Holley/Murray

EPA will take down more Diaz buildings in Holley

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 16 October 2015 at 12:00 am

File photos by Tom Rivers – U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer met with local officials in August 2014 at the former Diaz Chemical site on Jackson Street in Holley. A cleanup stalled at the property, but will soon begin.

HOLLEY – The cleanup and remediation of the former Diaz Chemical property on Jackson Street has slowed in recent years, but will soon commence with the remaining structures from Diaz knocked down.

The federal Environmental Protection Agency will remove the buildings from October through December so the agency can implement soil cleanup and groundwater remediation plans, said Mike Basile, EPA spokesman.

The agency will discuss the upcoming project on Wednesday morning during a meeting with media.

The EPA said previously it would cost $14.5 million to knock down the remaining buildings at the former Diaz Chemical site and also remove the soil of contaminants.

The federal Superfund program didn’t have the money to move the project forward. U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer visited the Diaz site last year and said he would push the Superfund money for the project.

The EPA already removed processing buildings and barrels of chemicals about a decade ago from Diaz. But Schumer said in August 2014 the site is still dragging down Holley, creating a blight in the community.

“This is not a health emergency but it’s an economic crisis,” he said then.

The remaining buildings at Diaz are in rough shape and are mostly fenced off from the public.

Diaz operated in Holley, working out of a former Duffy Motts site from 1974 until declaring bankruptcy in 2003. The EPA has been the caretaker of the property since then and spent $12 million taking down some of the buildings and removing barrels, pipes and some contaminants. But some buildings remain, as well as contaminated soil.

The south side of Jackson Street, Diaz’s production area, will be rid of the buildings. One warehouse from Diaz, however, will remain on the north side of the street, Basile said.

“We’re normally not in demolition mode at the EPA,” he said this morning.

However, the buildings are not in good shape and their removal is needed to address soil contamination at the site, Basile said.

Diaz had an accidental release in January 2002, and some chemicals landed on residential homes and yards. Eight homeowners moved out and didn’t come back. The EPA took possession of those houses and had them cleaned, but they’ve sat empty and off the market for a decade. Village officials are trying to work out a deal with the EPA so the homes can be put up for sale.

The EPA has supplies and equipment on site for the takedown of the buildings, which should be complete by December. The EPA said it has an air-monitoring program to ensure that dust suppression operations are working.

Once the buildings are down, the EPA plans more work for the site, including moving a 12-inch water main from the center of the site to along Jackson Street and South Main Street. This work is anticipated to start in spring 2016, the EPA said.

Part of the EPA’s proposed cleanup plan involves heating the soil to break down contaminants. The design of an in-situ thermal treatment system is on-going, the EPA said. The agency anticipates that design of the cleanup work for the soil will be completed in December 2016.

Original canal loop, only section west of Rochester, is easy to miss in Holley

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 14 October 2015 at 12:00 am

Photos by Tom Rivers
HOLLEY – A small sign on a tree in a ditch in Holley notes that this was part of the original Erie Canal loop that meandered to the Public Square area of Holley.

The state veered the canal from a relatively straight line in 1823 due to the high banks and engineering challenge in dealing with Sandy Creek.

This map in the Holley Post Office shows how the Erie Canal used to loop about 2,000 feet towards the Public Square.

There was an unusually deep ravine formed by the east branch of Sandy Creek, which presented a difficult engineering problem for builders of the original Erie Canal in the early 1820s, according to display on the north side of the canal by the Holley lift bridge. The State Canal Corp. put up that display about “The Holley Loop.”

This historical marker is next to the railroad depot used by the Murray-Holley Historical Society near Save-A-Lot. The original canal went near the depot and Public Square and some stone and remnants are still visible in the community.

Rather than try to build the canal on the ravine, engineers opted to take a sharp turn near the current lift bridge and cross over a relatively narrow section of the creek.

“The sharp curve required boaters to slow down, which made a promising location for canal-oriented businesses,” according to the state display. “The Village of Holley grew at this bend in the canal.”

The village created a canal park about 15 years ago and the path follows close to where the canal loop passed through nearly 200 years ago.

The canal was widened throughout the 363-mile-long system from 1905 to 1918 and much of the original canal was replaced by the wider and deeper canal.

But in Holley, some of the original remained because it wasn’t touched as part of the Barge Canal widening in the early 1900s.

Another map, this one displayed in the office of Dr. Dan Schiavone, shows the Holley Loop. It linked back to the canal just west of Bennetts Corners Road.

The state in 1854-61, decided the original loop needed to be straightened out in Holley to create a shorter, more navigable waterway. A new section of the canal was built over a very high and long embankment.

“Because state law did not allow canal sections to be abandoned in villages or cities, the old loop was still used for several decades to serve local businesses,” according to the state display about the Holley Loop. “Canal traffic no longer stopped in the village, however, and eventually the loop was drained and eliminated. Traces of the original canal can still be seen east of the Public Square.”

This culvert from the old canal can be seen from Route 31, a few houses east of Glenside Automotive.

I wrote about trying to find the original canal in Holley last week while on a nature walk on the Holley trail system off the canal.

I couldn’t find any signs pointing to the old canal, and wasn’t sure if I was seeing any remnants from the original canal.

Three people offered to show it to me on Tuesday. I was joined by Holley dentist Dan Schiavone, Erin Anheier from the Clarendon Historical Society, and Mark Scarborough, who lives on Bennetts Corners Road where the former trolley passed by his home until the trolly closed in the 1930s.

This trail runs from off Route 31, west of Bennetts Corners Road to the canal. The canal once ran along side this path. However, Mark Scarborough said this was a companion to the original canal, which is more to the left with lots of stone and other remnants from the original.

Scarborough says invasive plants, including Wild Rose, have proliferated in the old canal bed.

Holley’s trail system doesn’t have any wayfinding signs that would point to the original canal. The only sign is the small one nailed to a tree.

So, I wonder if the old canal bed is a big deal, or maybe a really big deal? Should it be cleared out and perhaps made into a walking trail that could be explored? Would people come check out the only original canal bed west of Rochester on the canal system?

I would encourage the village and canal to at least have signs pointing to the canal bed, and interpretive panels that talk about the “Holley Loop” and this bit of Holley and canal history. There could be interpretive panels on the trail near the canal and also in the Public Square. That wouldn’t cost too much. (The state information display is on the north side of the canal away from the gazebo and the canal park. I doubt many people look at it.)

The village created this trail system in 2000 and used sandstone to line one side. The stone isn’t from the original canal project, but the path follows close to the Holley Loop.

Holley named the canal trail in honor of Andrew Cuomo, who was the HUD secretary at the time and directed some federal funds to the village for the project.

The historical marker is close to the start of the trail.

Holley shows school spirit in Homecoming parade

By Kristina Gabalski, Correspondent Posted 10 October 2015 at 12:00 am

Photos by Kristina Gabalski
HOLLEY – It’s Homecoming weekend in Holley. A parade was Friday evening, starting on Geddes Street and heading down Route 31 to High Street and the old bus garage lot.

Residents lined the Village Square as the parade began. High School and Middle School dances were held Friday evening and Saturday’s events include a slate of Homecoming games beginning at 9 a.m. with girls modified volleyball vs. Kendall. At 1:30 pm it’s boys varsity football and varsity cheerleading vs. Oakfield/Alabama.

This year’s homecoming parade theme was “A Night at the Movies.” Here the Freshman Class presents their float: “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.”

The Sophomore Class had a “Batman” theme.

The Juniors float featured a “Grease” theme.

Seniors wrapped up the parade with their “Star Wars” float.

In Holley, a walk on the wild side

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 8 October 2015 at 12:00 am

Photos by Tom Rivers

HOLLEY – I’ve heard about how the canal used to go near the Public Square in Holley and how remnants of the original canal remain. On Tuesday, after seeing the Tugboat Urger in Holley, I went for a walk on Holley’s trail system to see if I could find any signs of the original canal.

I didn’t find any stone walls or old artifacts from the original canal. But I did see a blue heron perched in a tree.

This branch hangs out over the canal in Holley, just west of the Bennetts Corners Road canal bridge. Holley has a trail system that goes from its canal park into the woods by the waterfalls and to the Public Square.

Get too close to the heron, and it will take off in flight.

The canal allows many close encounters with wildlife, from deer, ducks, birds, fish, turtles and more.

Looking down from the path on the south side of the canal there is what I think is a waste weir, where water is drained from the canal.

I think this water feeds Sandy Creek which cuts through the woods. I was looking for old canal remnants, but came up empty.

This is a good size culvert you don’t normally see in a wooded area.

Here is another look at the culvert with the zoom lens.

Follow the trail by Sandy Creek and you discover the top of the Holley Waterfalls.

You have options on the Holley walking trail – left or right?

I headed back to the path by the canal and met my friend, the heron. It had moved down a little closer to the canal bridge.

Once again, you get too close and it takes off flying.

If anyone wants to show me where the canal walls are from the original canal, send me an email and we can work out a time to go see it. (tom@orleanshub.com)

Historic tugboat gives glimpse into canal’s heyday

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 7 October 2015 at 12:00 am

Urger proves popular with fourth-graders

Photos by Tom Rivers
HOLLEY – The historic Urger, a tugboat from 1901, was in Holley on Tuesday as part of its state-wide educational mission. The tugboat was a working vessel on the canal, hauling machinery, dredges and scows on the canal system for 60 years until the boat was retired from services in the 1980s.

The boat was built in 1901 in Ferrysburg, Michigan, and was a commercial shipping vessel in Michigan before joining the canal fleet in the 1920s.

In 1991, the Urger got new life as a “Teaching Tug.” It visits canal communities from early May until late October, educating children and adults about the canal system, which opened in 1825.

Fourth-graders from School No. 2 in Rochester visit the boat on Tuesday morning. Holley students stopped by in the afternoon before Urger headed to Brockport.

The Rochester students used to tour the Mary Jemison boat until it retired two years ago.

When the lift bridge went up in Holley, the cameras and Smart Phones came out to capture the sights and sounds of the century-old bridge.

A modern boat passes by Urger and the lift bridge, heading east towards Brockport on Tuesday.

Students were welcome to tour the boat and see a small kitchen, a bathroom and the sleeping quarters for the crew.

A crew of four lives on the boat from early May until late October, sharing New York State history with a focus on the how the canal, completed in 1825, turned NY into an economic powerhouse for business, and breathing life into many small towns along the canal.

“They learn how important the canal was to New York State, and how important it could be,” said Mike Byrnes, a deckhand on the Urger.

He lives in Waterford near Albany and has spent 13 seasons on Urger.

“The fourth-graders are a lot of fun,” he said.

The Urger captain sounded the horn on top of the boat. It has a light sound, like a whistle, and a deeper signal. The fourth-graders enjoyed the loud, low noise the most.

There isn’t much in the way of fancy technology at the helm of the boat. The captain uses a wheel and bell that rings in the engine room.

The Urger is 75 feet long and weighs 83.7 tons. The engine weighs 19.5 tons. It is a 1944 Atlas Imperial engine that was surplus from World War II. It replaced a steam engine.

The Urger is shown in this photo looking under the lift bridge in Holley.

Mike Pelletier, the engineer on the boat, is in his second season with Urger. The Newark resident said it has been eye-opening serving on the vessel and seeing the canal communities.

He gave Holley high marks for developing a nice park with amenities by the canal for boaters, and also for lots of signage pointing them to businesses and other services nearby.

“This has been a very educational adventure,” Pelletier said. “There is so much to the canal and not just for boaters. It’s beautiful now for walkers, runners and cyclists (who use the towpath).”

Pelletier said more canal towns should work on signage for boaters, directing them to restaurants, local businesses, libraries and other services. He’d also like to see more displays by the canal about local communities’ histories, giving visitors a historical snapshot about the town or village.

“The towns and villages need to incorporate it more,” he said. “Before I had this job I was as guilty as anyone of taking the canal for granted.

The Urger will be in Brockport the next few days before heading to Spencerport on Oct. 13. Click here to see the schedule and a contact number for local schools to get on the Urger agenda for 2016. The Urger crew urged local schools to arrange tours for next year.

Holley ‘ghosts’ share grief and grandeur from community’s past

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 5 October 2015 at 12:00 am

Photos by Tom Rivers
HOLLEY – There was suffering and grief, lots of it in the 1800s and early 1900s. During a Ghost Walk on Saturday, when eight people at the cemetery were portrayed, many of the stories were heart-breaking, such as the life of Mary Youngs Buddery.

The Hulberton woman lost her husband John W. Buddery and four of their children to diphtheria in early 1888. Abby Blendowski, pictured in top photo, shared Buddery’s story.

Gina Buda, a GCC student from Bergen, portrayed Lillian Bentham, who survived the sinking of The Titanic in April 1912. Bentham was one of 710 to survive, while 1,514 died, including her godfather William Douton and another companion from Holley.

Orleans Hub editor Tom Rivers portrayed William Douton, one of two Holley men who perished on The Titanic. Douton and Peter MacKain were both British quarrymen who returned to the Isle of Guernsey for the winter of 1911-1912.

They were coming back to the Holley area in April 1912. A marker in the cemetery notes their deaths. It is a memorial for the two men, paid for by the Order of the Oddfellows.

Dan Hamner, a GCC history professor, portrays Joseph Hess, who was a boxer and bar owner before turning temperance evangelist.

He would write an autobiography called “Out of Darkness, Into Light” in 1890, detailing his early life, his subsequent religious conversion and the importance of a life dedicated to temperance. He died at his home in Clarendon in 1893.

Hamner passed out temperance challenge cards with Joseph Hess’s picture. The cards sought people’s pledge and signature to abstain “from the use of all intoxicating liquors.”

Hamner handed out nearly 100 cards on Saturday night, but no one was willing to take the temperance oath.

Alex Farley, a GCC student from Corfu, portrays John Berry, who helped establish Hillside Cemetery in 1866 and served as its long-time president until his death in 1892. The cemetery’s older section has a park-like setting and is included on the National Register of Historic Places.

Berry was also a politician who represented Orleans County in the State Legislature.

Another ghost included Lydia Wright Butterfield, who spoke about her husband Orson, who developed “Gold Fever” and headed to California, leaving his family for 16 years. Mr. Butterfield had a cobblestone house built in Clarendon in 1849. (The house was recently restored.)

Butterfield’s wife listed him as a widow in one census. He would come home and lived another 20 years with his wife. The family endured the loss of three young children.

The Ghost Walk tour included a visit with the “ghost” portraying Herbert Charles Taylor, who is believed to be the only Orleans County resident to die during the battle at Gettysburg.

Phoebe Sprague also was featured. She worked as a doctor in Holley, one of the first women in that role locally. A historic marker notes her distinction on Geddes Street.

Titanic survivor’s family is thankful for new grave marker in Holley

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 4 October 2015 at 12:00 am

Photos by Tom Rivers

HOLLEY – The great-nieces of Lillian Bentham, the Holley teen who survived the sinking of the Titanic in April 1912, attended Saturday’s Ghost Walk at Hillside Cemetery and are pictured with Gina Buda, a Genesee Community College student who portrayed Bentham.

The great-nieces all live in Rochester. Bentham lived in the city after growing up in Holley. She lived at 11 Kay Terrace. The great-nieces include, from left: Carol Foresta, Sherry Bentham and Laura Allis.

Buda of Bergen was among a group that helped put on the first Ghost Walk in the cemetery as part of a benefit for restoration of the chapel.

Brigden Memorials in Albion donated the stone with the engraving, and delivered it on Thursday, almost four decades after Bentham’s death.

She was 19 when she survived The Titanic, one of 710 to be rescued. The other 1,514 on the shp died, including her godfather William Douton of Holley.

The great-nieces said they are thankful for the new gravestone at Hillside Cemetery for Bentham.

Bentham would live to be 85, and remained in the Holley and Rochester region until her death on Dec. 15, 1977. She was married to John Black, who died at age 81 on June 28, 1977.

Bentham was buried in Hillside Cemetery next to her sister, Daisy Bentham, who died at age 16 in 1904. Lillian never had a headstone until Thursday.

“It’s awesome,” said Foresta.

“It’s totally unexpected,” Allis said.

Lillian and her husband didn’t have children. Orleans Hub reported on Thursday that she didn’t have surviving relatives. That was what the Clarendon Historical Society thought.

But the great-nieces are proof Lillian has surviving family, who still love her. Lillian lived with their father, Walter Bentham, near the end of her life. Her great-nieces said she didn’t want to talk about The Titanic.

Boil water advisory lifted in Murray

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 2 October 2015 at 11:19 am

MURRAY – The Orleans County Health Department has lifted a boil water advisory for Murray residents on public water north of the canal.

About 500 residents were advised to boil tap water for a minute. That advisory was issued on Wednesday after water samples on Monday and Tuesday showed E. coli bacteria.

Two straight days with positive tests triggered the two-day advisory.

Town highway workers have flushed water hydrants to improve water flows in the water lines north of the canal. Tests since Tuesday have showed negative results for E coli.

“We want to thank everyone for their patience and concern,” Ed Morgan, the Murray highway superintendent, said this morning.

Murray north of canal under boil water advisory

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 1 October 2015 at 12:00 am

MURRAY – Residents in the Murray north of the canal are being advised to boil their water for a minute due to the presence of E. coli bacteria during water samples earlier this week.

The town on Wednesday morning was informed that water samples on Monday and Tuesday tested positive for the bacteria. Two straight days with positive tests prompts a boil water advisory.

Town officials hand-delivered notices of the advisory to about 500 households north of the canal on Wednesday, said Ed Morgan, the town’s water and highway superintendent.

Highway workers have been flushing hydrants to get fresh water in the lines. Tests on Wednesday and Thursday haven’t shown bacteria, Morgan said. He expects to be given the OK on Friday morning that the boil water advisory can be lifted at noon.

The Highway Department, once the advisory is lifted, will hand-deliver notices to the 500 households.

E. coli can cause diarrhea, cramps, nausea, headaches, and other symptoms.

The positive tests were found in the Murray hamlet. Morgan said that part of town is served by water coming from the Village of Albion through the Town of Gaines from the west, and the Monroe County Water Authority from the east.

The water doesn’t flow one way in that part of town, unlike in most water districts.

“It’s a good thing we sample,” he said. “Fortunately we caught it.”

Gravestone given for Lillian Bentham, Holley teen who survived Titanic

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 1 October 2015 at 12:00 am

Photos by Tom Rivers

HOLLEY – She was 19 when she survived the sinking of The Titanic. Lillian Bentham, who grew up in Holley, was one of 710 people to be rescued when the famed ship hit an iceberg and went down in the ocean on April 14, 1912.

Bentham would live to be 85, and remained in the Holley and Rochester region until her death on Dec. 15, 1977. She was married to John Black, who died at age 81 on June 28, 1977.

Bentham was buried in Hillside Cemetery next to her sister, Daisy Bentham, who died at age 16 in 1904.

Lillian never had a headstone. That changed today when Bridgen Memorials delivered a headstone with the names of Lillian Bentham and her husband. The couple had no children.

Brigden donated the stone and the engraving, which notes Bentham is a “Titanic Survivor”. The stone offers a first-person account of her surviving The Titanic and her grief with the loss of her friends, including her godfather, William Douton of Holley.

Douton and another Holley man, Peter Mackain, were among the 1,514 who perished in the Titanic sinking. They were both quarry workers who spent the winter visiting family in the Isle of Guernsey in Great Britain.

They were among a group traveling The Titanic back to the United States.

Karen Gaylord of Holley has long been intrigued by The Titanic disaster. She wrote the inscription offering the account from Bentham’s perspective.

Gaylord and her sisters, JoAnn Norris and Janet Steidle, have visited The Titanic Museum in Pigeon Forge, Tenn. The museum gives visitors a boarding pass with a passenger’s name. The sisters have been to the museum twice, and both times they received Lillian Bentham’s boarding pass.

They didn’t know about her local connections until they researched Bentham and discovered that she was from their hometown.

“When we found out she was from Holley, we felt she was calling out to us,” Gaylord said.

She was at the cemetery at about 11 a.m. today when the gravestone for Bentham was delivered.

David Strickland, left, and David Oakley of Brigden Memorials set the stone for Lillian Bentham and her husband John Black at Hillside Cemetery.

Brigden owner David Oakley said the stone had been at Brigden’s site in Albion for many years. Oakley said he appreciates the recent efforts to upgrade Hillside Cemetery, a push led by Melissa Ierlan, the Clarendon code enforcement officer, cemetery caretaker and president of the Clarendon Historical Society.

“Melissa has been great to work with,” Oakley said. “She really does try hard.”

Bentham will be featured during a Ghost Walk on Saturday beginning at 7 p.m. Other prominent cemetery residents will be highlighted during the Ghost Walk, which costs $10. Proceeds will be used to help with restoration of the cemetery chapel.