Fun Facts

 by Susan Zehnder, Education Director

“I didn’t know that!” For the last few years, The Chemung County Historical Society has printed bookmarks with photos and biographical information about more than 20 different community leaders. Our mission, “to deepen the understanding of and appreciation for our community’s place in state and national history,” inspires us to continue to add more to our collection whenever we can, and we welcome any suggestions. Some of the people and their stories are quite well-known, while others may be more of a surprise.

Newcomers don’t always recognize the man with wild white hair smoking a cigar on the city’s Welcome to Elmira sign on Church Street. Nor do many younger people have any idea who the other people are. Our bookmarks help to share some of their stories. Hardly comprehensive, they act as small reminders of what people in our community have accomplished.

The bookmarks highlight local athletes, scholars, scientists, civic leaders, authors, inventors, politicians, lawyers, astronauts, and engineers from Chemung County. We pass them out at events and share local history.

This summer a ceremony was held to recognize renaming the former Madison Avenue Bridge over the Chemung River. Now known as the Allen-Berry Bridge, it honors two local Civil Rights leaders who did so much for the community: A’Don Allen and Bessie Berry. 

A'Don Allen (1916 - 1994)

Allen grew up in Elmira. He served with the Army Corps of Engineers in WWII and earned a bronze star on Okinawa. Upon his return, he became active in politics and was known as a prominent civic and community leader. In 1966, he became Elmira's first Black man appointed to the Civil Service Commission. Over the next thirty years, Allen held various government positions including that of deputy mayor for the City of Elmira.

Bessie Berry (1932 - 2008)

As president of the local NAACP, Berry supported “Black Dollar Days” to encourage people of color to use Susan B. Anthony dollar coins and $2 bills when making purchases to highlight the Black community’s economic impact. Berry became the first African American elected to the Elmira School Board and successfully pushed the district to recognize Martin Luther King Jr. day as a holiday.

(Hear an interview with Bessie Berry followed by a community discussion, by checking out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGPjCQ32UHs )

In no way do we claim these bookmarks tell a complete story of any local leader. But we pass them out in hopes that they may spark curiosity to learn more about local history. To learn about the lives, contributions, and accomplishments people have made to our community.

The next time you pass over the Allen-Berry Bridge, we hope you think of some of the work these two did. Neither Allen nor Berry is pictured on the Church Street welcome sign, but they are part of our community’s story and certainly could be.