Fascination, Salvation, Damnation, and Procrastination: The Infamous Corners of Lake and Church

by Monica Groth, Curator

While leading one of our Historic Downtown Walking Tours last month, I learned some fascinating history from our knowledgeable trolley-master Mark Delgrosso. Mark brought to my attention that the four buildings that existed on the corners of the intersection of Lake and Church streets at the end of the nineteenth century bore very interesting nicknames which tell us a little about their histories.

No longer standing, the opulent Reynolds Mansion once graced the intersection where the Carnegie (Steele) Library later stood, and where a monument to adventurer Ross Marvin stands today (the southeast corner). This home was occupied by the family of Dr. Edwin Eldridge’s daughter Julia. Julia Eldridge married Lewis Stancliff in 1856. But Lewis died young in 1864, and Julia remarried, this time to Samuel “Tutt” Reynolds. Julia’s father built her the magnificent Victorian Mansion on Lake and Church Streets in 1869 to celebrate this new chapter in her life. The mansion was splendid – boasting mahogany panels, stained-glass windows, and velvet carpeting—and was overflowing with priceless works of art. Passerby gazed with wonder at its outdoor fountain, beech tree, and three entrances; it became known by the nickname “Fascination”.

Photograph of the Reynolds Mansion, c. 1905

 Portrait of Mrs. Julia Stancliff Reynolds c. 1905

The building dedicated in 1862 as the Second Presbyterian Church and later renamed the Lake Street Presbyterian Church earned the nickname “Salvation”. During the turmoil of the Civil War, a disagreement within the First Presbyterian Church believed to have arisen over the question of slavery caused the church to fracture. The followers of outspoken anti-slavery pastor, Rev. David Murdoch D.D., formed what became the Lake Street Presbyterian Church, dedicating the sanctuary on Lake Street on the anniversary of Murdoch’s death. Murdoch was a humorous and compassionate Scotsman renowned for his engaging sermons. Ausburn Towner’s 1892 History of Chemung County describes him as “one of the most remarkable men…ever to make the sun shine brighter”. By 1883, the Lake Street Presbyterian Church congregation had grown to around 500 members.

Lake St. Presbyterian Church

Plaque commemorating Reverend Murdoch in vestibule

The City Club, designed by Rochester-based architects Crandall and Otis as a refined social club for wealthy citizens, moved to its current site on the corner of Lake and E. Church streets on New Year’s Day, 1894. The building housed a reading room, club rooms, billiards room, and a café. A separate ladies dining room existed, and a separate entrance for women was on the Church Street side of the building (women were not accepted as members of the club until 1986). Despite the fact that early members of the club included respected gentlemen such as Charles J. Langdon, George M. Diven, J. Sloat Fassett, and John H. Arnot, the club was known to be a site of drinking and, it was rumored, carousing. The roof-top garden added to the club in 1901 was closed only a decade later because of loud noise and rogue food and bottles being thrown into the street. The City Club thus earned the appellation “Damnation”.

The City Club also hosted Lectures like this one, featuring a Stereopticon, or magic lantern projector

Finally, City Hall, elegantly designed in the Neo-Renaissance style by Joseph Pierce and Hiram Bickford in 1895, was termed “Procrastination”.  Pierce and Bickford’s fingerprints are found throughout Elmira’s historic district; the pair designed the Courthouse Complex and Hazlett Building as well as City Hall. The architects’ intended the structure to be a slow-burning building capable of resisting fire long enough to allow for safe evacuation. There was a fire on the upper floors in 1909, but the building lived up to its promise and the minimal damage was quickly repaired. Why would the citizens of Elmira associate city governance with procrastination in 1895? When it comes to government, it’s easy to say that any pace is perceived as too slow, but in the 1890s, city government was also rocked by corruption and scandal. Frank Bundy, who served as Assistant Chamberlain in 1892 and 1893, and then as Chamberlain from 1894 until 1900, “cooked” tax records for years before the City Council had cause to investigate. Chamberlain embezzled $84,495 in city funds (that’s close to $2.5 million today). He served four years in Auburn Penitentiary.

City Hall today, note the ornate decoration on City Hall’s Lake Street façade

These four buildings earned their names sometime at the close of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century, when their individual characters appealed to the public imagination. It is a testament to both the creativity and diversity of the city of Elmira during this time that Fascination endured amidst Procrastination, and Salvation stood just across the street from Damnation.

Ross Marvin Revisited

by Erin Doane, Curator

Ross Marvin’s story is one of tragedy and mystery. Perhaps that’s why I go back to it again and again in my research, writing, and exhibits. Back in 2013, I wrote a brief blog post about him that you can read by clicking here. After eight years, it seems like it’s time to revisit Ross Marvin’s story.

Ross Gilmore Marvin

Ross Marvin was born on January 28, 1880, the youngest of six. He graduated from EFA in 1899, and surprised everyone by earning a scholarship to Cornell University. In 1901, he transferred to the New York Nautical School where he learned nautical astronomy. After graduating from there a year later, he returned to Cornell. In 1905, he graduated with a degree in civil engineering. Before finishing school, Marvin had heard about the Arctic voyage that Robert Peary was planning for 1905-1906. He made it his goal to be part of that expedition. It is said that on graduation day, he received the letter from Peary inviting him to join his team.

Peary’s 1905-1906 attempt to reach the North Pole was not a success but he tried again two years later. Marvin served as chief scientist and Peary’s first assistant on that 1908-1909 voyage. His responsibilities included taking meteorological readings, solar observations, and depth soundings.

According to the caption of this image from an article written by Peary that appeared in the August 1910 issue of The Geographical Journal, that pile of furs is Ross Marvin taking observations at 86 degrees 38 minutes north on March 25, 1909.

Peary purportedly reached the North Pole on April 6, 1909, but Ross Marvin did not survive the journey. His two Inuit companions, Kudlooktoo and Harrigan, reported that on April 10 he broke through the ice while trying to cross a lead and died. It was weeks before Peary and the rest of his men learned of Marvin’s death and it wasn’t until September, some five months after his death, that his family back in Elmira heard the news.

The story of Ross Marvin may have ended there with the local hero’s tragic death, but 17 years later, his name was back in the news. In 1926, Kudlooktoo confessed to killing him. He claimed Marvin went crazy and tried to abandon Harrigan on the ice. Knowing that Harrigan would die if he was left behind, Kudlooktoo shot Marvin.

Kudlooktoo posing with George Borup and other Inuits, from A Tenderfoot with Peary, by George Borup, 1911

The story came as a great shock to those who knew Marvin. His family denounced the story and Peary declared that he didn’t believe it. Peary’s daughter, Marie, who had been a childhood playmate of Kudlooktoo, believed his false confession was induced by religious hysteria and was an attempt to please the white man by having a sin to confess. By that point, 17 years after the fact, there was no way of proving what had truly happened. The Arctic was a sort of no-man’s land at that time with no laws or governance, so Kudlooktoo was never tried for murder. 

Despite the dark turn of Marvin’s story, his life and accomplishments have been memorialized in many ways over the years. Peary erected a stone cairn with a wooden cross at Cape Sheridan overlooking the Central Polar Sea in his honor.

Marvin Memorial, Cape Sheridan, Left from The North Pole, By Robert E. Peary, 1910
Right from Susan Kaplan/Genevieve LaMoine, Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum at Bowdoin College, 2011

In 1910, a large stone with a brass plaque was set on the corner of Lake Street and Union Place in Elmira as a memorial. It has been moved a couple of times since then and now rests at the corner of Lake and Church Streets by the Chamber of Commerce.

Ross Marvin Monument at the corner of Church and Lake Streets

In the late 1920s, a memorial tablet to Marvin was placed in the Sage Chapel at Cornell University.

Dedication of Ross Marvin plaque at Cornell University, c. 1926, Sunday Telegram, April 5, 1931

In 1943, Marvin’s niece Gertrude Colegrove Tum, christened the SS Ross G. Marvin, a liberty ship that was used for cargo transports during World War II. You can read all about that by clicking here.

In 1948, Marvin and all the other men who had served on Peary’s 1908-1909 Expedition were awarded medals by the U.S. government. I have heard that the reason it took so long – nearly 40 years – to be officially recognized for their efforts in reaching the pole was because there were some in congress who did not want to honor Matt Henson, who was an African American, along with the rest. 

Peary Polar Expedition medal awarded posthumously to Ross Marvin, 1948

The Marvin Islands, a group of islands in extreme northern Canada were named after him. In 1957, the Elmira Lions Club dedicated Ross Marvin Park on the triangle of land between Lake Street and Union Place. In 1967, the State University Maritime College, from which Marvin graduated in 1902, named a wing of their new Science and Engineering building Ross G. Marvin Hall. And finally, in Woodlawn Cemetery, in the Marvin family plot, is a stone dedicated to him. The inscription on the stone reads:

 In Memory of
Ross G. Marvin
Jan. 28, 1880 – April 10, 1909

 Scientist with the Peary Arctic Expedition
Which discovered the North Pole
Drowned in the Arctic Ocean Lat 84 degrees North

 Peacefully he sleeps in his watery grave.
Tho no marble shaft marks his last resting place
it is watched o’er by towering sentinels of snow and ice.
The stars too keep silent vigil while the north winds
sing a requiem for a brave soul gone to meet his maker.

Ross Marvin marker in Woodlawn Cemetery, 2018

If you have made it all the way to the end of this post, thank you! I hope you enjoyed this and other stories I have told during my 10+ years as curator at CCHS. This is my very last blog post here. I will be leaving the museum at the end of October. It’s been a great joy learning about the county’s history and being able to share it with all of you!

 

Orange-Crush: The Delectable Refreshment

by Erin Doane, Curator

For about 50 years, the world-famous soft drink Orange-Crush was bottled in Chemung County. In 1915, a Californian chemist named Neil C. Ward developed a unique formula for the orange drink. A year later, he partnered with Clayton J. Howel and they created the Orange Crush Company. By 1924, there were nearly 1,200 bottlers of Orange-Crush throughout the United States and Canada. The Gardner Bottling Co. located at 226 William Street in Elmira began bottling the carbonated citrus beverage around 1919.

Orange-Crush advertisement, Star-Gazette, August 14, 1919

By the time Orange-Crush was being bottled in Elmira, the drink was already widely popular. The Orange Crush Company contracted with Norman Rockwell in the early 1920s to create 12 different paintings to use in advertisements for their three flavors of Crush – Orange, Lemon, and Lime. Rockwell was paid $300 (about $4,000 today) for each work which appeared in a variety of magazines including Collier’s, The Youth’s Companion, Life, The Literary Digest, and The Christian Herald.

Advertisement for Lime-Crush by Norman Rockwell, Life, May 26, 1921

What made Orange-Crush different from other orange flavored soft drinks was that it was made with real oranges. At first, it was just oil from the peels that was added to enhance the orange flavor, but later actual pulp was added to the lightly fizzy drink. In 1933, the manufacturer claimed that each bottle contained the equivalent of two oranges in nourishment.

Orange-Crush advertisement listing its natural ingredients: orange juice, flavor from the peel, fruit acid, U.S. Certified food color, carbonated water, and pure cane sugar, Star-Gazette, July 29, 1926

In 1922, the Elmira bottling operation moved to 207 Sullivan Street and a year after that Louis Rubin began running the business under the name the Orange Crush Bottling Company. Around that time, the specially designed and patented “crinkly” bottle was introduced. Not only did the bottle somehow ensure “the purity, quality and deliciousness which have made the ‘Crushes’ the largest selling fruit-flavored drinks in the world,” it also helped customers easily find “genuine Crushes” in stores.

Orange-Crush advertisement, Star-Gazette, July 19, 1922 and "crinkly" bottle from CCHS collection

The Orange Crush Bottling Company relocated again around 1926 to the corner of Sheridan Avenue and 11^th Street in Elmira Heights. By then, the company was bottling 12 different soft drinks including Orange-, Lemon-, and Lime-Crush, and Bob-O-Link Ginger Ale. When the prohibition on the production and sale of beer came to an end in 1933 (you can read all about that by clicking here), the bottling company began distributing Wehle ale, porter, and lager as well.

Orange Crush Bottling Co, advertisement for Wehle beer, Star-Gazette, October 26, 1933

Sometime in the early 1960s, the Pepsi-Cola Elmira Bottling Company, Inc. took over the bottling of Orange-Crush locally. A short time later, the drink stopped being bottled in Elmira. Changes were also taking place at that time with the Orange Crush brand itself, which was purchased by Charles E. Hires, Co. in 1962. Proctor & Gamble bought the brand in 1980 and then sold it to Cadbury Schweppes in 1989. Today, Crush is owned by Keurig Dr Pepper and the fruity soft drinks are still available in local stores.

Orange-Crush advertisement, Star-Gazette, December 18, 1966

 

Hotel Rathbun

by Erin Doane, Curator

The northwest corner of Baldwin and Water Streets in Elmira, where the Chemung Canal Trust Company now sits, was once the site of Hotel Rathbun. In its heyday in the early 1900s, the hotel was considered one of the finest between New York City and Buffalo. It had hundreds of luxurious rooms (65 with their own bathrooms), richly furnished parlors, a gentlemen’s café, and a billiard room, which was frequented by Samuel Clemens (aka Mark Twain).

Hotel Rathbun, c. 1900

In 1833, Abraham Riker built the Eagle Tavern – the precursor to Hotel Rathbun – where Isaac Baldwin’s house had once stood. The new brick building was three-stories tall with a domed cupola on top and tall columns at the Water Street entrance. It had one of the largest meeting rooms in the village, which made it a popular gathering spot.

Image of the eagle that once graced the Eagle Tavern, Elmira Telegram, October 19, 1924

In 1841, the owner at that time, a Mr. Webb, was swayed by that year’s temperance campaign and banished all liquors from the tavern. The business, inevitably, failed and Silas Haight took over ownership. In 1844, Haight became owner of the Mansion House on Lake and Market Streets and E.R. Brainard took over the Eagle Tavern. After the tavern burned in 1849, Brainard rebuilt and reopened the business as the Brainard House.

Brainard House, c. 1850s

Brainard died in 1851 and John T. Rathbun took over ownership of the hotel. He changed its name to Hotel Rathbun during the Civil War. Just a few years later, in 1868, the hotel underwent extensive renovations. A new building was erected in the rear of the hotel where the old kitchen had been. It included an elegant billiard room, parlors, offices, and additional guest rooms. Existing rooms were repaired, painted and papered, and refurnished. A new, spacious entrance was added on Water Street as well as an iron porch with a balcony on the second floor. The hotel could accommodate 500-600 overnight guests and seat up to 400 in the dining room at one time.

John T. Rathbun leased the hotel to a series of different proprietors over the years. Coleman and Pike were the first to operate the property, followed by Enos Blossom, then Slater, Abbott, and Hayt. In 1898, Col. David C. Robinson bought the land and building from Rathbun and John W. Kennedy and Edward M. Tierney took over as proprietors. Under the new owner and managers, the hotel underwent another major renovation. The building was completely modernized, including the addition of ensuite bathrooms and electric lighting. An elegant new gentlemen’s café and barroom was added with a billiard room off the back. The new design also included storefronts and offices on the first floor.

Hotel Rathbun lobby, 1899

Hotel Rathbun billiard room, a favorite hang-out of Samuel Clemens, which had shrimp pink walls, 1899

Hotel Rathbun barroom, 1899

Hotel Rathbun’s grand reopening in 1899 marked the start of the its golden age. The hotel became known throughout the East for its hospitality and cuisine. The dining room, bar, and grill were enjoyed by both travelers and Elmirans. Samuel Clemens was said to have been a regular visitor to the billiard room in the years he summered in the city. Until the Mark Twain Hotel opened in 1929, Hotel Rathbun was the area’s most modern, luxurious hotel. The front desk clerk had to turn guests away nightly because the rooms were always filled.

Hotel Rathbun, c. 1920s

In 1934, Hotel Rathbun was taken over by the Knott Hotels Crop. Then around 1940, the American Hotels Corp. took up the lease. The hotel had gone into decline, likely from age, the economics of the time, and growing competition from other hotels and motels. Up until June 10, 1941, there were advertisements in the newspaper offering accommodations at $7.00 a week for permanent residents, but that wasn’t enough to keep the business afloat. On June 12, residents were served with notices to vacate and the hotel’s demolition began on August 1. Hotel Rathbun was completely razed by October 1941.

Hotel Rathbun’s entrance, 1940

 

 

The Billiard Table

 By Susan Zehnder, Education Director

It’s hard to miss the billiard table on display in the Museum in the Bank Gallery’s Mark Twain section. It came from the third floor playroom of the Langdon home on Church and Main streets. When the home was demolished in the 1930s, the table was moved to the J. Langdon & Co. office on Baldwin Street. It was later sold to lawyer and businessman John Sullivan who had offices on East Church Street and, later, Baldwin Street. When Sullivan died in 1965, Sullivan’s cousin and law partner, William Delaney, inherited the property along with its contents and donated the table to the Historical Society.

Clemens with his biographer Albert Bigalow Paine

The connection with the Langdon family is one reason it's placed in the Mark Twain exhibit, since Samuel Clemens, who often went by the pen name Mark Twain, was Jervis Langdon's son-in-law. Sam's passion for the game of billiards is another.

His daughter Susy wrote that “Papa’s favorite game is billiards, and when he is tired and wishes to rest himself he stays up all night and plays billiards, it seems to rest his head.”  The family home in Connecticut even had a distinctive room used just for billiards.

The Billiard Room, Hartford, Connecticut

If you look closely, the table in the Connecticut home has corner and side pockets. Games played on this table would be slightly different than those played on the museum's table, which has no pockets.

Billiard games peaked in popularity in the mid-19^th century. Billiards is a general term for games played on a billiard table, with or without pockets. There are two main categories of billiard games: those played on tables without pockets, and those, called pool, played on tables with pockets. Both categories have a common origin in a popular lawn game from the 15^th century, somewhat like lawn croquet. The word “billiards” is connected to the French word “bille” meaning ball while the word “pool” means a collective bet, as in pooling bets. From early on billiard games have appealed to and been played by people from all social classes.

When the game moved indoors, the playing surface required walls called banks, like the river, to prevent the balls from escaping. Players initially shoved the balls around using a mace. Like the weapons, a mace has a large head on one end of a long pole. Its pole or handle is called a tail, or “queue.” However if a ball landed near a side wall, players found they needed to turn the stick around to shove the balls with the queue because the mace’s head wouldn’t fit. What we now know as cue sticks seemed to have developed in the late 1600s and players soon discovered using a bit of chalk on one end of the cue stick increased friction, and was advantageous. Early on women were not allowed to use the cue end of the mace, as it was thought women weren’t capable of skillful moves and would just rip the table surfaces. At the turn of the 18^th century, leather tips were added to cues. This now allowed players to apply side-spin, topspin, and backspin to the ball in play. The two-piece cue stick came on the scene in 1829, and table surfaces changed from wood to slate to prevent warping. By 1845, tables sported rubber billiard cushions.

The goal of any billiard game is to make a carom shot. This is a shot where the object ball or cue ball hits another ball to move or pocket it. Scoring depends on the game being played, and there were many versions developed. American Four-Ball was the most popular game played until the 1870s when Straight Rail and American Fifteen-Ball Pool then surpassed it. The Nine-Ball was developed in the 1920s.

The game was so popular during the 19^th century that championship tournaments were held yearly, even during the Civil War, and celebrated players would earn their likenesses on trading cards.

Billiard tables were often located in hotels and bars. In Elmira City directories from the 19^th century, suppliers of billiard equipment are listed, but no independent billiard businesses. One local site of tournaments was located on East Gray Street. There the Father Matthew Society, a Catholic society built on the idea of total abstinence, erected a clubhouse in 1898. It had a room dedicated to billiards on the second floor and held a yearly tournament.

In 1907, Elmira passed an ordinance to require a license fee or tax on billiard tables in halls or saloons and prohibited play between the hours of 1 am and 7 am and all day Sunday.

Billiards became less popular after World War I when returning troops didn’t have time to spend entire afternoons hanging out around a pool table. 2020 has been such a strange year, seeing some pastimes like puzzles rediscovered. I wonder what iconic object from the 2020s will be on display in the future.

To see an example of play on a billiards table, here's a link .

The Fabulous Derby Sisters

by Erin Doane, Curator

left to right: Cora, unidentified, Annie, and Eva Derby, 1895

Sisters Cora, Eva, and Annie Derby were avid cyclists, entrepreneurs, and life-long residents of Elmira. They all had strong independent streaks which were likely fostered by their parents. Their father Alden was a veteran of the Civil War and worked for over thirty years as a carpenter at the T. Briggs Brewing Company. Their mother Sarah was a longtime editor of the Young Women’s Banner magazine and was involved in efforts to improve the lives of young working women in the city.

At about 5 feet tall each, the Derby sisters were not to be underestimated. Cora was the oldest, born in 1871; Eva was the middle sister, born in 1873; and Annie was the youngest, born in 1876. All three attended School #2 then went on to EFA. As young women, the three were known to go off on long-distance bicycle rides to places like Rochester and Buffalo. They would ride until they were tired, rest overnight, then get on their bicycles again to finish the trip. They would then return to Elmira by train.

Annie in front of the American Girl Statue in Eldridge Park, 1899

Cora and Eva continued their educations by going to business school. Cora attended Elmira Business College while Eva was a student at Warner’s Business School. Eva was also a fan of informal education. In 1892, she kept a notebook entitled “Learn Something New Everyday.” Her new daily knowledge ranged from discovering “that ice cream isn’t quite as good in winter as summer” on January 20 to finding out “that Judd would rather hug me than any other girl he knows” on June 18. 

In the 1890’s, Cora and Eva worked as clerks at Fitch & Billings’ bookstore at 112 Baldwin Street. (The aforementioned Judd also worked there doing odd jobs.) When Hosmer Billings retired in 1914, the sisters purchased the business and renamed it the Derby Book Shop. Annie invested in the store as a silent partner and Eva did most of the bookkeeping. They sold books, stationery, writing implements, bridge sets, holiday cards, and gifts for over thirty years until 1946 when the Langdon building which housed the store was sold. Rather than reestablish the businesses at a different location, they decided to retire from the book business.

Inside the Derby Book Shop, 1910s

Each of the sisters had rich lives beyond work. Cora had a very active social life as a young woman. Her name appeared often in the newspaper when she visited friends and family throughout the northeast. In 1905, she reportedly caught the bride’s bouquet at the wedding of Grace M. Wilcox and Charles S. Colby. The superstition of her being the next to marry did not come to pass. In fact, none of the three sisters ever got married. Cora was an active member Zonta and represented the local club at the national convention in St. Paul Minnesota in 1928. She also served in the American Red Cross during World War II. She passed away in 1959.

While Annie was a silent partner in the bookstore, she made a name for herself as a talented milliner in Elmira. She worked for several years at the Cornish Millinery Shop at 180 North Main Street. She was also an active supporter of the Elmira Association for the Blind. She passed away at the Arnot-Ogden Hospital on May 5, 1947 after an extended illness.

Eva and Cora at Rorick’s Glen with their father Alden and their uncle Warren Newell, 1898

Middle sister Eva was the longest lived of the Derby sisters. She was a resident of the Elcor Nursing Home in Horseheads when she passed away on October 3, 1973 at the age of 100. Eva was a nature enthusiast who loved birds and flowers in particular. She was a member of the Audubon Society and the Elmira Garden Club. She taught Sunday school at the Park Church and at Lake Street Presbyterian Church. Upon her death, she left a fairly substantial estate that included bequests to several local organizations including the Elmira Zonta Club, the American Cancer Society, the Elmira Association for the Blind, and the Order of the Eastern Star.

The three sisters share a single headstone with their mother in Woodlawn Cemetery.

Cora, Annie, and Eva, October 3, 1909

 

The Bachelor Governor

by Susan Zehnder, Education Director

Back in the day when our building housed the Chemung Canal Bank, there were apartments for rent on the top floor. A quick look around reveals about 5 rooms and a common bathroom. These rooms haven’t been rented for years, they now store documents, publications and educational items for the Historical Society. If the walls could talk they would surely share some great stories. One I tried to track down is the story of one of the building’s more famous renters. The story of two-time elected New York governor David Bennett Hill.

David Bennett Hill 1843 - 1910

David B. Hill was born in the village of Havana in Schuyler County in 1843. The settlement was known as Catherine’s Landing until the mid-19^th century, when the name changed to Havana. It changed names a third time at the end of the century to what we now know as Montour Falls. David was the youngest of five children born to Caleb and Eunice Hill. His father had been captain on a canal boat and now ran a carpentry and joinery business. His mother managed the family household. David showed an early intellect and attended nearby Havana Academy. At seventeen he left to take a clerking job with a law office in the village. His employer was so impressed that he was encouraged to pursue law as a career. At twenty, Hill moved to Elmira to work for lawyer Erastus P. Hart and to pursue his legal studies. He passed the law exams in 1864 and was admitted to the bar, opening a law office in downtown Elmira. Later that year, Hill was appointed Elmira’s city attorney and became known as a successful and charismatic lawyer.

David Hill never married, but his life was full. Besides his law work, he was an active member of the Democratic Party. In 1871 and 1872 he was elected to the New York Assembly to represent Chemung County.  In the mid-1870s, to further his political agenda, Hill along with other associates purchased the Elmira Gazette newspaper. Begun in 1828, the paper was first published weekly before becoming an everyday paper. While John Arnot Sr., one of his associates, sold off his interests before 1880, it wasn't until 1906 that Hill finally sold the newspaper to Frank E. Gannett.

In 1877 and 1881 Hill was appointed president of the Democratic state conventions. In 1882 Hill was elected mayor of Elmira by a wide majority of voters. At just thirty-nine years old, 1882 also brought another opportunity his way. Hill was nominated as running mate to Buffalo’s mayor Grover Cleveland in his bid for governor. The 1882 election saw an unprecedented number of votes cast and the ticket of Cleveland and Hill won by plurality. Hill left Elmira and moved to Albany to be lieutenant-governor. Our collection contains a printed speech Hill gave which includes a copy of a note Cleveland wrote congratulating Hill:

After two years, Grover Cleveland ran for higher office and was elected 22nd president of the United States of America. Seeing his chance, Hill then ran for state office and won. He was elected the 29^th Governor of New York and served from 1885 to 1892.

In New York the Democratic party of the 19th century was heavily controlled by Tammany Hall, a political pressure group out of New York City. This group had a big influence on politics in the city and the state, and while it advocated for social reform, it also became known for rampant greed and corruption. 

As governor, Hill was known for his interest in labor issues and working conditions. He introduced legislation to deal with child labor age limitations and working hour reforms for women and those under 18.

He also signed a bill in 1885 that established 715,000 acres of wild Forest Preserve which later became known as New York’s Adirondack Park.

New York's Adirondack Parks

Looking to run for higher office, Hill sought the 1892 democratic presidential nomination. His platform supported bimetallism, a monetary standard looking at two metals, typically gold and silver, instead of the singular gold standard which was eventually adopted. However, Cleveland soundly defeated Hall on the first convention ballot. The two were now polarizing figures in the party, each with their own set of loyal followers. Hill's group went by the name The David B. Hill club. Denied the nomination, Hill ran for the US Senate. He was elected and held this office from 1892 to 1897. Not content, he ran again for NY governor and this time was not successful. This political cartoon plays up the unlikely possibility of any partnership of Grover and Hill.

"The Funniest Thing Out - Dave and Grover on the same platform."

Though Hill never ran for public office again he was considered for the 1900 Democratic ticket's Vice Presidential position. In the end, the party nominated Adlai Stevenson.

Hill never returned to live in Elmira. In 1910, he died of a kidney condition at his country home Wolfert's Roost outside of Albany. He was buried in Montour Cemetery nearby family members.

Governor Hill's Wolfert's Roost

Checking City Directories for the years Hill lived in Elmira I found no evidence that he lived on the third floor at 415 East Water Street. He did rent a room at 93 Lake Street around the corner. 

We are still looking for who might have rented rooms in the building.

Crystal Eastman

by Susan Zehnder, Education Director

Coming across a name twice in one week is a good sign to dig a little deeper, and this is how I was introduced to Crystal Eastman. Turns out not only did this woman have connections to Elmira, women’s suffrage and Mark Twain, she was among the first American women to receive a law degree. She was the first woman appointed by a New York Governor to a state legal commission dealing with employment - a group she was later elected to lead – and she was co-founder of both the National Women’s Peace Party and the American Civil Liberties Union (commonly known as the ACLU). Amazingly, she accomplished all of this before her untimely death at the age of 48.

Crystal Eastman

Crystal Eastman was born in 1881, the second of four children to Samuel Eastman and Annis Ford Eastman. The Eastmans had married after meeting as students at Oberlin College. Samuel was ordained as a Presbyterian minister, and his first assignment was to Canandaigua’s First Congregational Church.

Samuel and Annis Eastman

Samuel Eastman had served in the Civil War, and had suffered from terrible pneumonia. His health went on to bother him throughout his life. Soon health issues forced him to resign his Canandaigua ministry, and his wife Annis took up teaching to raise money for the growing family. They had four children. Annis soon discovered a talent for speaking and was asked and accepted offers to preach at various local churches. She became an early feminist and popular speaker. Notable speeches she gave were before the Congress of Women and the National Council of Women of the United States.

In 1892, Annis became the first woman Congregational minister, and was ordained by a council headed by the Reverend Thomas K. Beecher of Elmira. The Eastmans and Beechers became lifelong friends and colleagues. When Reverend Beecher died in 1900, both Eastmans were appointed to take his place and they moved their family from Canandaigua to Elmira.

Revs. Thomas K. Beecher, Annis and Samuel Eastman

Other members of the progressive congregation included Samuel L. -also known as Mark Twain - and Livy Clemens. They knew the Eastmans so well that when Twain died, Reverend Annis Ford Eastman was asked to give the eulogy at his funeral. She wrote the eulogy, but her failing health prevented her from delivering it. Her husband spoke on her behalf.

The Eastman’s oldest child had died early from scarlet fever. Now there were three children and Crystal was their only daughter. She left Elmira to study at Vassar College, with plans to pursue advanced studies in NYC while her brother Max finished up at Williams College. 

Vassar College

The family’s financial plans required her to compromise. Her parents decided Crystal would pursue her master’s degree in sociology from Columbia, while Max took a year off. Crystal would then return to Elmira and work while Max finished his studies. Everyone agreed, and upon completing graduate school, Crystal returned to Elmira to teach high school English and history for two years.

In 1906, Crystal returned to New York City to enroll in law school at New York University. The program had recently began to admit women students, and she earned her degree in 1907. She was particularly interested in labor issues and worked on a project called the Pittsburgh Survey. This was an in-depth look at workplace injuries, employment, and unemployment issues. Her scholarship on the project brought her to the attention of the NY Governor. Governor Hughes appointed her to the New York State Commission of Employee’s Liability and Causes of Industrial Accidents, Unemployment and Lack of Farm Labor. Crystal became the first woman appointed to any state level commission in New York, and went on to be the elected Secretary of the commission. 

Following in her mother's footsteps, Crystal became active in the suffrage movement. Ironically her first contribution to the cause was to help her brother Max establish the Men's League for Women's Suffrage, and important organization that fought alongside and boosted women's rights.

Crystal married Wallace Benedict and they left New York for Milwaukee, his hometown. In Wisconsin, she campaigned for suffrage issues which went on to be soundly defeated. Within the year, she moved back alone to NYC. The couple divorced two years later.

By this time, World War I was looming. Crystal, along with other prominent activists, turned their attention away from women getting the vote to working on Peace and anti-Militarism campaigns. Concerned about the state of civil liberties for all citizens, she co-founded the National Woman’s Peace Party to defend free speech during wartime. Her advocacy work gained her international experience, and she traveled and lectured throughout Europe. She worked closely with prominent social reformers, activists and radicals of the day, including Walter Fuller who became her second husband. Walter was an Englishman, poet, anti-war activist, intellectual and editor, and together they had two children.

In 1920, when the US Government began to suppress free speech and freedom of the press, Crystal co-founded the National Civil Liberties Bureau later known as the American Civil Liberties Union. This was her most significant legacy.

Her work to protect citizens’ civil rights targeted her, and she and her husband were blacklisted by the government. Unable to find work, they fled the country to work in London, England.

In 1927, Walter had a stroke and died. Crystal returned to the US only to die six months later from inflammation of the kidneys. She was 48 years old. Crystal Eastman is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in Canandaigua, NY.