Unitarian Universalist Church in Cortland
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Cortland County has four cobblestone structures, two of which are on the National Register of Historic Places. Best known of these is the Universalist Church at 3 Church St., Cortland, built in 1837 and placed on the National Register in 1992. The church is reputed to have been a link in the Underground Railroad during the Civil War.
The church was officially organized in 1835. The stones for this, the oldest church building in Cortland County, primarily came from the properties of church members. It has cobblestone walls and granite quoins. Interestingly, the then village of Cortlandville contributed $100 towards its construction so it could use the basement to conduct business. It did so for 45 years.
Many famous people lectured here including Ralph Waldo Emerson, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Thomas Starr King, William Lloyd Garrison, Theodore Parker, Henry Ward Beecher, Wendell Phillips, Lucretia Mott and Clara Barton. It is one of only 21 surviving cobblestone churches in New York State.
In 1895, a large arch was cut in the east cobblestone wall and a Morey and Barnes organ was set in the arch. It is only one of two such historic organs in existence. It is nationally recognized by the American Organ Historical Society for its superb sound quality and nearly original condition.
Due to deterioration the bell tower or belfry, as well as the bell itself, were removed in 2016.
View showing detail of south wall of church.
Cortland Democrat
By Frank Place
Cobblestone Church in Cortland in 1900
Church in 1900
The Old Cobblestone School in Cortland
(1844-1893)
Cortland Democrat
March 16, 1956
The Cobblestone Church
By Frank Place
Have you ever looked closely at the Cobblestone Church, just as an example of the builder's art? Even to a layman (here meaning one who is neither builder nor architect) there are interesting points to be seen.
Examination of the stonework shows more than just mason-work. Design appears even in the laying of the cobbles, where one finds a row of flat cobbles set 45 degrees to the left of the vertical. Then, too, the occurrence of these herringbone strips is regular for some distance up the wall; then come bands of several courses of herringbone pattern.
Cobblestone Church in Cortland in 1900
The corners show architectural care in the laying the shale quoins, locking into the wall to the right and left alternately. The water-table is also of stone, also shale, though as all these have been painted over the kind of stone is uncertain. On each side of the door appears in the middle of the space a large diamond-shaped arrangement of flat cobbles, these set parallel to each other in each segment of the diamond.
The fact that the porch was an afterthought. Another point in the same class is that inside the porch over the double door there is an inscription that usually escapes the visitor's attention. On the long lintel one can read with difficulty these words:"Holiness to the Lord, Good Will to All Mankind," and below that a second line: "Universalist Church Erected 1837."
Grip's Historical Souvenir of Cortland (1899) quotes the building committee report that was appointed "to fix upon the size of the house, form and materials of which shall be built, the plan of raising money and the site where it shall stand." The committee reported "that the meeting house be built on the lot offered by Calvin Bishop. That the size of the house be 60 by 44. That the walls be of cobblestone and such other materials as are necessary for the purpose..." Also it agreed "on a level floor, a gallery on three sides, west, north and south, two tiers of windows and a desk in the east end of the house." Construction took place in the same year. The result is a building that belongs in the classical Greek Revival of which the old New England churches are representatives. The church certainly outclasses all others on the street.
Having this in view every day I began to speculate on the dimensions. It looks as if the width on Church Street was equal to the depth of Elm. I took measurements with a surveyor's tape to show me that it was substantially as planned.
The addition of the porch and the transformation of the interior took place in 1889 (as I gather from news items). Other people remember the gallery and plain bench-pews; whether the present interior is an improvement is a question. No doubt the hall is more easily heated in its present vaulting, but it is something of a shock to get the impression of a theater from the rows of chairs. The two rows of windows are still there as intended but the upper row is now a blind, or blinds.
The Romanesque archway of the porch was never in the mind of the original architect. The church bell was formerly in the belfry of the old Presbyterian church which was a fair companion of this church building, though of wooden construction. This bell has the highest pitch of the four that we sometimes hear ringing in sequence.
While speaking of cobbles we find almost no similar buildings in this area. The Randall farm-house off South Main Street and the cooperage-vinegar factory, Homer, are the only ones now extant, as far as I know. The old Cobblestone School, across the street from this church, was of simpler design and construction, but of the same date. The shale, or stratified stones of the quoins, is to be found in any quarry hereabouts. The cobbles are the result of the glacier that deposited them here thousands of years ago.
The Old Cobblestone School in Cortland
(1844-1893)
The District No. 9 two-room cobblestone school at 4 Church Street in Cortland was erected in 1844. It remained in use until 1893 and demolished shortly thereafter to make way for the new home of A.S. Burgess.
Cortland Standard
July 26, 1927
The Old Cobblestone School
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It’s History and Some Teachers, From
Essay Written 34 Years Ago
Having had several inquiries concerning the old Cobblestone school, and believing it to be of interest to many, the following is reprinted from the Standard of Oct. 25, 1895, being an essay written by John Tuthill, Jr., and read at the farewell exercises held on April 14, 1893, just before the school moved into the new Central building.
A day or two ago the Standard had occasion to look up the date, for the Industrial Edition, of the erection of the well-known old Cobblestone Schoolhouse that stood so long on Church street., and which was torn down in April, 1893 to make room for the handsome residence built that season by Mr. A.S.Burgess, who had purchased the lot.
Remembering that at the farewell exercises in the old schoolhouse held on April 14, 1893, just before the school moved into the new Central building, Mr, John Tuthill, Jr. of 23 Duane St., gave a history of the school accurately compiled from reliable statistics, we borrowed the essay to secure the date of its erection, which proved to be 1844. The essay as a whole is so excellent it gives so good an idea of the earlier education facilities of Cortland and record of the teachers in this particular school that we take the liberty of publishing it entire without even asking the writer’s permission. It is as follows:
In 1844, Cortland was a village of about 1,000 inhabitants, and although smaller than Homer, which was her rival at that time, she claimed and held some note for her schools until the year 1840.
At this time Homer Academy, with its representatives from nearly every state in the Union, came to the front, and took the head among the academies of the middle states. Attendance became somewhat limited in 1849, due to a bill passed at that time for the endowment of public schools.
What might be considered as the pioneer school of Cortland was built near the site now occupied by the Messenger House. After this, no schools of any importance were erected until 1828. In April of that year the Cortland village seminary for young ladies was incorporated with Miss Jane Ingersol of Springfield, Mass., as preceptress, assisted by Mrs. Brewster, Miss McDonald and Miss Dutton. By paying the sum of $10 any one could become a member, and could vote for trustees. This event was soon followed by the founding of a school for young men.
The Cobblestone School next came into existence, in 1844, and was considered one of the best schools in Cortland, until out-rivaled by the Normal School. This lot upon which it stands was bought of Mr. Mead Merrill and Messrs. George Stile, J.J. Adams and James S. Leach, who were the trustees of District Number Nine.
The contract was given to Col. Johial Taylor, who let the mason work to Royal Gilbert for a sum not sufficiently great to pay his expenses. The benches were made of pine, and were arranged around the room with a narrow board for a seat. When reciting the pupils’ backs were turned to the desk, but when ready to study, the pupil would rise, and step over the seat, which act was often attended by some little unpleasantness.
In the second part which is a wooden structure and which was erected some few years after the stone portion, the seats which would accommodate two at a desk, were placed in four rows. If those desks could now be brought to light, what stories they might tell through their carvings and rude decorations.
Could not some clever mind discover a new science, by comparing these carvings with the lives of the persons who had gone from school life into: “The world’s broad field of battle, and out of life’s hard school into that of the unknown.”
Could not their characters be traced from these rude works of mischief and recreation? Would not these characters show that while the pupils were carving out the present, they were also with the help of another hand still more powerful, chiseling out their destiny in the unknown future?
In the index of a man’s life and works, is not the influence exercised over him in school one of the greatest marks in his character and destiny? The truth of this assertion has been proved by those who have become great men, and still speak of lessons learned in school.
The Cobblestone schoolhouse appears to have first been built to accommodate the younger pupils in the district, who did not attend school at this academy. Before the building was finished school was being held in the basement of the Universalist church with Miss Annice Austin as teacher. An when the Cobblestone School was completed the pupils proudly marched in double file from the church to take possession. Then again, when the Normal School was incorporated and completed in 1869, the pupils, perhaps with envy, joined in celebrating the opening of their rival by parading with the other schools.
The old academy was now abandoned and those parts of its appliances and necessaries that were not well enough pressured to be used in the Normal School were sold to the other schools.
Mr. Isaac Seaman, then trustee, bought the old seats for the Cobblestone School. These, having framework of iron, were the first patent ones used. Three years ago when the higher grades from the ward schools were consolidated in this building, single desks were provided, whose style was quite in contrast with other fixtures not so modern.
If the walls could speak what tales they would tell; of the events of local importance, of the affairs of moment and nation, of the growth of the town - its evil and its good, of the doings of its teachers and scholars, of the battles fought by the. With self and temptation, and of how former pupils praise and revere the lessons early taught to them, within these walls.
The last event of any importance which the Cobblestone School has witnessed, and in which its pupils participated, occurred on October 21, 1892, on the occasion of the 400th anniversary of the discovery of America. The rooms in the school, due to the ingenuity of the feminine division were beautifully decorated with evergreen, flags and bunting.
In this celebration the old age of the Cobblestone School was respected, and its representatives were given the lead in the lines of march. Among the many teachers who have distinguished themselves in connection with the institution may be found the names of Misses Ella, Mary and Abbey Palmer, Miss Cora Viele, wife of Dr. Goodyear; Mrs. M.A. Rice, Miss Elizabeth Hubbard and Miss Caroline Palmer, now Mrs. Fairchild of this place.
Mrs. Fairchild tells us that she taught for a number of terms in about the year 1854 and ’55. Many pupils and no assistant; and that she taught nearly 48 weeks in the year including every other Saturday.
Other names familiar to many are those of Dr. James W. Hughes, the Misses Melvina Todd. Corinthia Kelsey, Eliza Austin, May Knapp and Florence E. Bennett, now the wife of Dr. H.A. Cordo.
Since the Central school has been in progress the property on which the Cobblestone School stands, has been sold to Mr. A.S. Burgess. This action will be regretted by many, as the building will probably be destroyed, and thus the only monument of the pioneer schools of Cortland will cease to exist.
But even though it will be demolished, its fame and existence will long remain in the memory of the teachers and pupils both of the past and present. This structure, when erected, was considered a fine one for those days - but as others of greater beauty sprang up about it, it became the object of jeers and sneers from the passerby:
Smile if it please you, at old fashioned ways.
The lessons we learned have served not to tell
We’ve a smile, and a tear for old-time days.
And the dear old schoolhouse, we loved so well.
When lessons and life are over at last,
May the roll call find us conscience clear,
And the Master, smile a loving ‘Well done!’
As low at His feet we answer
‘Here’!
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Randall Farm at 3713 Page Green Road, a 12-acre property was placed on the National Register in 2000. It consists of an early 19th century cobblestone farmhouse and old farm buildings. The dormers, two-story porch with porticos and other additions were made about 1920.
The farm was established in the 1820s by William Randall who came here from Stonington, Conn. At that time Cortland was just a small village. He created a distillery and ashery as well as the farm. He established the Randall Bank and was involved in numerous business ventures.
One of the Randall children, William Randolph Randall, resided in the cobblestone house until inheriting his father's grander house on Main Street in 1859, He also became president of his father's bank. The farm was then operated by the Cole family. William Bell inherited the farm upon Randall's death in 1901. It was then sold in 1912.
It was purchased by Miles J. Peck in 1919 who initiated numerous improvements. These included a mission-style playhouse for his children. Since 1951 it has been owned by the Little family.
The house is of the Federal style of architecture with a center hall plan and a distinctive raised basement story. Each quoin brackets three to four courses of cobbles, generally corresponding with has has been identified as the Early Period in cobblestone architecture in New York State.
Although several windows were updated at the end of the 19th century with two-over-two light sash units, many twelve-over-twelve and eight-over-eight sash windows remain. Original interior features include the center hall plan, period door and window casings, a cooking fireplace and oven in the basement, and early cabinetry in the pantry.
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Harmony Grange Hall
Harmony Grange No. 272 at 3337 Kellogg Road was built over an old cobblestone school house in 1895 purchased from Wayland and Jennie Spencer for $275. The school had been abandoned for some time. The new Grange hall was dedicated on Oct. 30, 1903. The new portion was built over the top of the school house and extended to the north. Harmony Grange was discontinued in 2008. The building has since been sold. This was the oldest Grange organization in Cortland County, having been formed in 1876.
Harmony Grange as it appeared in the 1950s.
Harmony Grange Hall today. The cobblestone portion
which was the old school is clearly visible.
The Blodgett Mills cobblestone school house as it
appeared when it was still in use.
Abandoned for years, the Harmony Grange Hall
in Blodgett Mills is falling apart.
The first floor of this house at 3121 Clute Road, near Blodgett's
Mills, is constructed of multi-colored field cobblestones. In
earlier times it was known as the Takaph House.
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Cobblestone House Once Stood in Harford
The old Heaton House in the early 1900s
Harford Town Historian
As it Appeared in 1930
By 1972 it was long abandoned.
Detail of window frame
Detail of side wall
Old Dutch oven in basement
Prior to being sold to Cornell University this house and farm were owned by the
Cottrell family and was used as a tenant house . It was demolished in 1973.
Photos courtesy of Cortland County
Historical Society
In 1973, one of the few cobblestone houses in Cortland County fell victim of Cornell University’s plans to establish a massive farm operation in the Town of Harford. It had been neglected for years and didn’t fit into the scheme of things. Built by Nathan Heaton, an early pioneer, it was located at 565 Daisy Hollow Road.
The house, a few miles south of Dryden, was on land purchased by Cornell University for development of its farms. The house had been unoccupied for years, and had fell into a state of disrepair before the sale. It had been ravaged by vandalism. With windows broken and doors left open, snow, wind and rain accelerated deterioration.
One of only five cobblestone structures in Cortland County, it was built by pioneer Nathan Heaton between the time he moved to Daisy Hollow in 1824 and the year he died, 1841. He is buried in Harford Cemetery.
These and other facts were the result of research done by Mary Louise Dexter of Cortland. She discovered an 1855 map showing the house as the only cobblestone structure in Harford as the property of Edward Mulks.
Mulks purchased it from James Hart Heaton, son of Nathan, in 1853. He paid $4,000 for 103 acres with buildings and appurtenances.
In the fall of 1970, Larry Doe of Dryden, a Cornell University employee, became curious about the old house. He took photographs and made a limited inquiry without learning much background. He then contacted historian Barbara Bell, a reporter at the Ithaca Journal, for ideas. It took only a brief checking to determine no written history of the house existed.
Starting with the former owner, retired farmer Clyde Cotterill of Dryden, with the assistance of others, Bell compiled names of former owners and old-timers who might know something about the house. Also contacted was Ray Rockefeller of Dryden, an a local historian, and other older local residents. area.
Bell said, "We checked libraries and made telephone calls to 30 or more persons We wrote to many people and visited some, and with Rockefeller we visited the house itself.
"We were able to trace direct ownership back for 80 years or so and collected a number of comments from the memories of former residents of Daisy Hollow. But it wasn’t until Miss Dexter delved back into the records that concrete information about the years before 1900. Miss Dexter first checked the 1855 census for Harford and found one, and only one, cobblestone structure listed - a house (No. 144) valued at $600 and owned by 35-year-old Edward Mulks meant a search of old deeds. Nowhere was the actual construction date recorded."
Nathan Heaton settled in Harford Mills in 1807 while it was still part of the Town of Virgil. He built the first grist mill there between 1814 and 1820. It was in use as long as he lived, and afterward was used as a shed for a newer mill, built by John C. Davis in 1841. In 1824, 1828 and 1829 Heaton purchased two parcels of land totaling 103 1/2 acres in Lots 71 and 72, on both sides of what is now Daisy Hollow Roa. The first purchase included the parcel where the cobblestone house was built. Heaton married Susan Luana Hart. Their first child was James Hart Heaton, born about 1818. They also had three daughters, Caroline, Luana and Adaline.
Public-spirited, Heaton was on a three-member committee appointed to purchase land and erect a building for the Union Church of Virgil Flats. He was elected a New York State Assemblyman in 1840, but died while still in office, on April 19, 1841. He left no will and in June, 1841, his widow relinquished her right to the estate to her son, James, and a neighbor, Daniel Phillips.
Heaton’s home, though unusual in this area for choice of materials, greatly interested architectural historians. There were some rows of stones laid in herringbone pattern and at least two rows of elongated cobbles in one side wall between the first and second stories. The cobblestones obviously were not sorted and used by size as photos show large, medium and small ones mixed throughout.
Before the cobblestone house was sold to Cornell University it belonged to and was occupied by Harry Robinson. Before that in order owners were Austin Gilbert, Albert Richardson, a man named Howe whose daughter was Mrs. Henry Patch of the Harford area; Clarence Conrad, Luther Holden and his father, Ben Holden. Mrs. Herbert Tyler of West Brookfield, Mass., wrote that she lived in the house from 1929 to 1932 and papered and painted every room. She was a member of the Richardson family.
Mrs. Leland Burch of Dryden said she often visited the Holdens at the cobblestone house. Her father was born and raised nearby and was a friend of the tenants of that day. Mrs. Holden always had big red geraniums flowering on the broad windowsills, Mrs. Burch recalled. Luther Holden was all, well-built and pleasant, “probably 45 or 50 years old.”
It was unlikely the house would be restored. The natural wear of the ages, hurried by vandalism and open to the weather, made it impractical. It was just standing in the way of progress. But Mary Dexter termed it “a unique legacy from the past.”
(This story was compiled from several sources including one by Barbara Bell published in the Ithaca Journal on April 17, 1971 entitled A Cobblestone Landmark ; a historical paper tracing the history of the house by Mary Dexter for the Cortland County Historical Society; Harford Cobblestone House is Rarity in Cortland County, Cortland Standard, April 8, 1971).
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The Homer Republican of August 26, 1915 reported that an “ old landmark was removed at Harford Mills by Mr. Hopkins. He bought the old cobblestone school house and used the stone in the road work. In years gone by the house was known as the 'Squire Johnson house.'”
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Many homes in Cortland and Homer have cobblestone
foundations, including this one at the Cortland County
Historical Society on Homer Avenue in Cortland.
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Historical Society on Homer Avenue in Cortland.
By Richard F. Palmer
Many homes in Cortland and Homer have cobblestone foundations, including the James Suggett House at 25 Homer Ave., home of the Cortland County Historical Society at 25 Homer Ave. They are all strikingly similar and reflect the work of stone mason Robert Dalton, who came from England about 1850.
Building cobblestone houses ended about 1860 when it became too expensive. But it continued to be a popular practice to build cellar walls with a cobblestone design for another 30 years. Most of them in Cortland are in the Second Ward. There are several on Grant and Union streets and Arthur and Lincoln avenues. The rest are spread throughout the city. With few exceptions, cobblestone foundations are of the same design Dalton employed when he did the masonry work on James Suggett’s house built in 1882. Dalton was Suggett’s brother-in-law. In 1887 he resided at 171 N. Main St., and in 1890 at 173 Homer Ave. Prior to his death he resided in McLean.
A visual survey made by the author found more than 40 houses with cobblestone-design foundation walls in Homer and 27 in Cortland - all similar to the Suggett House. But this does not imply Dalton built them all. It was a wide-spread technique popular in the latter days of the 19th century. For instance two such foundations are under the houses at 80 and 84 Main St. in the village of Owego. These houses were built in the 1890s.
Undoubtedly there are more, but many foundation walls have long since been stuccoed over. Particularly in Homer homeowners have placed small wooden plaques with arbitrary dates of construction on them - some as early as the 1840s; when in fact they were obviously built much later. None of these foundations pre-date the late 1860s.
These homes are of the Victorian or “Queen Anne” style popular during the last half of the 19th century. There are These include ten on Elm Avenue, six on Clinton Street, four on James Street, and several others throughout the village, as well as outside the village limits.
Interestingly, two foundations just like those in Cortland were recently discovered on houses at 80 and 84 Main Street in Owego.
The foundations also reflect the “piping” technique of construction in vogue at the time. The mortar was applied using a tool made from a piece of pipe cut lengthwise and bent slightly. Foundation stones were laid up using a plain gray mortar. Then a wide, flat, band of grayish-colored mortar was applied to highlight and accentuate the joints between the stones. The band was about an inch to an inch and a half wide. Centered on top of that is a raised half-round “piped” joint in the mortar, about half or 3/4 inches wide. It was a beautiful effect, but must have been very time-consuming to create.
Houses in the City of Cortland with Cobblestone Foundations
Compiled by Richard F. Palmer*
11, 17, 19 Arthur St.
25 Homer Ave. (“Suggett House,” home of Cortland County Historical Society)
118 North Main St.
136 North Main St.
15, 17, 26 Madison St.
15, 18, 23,25, 32, 40 Lincoln Ave.
12, 18, 19, 22 Grant St.
54 Grant St. (“traditional” cobblestone construction)
18 Washington St. (“traditional” cobblestone construction)
16, 26 North Greenbush St.
55 South Greenbush St.
42 North Church St.
28 Owego St.
15, 27, 30, 47, 51 Union St.
*This is a cursory visual field survey and does imply being a complete list. Also many old house foundations have been stuccoed over. It does not include houses ordinary stone foundations.
Sources:
Sources:
James Suggett and His “Handsome Dwelling” booklet by Leslie C. O’Malley and Bruce R. Buckley. Cortland County Historical Society, 1984.
Obituary of Robert Dalton, Cortland Standard, April 16, 1892. (He died on April 14, 1892)
Notes of Glenn Hinchey of Syracuse, N.Y. on cobblestone construction techniques.
Suggett family files at Cortland County Historical Society______
Cortland Standard, Friday, Nov. 14, 1958
Cobblestone Building, Area Landmark Since 1869, Razed
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HOMER - The old cobblestone building on the Merrill property on South Main Street was torn down this week by Gerald Contento and his men after having been condemned as unsafe by the Village Board of Trustees.
Built in 1869 as a wine and vinegar mill, in subsequent years, the two-story building has been used to store cabbage and reportedly, mushrooms have been raised in its deep cool cellar.
According to R. Curtis Harris who has done much research on the history of Homer, the building was used by the S.N. Clark Tub and Butter Firkin Company which at one time employed 20 men and in 1888, according to the Homer Republican, turned out 3,000 firkins, 10,000 tubs and 15,000 tobacco and candy pails.
It was badly damaged by fire in 1894 and a few months later was purchased by Mourin and Wolfe for cabbage storage. It was used to store cabbage until a short time ago.
Along with the old woolen mill on the corner of West and Clinton St. the vinegar mill, both landmarks in Homer for nearly 100 years, have now given way to progress and the interest of safety.
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Houses with cobblestone foundations in hamlet of Harford
367 Route 38
369 Route 38
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Houses with cobblestone foundations in hamlet of Harford
367 Route 38
369 Route 38
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