,” Maxfield said. “When we held the Encampment in Medina last year, it became obvious how this county values its history and embraces its preservation. These efforts often go unnoticed. This is a way to shine a light on those who make many personal sacrifices in order to preserve history for future generations.”

The Heritage Heroes will be recognized during a ceremony at the annual Civil War Encampment at GCC in Medina in April 2014.

To nominate someone for the Heritage Heroes Awards, write up a brief statement outlining the person’s contributions, projects, and community affiliations. Include his/her name (anonymous nominations will not be accepted), address, phone number, and email address.

Submit the nomination to:

Genesee Community College
ATTENTION: Heritage Heroes Committee
11470 Maple Ridge Rd.
Medina NY  14103-9675

Nominations may also be emailed to Jim Simon at jsimon@genesee.edu. Please write Heritage Heroes Nomination in the subject line.

A screening committee made up of community members, history professionals, and GCC students will review the nominations and select finalists. From those finalists, a committee including GCC Associate Dean Jim Simon, Assistant Professor and Encampment Coordinator Derek Maxfield, and Orleans Hub Editor Tom Rivers will choose the Heritage Heroes.

Photos by Tom Rivers – Frank and Rocco Sidari look at the gravestones carved by their grandfather Francesco Spada in St. Joseph’s Cemetery on Brown Street.

ALBION – Frank Sidari wanted to show me something in St. Joseph’s Cemetery, the Catholic burial ground on Brown Street. He knows I’m interested in the community’s quarrymen heritage.

I met Frank, 88, and his brother Rocco, 91, there today. They were waiting by a row of gravestones carved out of Medina sandstone. Their grandfather, Francesco Spada, was the stonecutter on the projects.

Spada lived from 1864 to 1933. He came to Albion as a boy, moving here from Alfedena, the hometown for a lot of the local Italians.

His grandsons – the Sidari brothers – both served in World War II and then worked long careers as carpenters. They have lived on East State Street most of their lives. That is the street where many of the Italians settled. They had quarries a short walk from their homes. Some of the quarries were in their back yard.

The gravestones for two of Spada’s children, who died young from the flu.

The Sidaris remember their grandfather carving stone. Today, they looked at the carvings and the artwork on the stones in the cemetery.

“How in the Hell did they do all that fancy work?” Rocco said.

Spada somehow carved holes in the top of the gravestones and then set a cross on the top. Rocco, who was chief steward for 990 carpenters on the hydroelectric power project in Lewiston in the 1950s, is impressed by the talent of the stonecutters from a century ago.

“I don’t know how they did it,” he told me.

Spada etched a spade design on the gravestones. He added images of an anchor, the moon, diamonds and other symbols. The names and words on the stones are written in Italian.

Frank said the Italians were close-knit and a lot of fun while he was growing up.

He also said the flu and other illnesses claimed a lot of people when they were young. Looking at the garvestones today for his teen-age children, you could feel Spada’s grief. He poured his heart into the gravestones for his children.

occo and Frank Sidari are brothers and life-long friends. They posed for a picture in St. Joseph’s Cemetery.

Photos by Tom Rivers – George Pullman is believed to have made these two couches that are inside the Merrill-Grinnell Funeral Home in Albion. The funeral home was once the home for Sanford Church, a prominent Albionite who served as the state’s lieutenant governor.

ALBION – Before he struck fame and fortune as the manufacturer of palatial sleeping railroad cars, George Pullman was a cabinet and furniture maker in Albion.

Pullman joined the family business at age 17 in 1848.  A decade later he was in Chicago, making money by moving buildings. In 1859, he converted railroad cars into luxury rooms on wheels. Thus began his empire.

Today, I stopped by the Merrill-Grinnell Funeral Home in Albion. Two of Pullman’s couches from more than 150 years ago remain inside the funeral home, which used to be the home of Sanford Church. The prominent Albion resident went on to serve as lieutenant governor from 1851 to 1854. Church may be Albion’s most accomplished resident. He was also the state comptroller and chief judge of the Court of Appeals.

He also apparently owned ornately carved furniture by another young Albionite who would become a titan of business. George Pullman didn’t forget his Albion roots after amassing his riches. He was the prime benefactor in building the Pullman Memorial Universalist Church in Albion, a site that was dedicated in 1895.

Another Albion church has a Pullman-made couch. When I was at the First Presbyterian Church for a visit a few months ago, members of the church noted they have a Pullman couch. I’ll try to get a picture soon.

The Pullman furniture features ornately carved woodwork.

By Bill Lattin, Orleans County Historian

ALBION – These baseball players represent the Albion High School team in 1902.

The mascot in front is Bernard Hunt. Kneeling next to him on the left is Mike Duggan and on the right is Ralph Vick.

First row standing, from left: Walter Radley, Paul Williams – manager, and Willard Gaskel.

Others standing in back from left include: George Beckwith, Fenner Smith, W. Crandall, Francis Blake Sr., Homer Brown and Bill Carr.

By Bill Lattin
Orleans County Historian

EAGLE HARBOR – This picture of Miss Florence Sheldon shows her around 1900 with golf clubs on the Eagle Harbor Golf Course.

The course was established in 1898. It was located on the Eagle Harbor-Waterport Road near Otter Creek.

It was a six-hole course on both sides of the road with a club house on the west side. It ceased to operate by World War II.

Sheep were used to keep it mowed, although hand mowers were used on the greens.

By Bill Lattin
Orleans County Historian

MEDINA – The post card shown here was mailed on Nov. 27, 1905. It depicts the Oak Orchard Creek flowing under the old Erie Canal Aqueduct in Medina.

This is looking north down the creek where just on the other side of the aqueduct it tumbles over the Medina Falls. Note the depth of the canal over the arch.

By Bill Lattin, Orleans County Historian

WATERPORT – Lillian Sargent of Waterport posed for this photograph taken by Fred Holt around 1925.

She is the epitome of style for a teen-age girl of the 1920s. Note the bobbed hair, beads around her neck, summer dress, stockings and shoes.

She was the envy of girls whose mothers would not let them get their long hair bobbed.

This was meant to be an artistic picture but it also shows us a lot about the style from the Roaring ’20s.

By Bill Lattin
Orleans County Historian

ALBION – The Albion High School baseball team had its picture taken in 1933 in front of what was then the Albion High School on East Academy Street. (The building is now the Albion Academy and is used for senior citizen apartments, Nutri-Fair and the Arc of Orleans County.)

What is really great about this picture is that all the players are identified.

The team includes the bat boy in front named Richard Foster.

Second row, from left: Pat Monacelli, Anthony Glenn Peter “Coke” Ross, Philbrook Vick, Nellio DiGuilio, Amaday “Cal” Colonna, Edmond Biordi, Louis Hollenbeck, Clyde Furness and Robert Bloom.

Third row: Peter DeLuca, F. Craig Campbell, Sam Juliana, Sam Martillotta, Louis “Pooch” Massaro, John Russelli, Jack Newman, Ralph Tiffany, Robert Wood and Coach Spierdowis.

Back row: Angelo Bell (manager), Mike Christopher, Ted “Bear” DiLaura, Steve Adams, Bruce Farnsworth, Dominic DiLodovico, Frank “Pete” Morrow, George Dragon, Joe Christopher and Henry Dragon.

By Bill Lattin
Orleans County Historian

SHELBY – In this picture taken in 1889, we see the log cabin built by Alexander Coon in 1811. He was the first settler in the town of Shelby.

The woman in the photo is identified as Betsy Boyce Benson. These first homes in our region were usually about 16 feet square, consisting of one room and perhaps a loft.

By the end of the 19^th Century most of these early dwellings had been removed and replaced with much better housing.

ALBION – About 40 years ago, Albion’s downtown had a grocery store, clothing and jewelry shops, as well as lots of other independent merchants.

Albion resident Gar Trusselle found these photos and sent them to The Orleans Hub.

The top photo was taken from near the canal looking south. The Waterman building, which is next to the Briggs building, was standing in the early 1970s. A fire about a decade later would remove that structure from the collection of historic structures in the downtown.

The photo below shows East Bank Street. You can see projecting signs and awnings on some of the buildings back then.

“I remember doing a lot of our shopping there when I was growing up,” Trusselle said. “So many stores were downtown at that time. Clothing, jewelry, groceries and several of each. Oh well, I guess that’s progress.”

WATERPORT – When the Waterport Trestle was dismantled in 1995, local photographer Don “Cookie” Cook was there to document the historic removal.

Cook knew the demolition of the landmark over the Oak Orchard River was an event that needed to be recorded for history. He donated the photos to the Orleans County History Department.

Frank Zicari scanned in the images, and shared them with The Orleans Hub. Cook wrote down the dates when the photos were taken and included descriptions from the scenes.

The top photo was taken on Sept. 13, 1995, and shows operator Jerry Weakland and Mark Woodley removing ties from the Hojack Railroad Bridge.

Here are more photos, and Cook’s words:

Aug. 24, 1995 – Looking east, one section is down (the far end).

Aug. 28, 1995 – Down comes another section of the Hojack Railroad Bridge.

Aug. 28, 1995 – Dismantling the Hojack RR Bridge

Sept. 20, 1995 – Jack Weakland of Plastings, Pa. and his son Jerry remove the last Hojack Railroad Tie (610 total were across the bridge) on the west bank near Clark Mills Road. Charles Pelleschi, the landowner from Summerhill, Pa., watches the removal.

Oct. 2, 1995 – Jack Weakland by the bulldozer gives directions as the Hojack Railroad Bridge is winched up at Clark Mills Road one piece at a time.

By Bill Lattin
Orleans County Historian

ALBION – Recently the Five Star Bank building at the northwest corner of Main and West Bank streets in Albion was freshly repainted. (Click here for a previous article.)

In this photo from about 1890 we see much more detail in the architecture. Here the brick has not yet been painted, which is in contrast with the decorative stone trim, making the building much more lively than today.

This large three-story block was built in 1882 by William G. Swan and boasted two-story corner tower. To the right appears the Sickels Block, which conformed in the same style known as Eastlake.

The corner store was operated by George Barrell, a druggist – hence the mortar and pestle symbol on a post in front.

The name James Bailey & Son appears on the awning next door where they operated a grocery store. These store fronts are now all a part of Five Star Bank.