ALBION – Back around 1960 the Albion Lions Club provided trash barrels for downtown Albion. They were painted silver with black letters stating, “Help Keep Albion Clean.”
Shown here, from left, are Kenneth Scharett from Scharett & Mitchell Funeral Home; “Ted” Church, an attorney from Church and Church; and Mayor John D. Robinson.
The A & P Food Store shows in back of Ken Scharett’s head while “Jack” Robinson wipes the can clean.
GAINES – The Cobblestone Society Museum will kick off a new four-part lecture series next month about medical care and its history in Western New York.
The lectures all begin at 4 p.m. on Sundays at the Cobblestone Church, 14389 Ridge Rd. There is a $5 suggested donation. That price includes admission to an exhibit about early physicians and medicine in Orleans County.
That exhibit is in the first floor of the historic church and highlights more than 20 doctors from the county. The exhibit includes some of their tools and equipment, including a bag used for house calls. (Orleans Hub will feature that exhibit in a separate article to be posted soon.)
The lecture series is designed to bring more visitors to the museum and highlight pioneering medical care in the region.
The following lectures are planned at the museum:
The Development of Buffalo’s Medical School
Dr. Ronald Batt
Dr. Ronald Batt from the University at Buffalo will be the first speaker in the series on Aug. 17.
Founded on May 11, 1846, The University of Buffalo was established to train local physicians in the Buffalo area. Opening in 1847, the University welcomed Millard Fillmore as the first chancellor. He filled the position in a part-time capacity while serving as President of the United States. The establishment of Buffalo’s Medical School represents an important part in the growth of Western New York.
Batt is a professor of clinical gynecology at SUNY University at Buffalo. His master’s thesis was focused around the development and formation of Buffalo’s Medical School and the history of the Buffalo area.
The museum will have a special artifact on loan for this event: a death mask of Dr. Roswell Park. Several masks were cast following Dr. Park’s death in 1914, including those in the collections of the Buffalo Historical Society and the University at Buffalo’s Medical Sciences Library. This is believed to be the third of three that were cast.
The Search for Health: Sanitariums and Health Resorts of WNY
Erica Wanecski of the Medina Historical Society will discuss health resorts during a lecture at 4 p.m. on Aug. 31.
Wanecski has worked in the medical field for more than 20 years. She currently works in the education field with deaf children.
Provided photo – Pictured is the Battle Creek Sanitarium in Battle Creek, Mich. It first opened in 1866 as the Western Health Reform Institute and was operated by John Harvey Kellogg (inventor of corn flakes) in the mid-1870s.
With an interest in history, she became curious about the history of the Castle on the Hill, a health resort and sanitarium in Dansville. She researched health spas, patent medicines and other medical-related topics. This presentation will focus on the history of Sanitariums and Health Resorts in Western New York.
Sanitariums existed during a time when medicinal treatments for ailments such as Tuberculosis were non-existent. The concept of health resorts and sanitariums developed into an idea similar to luxury resorts where members of the middle and upper class would travel away from home to experience state-of-the-art medical treatments guaranteed to improve their quality of life.
Trivial Tales of Orleans County Physicians
Orleans County Historian Bill Lattin will give this lecture at 4 p.m. on Sept. 14. Lattin will share human-interest stories from his up-and-coming book.
The program will include stories about several of the physicians featured in the Cobblestone Museum exhibit and others who have practiced throughout the area in the last 100 years.
Come join us as we hear the history of Orleans County’s finest physicians, told from an amusing and entertaining perspective.
Dying on Script: A Look at Victorian Attitudes Towards Illness and Death in the 19th Century
Derek Maxfield, GCC professor
Derek Maxfield, a history professor at Genesee Community College, will give a lecture, “Dying on Script: A Look at Victorian Attitudes Towards Illness and Death in the 19th Century.”
Maxfield’s presentation at 4 p.m. on Sept. 28 will explore the effects of medicine on the lives of families during the Victorian era. Looking back, many would consider the attitudes relating to death to be a morbid fascination or obsession.
Social norms developed around extended periods of mourning, a dictation of mourning dress, and exorbitant and extravagant funerals. A “Cult of Death” seemed to develop as families invested in mourning art, jewelry made from the hair of deceased loved ones, post-mortem photographs, and expensive cemetery monuments adorned with symbolism.
Maxfield will highlight a unique aspect of Victorian culture, representing the “final stage” in the 19th century treatment of severe medical ailments.
The lecture series is made possible through Genesee-Orleans Regional Arts Council and the New York State Council on the Arts.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 30 July 2014 at 12:00 am
Photos by Tom Rivers
GAINES – The cobblestone structures get a lot of the attention – as they should – at the Cobblestone Society Museum, but the museum also includes six outhouses, including the one used by Rufus Bullock and his family.
(In the top photo, museum co-director Sarah Karas is pictured with the Bullock outhouse, which is located behind the Ward House next to the Cobblestone Church.)
Bullock grew up in Albion and went on to be the governor of Georgia during Reconstruction after the Civil War. He gained prestige as president of the Macon and Augusta Railroad in 1867. He was elected governor and served from 1868 to 1871. Bullock was an abolitionist and successfully fought accusations of corruption while he was governor in Georgia.
He returned to live out his life in Albion and is buried at Mount Albion Cemetery. His house still stands at the northwest corner of West Park and Liberty streets.
The Cobblestone Church was built in 1834 and is the oldest cobblestone church in North America. But it’s not the oldest structure on the museum grounds. That distinction goes to this outhouse that was erected in the early 1830s.
The finest of the six outhouses is this one, which has five seats inside. This outhouse is next to the Farmer’s Hall.
By Matt Ballard
Cobblestone Society Museum co-director
LYNDONVILLE – This small building, standing on the east side of Main Street in the Village of Lyndonville, once served as the office of Dr. John D. Warren.
Later, this same building was used by Dr. Warren’s son-in-law, Dr. Charles E. Fairman. It was common practice for a physician to have a smaller building located near their home for use as an office. Many homes had separate wings or extensions that served as the location for their practice.
Dr. Warren was well known for his interest in fruit and vegetable drying. Around 1880, he submitted a patent for “Warren’s Vegetable Soup Package,” the precursor to the instant soup packets we currently use today. Later that same year, Gaines farmer A. J. Palmer assigned half of the patent for his fruit dryer to Dr. Warren. The Cobblestone Museum has the patent model of Palmer’s fruit dryer on display in the Farmer’s Hall.
Editor’s Note: The Cobblestone Museum is hosting an exhibit, “Medicine at the Museum,” through Oct. 13, The exhibit displays a collection of medical artifacts from the Rexall Drug Store in Albion and features over 20 local physicians and pharmaceutical giants.
The museum in August and September also will have a four-part lecture series about the development of the medical profession in Western New York. The series starts with the development of Buffalo’s Medical College in the 1840s, and goes through the progression of 19th century medicine from the establishment of WNY health spas and sanitariums to the trivial and candid stories of Orleans County physicians. The series will conclude with a look into the Victorian culture surrounding death and illness in the 19th century.
For more information about the museum and its events, click here.
ALBION – State Sen. Austin Erwin is seen on Aug. 28, 1960, laying the cornerstone at the new Orleans County Infirmary on Route 31 in Albion.
On the 25th anniversary of this event, the name was changed to the Orleans County Nursing Home. It is now known as The Villages of Orleans Health and Rehabilitation Center.
CHILDS – In this picture from the summer of 1977 we see the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Ward House at the Cobblestone Museum in Childs.
Cobblestone Society board members, along with Congressman John LaFalce, appear behind the ribbon. In front, from left, include: Bernard Lynch, Evelyn Lyman, Congressman LaFalce (who is about to cut the ribbon), Cary H. Lattin, and Cary W. Lattin, the museum director.
In back, from left, include: Ward Wilson, Donna Rodden, Bea Davis, Donald Ross, George Wolfe, Josephine Howard and Alma Starkweather. A couple other people are in the picture but their faces do not show.
The cobblestone Ward House was first used as a church parsonage and later owned briefly in the 1860s by Horace Greeley, an influential newspaper editor who opposed slavery and ran for president in 1872.
ALBION – In this picture from 1904 we see the race track, two grandstands full of people and the judges’ stand.
The photo is entitled: “Ready for the Trot at the County Fair.”
At the time horse racing was Americans’ favorite sport. The fairgrounds was located off West State Street in Albion with numerous buildings including stables and a very fine race track.
MEDINA – The Medina Canal Basin was under construction when this picture was taken July 31, 1913. In the center we see the great retaining wall being built using wooden forms for poured concrete.
A number of derricks appear along the side of this wall. A steam engine on tracks in the bottom of the canal provides power. The back side of the business blocks on Main Street show at far left.
A temporary work building is seen in the lower right corner above which appears Oak Orchard River. Along with steam power we also notice man power in the foreground as well as horsepower drawing a wagon on the lane.
GAINES – Our color photo shows a small building in Gaines as it looked in 1987 when given by Rose Welles to the Cobblestone Museum.
This was moved in August 1987 from next to the Chatterbox Restaurant to Route 98 in Childs. It had been built in 1838 for a shoe shop by Starr Chester. Once at the museum grounds, the building was restored inside and out.
In the mid-1960s the children of John G. Peters from Lyndonville had given the Cobblestone Museum the contents of their father’s harness shop following his death at age 85 in 1963.
The black and white photo taken 25 years ago in July 1989 shows the dedication ceremony, when the small building opened as the John G. Peters Harness Shop.
Bill Lattin, director of the museum at the time, and the late William Nestle, president of the Cobblestone Society back then, appear on the front porch. Other participants at the dedication are seated on the porch of the museum print shop next door.
County Legislators Ronald Radzinski and William Vick are visible along with Rev. Hilda Spann and the Rev. Steve Devine.
BARRE – It is believed this photo was taken in the Town of Barre in the late 1920s or early 1930s.
It shows two men on a horse-drawn hay wagon pitching around loose hay to level the load. What is of particular interest is the mechanical hay loader being pulled in the rear. This greatly saved on manpower and eliminated having men on the ground to pitch hay onto the wagon.
All this kind of work was done before hay was commonly baled.
