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This booklet was originally published by the Canaseraga-Town of Burns Sesquicentennial Bicentennial Committee formed September 1975. Thanks go to Karen
Meisenheimer of Fairfax, VA for her diligence & fortitude in preparing the information in useable form, and, Thanks to Town of Burns Historian, Faye Clancy for granting permission for the
publication on the website. |
(Page 3 of 4)
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Town of Burns, A History -continued
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During the 40 years following the arrival of the numerous Whitneys in 1817 general farming, butter and cheese production, small scale
lumbering and related activities were the mainstays in the locality. It is assumed that local produce was hauled to larger communities by oxen and horses. The population probably
remained sparse and scattered, however, judging by the fact the first school was opened in 1855. That was many years after the one-roomers were established in other districts in the
township. The Whitneys had prospered, Esau—third son of the family –having built a sizable brick house in the hamlet, the first constructed in the Town of
Burns. (The second was built on the periphery of Old burns. Until at least 1904 these were the only brick homes in the township.)
Things were about to change, and dramatically, at Whitneys Crossing-Garwoods. The next decade brought boom conditions that continued into
the 1890’s. The Erie had reached the hamlet about 1853. A dozen years later James Garwood arrived. In partnership with Nelson Bailey, Garwood soon owned 1,000 acres, the brick house
and seven other dwellings across from the school on the road to Nunda. The two men had gone very extensively into the lumbering and manufacturing business. They operated a sawmill
near the crossing and a factory for the production of barrel staves and heads located where James Hosmer lives now. Their cooper’s shop stood east of the school, about where the
recetly-changed road through Garwoods approaches the intersection with the Canaseraga-Nunda Road. There Garwood-Bailey employees assembled the staves and heads into barrels and casks.
The first locomotives on the route burned wood and Garwoods early became a fueling stop. It seems likely that some chemical wood and lumber
were loaded onto cars while the tender was restocked but this is not certain. At any rate, the lumbering business had grown rapidly after 1865 and the need for a railroad siding and
switch had become a pressing one. Garwood and Bailey agreed to build a depot if the Erie would name the station Garwoods and install the switch. Both were done. The 1869 map shows
the depot, a store and the Post Office, and three dozen residences extending westward to the Town of Grove line. Garwood and Bailey soon employed 40 men and turned out 1,000,000 board
feet of lumber annually, in addition to barrels and casks.
The first rail siding was built west of the tracks and extended onto the property now owned by Arthur Karns. Reportedly it would accommodate
a dozen cars. In subsequent years the valley floor west of it was stacked high with lumber and logs. A large volume of logs went to chemical plants for processing into potash,
alcohol, acetate of lime and charcoal. To speed things up, a wooden rail line was built east of the community between the Canaseraga Creek and the range of hills on the south. It
began about a mile from Garwoods and ended in the hamlet behind the property now owned by Jake Phillips, close to the Erie siding just mentioned. As of 1890 J.B. Hadley was an
important buyer and shipper, using thsse facilities. Meanwhile the Erie had diverted the creek from the east to the west side of the tracks in order to eliminate two bridges, and
sometime later a new siding was located to the east of the tracks.
Other small businesses were in operation in the community in the latter part of nineteenth century. A factory producing wooden-tine
hayrakes was located near the road leading to Isaman Hill, on property now owned by Earl Lacy. Abel Gates operated a sawmill in the same vicinity. There was a cheese factory on the
road leading to the home now owned by Robert Norton, while Albert Whitney owned planning and cider mills nearby. He also had a bicycle shop and built one of the first automobiles seen
in the community. There were blacksmith shops at the western edge of the hamlet, near the present-day Stalker cabin, and in the old “engine house” used formerly for manufacturing
staves and heads.
When business was booming there was a row of houses on Grove St. between the homes lining the Garwoods-Birdsall Road and the creek. By early
in this century, if not before, Grove St. had disappeared, victim probably of the rapid decline of the lumber-chemical wood industry by the 1890’s.
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Soon most of the transient population employed in lumbering moved away and general farming became again the mainstay. In this period
carloads of potatoes and hay, as well as lesser quantities of sugar beets, cheese and other farm produce were shipped out by rail.
There was as well considerable passenger traffic into and through the hamlet, particularly after the Shawmut tracks reached Garwoods in
1882. The community quickly became an important transfer point, with passengers arriving on the Shawmut from Angelica and points west transferring to the Erie for travel toward
Buffalo. At that time the “Pretty Slow and Noisy”, the widely used colloquialism for the Pittsburgh, Shawmut and Northern, operated two passenger trains daily though Garwoods in each
direction. For a time Ira Green handled the baggage, moving it between the two depots on a small flatcar pushed by hand over a narrow gauge track. Youngsters used to wait at the
Shawmut depot for fresh bread delivered daily from Angelica. High school students from the community and adjacent Grove rode the Shawmut to and from Canaseraga. Often the train
waited when school children were late in arriving at the crossing. A most accommodating railroad, one train stopped at the crossing on Isaman Hill to discharge Hazel Isaman who was
returning from a hospital stay. She was met by the family sleigh.
For many years the Post Office was housed in the Erie depot with Henry Root as Postmaster. Evenings were gabfest time there, men and boys
gathering around the potbelly stove to talk and play games while waiting for the mail from Buffalo. Early in this century the Post Office was moved to the west side of the tracks.
Fred Dresser was for many years Postmaster at that location where he also kept a general store. This writer remembers Mr. Dresser carrying the mail sack to the tracks and suspending
it on the mail hanger, a pole with a horizontal arm pointing toward the track. The mail clerk aboard the train leaned out to snatch the outgoing sack from its perch as the train
rushed past, and tossed the incoming bag to the ground for Mr. Dresser to carry back to the Post Office.
Known from the beginning as the Whitneys Crossing Post Office, in honor of the earliest settlers, this service was closed in 1935 when
Garwoods was placed on RFD out of Canaseraga. In 1939 the Erie depot was sold and hauled away. Since the Shawmut had earlier discontinued passenger service in Garwoods, this closed a
chapter in the history of the community.
Meanwhile telephones and electricity had been installed. The initial telephone line reached Garwoods from Dalton, Mr. A. Bradley installing
the first instrument. In 1907 Jacob Schwingle constructed a party line from Canaseraga to Birdsall, passing through Garwoods. Another such line was built from Garwoods up the Kenny
Swamp Road, each subscriber purchasing a five dollar bond or more and providing 10 poles to finance it. The poles were set by community volunteers. About 1941 these lines were
absorbed into the Bell System out of Hornell.
Electricity came to Garwoods on July 11, 1933, an exciting day for those who could throw the switches in their homes. Not everyone could, of
course, and a few had even refused to allow the lines to pass over their property. One man is said to have “roared like a lion” when asked to sign up for electricity.
ERIE DEPOT AT GARWOODS located on the east side of the tracks and the north side of the road. The depot was removed in 1939.
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THE OSSIAN GIANT
For a time in the 1870’s or so residents of Garwoods had free close-ups of a side-show attraction people elsewhere had had to pay to see.
Children used to run into the dirt streets of the hamlet after this man had passed by to exclaim about the wondrous dimensions of the footprints he left. He was Frederick Decker, a
lumberman who lived much of his life in nearby Grove. He worked for a while as head sawyer in the main sawmill in Garwoods.
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That was after he had toured much of the eastern part of the country as a member of P.T. Barnum’s troupe of sideshow curiosities. It was
probably during the 1860’s when he was variously billed as the “Paul Bunyan of the East” or as “The Ossian Giant”. In this case Barnum’s hawkers did not unduly misrepresent their
public attraction. Decker was a huge man, standing seven feet tall and rocking the scales at more than 300 pounds. His feats in contests of strength with other men and in handling
the giant logs he sawed were for years a legend in the community. “The Ossian Giant” died in 1886 at age 50 and is buried in the Town of Grove.
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BURNS STATION
With the coming of the Erie this hamlet on the Allegany-Steuben County line began to develop rapidly. Some 15 years later there were 27
homes and businesses in the community, most of them in Steuben County. Some of these businesses apparently moved into the new town of Old Burns.
By 1869 there were two stores, a hotel, the depot, a produce dealer and two blacksmith shops in what is today commonly called Burns. The
Burns Methodist Church was organized in 1859 and the church erected in 1871. At that time there were about 20 homes in the hamlet.
Lumber and wood and later farm produce were shipped out of the station in sizable quantities through the balance of the nineteenth century.
By the early 1900’s crops handled at Burns Station consisted of muckland produce and potatoes and hay harvested on the “hard land”, meaning on the plateau and slopes above the valley.
In the early years of this century celery and lettuce were the main muckland exports. For several years carloads of celery left Burns
Station daily.
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When celery was in season migrant workers often lived in boxcars on the railroad siding.
Potato warehouses were located north of the depot, near the crossing formed by the Bull Road which used to extend east across the tracks to
hook up with the road leading to the Arkport-Dansville Road. This can be seen on the Town of Burns map reproduced in this booklet.
BURNS STATION. The view is from the West toward the Arkport-Dansville Road in the distance. The hotel at the extreme left is in Steuben County.
Clarence Nichols, now 68 years old and a resident of Garwoods, is the fourth generation Nichols to have lived in Morraine, an area in the
East-central section of the township. He relates that his great-grandfather William Nichols settled there upon arrival from England by way of Dansville.
William’s son Henry farmed in that area and built the only house still remaining on the old road through the upper area of Morraine, the
house now owned by Donald Scott. Clarence relates that his grandmother, wife of Henry Nichols, used to walk to Dansville through Poags Hole—then site of the principal road into
Dansville from Morraine and Canaseraga—with eggs and butter on her head to be traded for provisions.
The third generation Nichols, Clarence’s father Joseph, owned a store in Morraine. Long-time residents of the locality will remember it as
the building covered with red tin. Joseph Nichols produced potato crates in a lean-to attached to the store.
Across the road from the Nichols home there was a Shawmut junction, with one fork of the Y leading to Hornellsville and the other to
Wayland. Three buildings stood at this Hornellsville Junction: a tool shed, the depot, and beside the latter a building called Railroad House where Shawmut officials and workmen
lived.
North of this was Morraine Park where large picnics were often held in the 1920’s and later, three to four railroad cars bringing people from
Hornell. The picnic area is now used by the Elks Club of Hornell.
Today the Engineers Joint Training Fund Property is at the north end of Morraine.
In a matter of two hours early in the morning on March 28, 1895, the business district and 34 residences in Canaseraga were consumed in one
of the most devastating fires ever experienced in Allegany County.
The fire began about 1 a.m., apparently behind Henry Hulbert’s store which was located behind the Union Block and W. Main St. Pushed by
fierce winds from the west, at times gusting to near hurricane force, the flames quickly leaped W. Main St. Soon both sides of the street were ablaze. The twin fires then raced each
other across the four corners and toward the creek, the one on the south side of Main St. reaching it first. Simultaneously, the inferno expanded in both directions along Church St.
It also backed into the wind to engulf Central House which was slightly west of where the Canaseraga Inn now stands. The intense heat and gale winds broke windows in adjacent
structures, allowing the blaze to reach the inside of buildings a yet untouched on the outside. The brick walls in the Union Block crumbled. The flames were out of control from the
start.
On the south side of Main St. not a building was left standing from the creek to the Central House. On the opposite side of the street,
everything was lost between the Edward Mundy house, where the Stanley Teffts now live, and the then Carney house on the corner of River and Main Sts. Along Church St. on the east side
the destruction was total from the railroad to, but not including, the James Prendergast shop. That shop was adjacent to the Bluestone Brothers
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1895 FIRE. Looking east over the original Methodist Episcopal Church on W. main. What were later the James Craig home and barn are at the extreme
right-center.
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Meat Market which in more recent years was the firehouse. On the other side of Church St. the fire consumed everything from the Shawmut tracks to, but
not including, the Bluestone residence at the foot of the hill. There, fire fighters made a stand and contained the blaze. Charred beams are still visible in the back room of the
Bluestone home, now occupied by Joyce McGregor.
By daylight only foundations and jagged pillars of brick which had once formed the corners of buildings remained. More than two dozen stores
and shops, two hotels, the bank, the Post Office and 34 homes were destroyed. The fierce March winds an the heat currents set up by the inferno carried glowing shingles as far as the
Arkport-Dansville Road. The Edgar Boylan barn a half mile from the four corners caught fire and burned. Small fires were ignited in several other places outside Canaseraga.
All that remained in the downtown area were the Prendergast shop, the meat market and Town Hall, a jewelry shop, a blacksmith shop, the cigar
factory, a bowling alley and the two depots. Miraculously, no one died in the fire but several people were badly burned. Merchants managed to save very little stock. Most people
saved very little beyond some clothing from the dwellings that burned. An estimate made immediately after the fire put the losses at some $215,000.
There had been quite serious fires in the 1870’s, all in the four corners area. Still, the village did not have a public water system when
the 1895 fire struck. One was installed that summer when the heart of the village lay in ruins.
1985 FIRE.
Looking east along Main St. The
jagged
brick remains are in the Main-S. Church
St. corner
where the businesses were concentrated.
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THE GREAT FIRE OF 1895. The view if from the southeast showing Main St. on a slight diagonal through the center of the photo. The main area of smoke is
S. Church St., then the principal business section of the village.
FIRE LOSSES
– 1895
|
Central House |
$5,000
|
|
Dr. A.T. Bacon, Drugstore |
$6,000 |
|
James Gemmel, Drygoods store |
$6,000 |
|
John Kingston, Saloon |
$3,000 |
|
Shear & Montgomery, Hardware |
$6,000 |
|
S.N. Bennett, Feed & Grocery store and residence |
$3,500 |
|
Thomas Wallace, Grocery store and residence |
$8,200 |
|
Frank S. Kingston, Saloon |
$5,300 |
|
T.G. Wooster Mfg. Co., Furniture factory |
$10,500
|
|
Byron Boylan, Residence |
$ 900 |
|
O.E. Shay, Postmaster, Personal property |
$1,200 |
|
G.C. Wentworth, P.O. building |
$2,500 |
|
W.C. Windsor, Lawyer and Insurance Agent |
$4,500 |
|
Elmer Clapp, Saloon |
$1,200 |
|
Frank S. Miller, Canaseraga Times |
$2,500 |
|
M. Tuchler, Clothier |
$18,000
|
|
M. Tuchler, House and barn |
$6,000 |
|
E.P. Green, Saloon |
$3,800 |
|
E.W. Sutfin |
$3,500 |
|
L.A. Gottschall, Barbershop and residence |
$2,800 |
|
David McGibney, two dwellings and shop |
$3,000 |
|
Mrs. Downs, Residence |
$1,500 |
|
Mrs. J. Garwood, Milliner |
$ 900 |
|
A.E. Prior, Shoe shop |
$ 900 |
|
Adolph Bluestone, Dwelling |
nearly total loss |
|
Johnathan Garwood, Dwelling |
total loss |
|
Dr. A.T. Bacon, Residence |
$4,600 |
|
Moses McMaster, Residence |
$1,500 |
|
William Mabie, Residence |
$2,000 |
|
Samuel Watkins, Residence and laundry |
total loss |
|
Fay Miller, Residence |
$3,000 |
|
George Damon, Feed store |
$1,500 |
|
T.G. Wooster, Undertaker |
$12,000
|
|
Crandall House |
$6,300 |
|
S.J. Craig, Groceries & drygoods |
$22,000
|
|
Mrs. Dunham, Residence |
total loss |
|
G.W. Hawley, Hardware store & residence |
$6,000 |
|
Canaseraga Banking Co. |
$5,000 |
|
Henry Hulburt, Groceries |
$2,500 |
|
Dr. Pratt, Office and residence |
$3,000 |
|
William Hyde, Store |
$2,800 |
|
Mrs. George Damon, Millinery store & residence |
$3,000 |
|
Windsor Estate |
$3,000 |
|
A.W. Boyd |
$1,000 |
|
Mrs. Ellen Boyd |
$1,000 |
|
Benjamin Clapp |
$1,200 |
|
R. Newton |
$1,200 |
|
J. Bowen |
$2,500 |
|
Mrs. Johnson |
$1,600 |
|
Z. Bailey |
$2,000 |
Another 21 shops, homes and organizations sustained losses ranging from $50 to $800. Total losses were about $215,000. In most instances
insurance coverage amounted to less than half the estimated losses and at least a dozen people had no coverage.
COMMERCE IN CANASERAGA – 1904
The village revived quickly after the 1895 fire wiped out the entire downtown area. Within three years brick buildings radiated out from the
four corners and a few homes had been built or rebuilt on E. Main St. In 1897 the Rowe & Kennedy produce business began operations near Depot St. and shortly after 1900 the Deysher
flour and feed mill was built on E. Main St. The Kingston Opera House was completed in 1898 and the new building to house the newspaper was ready about the same time.
By 1904 mercantile activity in Canaseraga was probably larger in volume and more varied than had been the case a decade earlier. More than
40 businesses were in operation at the time of the Canaseraga Centennial in August that year. There were four grocery or combination grocery-drygoods establishments. James Craig &
Sons billed themselves as “leading dealers in general merchandise in Allegany county” and high-lighted “fresh eggs and butter bought and sold at market prices.” Shoppers used to come
to Canaseraga from Hornellsville by train, particularly for eggs, butter and fresh vegetables. There were two drugstores, two hardware stores and a large and important clothing store
in the four corners area. The Canaseraga House advertised “lunch, wines, liquors and cigars” while the Glenmore and Kingston hotels rented rooms and served meals. The Kingston Hotel
advertised “the best of accommodations and every courtesy with steam heat, gas and every modern improvement”. Sunday dinner at either of the hotels cost $0.25 at that time.
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Bluestone Brothers sold “fresh and salt meats, and fish and oysters in season.” J.J. Nowlin was selling tinware, kitchen utensils and farm
equipment. J.B. Bishop, jeweler and optician, advertised watches and clocks, diamonds, cut glass, sterling silver, electrical goods, musical instruments, umbrellas and bicycles.
Wooster Brothers and fritz advertised “a very large and attractive stock of up-to-date furniture at lowest prices.” They also operated a funeral parlor. Shay and Brownell handled a
“full line of American woven wire fence, barbed wire, wall plaster, fertilizer, etc.” as well as coal and firewood. William Mabie had a photography shop next to the Deysher Roller
Mills with “first class pictures in all sizes at low rates” and “large views a specialty.” W.H. Dunn made “harness of all kinds” and retailed “fly nets, horse sheets, cloth and mummy
dusters, blankets, whips and sweat pads.”
Other businesses handled farm equipment, building supplies and shoes. Three blacksmith shops, livery stables, a millinery, barbershops,
sawmills and the railway ticket agents rounded out the business activity a decade after downtown Canaseraga had been devastated.
CANASERAGA CENTENNIAL – 1904
Canaseraga Centennial Parade in 1904. The parade is moving from River St. toward Depot St. The building at the right now houses the Crowell Ins. Office
and Hub’s Village Store. The photo shows mounted parade marshals, village officials in carriages and the Eastern Star “rowboat” with the log house just beyond.
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The Canaseraga Centennial celebration on August 12, 1904 was perhaps the largest and most colorful event ever held in the Town of Burns.
Under the direction of professional decorators from Buffalo and Rochester, Canaseraga was festooned with American flags, red-white-and-blue streamers and bunting. Most of the business
section and several houses on and near Main St. were brand new, having been erected in the nine years since the devastating fire. Under “perfect weather” lasting through the day, the
festivities began at 7 a.m. when church and fire bells announced the start of the community’s second century. Special trains on both the Erie and Shawmut brought in large numbers of
people throughout the day from points as far away as Wellsville and Wayland. A newsman reported later that 5,000 people crowded into the village that day.
They had already gathered in appreciable numbers when at 8 a.m. the Canaseraga Fire Department led by Chief William Mabie marched with the
Canaseraga Cornet Band to the Shawmut station to welcome the Hornellsville First Ward Hose Co. “Filled to over-flowing”, the same train delivered spectators from Hornellsville,
Arkport and Burns. A little later a special train brought the Angelica Brass Band and a large group of people.
A log-sawing contest won by Manning Arnold (auctioneer) and Abraham Bradley (cattle buyer) kept the crowd occupied while the groups were
forming up for the first of two parades that day. The first one moved off with Village President K.K. Deysher, Chief Herdeman of the Hornellsville Fire Department, and A.L. Hamilton
and William Mabie—respectively the former and incumbent Canaseraga Fire chiefs—in the lead. They were followed by the Angelica Band, the First Ward Hose Co., the Short Tract Fife and
Drum Corps, and the Canaseraga Cornet Band. Next came the Canaseraga Hose Co. with cart, the Canaseraga Hook and Ladder Co. wagon drawn by horses, the Seth Weed Post G.A.R., and the
first Canaseraga fire fighting apparatus—a hand-pumper drawn by boys and now housed at the firehall on E. Main St. From the old firehouse on N. church ST. the parade traced a
figure-eight through the village: Mill, Pratt, Aber and River Streets to Main; along Main to Depot Street; down the railroad tracks to S. Church and back to the firehouse.
Just before noon a special Shawmut train brought a ball team from Wayland and 200 people.
The morning activities were only a warm-up for the events to follow. With ex-Sheriff W.J. Garwood, Ernest Jones and Charles Fawcett serving
as Marshals and mounted on horses, a mile-long “floral and industrial” parade started at 1:30 from the lumber yard on S. Church St. Carriages from the Fitzpatrick and Murray livery
transported the village dignitaries: Lloyd Miller –Town Supervisor; K.I. Deysher—Village President; Fire Chief Mabie; G.A.R. Commander Byron Bennett; Rev. Albert Fox—Pastor of the
Baptist Church; Postmaster Adolph Bluestone; and William C. Windsor, Lawyer.
Some 20 floats sponsored by local businesses and organizations, along with bands and marching groups, followed much the same route as the
morning circuit of the downtown area. Noting he had observed many parades elsewhere, a newspaperman described it as “one of the largest and finest ever seen in this section of the
State”. He wrote that it exceeded in “originality or labor of preparation” similar parades seen in larger communities.
A sampling of the floats suggests the color and excitement of the event. A log cabin drawn by an ox team represented the first settlement at
Canaseraga a century earlier, smoke curling from the log chimney. A “beautifully decorated rowboat” by the Eastern Star featured nine young ladies at the “oars”. The float entered by
Bluestone Brothers, meat dealers, was strung with “wieners and hams”, while the one prepared by Rowe & Kennedy Produce had young women at the bean picking machines. The Gottschall
entry had a barber cutting a young man’s hair, and the Deysher float featured a roller and bags of flour from the mill. Thomas & Wheeler’s display had a red hot forge, a man pounding
out a horse shoe and another working on a wagon wheel. A traction engine hauling A.G. Harvey’s threshing rig was preceded by men swinging flails, and Asa Helm of Birdsall displayed
the potato planter he had invented. Alonzo Sick entered a float depicting a tree with the figure of a man hanging from a limb to represent the local jail. Uncle Sam and Miss Columbia
were represented. And Albert Whitney was in line with one of his cars. (Some time earlier he had built a hand-fashioned machine at Garwoods.)
In mid-afternoon memorial services were held at the Opera House. The program included an address by the Hon. Fred A. Robbins of
Hornellsville, highlights of the history of the Town of Burns by Dr. W.H. Harris, and band and vocal selections. In the follow-up ball game Wayland defeated the local nine 5 to 3.
Meanwhile at the Town Hall on N. Church St. people viewed the exhibition of old clocks and books, Indian artifacts and war and household implements of an earlier ear. The oldest item
on display was a book printed in 1603 – “Death and Burial of Cock Robin.”
Meanwhile the merry-go-round, dancing pavilion and tent circus were busy attractions. In the evening there were foot races, a tug-og-war
between fire company teams, a band concert, dancing at the Opera House and a fireworks display on Main St. At 10:30 that evening people began to call it a day as special trains
departed on the Shawmut for Hornellsville, Angelica and Wayland.
It had been a grand celebration, testimony to the revival of a community devastated a decade before.
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K.K.
DEYSHER FLOAT prepared for the Canaseraga centennial Celebration of 1904.
1904
CANASERAGA CENTENNIAL. The log cabin with a “panther” on the roof represents the first settlements of Canaseraga creek. It was the second float in the “floral-industrial” parade.
SOCIAL AND
CULTRUAL LIFE
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BALL
DIAMOND between the Erie tracks and Bennett St. (foreground) looking east over Church St.
Early
1900’s.
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1904 BALL
TEAM.
Seated left
to right: unidentified player, Lloyd Pelton, Walter Bacon, Andy Stadelman, Charles Fawcett. Standing: Gene Mehlnebacher, Walter Craig, Joe Flint, Harry Craig, Chub Willard.
From the 1870’s into the 1920’s Canaseraga enjoyed a more active and varied community-based social and cultural life than has been the case
more recently. This home town pattern disintegrated when the radio, automobiles and movies brought daily entertainment into homes, made people more mobile and exposed them to cultural
and social activities beyond the village. The development was generalized throughout the country, of course.
From just after the Civil War until the Great Fire if 1895 cultural functions centered on the Union Hall, a large room on the second floor
above what is now Canaseraga Business Machines. In those years a variety of programs and events was staged there. Attractions included performances by the Swiss Bell ringers, an
exhibition of Indian artifacts, band concerts, and plays put on by local or out-of-town groups. Dances were held there fairly frequently and occasionally an itinerant minstrel or
medicine show performed.
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People were people then as they are today. The story is told about the welcome given a dramatic troupe from a nearby town. The actors
booked Union Hall for several evenings. The first two performances were not particularly well received it appears. On the third evening someone places baskets filled with eggs at
handy spots in the immediate area. They sported signs reading: “Free eggs. Help yourselves.” Early the next morning a two-seated surrey was spotted at the creek near E. Main St.
Some of the out-of-town thespians were there busily cleaning up from the evening’s “omelets”.
The Canaseraga Lyceum with Mr. William C. Windsor as President was also active for a time during this period. So, too, was the Library
Association which is discussed separately. Earlier there was a Fife and drum Corps and a Washington Debating Society, both organized about 1860. After 1873 Dr. William Harris
operated a news subscription agency in the same S. Church St. premises where he had his dentist’s office. As noted elsewhere, the weekly “Canaseraga Times” was a lively and humorous
commentator for the community for some 70 years from its founding in 1873.
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Union Hall was destroyed in the 1895 fire. Three years later the Kingston Opera House opened on N. Church St. For the next 25 years it was
the scene of numerous concerts, plays, meetings and rallies. Gala balls were held there with dinner served in the adjacent Kingston Hotel. At other times it was the scene of
professional wrestling bouts featuring well-known talent fro the cities. High school commencement programs were held there for many years and the hall served for movies and roller
skating in more recent times.
The opening ball at the Kingston Opera House recaptures the style of an age now gone. Guests were met at the door by the Misses Mary
Kingston and Minnie Tuchler and Messrs. G.N. Manley and G.F. Luehmann. Miss B. Murray received at the ladies waiting room. When the time came to enter the hall ushers escorted the
guests to the reception committee consisting of: Mr. and Mrs. F.S. Miller, Mrs. A.T. Bacon, Mr. John Kingston, Miss Daisy Harris, Mr. T.G. Wooster, and the misses Georgia Dolloph,
Nina Jefferies and Helen Tuchler.
Dancing started at 9 p.m. “and lasted nearly until morning”. A large number of “Canaseraga society people” attended and there were guests
present from Hornellsville, Canisteo, Arkport, Nunda, Dansville, Buffalo, Silver Springs and other localities.
“About 11 p.m. supper was announced and all repaired to the Hotel Kinston dining room where one of the finest layouts ever set before the
public was in waiting. The tables were decorated with carnations, roses, and smilax.
During the intermission a musical program was rendered by the following well known artists: Mrs. Bennett, Mrs. Manley, Helene Tuchler, Nina Jefferies,
Maude Gottschall, Abbie Gemmel and Harry Jefferies. Kinston Bros. should certainly receive the highest commendation for the manner in which this affair was conducted and the citizens
of Canaseraga should feel justly proud of our new Opera House.”
Leap Year Balls were a regular attraction at the Opera House. Upwards of 90 “handsomely attired” couples attended the 1904 dancing party and
the gallery was filled with spectators. Large mirrors adorned the walls and divans were placed around the perimeter of the floor. The hall was decorated with evergreens, palms and
ribbons “in profusion”. Music was provided by Marthage’s Harp Orchestra and a buffet was served at Hotel Kingston. Many couples attended from out of town including from Buffalo,
Elmira and Rochester.
ELEGANT
LADIES – 1908
Leap
Year Ball at Kingston Opera House
Canaseraga
Mrs. F.S. Mehlenbacher Sea foam green silk mull over silk
Mrs. Bishop Green satin foulard, lace and diamonds
Mrs. Hoyt Pink and white organdy, lace, ruby necklance
Mrs. Eugene Mehlenbacher Pink and white
foulard, pink ribbon trim
Mrs. F.H. Bluestone Barred
swiss over pink, arm bunch carnations
Miss Bluestone Black
marquisette and lace
Mrs. Whitney White net over white silk, lace
Miss Miller Rich lace robe over white silk
Bea Prendergast Skirt of white mohair, net and
cluny waist
Anna Collins White wash chiffon, lace
Margaret Collins Blue silk mull
Miss Sleggs Green crepe de chine, pink velvet
Mrs. A.F. Mehlenbacher Tan
voile, garnet velvet, lace
Mrs. Jeffries Black silk skirt, net and cluny bodice
Miss Dolloph Pale blue Brussells net over taffeta
Anna Carney Cream brillantine, trim of blue satin and lace
Esther Robinson White mohair, ribbons and pearls
Eleanor Prendergast White
Persian lawn, lace inserts over pink
Esther Craig White wash chiffon, Valencia lace, pearls
Miss Wilson Blue silk mull, velvet and pearls
Nellie VanScoter Foulard of lavender and white, lavender velvet
Virginia Zimmer White Persian lawn, over pink, Valencia lace
Mrs. Willitt Satin stripped organdy, coronet of smilax and rosebuds
Myrtie Scott Robins egg green over pink silk, coronet of pink roses
Mrs. Chas. Mehlenbacher White
chiffon, Valencia lace
Bessie Bacon White Lansdowne, ribbon and lace
Ethel Bluestone Pink
rajah silk, black velvet , lace, corsage bouquet of violets
Lorane Bluestone Flamingo red crepe de chine, lace and flowers
Myrtie Fawcett Sheer
gown of white, Valencia lace, carnations
Gladys Craig Pink silk, lace and carnations
Mrs. J.K. Fawcett Green foulard silk, velvet and lace
Miss McKay Blue and white foulard over blue
Edith Robinson Alice
blue, nuns veiling, white lace
Miss Gottschall Pale
blue voile, liberty satin and lace.
Helen Pratt Tan crepe de chine, lace, diamonds
Mrs. A. Bluestone Lavender and white Dresden organdie, violets
Mrs. A.T. Bacon White silk voile over green silk, en traine
Mrs. O.S. Pratt
Chiffon broadcloth of gray, and white passementerie, diamonds
Hornell, N.Y.
Mayme Murphy Embroidered white linen gown, lace
Miss Bill Net over white silk
Miss Conklin White crepe de chine, lace and blue velvet
Mrs. Stoddard Pink and white foulard, lace
Miss Leta Nast Blue
and white foulard, lace
Miss Craig Tan crepe de chine, lace
Miss Boyland Net over pink silk, carnations
Miss Meeks Pink silk mull, lace
Miss Van Scoter Dotted swiss over pink
Mrs. U.E. Bill Blue and white over blue, Valencia lace
Dansville, N.Y.
Gretchen Rouse Pink peau de cygnet, ribbon, pink roses
Marie Rouse Cream crepe de chine, lace
Canisteo, N.Y.
Mrs. Allison White net over yellow silk en traine, diamonds
Nunda, N.Y.
Miss Squires White Persian lawn, Valencia lace
Ossian, N.Y.
Mrs. Homer Blank Brown peau de soie, elaborate embroidery of brown and gold
After 1947 the building was used as a chair factory until in 1956 the Gunlocke Corporation transferred this facility to Almond. The Opera
House was torn down in 1967, victim of the momentous changes of the last three decades.
In the 1920’s there was an amusement park at the Old Mills where people frequented the merry-go-round, ferris wheel, games and concession
stands. Ox roasts and dances were also held there.
Early in this century the ball park and grandstand were located on S. Church St. between Bennett St. and the tracks. Then on July 4, 1925
the new park and recreation center opened at the west end of Bennett St. Residents of the village and the township turned out to inaugurate the new facility in grand style. In the
morning there was a parade of “cleverly decorated autos.” To start the afternoon events there were various races: separate “potato races” for girls and men, and three-legged races
again for two different sexes. Other events were the boy’s sack race, a ladies backward race, a girl’s hopping race, and walking race for girls, and a tug-of-war for the boys.
Local talent assisted the Hornell Band in the concert preceding the ball game. The game was limited to five innings due to wet grounds and
Canaseraga skunked Dansville 9 to 0.
Over 200 “machines” were counted on the grounds during the evening. While people strolled thought the midway concessions, the Hornell Band
gave another concert. A fireworks display capped the day’s activities.
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PARK PAVILION. 1976 Photo by Gordon E. Willitt
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KINGSTON OPERA HOUSE at the time of the memorial service for President
William McKinley, assassinated in Buffalo on September 6, 1901.
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KINGSTON OPERA HOUSE on N. Church St. about 1905. The Hotel Kingston is out of the picture at right.
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HOTEL KINGSTON with porticos. The Opera House is at the extreme left on N. Church St. and a hardware, now the Serusa Barbershop, is at right. Photo
taken about 1905.
ESSENTIAL CLUB FREE LIBRARY
“Messrs. Sutfin & Miller, the popular druggists, have recently introduced a new feature into their store – that of a circulating library.”
This 1872 news item is the earliest known reference to a public library in Canaseraga. It was a commercial venture, not a free service, for the paper added: “They thus furnish
excellent reading at a trifling expense.”
How successful this was we do not know, either as a source of income for the drugstore proprietors or as a stimulus to book reading in the
community. But perhaps it helped to focus attention on the need for a free lending library. At any rate, some two years later the forerunner of the current library organization was
formed, when interested citizens convened in D.H. Holiday’s law office in June 1874. The Times reported that “the support of our best citizens” was pledged to the new organization
which is “sure to be a success”. The library opened in the Union Block where, as the Times said, “books and periodicals may be had in abundance.”
In early December that year the newly-formed Canaseraga Library Association sponsored “a grand dance” that was “largely attended”. It was
the first in a proposed annual series. We may suppose the purpose was to raise funds for the new facility. The day before Christmas 1874 the Times published the titles of 105 books
on the shelves. The paper suggested that as Christmas gifts people might well give Library Association membership tickets costing $2.00 each and valid for one year. A few days later
over 100 new volumes were place don the shelves and it was reported another shipment of books was expected shortly.
By 1875 the Association had expanded its annual social event into an “oyster supper and ball” held that year at Union Hall. Sedgwick’s “full
band” provided the music.
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It appears the money raised by membership fees and social affairs was insufficient to maintain the library on the scale desired. At any
rate, additional funds were raised by the sale of certificates of stock in the Library Association. Mrs. Richard Harvey, now resident in Canaseraga, has one of these, made out to W.H.
Barnum then a prominent citizen of the village. The last we know of that particular organization is a news item of 1876 noting that Rev. Stephen Battin had given an evening of
readings for the “Students Library Society”. This event at the Union Hall lending library was poorly attended.
There is from that date a 20-year interval before we hear once more of the public library. In the meantime, of course, Canaseraga had
sustained the devastating fire of 1895. If at that time the library was still located in the Union Block it is almost certain the books were lost.
The vigor and spirit with which the people undertook reconstruction of their businesses, homes and community activities is indicated in the
fact plans for a new circulating library were underway two years after the fire. In 1897 several ladies formed a “literary club” known as the Essential Club. The exchanged magazines
and books, read book reviews, debated current events, and reviewed and discussed poetry and literature. It is useful to note that in 1897 the ladies debated the subject “Women Equal
to Men in a Profession,” a topic of considerable interest today.
This ladies group was the nucleus of the circulating library established a few months later on the second floor of the Town Hall on N. Church
St. In 1900 the group adopted a Constitution and By-Laws and chose its first Board of Trustees. They were: Agnes E. Scott, president; Katherine Deysher, secretary; Emma Pratt,
treasurer; and Helen Barnum and Bertha Craig, members.
At first members of the Essential Club took turns each month as librarian, Mrs. Deysher later becoming the first person to serve full time in
that capacity. She was followed by Miss Emma Scott, Miss Agnes Scott in 1911, and Mrs. Hearne in 1917. Her successors were Mrs. Hough and then Aelfreda Gottschall. Starting in 1934
Miss Charlotte Craig was the librarian for the next 26 years. After her resignation in 1960, the successors were: Mrs. Helen Merriman, Mrs. Shirley Engle, and Mrs. Helen Boyd who
served from 1963 until her death in 1971. Mrs. Marian Wilson replaced her and is the incumbent today.
The library was given a provisional charter by the University of the State of new York in 1900 and received its permanent charter six years later. Expenses were met then, as they are now, by annual grants from the Town of Burns,
the Village of Canaseraga and the State, and by donations.
In 1947 the library was moved to Pratt St., into the first floor of the home previously owned by Mrs. Deysher, an original member of the Essential Club
founded 50 years earlier.
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LIBRARY ON PRATT ST. 1976 Photo by Gordon E. Willitt
The current facility has a children’s room, reference, young adult, general adult, and work rooms. As of early 1976 the library holdings
were as follows:
Adult fiction 3256
Adult non-fiction 1826
Junior fiction 2054
Junior non-fiction 646
Total 7782
Since 1958 the library has been a member of the Southern Tier Library System (STLS). Books may be borrowed from municipal libraries within
the region, and as a last resort from Albany, and charged out at the Pratt St. facility. Membership in the STLS has enormously expanded the range of titles available to patrons of the
Essential Club Free Library. 1975’s total circulation was 13,224.
For the past several years the Library Association has sponsored, and Mrs. Wilson organized, a series of cultural and social events.
Programs have included: travel talks; demonstrations in making terrariums and preserving foods; local history; senior citizens’ teas; children’s story hours and puppet shows.
In her will, Miss Charlotte Craig who served longest as librarian left a sizable financial gift to the Essential Club Free Library. The
income from this bequest, together with financial contributions from other individuals, makes it possible for the library to continue services to the community.
WORLD WAR I
Canaseraga and the Town of Burns have contributed generously, and in terms of their dead beyond the call of duty, in the wars of the
twentieth century. In World War I some 100 men and women from the township and nearby areas either served in the armed forces, come in the battle theater in
France, or offered their services to the flag. A few of them still reside in Canaseraga and the township.
And the home front was active as well. Six weeks after the United Stated declared war on Germany preparations were underway in the village
for the creation of a Red Cross committee in support of the war effort. On June 2, 1917 a ladies group unanimously elected Mrs. Deysher Chairman and Mrs. S.J. Craig Vice-chairman of
the new branch of the Hornell Chapter of the Red Cross. Three-hour work sessions were planned on a weekly basis and many women did extra work at home between group efforts. At the
close of the work session on July 12, with 30 members present, the inventory of production to date showed 367 items completed: pillows, bandages, compresses, towels, wash cloths,
handkerchiefs, etc. Later hat month a lawn social at he James Craig residence collected $89 in support of the voluntary work. At one point the committee counted 184 charter members,
many of them from Garwoods, Swain, Burns Station, R.D. Arkport and Birdsall. Work continued through November 9, 1919
A year previous the “town went wild with enthusiasm”, as the “Canaseraga Times” characterized it, when news came of the signing of the
Armistice on November 11 at Compeigne. “All business was suspended” and “a big victory parade was held in which nearly every person in town participated.” The “streets were decorated
(and) Old Glory was thrown to the breeze everywhere.” A bonfire was lighted near Harry Scott’s residence and Mr. Scott have a short address. “The Erie Band played and everyone
rejoiced hilariously.” With the Kaiser hung in effigy and later burned, the “Times” summed it up: “It seemed as though all were vying with one another to make the most noise.”
This list of persons from the Town of Burns and the surrounding area who served in, or offered their services to, the armed forces in World War I is
probably not complete. We regret any errors or omissions there may be.
Ackley, Guy
Ames, Ira
Baley, Carl
Baley, Fred
Baley, Robert
Bird, Carl E.
Bird, Elmre
Bird, George R.
Blowers,Omar
Bluestone, Harold
Boyd, John
Boylan, Homer R.
Bush, Charles H.
Burke, Eugene
Carpenter, Clayton
Casey, Joe
Collins, William
Coombs, Frank
Coombs, Philip
Deiter, Clark
Dodge, Leigh
Dresser, Ralph
Falco, Giatano
Fenton, Clyde
Flint, Carlisle H.
French, John
French, William
Garwood, Claude
Garwood, Robert
Garwood, William
Glover, Harry
Glover, W. Laverne
Goho, Clifford
Goho, Wesley
Haight, Seth
Harvey, Walter
Havens, Melvin
Heiman, Caroline
Kane, Arthur
Keough, Mary F.
Manning, Francis
Manning, George
Mapes, Jay
Mattice, Claude
Mayhew, Dr. R.H.
Maynard, Peter
McMahon, John
McMullin, Harley
McTarnaghan, Charles
McTarnaghan, Thomas
Mirando, Luigui
Page, Seneca A.
Partridge, Paul
Peabody, Allen
Peabody, Charles
Popple, Frank
Price, Sylvester
Prior, dett L.
Rawleigh, Samuel
Redmond,Lamont
Robinson, Walter
Rowe, J. Gordon
Rowley, Merle
Scheffield, Harold
Schwan, Dr. Carl
Scott, Andrew
Scott, Edwin
Scott, Graham
Scott, Hugh
Scott, Robert
Scott, Winfield
Seager, Morris
Seager, Philip
Searles, Wallace
Shay, Doris
Smith,Burton
Snyder, Julian
Taylor, Ernest
Thomas, Lester
Tuchler, Jack
Valentine, Charles
VanScoter, Harry
Venard, James
Warren, Atis
Wentworth, Warren
Wentworth, William
Wheaton, Leclair
Wheeler, Clifford
Whitney, Stanley
Withey, George
Woolworth, Ralph
Yentzer, George
Young, Clifford V.
Youngs, George
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