Bricks and Mortar

By Susan Zehnder, Education Director

Like many organizations, our small and vibrant Chemung Valley History Museum, run by the Chemung County Historical Society, has been on #NYPause since mid-March. We're eager to reopen when safely allowed to do so and are working hard to make that happen. We want to hear your concerns, and if you haven’t taken our survey yet, we encourage you to do so. 

While we pivoted to answer questions and post exhibits, talks and videos online, we believe in the power of original artifacts, documents and stories. The experience of seeing a physical object’s size, color, and material cannot compare to anything online, and we can’t wait to see you back in the brick building.

The distinctive building opened in 1833 as the Chemung Canal Bank, one of the area’s first banks. Brick buildings weren't common at the time, as most other buildings were made of wood, a cheaper and more plentiful material.

Making bricks is labor-intensive and the hand-crafted process can still be found in use throughout the world today. Technological advancements in the mid-19^th century changed the industry. 

Investing in machines allowed large-scale brick manufacturing to improve the brickmaking process. Workers used various machines to help mine, mix and knead the raw materials, to press the mixture into molds, and to move the new bricks into high-intensity ovens to dry. Machines helped increase brick production and regulate brick quality. Producing more bricks meant building with bricks became a more affordable option. They also became more fashionable. Architects came up with ways to use bricks in decorative ways, softening the look of the ever taller and larger buildings.

Cowles Hall, Elmira College

Fire resistance was another good reason building with bricks became popular. Cities were growing in size and population, and closely built wooden buildings and structures were prone to fire. There were no official city Fire Departments, building codes and safety inspections yet. Sadly looking through old newspapers, it is common to see reports of devastating fires that wiped out entire city blocks, even into the 20th century. 

Lyceum Theater fire, March 1904

In 1830, to save lives and property Elmira established its first fire company. It was an all-volunteer crew. The city's first professional fire department was adopted fifty-eight years later in 1878. Building codes for fire safety and inspection didn't show up until 1905. This was when the National Board of Fire Underwriters, a group of US insurance companies got together to come up with a National Building Code model to help minimize fire risk. Today model building safety codes are adopted by state or local jurisdiction and enforced by municipal fire departments. While brick buildings didn't prevent devastating fires, they were fire resistant. Building with brick was a good investment.

Mr. Albright established The Horseheads Consolidated Brick Co. in 1840. It  was one of the area's largest brickmakers. Considered one of the oldest industries in Horseheads, it churned out bricks for more than a century.

Early on, the Horseheads plant adopted the latest technological advances. They operated five molding machines which allowed them to produce up to 6 million bricks per year. The nearby Chemung Canal, opened the same year as the bank building, became critical in the company's growth. They used the canal to bring in raw materials and later to ship out the finished bricks. After the canal closed, railroads and trucks extended the company’s ability to ship bricks across the nation. Early 20^th century production peaked to two million bricks a month, and the company employed seventy-five workers. Things slowed down and company changed ownership many times. It finally closed down operations in 1961.

Horseheads Consolidated bricks came in five different sizes: Standard, Jumbo, Roman, Norman and SCRSM sizes. The bricks were stamped with one of four different markings: H, H-H, HHDS, or the word Horse over Heads. This brick is on display in our museum:

Brick color depends on which blend of materials are used. Horseheads Consolidated offered four different colors with different blends of clay, shale, sand and oxides. Today we think of red bricks as standard, but red oxide bricks only became popular during Victorian times in England. They were reported to be the best color visible through London’s thick fog.

When we reopen, we invite you to come look at the Horseheads Consolidated Brick example on display, and to discover more in our historic brick building. For another look at Horsehead bricks, visit the Horsehead Historical Society when it reopens, or view J.D. Iles’s Hidden Landmarks episode filmed 5/15/20.  

Bank or Canal?

by Susan Zehnder, Education Director

This summer, groups of local students visited the Chemung Valley History Museum. They looked for museum artifacts and documents on a scavenger hunt; heard the true story of the building’s exploding vault (see The Exploding Vault published January 11, 2016); and toured our new exhibit Getting Around: Transportation in Chemung County. They also challenged their engineering skills by designing, building, and testing simple canal boats.

Sometimes an unexpected question or answer gives us to pause and think about history from a different perspective. One of those moments came as we talked about canal boats. When students heard Chemung Canal, many thought we were talking about the bank. But I’ll bet you back in the 1800s, every kid in the area knew about the Chemung Canal.

 

Drawing of Elmira including canal and boats

  

Brief history of the Canal

Inspired by the robust success of the Erie Canal to the north, plans were made to build a canal between Elmira and Watkins Glen. This would connect Elmira’s Chemung River to the Erie Canal, and tap into the growing wealth and prosperity the canal was beginning to bring to western New York. Supporters of the Chemung Canal petitioned the state legislature who granted them the  go-ahead in 1829. Construction on the canal began July 4, 1830. A fairly modest sum of $300,000 was allocated for the project, which in today’s money would be close to 9 million dollars. The proposed canal would be the least expensive canal to date.

 

Photograph of canal construction

It took three years for construction crews to dig the 20-mile canal. Like other canals, it was shaped like the letter ‘u’ and only four feet deep. It reached twenty-six feet across at the base or bottom of the canal and spanned forty-two feet across at the surface. Canals didn’t need to be deep, because traffic on them consisted of canal barges or flat-bottomed boats. Canals were also fairly narrow because tethered humans, horses or working mules pulled them on towpaths along shore. Initial cargo consisted of lumber and agricultural products from the area until increasing demand for Pennsylvania coal dictated the canal be deepened to accommodate larger boats. To do this, workman simply raised the side banks another two feet. Navigating the Chemung Canal took boats two and a half days. They had to travel through the forty-nine locks situated from Elmira to Watkins Glen.

Chemung canal pathway on right side of map

When active, the canal brought prosperity to the area. However, yearly rains damaged the canal, and by 1878 it fell into disrepair. While the canal had been one of the least expensive to build, it had become one of the most costly to maintain. By this time railroads were shipping goods and moving things faster and farther. The Chemung Canal was abandoned and parts of its rights-of-way sold off.

Barge boats at dock along Chemung Canal

Today, parts of the Catharine Valley Trail follow some of the original Chemung Canal towpaths, and the Clemens Center Parkway navigates another part of the canal’s pathway. Unlike the better known Erie Canal to the north, little physical evidence is left of the 20-mile long canal that started in Elmira. 

This summer and fall various Erie Canal events are taking place. The Erie Canal challenge https://eriecanalway.org/explore/challenge is promoting biking, hiking and walking along the pathway at distances of 15, 90, 180, and 360 miles. Although they don’t mention the Chemung Canal, their website does include where to rent kayaks and places to explore near Watkins Glen and Montour Falls. At both places you can see short parts of the Chemung Canal still visible. Mostly the Chemung Canal is a memory.

https://fingerlakessum.wordpress.com/2012/05/13/catherine-valley-trail-bike-from-watkins-glen-to-horseheads/

This map of the Catharine Valley Trail and link share more Chemung Canal hiking and biking opportunities in the area to explore yourself.

The Bank

The Chemung Canal Bank Company started operations in 1833, the same year the nearby canal opened. The very first bank statement issued ten days after opening showed the bank had assets of $318,525 and deposits of over $10,000. A year later, the bank moved into its first permanent home, on East Water Street, now the site of the Chemung Valley History Museum. One of the bank’s founders, an entrepreneur and financier by the name of John Arnot, had emigrated from Scotland and settled in Elmira. He took over as bank president in 1852, and the bank changed its name to the Chemung Canal Trust Company in 1903.

Former Chemung Canal Bank, now home of The Chemung Valley History Museum

It’s easy to assume everyone knows these things, but for people new to the area-which if we think about it includes young students, history needs to be shared. Keeping that memory fresh is what we do here at the Museum.

Saving for the Future

by Erin Doane, curator

The building that now houses the Chemung County Historical Society was once the original Chemung Canal bank. It opened in 1833 as the first bank in Elmira. Amman Beardsley designed and built the two and a half story brick structure, combining elements of Greek Revival and Federal styles.  The brick construction was unusual because most buildings in Elmira were made of wood at that time.

Chemung Canal Trust Co., c. 1905

In 1868, a third floor was added.  The new windows and cornice were done in the Italianate style. The banking facilities were located on the first floor, business tenants occupied the second floor, and the new third floor had rental apartments for single young men. Noted architects Pierce and Bickford renovated the building in 1903. At that time, decorative features such as mahogany counters and terrazzo flooring were added as well as two more vaults. Visitors can see the large vaults in our main gallery.

Bank Vaults at the museum

The Chemung Canal Bank was originally chartered in the 1860s as publically owned company. The Arnot family took over ownership of the bank in 1857 and ran it as a private business until 1903 when it returned to public ownership. In 1920, the bank moved to new headquarters at the corner of State and Water Streets. For many years after that this building housed law offices and apartments. The Chemung County Historical Society purchased the building and it opened as a museum in 1982.

Many features of the banking floor remain 
in the museum gallery including the wood 
columns, terrazzo flooring, and tin ceiling.

People deposited their savings here when it was still an active bank. Money was kept safe in the formidable steel and concrete vaults. Many people also kept a stash of cash and change at home. The museum has a great collection of small savings banks ranging from the 1870s through the 1980s. We have wooden, metal, and plastic banks and even a couple mechanical banks. Here are a few examples:

The Tammany Bank of 1873 is a mechanical bank. 

When “Boss” Tweed is handed a coin he puts it into his pocket.

The Union Bank, made by Kenton Brand 

around 1905, has a combination lock.

Traditional piggy bank that is also a souvenir of Elmira, early 20^th century

Cast iron camel, rabbit, and elephant banks, early 20^th century

A generic Bank bank from the early 20^th century

Wooden Presbyterian Church bank “used to 

House Money and to Pay Off Mortgage,” 1930s

The Uncle Sam’s Register bank from the 1930s 

records change as it is deposited and has an 

added security feature – the bank will lock 

when the first $.25 is added and it will stay 

locked until it reaches $10.00.

These banks from Mechanics Savings Bank of Elmira and Elmira Bank & 

Trust Co. from the 1940s record the amount of change as it is deposited.

The plastic Tarco Juke Bank, made around 1948, lights up when a coin is deposited.

Chemung Canal bank produced for its 150^th anniversary in 1983.