Murray named 2 roads, Ogden and Padelford, for long-time doctors
A Town of Murray road map shows Padelford Road, which connects to Route 31 near the Hickory Ridge Golf Course and RV Resort (shown on map as SUNY at Brockport – Fancher campus.
By Catherine Cooper, Orleans County Historian
“Illuminating Orleans” – Volume 6, No. 2
MURRAY – Road names are an interesting aspect of local history. We tend to take them for granted but they each have a story and reflect an aspect of our past.
Orleans County’s road names cover a range of topics: origin (Salt Works), nature (Hemlock Ridge), buildings (Schoolhouse, Fletcher Chapel), features (Culvert), boundaries (Townline, Countyline), functions (Telegraph), shape (Angling, Zig-Zag) and the wittily named Alps Road referring to its “mountainous” topography. Many roads were named for farmers or long-term residents: Carr Rd., Sawyer Rd., Lattin Rd.
Charles E. Padelford
In April 1973, Town of Murray Supervisor Thomas De Palma took what a Medina Journal editorial described as “a brave and commendable step” of naming two roads in the town in honor of former physicians. Dr. Charles E. Padelford and Dr. Leon Ogden tended to the needs of Murray residents for a total of 78 years, having started their practices in the horse and buggy era.
Padelford Road is located south of Fancher. It runs from Lynch Road to Route 31.
Ogden Road is located east of the village of Holley and runs from Route 31 to the Orleans-Monroe County line.
Charles E. Padelford was born in Canandaigua in 1869. He trained as a jeweler and optician but always wanted to practice medicine. Following his marriage to June M. Sidell in Victor in 1898, he entered the University of Buffalo School of Medicine and graduated in 1905, at the age of 36. He practiced in Clarendon for five years, then moved to Holley where he practiced until his death at the age of 74 in 1943.
In his memoir “Roses and Garlic” Michael A. Charles recounted that Dr. Padelford charged $1 for homecare, including medicine, but would accept food as payment. Since the Charles family operated a store, Dr. Padelford liked to get paid with large cans of black olives or stop at their gas pump to fill his tank.
Ogden Road is east of the Village of Holley in the southern part of Murray, close to the Clarendon town line.
Dr. Padelford helped found the Holley Rotary Club and the Holley Rod and Gun Club. In 1922, he donated a cup to the Gun Club which was to be owned permanently by the person who won the title three years in succession.
He had a keen interest in local history and was a collector of clocks, coral, books, canes and antique firearms. Several boxes of his papers were donated to the Holley Depot Museum. Dr. Padelford and his wife, Jenny, who died in 1963, are buried in Hillside Cemetery, Holley.
Dr. Leon Ogden was born in the hamlet of Allen’s Hill, Ontario County in 1875. He studied medicine at the Albany Medical School and by 1900 was practicing in the Murray area. The Holley Standard of Sept. 6, 1900, reported that “the excessive warm weather of the past week has caused a good many cases of sickness. Dr. Ogden has been very busy attending calls.”
He served as Coroner for 25 years and in 1950, he was honored by the New York State Medical Association for 50 years of service as a physician. His favorite pastimes were hunting and fishing.
He died in 1953 while vacationing in Lake Nipissing, Ontario, Canada. He and his wife, Katherine, who died in 1968 are buried in Hillside Cemetery, Holley.
