Fashion Shows at Rosenbaum’s

by Erin Doane, Curator

For 125 years, Rosenbaum’s was the place in Elmira to get the latest specialty fashions for women and children. From the early 20^th century until it closed in 1989, the business put the newest styles on display for the shopping public in seasonal fashion shows at the store and other locations throughout the community.

Rosenbaum’s fashion show participants, Star-Gazette, October 3, 1933

Rosenbaum’s opened on East Water Street in 1864, just one day before Elmira was chartered as a city. The store began as a wholesale-retail business specializing in custom-made ladies’ hats and millinery trim. Over the years, it expanded to include women’s and children’s clothing and accessories. By 1930, Rosenbaum’s was so popular that it moved to a larger store at 112 West Water Street. It continued expanding throughout the 20^th century until it had three locations – in downtown Elmira, at the Arnot Mall, and at the Oakdale Mall in Binghamton – and had more than 120 employees on its payroll. The business finally closed for good in 1989.

As early as the 1920s, Rosenbaum’s was highlighting its fashions in shows throughout the city. In 1923, the store was a hit at the American Legion Style and Fashion Show at the Armory. The Star-Gazette reported that “a gray afternoon gown of a combination Russianarian and Canton Crepe, shown by Rosenbaum’s and worn by Miss Alma Myers, caused much comment Friday night. The cape of the gown was of poiret twill, lined in turquoise blue canton crepe. Miss Myers wore a broad brimmed, light blue hat with this gown, flower trimmed and underlined with the color of roses.”

Inside Rosenbaum’s on West Water Street, mid-20^th century

After Rosenbaum’s moved in 1930, the company started hosting fashion shows inside the store. Carolyn Modes designs were widely popular at that time throughout the country. By 1938, major Hollywood costume designers including Orry Kelly, Walter Plunket, Edith Head, Howard Greer, and Travis Banton were creating fashions for Carolyn. Rosenbaum’s would bring in members of the Carolyn design staff to conduct fashion shows. Typically, the show was run three times over the course of one day with “living models” displaying the latest clothing of the season. Some of the shows featured outfits that hadn’t even been released to the public yet. One such show on September 28, 1933 brought more than 1,200 people into the store.

Another Carolyn Modes fashion show at Rosenbaum’s in 1934 featured both living models and a famous stylist broadcasting new style notes over the Columbia Broadcasting System in a nation-wide hookup and by special arrangement through the local radio station WESG. http://chemungcountyhistoricalsociety.blogspot.com/2016/12/wesg-broadcasting-live-from-mark-twain.html Years later, in 1955, Rosenbaum’s took advantage of another technology to reach a wider audience for their premiere fashions. “Fashion in the News” was a 20-minute long, full color, 16mm sound film showing a complete wardrobe of new fall clothes by Carolyn. The fashions were worn by “New York’s most famous television and fashion models” and the film was narrated by Vyvyan Donner of Movietone News. Rosenbaum’s loaned the film to women’s clubs, church groups, and other organizations for free.

Teresa Carozza modeling at Rosenbaum’s fashion show, mid-1950s

In 1937, Rosenbaum’s underwent a major expansion and it added the Young Folks Shop to its departments which had a complete line of children’s wear from infant to teenage. This marked a shift to more focus on younger customers. From the late 1940s through the 1960s, the Mademoiselle fashion shows held at the store focused on styles for young women going off to college or starting careers. In 1966, Rosenbaum’s and Eldridge Park sponsored a Miss Southern Tier Queen contest. The winner, 18-year-old Charlotte E. Riedel of Ithaca, was announced during the store’s “Fashion Fit for a Queen” fashion show at the park on August 21. Charlotte received $100 in cash and a $100 gift certificate from Rosenbaum’s.

Rosenbaum’s advertisement, Star-Gazette, August 15, 1955

In 1966, Rosenbaum’s started a Charm and Modeling School for teens and pre-teens. For just $1 a week, girls could take part in a 10-week course taught by Miss Marie Bowman, former Niagara Frontier Milk Princess. Her classes guided the students in the areas of figure and posture correction, wardrobe planning, hairstyling and haircare, good grooming, basic makeup, voice cultivation, self-confidence, charm, poise, and personality development. Those who completed the course of study had the opportunity to model in one of Rosenbaum’s fashion shows. Some of the Charm and Modeling School graduates were actually among the 150 young people who modeled Rosenbaum’s clothing in a fashion show sponsored by Parents Without Partners that November.

Rosenbaum’s Charm and Modeling School students at Parents Without Partners fashion show, left to right: Nancy Henrich, Elizabeth Dixon, and Marie Zwanka, Star-Gazette, December 4, 1966

Rosenbaum’s continued adverting the newest styles in fashion shows at its stores and at offsite locations as fundraising events for groups like the Elmira Newcomers Club, the YWCA, the Zonta Club, and the Rotary Anns for nearly fifty years. The company showed off its latest seasonal looks one last time on November 30, 1988 at the Christmas Gala Fashion Show at St. Patrick’s Church in Elmira. Rosenbaum’s closed its downtown store just two months later. The store at the Arnot Mall lasted ten more months before closing as well.

 

It's a Wrap

 

by Susan Zehnder, Education Director

This summer we were asked a number of questions that inspired new discoveries, more questions, a couple of laughs, and even a possible ghost story. Who asked these questions? One of the seventy participants who accompanied us on one of our nine Walking Tours this summer. We’ve finished our tours for the season, and met people from out of state, and others whose families have lived here for generations. Either way, everyone now knows a little more about the area’s architectural details, hidden stories, and some frisky gossip.

Here are some highlights, in case you missed them. Our Architectural Tour of Maple Avenue was led by archivist Rachel Dworkin who walked and talked pointing out examples of architectural house styles through the years. If you’re a regular to this blog, you’ll see a more comprehensive explanation of what she shared in the previous two blogs.

Our Historic Tours started at the museum, using the bank building as a time marker. The Chemung Canal Bank was built in 1834, designed by architect Ammon Beardsly. The structure is the oldest commercial building in the city and today houses the Historical Society and History Museum. Over the next hour the tour passed other buildings along Lake Street, heading north to Church Street, west to Baldwin Street, south to Water Street and after passing the distinctive 1971 Chemung Canal Trust Company Bank we looped back to the museum. Along the way we mentioned over 23 different blogs we’ve written with connections to history. It might be true stories about the buildings, streets, or people that lived in the area and the topics we covered were as diverse as 19^th century billiards to 20^th century smut. We’ve always said we don’t have a blog about the Adult Book Store on Lake…..yet. Perhaps this mention counts?

Our third tour was a fun 1913 Gossip Tour which also lasted an hour. Here our curator Erin Doane walked a similar route to the historic version, but shared stories that were darker, and a bit more titillating. You’ll have to join us next year if you want to hear those. A bonus to her tour, Erin wore a vintage dress for the stroll. She also wore a hat she claimed she bought in the Amazon, or was that on Amazon? Her stories were the rumors and gossip of the day. Who thought Lake Street would have so many murders, hangings, or surprised mistresses over the years.

Our summer Walking Tours have come to a close. We’re busy getting ready for a different kind of walk - our 15^th annual Ghost Walk around Woodlawn Cemetery. We’re excited to offer three different options this year over three different days and tickets are going quickly. If a historic cemetery walk at dusk or in the dark interests you, check out the details on our website today.

We enjoyed ourselves leading the walks, and were so pleased to hear others did too. We were also lucky with the weather for 8 of the 9 tours. The last one took place in drenching rain, which was maybe a fitting end to the season.

Dating With Style: 20th Century Housing (Part II)

by Rachel Dworkin, archivist

Like clothing, architecture has fads, trends, and fashions. In previous blogs, I have written about 19th century housing styles, as well as those from the early 20th century. Elmira and its suburbs expanded rapidly during the 1910s and 20s, but the Great Depression ground that growth to a halt. The aftermath of World War II kicked off a new housing boom across the nation which was dominated by such styles as Minimal Traditional, Ranch, Split Level, Contemporary, Shed, and Neoeclectic.  Minimal Traditional, Ranch, and Split Level are ubiquitous throughout Chemung County's post-war suburbs, but Contemporary and Shed never seemed to have caught on here. Neoeclectic is what you find in many late-2oth and early 21st century developments.

Minimal Traditional was popular in the 1930s through the 1950s. They’re usually one-story homes with built much like a Tudor with side gables and a prominent front cross gable, but with a less steeply pitched roof. They often make heavy use of stone or brick veneer. 

Minimal Traditional home on Larchmont Avenue

 

Ranches were developed in California in the 1930s and became the denominate style for residential architecture during the 1950s and 60s. The style borrows heavily from Craftsman, Prairie, and also Spanish Colonial styles found throughout the Southwest. They’re always one floor with either hipped roofs or side gables with wide overhanging eaves. Their rise to prominence accompanied the death of public transport, so most have some sort of built-in garage or car port.

Ranch on Hendy Avenue

 

The Split Level rose to popularity in the 1950s as a modification to the basic Ranch. Like the Ranch, it was either hipped or side gabled and had a built-in garage. The first level usually consisted of said garage and a family room, with dining room and kitchen on the middle level, and bedrooms on the upper level. The Split Level was popular through the 1970s. 

 

Split Level on Acorn Road

 

The Contemporary Style, sometimes called American International, drew heavily on International Style in terms of windows and roofing, although some do have pitched roofs. Unlike the International Style, they tend to have walls decorated with wood, stone, or brick veneer rather than plain stucco. Shed Style developed in the 1960s and continues to be used today. The defining feature is the multi-directional shed roofs which give the house the look of colliding geometric shapes. They usually have wood siding and/or brick veneer. Chemung County doesn't have many examples of either style because their peek popularity in the late-1960s through the 1970s coincided with the start of an economic downturn and decline in local population.

Neoeclectic is basically a return to the earlier Eclectic Styles after a brief pause following World War II. Unlike earlier architectural styles which began with high-fashion architects designing statement homes for the rich, the Neoeclectic Movement began with the builders of modest homes putting a new spin on late-19^th and early-20^th century designs. In this area, there are examples of Neocolonial, Neo-Tudor, Neo-French, and Neo-Victorian. The Neoeclectic Movement is currently the dominant style in McMansions and newer suburban housing. 

Now that you know the different styles of residential housing, take a drive around and make note of what you see.  Consider what the types of houses reveal about the growth and development of different neighborhoods.

Dating with Style: 20th Century Housing (Part I)

By Rachel Dworkin

Like clothing, architecture has fads, trends, and fashions.  Some architectural fashions are based on concrete things like available building materials or new techniques, while others are based on more nebulous things like historical anniversaries and politics.  Just as clothes can help date photographs, architectural fashions can be a handy tool for dating a building. Unfortunately, architectural fashions can last for decades, but it still provides a nice range. Back in 2014, I did a piece on 19^th century residential styles and it’s time to talk about the 20^th. 

 There is no clear, crisp dividing point between 19^th and 20^th century fashions. Some trends which started in the 1890s, or even the 1880s, continued on well into the 20^th century. Some even had a comeback! I discussed Queen Anne (1880s-1910s) in my last post, but there were other movements which began in the 1890s which had a larger impact on the 20^th century. I will be focusing only on those styles of home found in Chemung County, so, if you were looking for Pueblo Revival, you’ll be plum out of luck.

The Eclectic Movement was the major trend in architectural styles from the 1890s through the start of World War II. It focused on reproducing earlier historic styles, mostly found in Europe. It began with European-trained architects designing landmark homes for wealthy clients. The development of thin brick and stone veneer in the 1920s made it easier for middle-class homeowners to ape these styles. Some types of Eclectic homes found in Chemung County include Neoclassical, Tudor, French Eclectic, Italian Renaissance, and Colonial Revival, with Tudor and Colonial being the most common.

Neoclassical is designed to evoke an ancient temple with a full-height front porch supported by classical columns and a symmetrically balanced façade.  It was popular from about 1895 to 1950, and there are some lovely examples in West Elmira. 

Neoclassical home on West Church Street

 

Tudor was designed to evoke late Medieval English housing. It featured a steeply pitched roof, usually side-gabled, often with a prominent forward-facing cross gable. Tall, narrow windows with multiple panes are common, as are massive, accentuated chimneys, and decorative textures like brick or stone veneer or stucco with half-timbering. This style was popular from the 1890s through 1940 and is the second-most common type of house found in West Elmira. 

Tudor on Hoffman Street

 

French Eclectic was designed to look like a French farmhouse. They have steeply-pitched hipped roofs with upward-flaring eaves. The walls are usually brick, stone, or stucco. They occasionally have towers. There are a handful of these in West Elmira and Strathmont Park. 

French Eclectic home on Hoffman Street

 

Less common in Chemung County are the Mediterranean Eclectics including Italian Renaissance and Spanish Eclectic. Both were designed to evoke rural architecture in Italy and Spain respectively. Both have low-pitched roofs covered in ceramic tiles (or something meant to resemble them), but Italian Renaissance have hipped roofs with wide eaves while Spanish have side gables with no eaves. Italian Renaissance usually have columns, arches, or both around the front doors, while Spanish Eclectic tends to have them around first floor windows. There are maybe two of each in the county.

Italian Renaissance home on Maple Avenue

Colonial Revival is the longest-lived of all the Eclectic Movement styles. It was spawned by the 1876 Centennial and a renewed interest in Colonial-era housing from along the eastern seaboard. It is designed to strongly resemble Georgian (1700-1780) and Adams (1780-1820) styles. Some key characteristics include a side-gabled roof, a relatively plain facade with an accentuated front door, and symmetrically hung windows balanced around said door. The style remained popular from the 1880s through the 1960s, but with subtle changes over time. Colonial was the most popular style in Chemung County’s expanding suburbs during the inter- and postwar years. 

Colonial Revival home on West Church Street

 

Competing with the Eclectic Movement, which drew inspiration from the past, was the Modern Movement, which was more forward looking. These styles include Prairie, Craftsman, Modernistic, and International, with Prairie and Craftsman being the most common locally.   

Prairie was largely based off of the works of Chicago architect Frank Lloyd Wright and his disciples. The first Prairie house was Wright’s 1893 Winslow House and the style quickly spread from there thanks to architectural pattern books put out by Chicago publishers. The style flourished from 1905 to 1915 and is abundant locally in portions of West Elmira and along Maple Avenue. Prairie homes are two stories with one-story wings, porches, or car ports, often with massive, square supports. The roofs are usually hipped and low-pitched with wide, overhanging eaves. 

Prairie Home on West Water Street

 

Craftsman are my personal favorite 2oth century architectural style. It was developed in 1903 by California architects Charles and Henry Greene. Their work was popularized by various architectural magazines and pattern books. You could even buy pre-fab Craftsman packages which you would then assemble yourself like Ikea furniture. The houses were small, usually one-story, but with the occasional partial second-story. They have low-pitched roofs with wide overhanging eaves, large front porches, and all the beautiful interior woodwork your heart could desire. They tended to either have front gabled roofs or hipped ones. The style flourished briefly from about 1905 through the 1920s and then fell out of favor in the 1930s. 

Craftsman homes on Riverside Avenue

 

There are no examples of Modernistic in Chemung County, but there is an International style house in Strathmont Park. The style was brought to the United States in the 1930s by avant-garde European architects fleeing the rise of fascism. International style is characterized by a flat roof; smooth, unadorned walls with windows set flush against outer walls; and weird, asymmetrical facades. For various reasons, they’re super rare and usually built as statement homes for the wealthy, but a lot of elements were later integrated into later post-war styles.

International Style home in Strathmont Park

 

The Great Depression put an end to a lot of residential construction in Chemung County, but there was another housing boom following World War II. This boom often featured new styles I will talk about in my next blog post. Stay tuned!

Our Mammoth Tusk

by Erin Doane, Curator

Visitors love the mammoth tusk we have on display here at the Chemung County Historical Society. Multiple people have told me it’s the one thing they remember from a visit to the museum when they were kids. But how did it get here?

Mammoth tusk on display at CCHS, August 2021

Both mammoths and mastodons roamed the prehistoric Chemung Valley. Mastodons lived all around the world. They first appeared in the early Miocene (23 million to 2.6 million years ago) and continued to live in various evolutionary forms through the Pleistocene (2.6 million to 11,700 years ago). Mammoths lived on every continent except for South America and Australia. Fossil remains found in North America date from the Pleistocene and the very early Holocene (11,700 years ago to the present). Both mammoths and mastodons share an ancient ancestor with modern elephants. While mammoths were about the same size of elephants, mastodons were shorter and more heavily built.

Mammoth (left) and mastodon (right) from Wikimedia Commons

Throughout the years, mammoth and mastodon tusks, teeth, and other remains have been found through our area. In 1933, a mammoth tooth was found in Elmira; in 1940, a mastodon skeleton including tusks was found in Big Flats; and in 1999, two mastodons and parts of a mammoth were found in Millport. Early Native Americans in the valley were said to have found a tusk near the river bank and named it “Chemung” which has been translated as “place of the big horn.”

In 1778, Judge Caleb Baker and two other men discovered a tusk sticking out of the water of the Chemung River near the narrows west of Chemung Village. In order the preserve the artifact and keep it from splitting, Judge Baker took it to a local blacksmith to have it banded in iron. Unfortunately, when the judge returned to pick up the tusk, he found that the blacksmith had sold it to a peddler who had taken it off to New England.

In the 1950s, when members of the Chemung County Historical Society were in the process of creating their first independent museum (they had been tenants of the Steele Library before that), they decided they wanted to include a mammoth tusk in their new displays. The Historical Society board made attempts to track down Judge Baker’s tusk but came up empty-handed after contacting the American Museum of Philadelphia, the Stockbridge Massachusetts Library Association, the Springfield Museum of Natural History, Williams College, the Smithsonian Institution, the New York State Museum, the Canadian Department of Resources and Development in Ottawa, and the British Museum (in hope that when the British lost control of North American territories the tusk might have been removed to London).

Since finding Judge Baker’s original tusk proved impossible, the board turned to having a model made for display. They contacted the American Museum of Natural History in New York City to inquire if they could create such a model. In response, the folks at the Natural History Museum offered an actual mammoth tusk from their collection that had been found in Alaska. All the Historical Society board had to do was pay for the tusk’s preservation treatment, which totaled $9 ($3 an hour for three hours’ labor), and the tusk was theirs. The board readily agreed and a member of the Natural History Museum and his wife loaded the tusk into their station wagon and drove it up to Elmira.

In my imagination, our mammoth tusk was brought to Elmira
in something like this 1950 Willys station wagon.

The mammoth tusk went on display in the Chemung County Historical Society’s new museum on William Street and then came over here to 415 East Water Street in the 1980s when CCHS moved into the old Chemung Canal Bank building. Today, you can still come and visit the ~11,000-year-old artifact prominently display in our Bank Gallery.

 

Up, Up, and Away

 By Susan Zehnder, Education Director

For two days in July 1911, thousands of people flocked to Elmira’s Maple Avenue Park. What was it they paid .50 cents to attend, and an additional .25 cents to sit in the grandstands to watch?

The event was The Curtiss-Beachy Aviation Meet organized by the Star-Gazette newspaper. The meet brought together the latest in aviation technology with the daring and flashy flying of a 24-year old pilot, named Lincoln Beachey, whom the paper called the “greatest living birdman.” It was a combination few could resist.

Airplanes were then in their infancy and the public was fascinated with flying machines. Although the Wright brothers of Ohio gained early fame for their aeronautical experiments, New York State was also a hub of flying activity. Glenn Curtiss, or nearby Hammondsport, NY, was an aviation pioneer and inventor, having successfully flown a plane of his own design in 1908. At the 1911 Elmira meet, the Glenn Curtiss exhibition team – which included young men and at least one woman - showcased what Curtiss’s planes could do. The team pushed limits by performing exhilarating airborne acrobatics.

At 24 years old, Curtiss pilot Lincoln Beachey was already considered one of the best.

Lincoln Beachey

Beachey was born in San Francisco in 1887. When he was 17 years old, he joined his older brother to work on dirigibles. In 1910, his brother took up flying, and Beachey followed suit. At a June 1911 air show, Beachey successfully recovered from a nose-diving spin, something no other pilot had survived. This caught the eye of Curtiss, who invited Beachey to join his exhibition team. Another team member was Blanche Stuart Scott, the first woman credited with flying solo. (Scott also appears in our blog on Women Drivers, which recounts her 1910 transcontinental drive in a Willys-Overland sponsored by the John North Willys from Elmira.)

Air shows, stunts and races were an exciting way for the public to see what airplanes could do. Before the Curtiss-Beachey Aviation Meet took place, The Star-Gazette dedicated the entire front page of its evening edition to the aeronautical event. Articles covered how to get to the meet, and what to expect at the event. Spectators were invited to view the Curtiss planes up close, to watch daring aviation exploits, and to observe skilled flying that demonstrated the usefulness of airplanes. The organizers charged a fee to watch, but nothing to park your automobile. Trolley schedules were doubled and ran on the half-minute. Businesses used the opportunity to advertise their products with aviation themes like this ad for pest control. 

Joining the team and getting used to flying the new Curtiss designs, Beachey crashed three times. He wore a business suit while he flew, and was known for his modest and unassuming manner. Though at one time he donned women’s clothing and flew erratically in front of a shocked crowd to mock Miss Scott.

As a celebrity, the paper covered every move that Beachey made prior to flying and afterwards. Rorick’s Glen had an Aviator’s evening inviting Beachey to attend.

Beachey did not disappoint. Although he crashed three times while getting use to flying the new Curtiss designs, on the day of the meet he successfully performed loops and flybys. He demonstrated how planes could be useful in war to drop “bombs” onto targets, and he took up the challenge to race another vehicle. Known for his modest and unassuming manner, he wore a business suit while he flew. The exception is the flight later in his career during which he donned women’s clothing and flew erratically in front of a shocked crowd to mock Miss Scott.

The air-ground competition was the anticipated highlight of the evening. Beachey flew a Curtiss Bi-Plane. His competitor, George Saulsman drove a Chalmers 40 sponsored by the American-LaFrance Fire Engine Company. Saulsman reached speeds of 70 mph as he rounded the track, but Beachey won the race. Inspired by the crowd, speed, or lucrative nature of races, Beachey later approached racecar driver Barney Oldfield driver from Ohio to repeat the stunt. The two of them would go on to compete at more than 35 different venues around the country, and together they earned more than $250,000, or over 6 million dollars today.

The evening was a success, even though a heavy rainfall interrupted events causing the crowd to temporarily relocate under the grandstands until it passed.

Beachey would return to Elmira more three times to put on airshows. But, in 1915, his daredevilry caught up with him, and he died in a plane crash. He was 28 years old. Barney Oldfield lived until 1946, when he died of a heart attack at 68. 

Beachey flying in Elmira, 1912

The aerial speed show that flew over Elmira that July must have been thrilling to watch and well worth the .75 cents spent.

Conscientious Objectors

By Rachel Dworkin, archivist

 

On the morning of Monday, April 8, 1946, internees at the Conscientious Objector camp in Big Flats woke to find a flag reading “U.S. Slave Camp” on the flag pole in where the American flag normally flew. Weather conditions made it impossible to remove the flag until Wednesday. By that time, someone had put up boards baring the words “This Is a Slave Camp” with arrows pointing the way on trees leading to the camp entrance. These acts of protest did not go over well. The Corning American Legion wrote to Washington demanding a full investigation. The local papers were filled with angry letters and op-eds calling the conscientious objectors cowards and provocateurs just asking for trouble.

Lowering the flag, Elmira Star-Gazette, April 10, 1946

 The Conscientious Objector camp in Big Flats on Rt. 17 near Bottcher Gardens opened in August 1942 at an old Civilian Conservation Corps camp. During the four years of its operation, some 1,000 men served there, although never more than 200 at a time. They were housed in four large barracks and worked for the Soil Conservation Service on their 250-acre experimental grass and tree nursery. The saplings they grew were used all over the Northeast for reforestation projects. They also helped clear roads in the winter and bring in the harvest on area farms. Some also participated in voluntary medical and nutritional experiments for the U.S. military. Unlike with soldiers, the government did not pay the men or help care for their dependents, so many took outside, part-time work in Elmira as well.

The men who worked there came from all walks of life, united only by their opposition to war. They were religious objectors, mostly Quakers and Jehovah’s Witnesses, mixed in with artistic types, and anti-tax political activists. Whatever their reasons for doing so, each had been called before their draft board and registered themselves as conscientious objectors. Each objector was required to select one of three church organizations to be affiliated with during their alternate service. The government had contracted with the Mennonites, Church of the Brethren, and the Quakers to run the conscientious objector camps. The one in Big Flats was managed by the Quakers.

There were problems at the camp almost immediately after opening. Within weeks, several of the men were complaining about the nursery manager’s hostile attitude. The Soil Conservation Service employees, meanwhile, complained about the underwhelming quality of the men’s work. On October 1, 1942, George Kingsley, Louis Krawczyk, and Stanley Murphy walked out of camp declaring that they could no longer perform such “insignificant work.” The three were subsequently convicted of desertion and sentenced to 2 ½ years in prison. 

Objectors harvesting hay, 1942

 Certain segments of the local community were not happy to have them. In March 1943, the Corning American Legion Post petitioned their congressman, Republican Sterling Cole, to investigate the camp. The Elmira Heights post seconded their call, claiming the objectors were “a stab in the back to our national security.”  After an inspection in August, Congressman Cole erroneously criticized the camp’s management for allowing the wives and girlfriends of the men to visit the camp. About one-third of the men had dependents, and many of whom found lodging in Elmira so they could see their spouses when they came into town between the end of their required workday and their 10:30pm curfew.

Despite the initial friction, the camp soon became part of the larger community. Area companies and farms actively recruited objectors for part-time work. The men’s families came to the area to settle and take work too. Several of the objectors volunteered as orderlies at the Arnot-Ogden Hospital, while others helped to renovate a local youth center. The camp basketball team played in the Elmira city league as “The Big Flats Friends” and music groups from the camp played at local venues. In June 1944, the camp hosted an Institute on International Relations, which drew hundreds of locals.

The war ended in August 1945 and the government began discharging conscientious objectors and closing camps soon after. By the spring of 1946, the Big Flats camp was the last one in New York and the men were getting restless. In addition to the slave camp protest signs, they also wrote to Governor Dewey, asking for his help. In May, 40 men went on strike and kept it up for weeks until all the men involved were discharged. Finally, the camp closed on October 31, 1946. Today, few traces of the camp remain and, with our all-volunteer military, there are even fewer opportunities to grapple with the question of how we treat those who refuse to fight.