Ghost Walk 2024

by Susan Zehnder, Education Director

Over 500 people joined us for our 18^th annual Ghost Walk in Woodlawn Cemetery. This event has a lot of moving parts, and once again, we’re grateful for the help and flexibility of everyone involved. In the years we’ve been doing this, we’ve covered more than 72 stories of people buried in the 166-year-old cemetery, and we would like to think we’ve helped to lift up some of the amazing lives from our community. For the curious, previous scripts are posted on our website under the Ghost Walk heading, and as a bonus, the staff will be reading this year’s scripts this Wednesday, October 30^th at noon, here at the museum. We encourage anyone interested to join us for this free event. Maybe you weren’t able to attend, want to hear the stories again, or have questions about the ghosts or process.

Here is a brief description of this year’s characters.

The Hungerford Brothers - Brothers Daniel (1886-1967) and Floyd (1888-1963) were fascinated by rockets and aircraft. They were early enthusiasts of all forms of aviation, and in 1909, they built their own airplane engine and worked as glider mechanics. To help make things a little easier for themselves, they invented a rocket powered soldering iron. As the field of aviation started to grow, they purchased their own aircraft. Inspired by what was happening overseas, they invented a rocket-powered automobile and called it the Shirley Lois Moon Girl after Daniel’s daughter. Unfortunately, they debuted the car in November 1929, just days after the stock market crash. It never caught people’s interest the way they had hoped. Actor Joe Edkin played the role of Daniel, and John Olcott was his brother Floyd.

Floyd and Daniel Hungerford

Leon “Windy” Smith (1889-1960) Smith was born in Pennsylvania and attended schools in the Elmira area. When he met Glenn Curtiss, his discovered his true passion was flying. After getting his pilot’s license, he trained pilots to fly in WWI. When the war ended, the demand for pilots and flight instructors diminished. He continued to fly, and took a job with the newly developed Air Corps. What happened next made history. Read more about Mr. Smith in this recent blog here. Actor Sam Claypool played Smith.

Leon "Windy" Smith

Alice T. Knapp ((1870-1917) Active in local politics, Knapp worked quietly behind the scenes to get things done. She took part in helping to set policies and organize campaigns that supported women’s suffrage, temperance, and prohibition. Local officials admired her so much that her name was proposed for the position of Elmira’s city police commissioner. They collected 800 signatures in her support, but the Common Council voted to delay their vote. One day later, Knapp fell ill and was rushed to Arnot-Ogden Hospital. She never recovered and died soon after. Actor Casey Winston played Knapp.

Alice T. Knapp

Sarah Wey Tompkins (1866-1929) Socialite Sarah Wey was married to wealthy businessman Ray Tompkins. Their lives revolved around being part of the community and donating generously to various causes. When she died, her obituary included a lot of information about the men in her life, rather than focusing on her accomplishments. Actors Cathy Wiggs and David Wigs played the socialite and newspaper seller.

Sarah Wey Tompkins and newspaper seller

All twenty-one tours over the three days went smoothly with the Hunter’s Moon rising to add the perfect atmospheric mood. We hope everyone who attended enjoyed themselves and we look forward to another collection of characters for next year.

  

Hallowe’en in 1924

by Erin Doane, Senior Curator

If you lived in Elmira 100 years ago, on October 31 you would not see children in costumes trick-or-treating. Going house-to-house collecting candy and other goodies on Halloween just wasn’t a thing yet. Archivist Rachel Dworkin wrote a great blogpost last year about the history of trick-or-treat. Click here to read it. 

You may still hear your doorbell on Hallowe’en night in 1924. When you go to answer it, however, no one’s there. Ha! You’ve become a victim of a classic prank. It was common for youngsters to sneak around on the night of Hallowe’en engaging in mischief that ranged from the innocent door knock-and-run to malicious acts of theft and vandalism. On October 29, 1924, the Star-Gazette ran an article from Washington D.C. describing the city’s regulations for a safe and sane Hallowe’en. Throwing bricks and using flour for confetti were strictly prohibited and people could not wear masks on the street. Horn tooting and standard confetti tossing was permitted, however, if gently done. Pictures of chorus girls should not under any circumstances be posted on church doors, nor undertakers’ signs on doctors’ doors.

Police and residents here were also worried that mischief may get out of hand on Hallowe’en. In Elmira Heights, special police did extra patrols October 27-31 to keep pranksters in check. Another potential solution was to provide kids with so many activities around the holiday that they didn’t have the energy or inclination to get into trouble. Both the Elmira Free Academy and Southside High School hosted parties. Grace Church, First Baptist Church, Westside M.E. Church, the King’s Daughters Class of Oakwood Avenue M.E. Church, the Christian Endeavor Society of the Baptist Church, the Young People’s Fellowship of Trinity Church, the Christian Endeavor Society of the Baptist Church in Horseheads, and the First Church of Christ, Disciples all entertained young people and their families at Hallowe’en parties, dances, and masquerades in 1924.  

The Neighborhood House hosted two Hallowe’en parties – one on October 30 for boys and one on October 31 for girls. Nearly 300 boys attended the festivities. In order to get into the party, they had to pass through a “Chamber of Horrors” filled with ghosts, goblins, electrified stair railings, and jangling chains and tin pans. The awesome sounds, sights, and sensations reportedly sent thrills down their spines. Once inside the gymnasium, they enjoyed games, various races including sack, crab, wheelbarrow, water pan, candle, and shoe races, and pie and doughnut eating contests. The best costumes won prizes and each boy got apples to take home.

The Neighborhood House, c. 1925

The Southside Athletic Association, the Westside Community Association, and the North Main Street Better Business Club also hosted large neighborhood Hallowe’en celebrations specifically to keep youngsters from getting up to mischief such as ringing all the doorbells in town or heaving ancient cabbages on clean front porches. All three parties were free and open to the public.

The Southside Athletic Association’s Hallowe’en carnival took place on October 30 at the playground at Miller and Keefe Streets. The entire playground was lit up with red flame lights. More than 3,000 people enjoyed games, refreshments, and a big bonfire. The highlight of the evening was the greased pig chase. When the slicked-up animal was released, pandemonium broke loose. The Star-Gazette reported the next day that the porker was finally caught by John R. Mack. But then two weeks later, it published an article claiming that Johnnie Sweeney had caught the greased pig but then had it stolen from him. An unnamed man told the boy he was a member of the organizing committee, took the animal from him, and then ran off with it. The Southside Athletic Club promised to buy little Johnnie another pig.

The Westside Community Association celebration took place on October 31 at the playground on Hoffman Street. Festivities began with a parade of about 200 costumed children with prizes awarded from most comical costumes. The 1,000 attendees snacked on popcorn and apples, played games, enjoyed musical entertainment, and danced around a large bonfire.

Star-Gazette, October 22, 1924

The North Main Street Better Business Club hosted a large, well-advertised Mardi Gras Hallowe’en carnival on October 31 as well. North Main Street was closed from West Clinton to West Fourth Streets for the event. The party began with a parade of men, women, and children dressed up as ghosts, clowns, gnomes, elves, bandits, angels, male and female impersonators, and other characters. Local businesses and residents donated hundreds of dollars’ worth of prizes for those in the best costumes including toys, musical instruments, silk hose, flowers, candy, perfume, various hats, sacks of flour, a large ham, and cold, hard cash. After the parade, several thousand people enjoyed music played by the Elmira College orchestra and the Italian band, and entertainment from a troupe of performing donkeys. There were also refreshments and a large bonfire. 

Star-Gazette, November 1, 1924

The morning after Hallowe’en, the results were in: remarkably few instances of depredation or property damage were reported compared to previous years. The strategy of hosting a ton of parties to keep kids out of mischief was a success! Some of the tricks that were still pulled during the night included youngsters ringing the old ball at School No. 5, signs for “ice cream,” “boy wanted,” and “for rent” appearing on people’s homes, and windshields and windows being painted with soap. Police Chief Weaver admitted that harmless pranks were winked at by the police but his officers did go after more egregious offenders. A group of youths on Grove Street “jacked” up an automobile to see what would happen and were taken to police headquarters. They were given a warning and sent home. Another group used a ladder to let down four electric lamps suspended near Woodlawn Cemetery. The crime wasn’t discovered until a car got caught in the wires. No one was hurt but the perpetrators were still at large. There was also a large willow wicker chair awaiting its owner at police headquarters, the result of a not-particularly-clever Hallowe’en prank.

Have a Safe and Happy Hallowe’en!

 

Grand Pictures

 by Susan Zehnder, Education Director 

If you’ve had a chance to wander through our exhibit “Grand, Domestic and Truly Comfy,” you’ve seen recreations of some of the rooms from the Langdon Mansion, once a landmark of the Elmira area. Located near the intersection of West Church and North Main streets in downtown Elmira, the property was first owned by Anson C. Ely. In 1862, Jervis Langdon purchased the home from Ely’s widow along with a neighboring lot. Four years later, he had the house remodeled and enlarged to meet his needs. Every interior surface was covered, with much of the work done by Pottier and Stymus, a top interior decorating firm and leading cabinet-maker out of New York City. As was the style for wealthy patrons in that era, the home was highly ornate. It truly was grand both inside and out.

View of the Langdon Mansion

Putting the exhibit together required our guest curator, Walter G. Ritchie, Jr., to do months of research. A critical part of his work relied on photographs taken in the mid-1870s. By this time Jervis Langdon had died, but his wife engaged the decorating firm once again to update additional rooms. And Van Aken was hired to document them. Many of the photographs Ritchie used have been enlarged and are mounted on the wall behind each of our room settings. As if frozen in time, they give us a glimpse of what each room looked like. If you look closely, you can find furniture and objects from the pictures on display in the settings. The photographs are one-half of a pair of stereographic images. The curved border at the top is a distinctive framing of many photographs done in this style. 

Stereographic images rely on viewers seeing two nearly identical images at the same time and our brains combining the two to “see” depth. This illusion, also known as binocular vision, can give viewers a life-like experience, as if they are standing in the same space where the picture was taken. In 1838, English inventor and physicist Charles Wheatstone had devised a system to create intricate drawings which viewers used to perceive depth. Imagine how relieved he must have been when advances in photography made depth perception much easier.

Sir Charles Wheatstone (1802-1875) photo by Granger

Beginning in the 1840s, stereoscopic images became a popular form of photography, and by the 1850s, they were a staple in many American parlors. We have a blog about them here. At the time, instead of scrolling through social media for hours, people entertained themselves with stereoscopic images of faraway places.

The photographs of the Langdon family home that our guest curator researched were taken by Elisha M. Van Aken, who ran a photographic studio in town. Van Aken was born in Rensselaerville, New York, in 1828, and took up photography in his early twenties, when the art form was new. He moved to Lowville, New York, where he set up a portrait studio over the village Post Office. In 1856, he was advertising his ambrotyping, daguerreotyping and photographing services. In 1873, now with a family and well-established career, he moved to Elmira.

Van Aken’s studio was first located at 134 West Water Street and later at 120 West Water Street. The 1870s were the height of stereoscopic imagery’s popularity, and his work in this and in studio portraiture was prolific. His photographs documented everyday life in Elmira of the late 19th and early 20th century, featuring street scenes, businesses, people, homes, and pets. 

In addition to his studio work, Van Aken was often seen hiking about the outskirts of town, lugging his equipment.

Elisha M. Van Aken and his camera

He photographed nature, people, events, and buildings, both inside and out. His son Charles joined him in the studio, learning the business, and became quite the photographer too. In the spring of 1904, the elder Van Aken fractured his hip and died a short time later at the age of 76. A notice about his death in the April 30, 1904 edition of the Star-Gazette declared “Mr. Van Aken did much for lazy people. He found the hundreds of scenes worth depicting around the outskirts of the city and his busy camera reduced them to paper so that they might be enjoyed by those disinclined to go and see for themselves.” 

Today Van Aken photographs can be found in national collections including those of the Smithsonian Institution, the George Eastman Museum, and The Getty Museum. We are fortunate to have many Van Aken glass plate negatives and prints too, including those hanging on the walls of our current exhibit.

Grand, Domestic and Truly Comfy: The Langdon Mansion in Elmira will be on display until May, 2025