The Ancient Order of Flat Tires

by Erin Doane, curator

The archives here at CCHS are a treasure-trove of information. Every file, every box, is filled with information about Chemung County. For this blog post, I decided to just dive into the vertical files and see what unknown stories I could find. That is how I discovered the Ancient Order of Flat Tires.

The Ancient Order of Flat Tires was organized on August 13, 1937. The AOFT was the brain-child of William H. Snyder. He wanted to establish a club for older men who had lived active lives and were not ready to just fade away. The objectives of the club as stated in the minutes from their first meeting were:

To assemble in one organization men of affairs who have seen three score years or more of service, whose friends and acquaintances are fast passing from this life; who need friendships and companionships in their declining years.

To establish frequent contacts with these men and help making the remaining years of life more cheerful.

Charter Officers of the Ancient Order of Flat Tires left to right:
S. Edward Rose, “Chief Vulcanizer”; Louis C. Andrews, “Collector of
Punctures”; Seymour Lowman, “Keeper of Tires”; William H. Snyder,
"Big Blowout”; and Lewis T. Barnes, 1937

Qualifications for membership were as follows:

Real Men of 60 years of age, or over, who have been active in their younger life, receiving “blow-outs” and “punctures”, which have been vulcanized and repaired; Tires that have worn off the tread down to the fabric, but are still in running order; Tires that have felt the “brakes” of depression, and done much skidding; Tires that we do not want to part with, no matter how badly worn -- the older the Tire the more welcome to membership.

The 26 charter members paid a fee of $1.00. Regular members paid $2.00. By the late 1940s, membership hit a high of over 80 man.

Ancient Order of Flat Tires membership card, 1940

The lightheartedness of the club was set from the very beginning (as evidenced by the paper bag hats in the photo above). Club officers were given the titles Big Blowout (president), Chief Vulcanizer (vice president), Collector-of-Punctures (treasurer), and Keeper-of-Tires (secretary). The Chief Inflator was added later when the club grew large enough to need another vice president. Punctures were local clubs. Puncture No. 1 was in Elmira. Puncture No. 2 was established by William Snyder in 1938 in Miami, where he wintered. In 1949, a meeting was held at the Baron Steuben Hotel in Corning to establish Puncture No. 3 there.

William Snyder, the AOFT’s founder and first
Big Blowout, with the club’s insignia, 1940

The Ancient Order of Flat Tires met about once a month at various locations including Hotel Langwell, the Mark Twain Hotel, Pierce’s Restaurant, the Masonic Temple, the City Club, the Elmira Country Club, various churches, and members’ homes. Each meeting consisted of a dinner (Dutch treat), entertainment of some sort, and a business meeting. Entertainments ranged from a musical performance from Floyd Woodhull to a lecture about the philosophy of growing old to a presentation on the life of Abraham Lincoln. The archives here has a wonderful collection of the club’s meeting minutes. Many meetings also included discussion about accepting new members and expressions of grief for newly deceased members.

Tribute to the Memory of Matthew Darrin Richardson, 1940

By the fall of 1970, the club seemed to be declining. A “call to arms” was issued to its 25 members. “We must have a Council of War meeting to determine our future,” the announcement for the November 22 meeting read. The minutes from that night, however, do not indicate that the club’s future was actually discussed. 

The final meeting minutes in our archival collection are from April 25, 1972. There is no indication in the minutes that that was the last meeting of the Ancient Order of Flat Tires but we have no records of the club after that. At that meeting, Mrs. Hancock served a most delectable roast beef dinner in the Elmira Masonic Club dining room then the 13 members in attendance enjoyed a presentation by Dr. Earle G. Ridall about his cruise to Peru, complete with colored slides. There was no subsequent business meeting and the members gradually dispersed around 9:00pm.

The Kelvin Scientific Society

By Kelli Huggins, Education Coordinator

A couple of weeks ago, we posted the cover of a dance card from the Kelvin Scientific Society in 1916 on Facebook.  Until then, I admit, I had never heard of the Kelvin Society, as I suspect many others hadn’t.  After doing some digging, I found that this Kelvin Society had quite an interesting history.

The Kelvin Society was founded by Lillian Belle Herrick in 1897.  Herrick was born in Horseheads on June 9, 1872 and was one of five children (Lillian had a twin sister named Millian, who sensibly went by Millie).  After she graduated from Elmira College in 1894 with a degree in chemistry and physics, she taught science at the Elmira Free Academy (EFA).  At EFA, Herrick helped expand the science department and was noted to have constructed and operated the first Marconi wireless telegram in this area.  

Lillian Herrick Chapman

[In an interesting side note, Herrick left the school in 1908, when she married her husband, Rev. William Chapman, and she became ordained as a Presbyterian minister. She was the first female Presbyterian minister in the country, but the State synod revoked her license in 1919 because it didn’t recognize female ministers.  She was then ordained in the Congregational Church serving as a pastor at Park Church and in Big Flats.  She had an incredibly active career and died at age 92].

The group was both scientific and social.  They met every two weeks to discuss the latest scientific work, but every third meeting was strictly social.  The Kelvin Society was open to both boys and girls at EFA.  They had guest lectures and also took scientific inspiration from the city.  For example, in 1900, they spent the year studying the science of local factories and foundries.   They also had meetings at their cottage by the Chemung River, referred to in this photograph as “the Shack.”

Newspaper ad from 1911

The Kelvin Society was named after William Thompson, 1^st Baron of Kelvin.  Lord Kelvin was an influential British scientist for whom the Kelvin unit of measure is named.   Lillian Herrick attended a banquet in his honor at Cornell University in 1902.  The next month, the Kelvin Society received a personalized letter from their namesake.  This wasn't their first brush with scientific celebrity, however; four years earlier, the group received a letter from Thomas Edison. [Learn about another Thomas Edison connection to Elmira here]

"I thank you heartily for your letter of May 2 and for the good wishes for Lady Kelvin and myself which it contains.  I was sorry that I was prevented by incessant occupation from writing to thank you before leaving America.  Yours truly, Kelvin."

"I am pleased to learn that you have formed a scientific society.  Science in the coming years will rule the world of business.  Yours, Thomas A. Edison"

By 1909, the group had been pushed out of their meeting space at EFA (due to some school rule change) and they began meeting at members’ homes.  Although the Kelvin Society continued on until at least the 1930s, they do not appear in the EFA yearbooks after 1911.   Perhaps the Kelvin Society broke from the school and became an independent entity at that point.  They remained active, posting notices of their meetings in the local newspaper.  One of their most popular events remained their New Year’s dance.



Kelvin Society dance card from New Year's Eve Dance, 1916

Kelvin Society members, 1922-23



The last mention I can find of the Kelvin Society is from 1934.  That brief article in the Star Gazette optimistically noted resurgence in participation, but seemed to indicate that interest in the group had waned over the years.  If anyone knows if the Kelvin Society lasted for longer, I would love to hear about it.