Historical records of a hundred and twenty years, Auburn, N. Y.

Preface

]HE pages of this volume, the writer beUeves, present a complete and reliable History of Auburn. Its completeness of detail, however, is due in great measure to the earnest and cordial aid rendered by many interested people of the city. The writer, therefore, wishes to express here his appreciation and thanks for this valuable help. Effort has been made to produce a faithful historical record of Auburn from 1793 to 1913. If it contains errors they will be found to be of such nature, it is believed, as not to effect the value of the work.

Auburn, N. F.,

September 10, WIS.

Table of Contents

Aurelius, Town of 27

Auburn Academy 40

Auburn Pub. Schools 43

Chapter I Osco Village And Hardenbergh Corners

JOWARD the close of the eighteenth century, when the western horizon of civiHzation dropped down across the middle of the Empire State and nearly all the vast stretch of territory lying west of this line was the domain of the Indian, Osco village was seated in undisputed sovereignty on the bank of the Owasco outlet, where the prison is now located and in the heart of the present city of Auburn. This village comprised a little huddle of bark huts which was the abiding place of a small band of the Cayuga tribe.

Osco village, it so happened, was situated midway between two great Indian capitals, that of the Onondagas on the east and the Senecas on the west. The Onondagas were the religionists, the orators, the diplomatists of the confederacy, while the Senecas were the warriors, distinguished for their astuteness and deeds of valor.

Here the Cayugas were wont to come and go, and here in this village, in the later years of the eighteenth century, a few of them dwelt in the inspiring shadow of the stately and picturesque Fort Hill, which rises to a height of more than one hundred feet, and richly clothed with sward and foliage.

To the Cayugas Fort Hill, or Osco, was hallowed ground. They had wet the soil with their blood when they wrested it from trespassers, the Alleghans, more than six hundred years ago. The Alleghans, a strong nation, came from the southwest in the latter part of the twelfth century, it is said, and by force of arms occupied this strategic point and they continued in possession until about 1310. The Alleghans, according to researchers in Indian history, constructed the forts, the ramparts and the various other fortifications which crowned the hill. They also established the sacrificial mound upon the apex of the hill where now stands the somber and impressive monument to the illustrious Logan, the tried and true friend of the white man.

About 1310, it is stated, the Iroquois forced the Alleghans to evacuate the village of Osco, or Fort AUeghan, as it was later known, and also to quit the country. From that time on until about the close of the War of the Revolution Osco on the hill was an imperial city and was occupied by the Cayugas, and the fortification served them through many turbulent conflicts with other nations. It was the dwelling place of the senators, the chieftains, and the sachems of the nation. It was the birth place, too, it is said, of Logan the orator, the diplomatist, the master spirit for universal peace.

Logan's father, Shekellimus, was one of the chieftains of the Cayuga nation and dwelt at Osco. About the year 1730 he, with his family, migrated from Osco and joined another wing of the Cayugas then living across the border in Pennsylvania. Logan, then a young man, accompanied the family to the new country and there through the influence of the Moravian missionaries and William Penn, the founder of the State of Pennsylvania, became a Christian and was widely celebrated for his labors in the cause of peace and the uplift of his people. Shekellimus, the father, died in 1749 and in 1774 the other members of Shekellimus family, together with Logan's family — for he had meantime married the daughter of a Cayuga senator — migrated to the Ohio valley, where they were all slain by the whites. This act of inhumanity and disregard of his steadfast friendship so shocked and roused Logan that he plunged into a war of retaliation and revenge. It was at the peace convention at the close of this bloody war that Logan delivered that masterpiece of oratory which ranks along with the memorable speech of President Lincoln at Gettysburg. The address closed with the following terse sentences: "Logan never felt fear. He will not turn on his heel to save his life. Who is there to mourn for Logan? Not one!"

The climax of the treachery and inhumanity of the whites came a little later when Logan himself, then an old man, was slain while on his way back to his native village, Osco. The rugged old native stone monument erected in 1852 and bearing the heartbroken cry "Who is there to mourn for Logan?" fittingly typifies the character of the man and commemorates the tragedy of his life.

The War of the Revolution had closed in 1783 and the poor Indian knew not its cause; nor did he comprehend that, as a result of its outcome, he was to be practically despoiled of his landed birthright. Untrained in values and units as they enter into the making of dollars he, at the convention of 1789 and later ones, for a petty sum, sold and treatied himself out of ownership and possession of nearly all the land comprising the western half of the State of New York.

The course of empire, following this event, was slowly making its way westward, the trail— the only means of land travel — being dotted at long intervals along the way by the cabins of the intrepid pioneers as they stopped to locate and establish homes. In 1780 there was scarcely a settler west of Schenectady; in 1785 there was not more than one cabin at Fort Schuyler, now Utica, and west of this point few white men, other than soldiers, had yet penetrated. By 1789 the State had got in possession of a vast domain and was parcelling out the land to speculators who in turn were selling it to pioneers and homekeepers. Some sections were set apart as military tracts, which were subdivided into lots of six hundred acres each. These lots were given to soldiers as compensation for their services in the War of the Revolution. But only a small part of these grants were ever occupied by the grantees. They were mostly sold to speculators. Each of these lots, as above stated, contained six hundred acres and so it is that Auburn occupies six of these military lots.

COL. JOHN LEONARD HARDENBERGH

Founder of Auburn.

By the year 1790 the trail had become a much traveled thoroughfare. It had been widened from time to time nostly by gratuitous labor in order to render easier the massage of the stream of homeseekers who were rapidly )ushing into the new country. It was 1793, however, )efore any permanent settlement was effected on the lite of Auburn. The objective point prior to this seemed ,0 have been still further west, therefore, several places n this direction had been established and gained sub- ;tantial headway before the first settler erected a cabin ipon the site of the present City Hall.

The land comprising the city of iVuburn was not an ittractive spot. It was shadowed everywhere with iense and almost impenetrable forest. Pools of water md quagmire abounded on everj^ hand, while the lorth section sloped off into a prolific cranberry narsh. Wh}^ the stakes for a future city should have )een set in such a section, except for one reason, is beionA the divining power of mortals, while the land lake- ^^ard afforded a site of almost unequalled attraction. But the keen pioneer plainly knew his ground and builded w^W. The swift flowing Owasco outlet with its many 'alls, cascades and the possibilities in water power appealed to the matured business instinct of Col. John Leonard Hardenbergh when he chose the lower land along the stream for the building of his village and town. Yet it is true that out of and on this unattractive and then unsanitary spot a handsome and attractive city has grown Lip.

It was 1793 when Col. Hardenbergh pushed his way into the dense forest and erected the first log cabin on the site of Auburn. He was not a stranger to the section, however, for among his many accomplishments Col. Hardenbergh was a surveyor. For several years he had been engaged with Simeon Dewitt, the Surveyor General, in the western part of the State in laying out and establishing townships. The township of Aurelius as first established and in which Auburn was founded, covered a vast area of territory. It was ten miles square and included besides Auburn the present towns of Fleming, Owasco, Sennett and Throop. It was a military township, and as previously stated, after being subdivided into lots of six hundred acres each, passed to those who had served in the Revolutionary War.

Col. Hardenbergh served with distinction in the war; was commissioned as a captain and was with Gen. Sullivan in the memorable raid on the Indians in the Genesee country in 1779. Soon after the close of the war he resumed his professional work for the government, when the title to the land had passed to the State. He had himself surveyed the land, six hundred acres, which he afterward selected for the founding of his village and city. This lot had been sold by the grantee to Martin and Josiah Ogden Hoffman, of New York, from whom Col. Hardenbergh purchased it for one hundred and eighty pounds.

COL. JOHN L. HARDENBERGH

Col. Hardenbergh was of Holland Dutch descent and it is said, that some of his ancestors were distinguished in statesmanship and military affairs in their country. The Colonel, however, was a native of Rosendale, Ulster County, N. Y., where he was born in 1746. He was therefore, 47 years of age when he cast his lot on the bank of the Owasco outlet and founded the town which no doubt has grown into a city far beyond his rashest dream. Col. Hardenbergh possessed the qualities of a useful pioneer; he was constructive, upbuilding, courageous and honest.

It was in the early part of the summer 1793 that Col. Hardenbergh, accompanied by Harry and Kate Freeman, two colored slaves, followed the trail into the forest and began the erection of the first log cabin in the proposed village. He had for neighbors the little colony of Indians then living at Owasco village, a few rods down the river. At this village there was a crossing, it is said, constructed of stones covered with bark, being the only place from the lake to the mouth of the river where dry passage across was possible. He was now in a new country and in the midst of a dense forest, with no roof to shelter him at night except the great canopy overhead. So he, with his two colored slaves, for several nights slept upon the most hospitable ground available, the chief concern being to select a dry spot. Col. Hardenbergh is said to have been a man of large stature and robust physique, possessing in addition a dominant spirit of progress and an ambition to build and achieve. An immediate move was made for the building of a log cabin. This was located on ground at the rear of the present City Hall. There happened to be a settler near Owasco lake, Gilbert

Goodrich, who was at once employed to build the log house, while Col. Hardenbergh and his colored companions set about clearing the grounds and felling treeS; in order to get warmth and sunlight. The typical pioneer's house was soon erected and the scanty, rude furnishings placed therein. There was no stove, na means of cooking, except a "mock" fireplace crudely constructed with no chimney, merely a "smokehole" through the roof for the passage of the smoke. But the building of this first log cabin signalized the founding of a city in a country where the smoke from the chimney of a white man's home had never ascended.

According to the most authentic information Col. John L. Hardenbergh was still a bachelor, although 47 years of age. In consideration of his services for the Government in the War of the Revolution, he had been granted land in what is now Onondaga county. This he sold in order to secure lot No. 47 along the OwascQ outlet which, when surveying it a short time before, seemed to suggest to him the possibilities of great achievement. Col. Hardenbergh's cabin from this time on was the haven for new arrivals and travelers along the trail. The main ancient trail from the east to the west passed near the foot of Owasco lake, thence down the outlet intersecting Genesee street at the head of the present North street. Trails ran from the lake on both sides of the outlet, however, and continued on northward beyond the settlement to Montezuma.

The banks of the Owasco outlet, apparently at some ancient time were the scene of a battle, or perhaps many

THE OLD ELEAZER HUNTER TAVERN Erected 1798, East Genesee Street.

of them, for the Indian spoke of it as the "place where men were killed." The battle ground in early Indian wars in the immediate vicinity was not alone at Osco village, now Fort Hill; it probably was too strongly fortified for successful attack. But the Indians were not unfriendly to the white men. The few that were still present fished and hunted as was their custom and sought as much as possible to live on terms of amity with the new race. Drink, of which they knew nothing before the country of the "civilized" whites, aggravated their misery, and robbed them of their long standing virtue of sobriety.

So soon as the log cabin was completed and put in livable condition, Col. Hardenbergh set about the work of utilizing the water power of the outlet. Some means of grinding corn, other than by the usual poineer's springpole and hollo wed-out stump, was the urgent need. For this work he engaged the services of Thomas Morley, another settler in the lake region, and they together built a log dam across the outlet. This finally completed, he contracted with Eldad Steel and Captain Edward Wheeler for the building of a "gig" mill near the new dam, the mill to have one run of stone, with the capacity of twelve bushels of corn a day. This mill was on the site of the present Lewis and Brister mill on Genesee street east of the outlet.

The gig mill served the community until 1802, doing a prosperous business as the number of settlers in the village and the outlying sections increased from year to year. But by the year above named the capacity of the little mill became inadequate and so a new frame mill was erected which trebled the grinding capacity, and the year following it was still further increased to a mill of the capacity of one hundred and thirty bushels a day. About 1824 a stone mill was erected on the site and is still in operation. But the original mill was the only one of the kind then within a radius of many miles. The Hardenbergh mill, in consequence, was very much of a focal point for various members of the pioneer families dwelling in and around the young village.

It was not unusual in those early days that the taking of the grist to the mill was delegated to some female member of the pioneer household. Among the early settlers along Owasco lake was a family by the name of Brinkerhof. There was in this family a daughter, Martina, a handsome young woman, it is said, with many estimable qualities. It often fell to her to go to the mill. There being then no defined highway, she, like others, went on horseback, carrying the grist beside her on the horse's back. It was quite the custom, too, to wait at the mill for the grist, so it was that while the Brinkerhof! grist was rattling through the hopper the Colonel courted the fair Martina. Thus it came about that they were married in 1796. Col. Hardenbergh was then 50, and his bride 23. In 1798 their son, John H. Hardenbergh was born, and in 1800 there was born to them a daughter, Maria. Soon after his marriage Mr. Hardenbergh erected a frame dwelling on the site of his log cabin. This new home afforded all the comforts found in a pioneer home. The settlement had already become known as

M O

Hardenbergh Corners and so continued until the year of 1905. Meanwhile, the clearing away of the forest* especially in the lower section, was pushed along^ith great vigor, thus admitting the air and sunlight upon an otherwise unhealthy and uninviting section of the settlement. By the year 1796 other mills other than the Hardenbergh grist mill were locating along the stream for the making of various commodities. Col. Hardenbergh controlled nearly all the water privileges along the Outlet. These developed into a valuable property during the succeeding year.

The section around the lake had a colony of settlers that was contemporary with the settlement of Col. Hardenbergh in Aurelius. Among them were RoeliflP, Jacob and Luke Brinkerhoff, Charles and James Vantyne, Philip O'Brien, Thomas and Abraham Johnson, and Albert Demaree, and soon thereafter David, Isaac and John Parsell joined that settlement. This colony of settlers came mostly from Pennsylvania and established a thrifty and prosperous community composed of excellent citizens.

Col. Hardenbergh was joined in 1793 by Solomon Tibbies and Jacob Van Dorn, both having been soldiers in the War of the Revolution. About this time also Rev. David Irish, a Baptist minister, cast his lot at the Corners. Rev. Mr. Irish, it is said, in 1794, preached the first sermon ever delivered in Cayuga county. During the first two years the additions to the Hardenbergh settlement were not especially noteworthy. But the year 1795 witnessed a considerable influx of settlers who became valuable citizens. They were Major Noah Olmsted, Gideon Tyler, and his family, and James O'Brien. The latter erected a log house directly on the site of the present City Hall and soon thereafter opened a general store. This year also marked the arrival of the first physicians at the Corners, namely, Dr. Samuel Crossett and Dr. Ellis. The following year, 1796, Samuel Bristol located at the Corners. He had the honor of opening the first hotel, a very modest log cabin, certainly with no deluxe apartments. A part of this log building was a store also, probably the first store to start business in the community. This tavern and store built in 1796 was located at the corner of Genesee and North streets. Bristol ran the hotel and store for several years; finally sold to John Treat.

So the Corners was now gradually taking on the air of a village. The year 1797 and 1798 brought to the village a number of citizens who became notable factors in the making and building of Auburn. These were Dr. Hackaliah Burt, John Treat, above mentioned. Major Walter G. Nichalas, Nehemiah Smith, Daniel Hyde, and William Bostwick. Mr. Bostwick bought for $750.00 one hundred acres of Lot 46 which, as developments progressed brought it in the heart of the business section of the village and city. It lay along the present Genesee street, extending from South and North streets westward a considerable distance beyond St. Peters church. It early became a valuable property as the village grew and business institutions of various kinds were established along the street.

WILLIAM BOSTWICK

Mr. Bostwick was a valuable type of citizen for Auburn in its early formative period. He was strong as to character, progressive, public spirited and had a keen business instinct. Mr. Bostwick was a New Englander by birth. He was born at Stamford, Conn., Nov. 25, 1765. Some years before settling in Auburn he made his way westward as far as Whitestown, Oneida county, but the country farther west attracted him and he concluded to settle permanently in the town of Aurelius. In 1790, while yet in Stamford, Mr. Bostwick was married and had a family of four or five children when he became a resident of Hardenbergh Corners. Two daughters, twins, were born in 1798. They had a family finally of thirteen children.

Mr. Bostwick's first home in the settlement in 1799, like all the others at the time, was a log cabin which was situated on Genesee street about where the store No. 93 is now located. It was a double log house with a coat of whitewash both inside and out. Genesee street, however, was by this time making some progress in development and upbuilding. In 1803 Mr. Bostwick began the construction of a more modern frame house at the corner of Genesee and Exchange streets. This was completed in 1804 and he at once opened it as a tavern, and continued to conduct it until 1816, when he sold the property to Canfield Belo Coe. This hostelry afterwards passed through many changes and had many landlords up to 1868. Upon seUing the hotel, Mr. Bostwick moved to his new home at the corner of Genesee and James street, where he lived until his death.

At the time of establishing the county seat and the erection of the county buildings, Mr. Bostwick was active and zealous in the interest of the growing village. He donated one acre of land for the buildings, the ground upon which they are still situated, and in other ways, too, was influential in securing for Auburn the distinction of being the capital of the county. Mr. Bostwick also donated the land for St. Peters church, which was erected first in 1812. He was, too, one of the most active promoters of the church society, and served it in various | capacities with great earnestness and helpfulness.

As an evidence of his good citizenship and public spirit, he, in the early times, it is recorded, proposed to donate to the village for a public park the triangular plot of land bounded by Genesee, South and Exchange streets but the struggling village hesitated to assume the obligation, the reason given being that the cost of building a fence around it would be too great. In the light of later development. Auburn, unquestionably, failed to recognize and take advantage of an opportunity to enhance and beautify the city. In many other respects also did Mr. Bostwick manifest his good will and interest in the progress and upbuilding of his town; his heart, energy and substance were devoted to these and all other good measures. He died June 24, 1825, and by his death Auburn lost an esteemed and useful citizen.

In 1795 there was a definite movement towards the building of roads. There were by this time many settlers both east and west of Aurelius, or Hardenbergh Corners, and travel along the way had increased to a considerable extent. This year marked the start in the building of the Genesee Turnpike. The work was prosecuted with much energy, so that by the year 1798 it was a fairly passable highway as far west as Canandaigua. It ran from the east over Onondaga Hill and entered the Hardenbergh settlement by way of Franklin street to North, thence to Genesee. Hardenbergh Corners was then nearly submerged in mud and marsh. But as the clearing away of the forest progressed, roads in the immediate section were built, most of them crude and imperfect, of course, but any step in the direction of road building at all was an improvement in existing conditions. So the work of the road building was pushed along as rapidly as possible, but it was several years later before the roads in and about the village were more than a sea of mud in spring and fall. Genesee street through the present city was described in 1814 as being little better than a morass. Today it is as fine a thoroughfare as can be found in any city.

Owasco street, or Owasco road, as it was known in early times, was surveyed and laid out in 1795 by Elijah Price and Zadock Grover, and the old state road to Scipio, now South street, was formally located at the same time. It was several years, however, before this highway was in condition for travel with any degree of comfort. Stumps were everywhere visible in these highways.

Solomon Tibbies, who joined the settlement in 1794 made the clearing for the cemetery on North street that year, but the first burying ground in the new community was at the corner of West Genesee and Washington streets.

This was opened for burial in 1795 and it is said the first person buried therein was a man by the name of Kittle.

In the rear of the old North street cemetery, when it was first laid out in 1795, there was the remains of an ancient Indian fort nearly as extensive and large, it is said, as that at Fort Hill. It covered about twenty acres of land and the site, like that of Fort Hill, rendered it a commanding position. By whom or what nation it was built there is no record available. Possibly this fort was constructed by the same race that planned and built the great fortress at Osco village. The plat of land for the North street cemetery was on the farm of Major Noah Olmsted, and this crude cemetery was surrounded by a great log fence made of the trees felled on the cemetery plat. The first burial in this cemetery was Gideon Tyler, son of Gideon Tyler a pioneer in the settlement. Pioneer Tyler had but a short time before located in the community. He arrived in 1795 bringing his three young sons, Amos, Gideon, and Solomon. With them came Adam Fries and Zenas Huggins. They were all men of character and contributed to the upbuilding of the settlement.

NOAH OLMSTED

Major Olmsted came from Connecticut where he was born February 29, 1768. He brought his young wife into the settlement soon after their marriage. Their daughter Hannah was born January 9, 1796, and was therefore the first child born in the settlement. Mr. Olmsted was twice o D M >

as" LfJ married. There were six children by the first marriage and three by the second.

At the time of the War of 1812 Mr. Olmsted entered the service and continued until the end of the trouble. He was successfully Adjutant, Lieutenant and Major, and after the war took an active interest in the State militia. Major Olm.sted was one of the founders of the First Congregational church, afterwards the First Presbyterian, and also served for sometime as one of the school trustees. He died in 1820.

Ambrose Olmsted, of another family, located in the Hardenbergh settlement as early as 1793 or 1794. He also came from New England.

The increase in the population of the settlement soon induced the launching of several stores. James O'Brien soon enlarged his store which he built on the City Hall grounds and did a successful business for several years. Major Walter J. Nichols succeeded O'Brien in 1796 and erected a large frame addition to the store. Dr. Crossett erected a building upon the site of the present session room of the First Presbyterian church. He, too, opened a general store, having as a department a line of drugs and medicines.

Dr. Hackaliah Burt settled in the little village in March 1796. He was not then a physician. He had, however, read medicine prior to locating at Hardenbergh Corners. He at once entered the store of Dr. Crossett as a clerk and student in medicine. His connection with Dr. Crossett did not continue long apparently, for, it is said, that a little later he opened an ashery on the bank of the

Outlet a short distance below North street. In the earlypioneer days these industries were important and very profitable. Potash brought a good price and also ready money, and real money was extremely scarce then. He also launched another general store and ran it several years.

DR. HACKALIAH BURT

Dr. Burt soon became a man of affairs and a conspicuous figure in the community. He bought a good part of the military lot No. 56, lying in the south section of the present city. It extended out South street a long distance and eastward toward the outlet. When South street finally opened for settlement, Dr. Burt erected a house on the east side of the street between Grover and Logan streets, where he lived until his death. The Burt tract came to be in a desirable residential section as the village grew. The land sold rapidly for building lots, and has since become a beautiful residential section of the city.

Dr. Burt was active in developing and building up the village. He was a man of progressive ideas and public spirit, a helpful, good citizen. In religious faith, Dr. Burt was an Episcopalian and an earnest and zealous worker in behalf of St. Peters church and its society. He aided the society both by services and contributions of money. He also ser^^ed for several years as an official of the church society. By reason of his splendid character and helpful influence he had high standing in the community throughout his entire life.

In 1796, Nehemiah Smith built the first log house on the west side of North street, and soon thereafter St. Clair Smith erected another in the same section.

The Hardenbergh settlement was making headway in growth, building and business. It was about this time, 1795 and 1796 that Jehial Clark came from Ballston Springs, Saratoga county, N. Y., and sought to establish a little further west and north a rival to Hardenbergh Corners. He was an active and energetic man and apparently had means, for he entered at once into business and building. He built a log dam across the outlet some distance from the Hardenbergh dam and mill. Soon after this, Mr. Clark erected both a saw mill and a grist mill. It was proposed to build up a village bearing the name of Clarkville. He built roads leading to his mills, and attracted many settlers to that section. It later became a considerable business center, but the original village had too firm a footing and too many strong business citizens, and so finally Clarkville was merged with the older village, and the only lasting impress that remains of Clarkville is the name Clark street.