Signs of Distinction

The History of New York State as Told by 51 Welcome Signs

Chuck D'Imperio

• Publisher: Excelsior Editions
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN: 9781438488912
• eBook ISBN: 9781438488929
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: North American History
• Index: History

Fifty-one unique New York towns with great stories to tell, from L. Frank Baum's and Jello's hometowns to the birthplace of the Women's Rights Movement.

Across New York State, small towns and big cities alike have stories to tell. A unique travel guide for history buffs, Signs of Distinction delves into the varied stories revealed on town welcome signs. Welcome signs in every corner of the state beckon visitors, urging you to stop and explore. After all, who could resist stopping in a village that declares itself, "The Birthplace of Jell-O?" Similarly, the town that calls itself, "The Bandstand of the Finger Lakes," makes you want to dance! Fifty-one stories-each accompanied by a photograph of the welcome sign-share the history of these communities and their unique attributes. History lovers, road warriors, and folks who love trivia will enjoy reading about these New York towns and the stories behind their welcome signs.

1

ADAMS,
JEFFERSON COUNTY

“THE ARBOR DAY VILLAGE”

Probably the first time many of us remember celebrating Arbor Day was when we were little kids and we gathered in the back of our elementary schools to plant a tree. And then after that, nothing. For many years.

Today, Arbor Day is an important day to celebrate conservation, and its impact and importance have grown over the decades as we have become more aware of how vital and precious our world and the environment are. It all started in little Adams, New York, with the birth of Julius Sterling Morton on April 22, 1832.

There is no question that Morton is the most famous person ever to be born in Adams, although it is doubtful he remembered anything about his birth village. Morton’s parents moved the family to Michigan was he was just two years old.

He led an exciting, prosperous, and important life. He made a career in publishing, journalism, and politics. He served in several presidential administrations, with his career culminating in being named President Grover Cleveland’s secretary of agriculture.

In this position he embraced his lifelong fascination with trees and agriculture and started a movement to plant millions of trees across the United States. He started by planting nearly 300 varieties of trees around his mansion in Nebraska City, Nebraska. The mansion is a replica of the White House and is today a National Historic Landmark.

Arbor Day was officially founded by Julius Sterling Morton in 1872 while he was a power in statewide politics. The “holiday” was soon adopted by the entire United States. On its first celebration, it is estimated that one million trees were planted across the country. Morton is honored throughout Nebraska with his name on schools, highways, parks, and office buildings. His son, Joy, went on to found the Morton Salt Company.

Today Arbor Day is celebrated on the last Friday of the month of April. It is acknowledged that at this printing the oldest living Arbor Day tree is a red oak planted near the public library in Chatham, New York. It was planted by schoolchildren in 1902 in honor of their favorite teacher, a Miss Harriet Seymour.

The history of Arbor Day: www.arborday.org

2

ANDES,
DELAWARE COUNTY

“LAND IN THE SKY”
“THE EPICENTER OF THE ANTI-RENT WAR”

Andes is just within reach of the George Washington Bridge (three hours), which means that many New York City dwellers come up to the mountains on weekends and enjoy the charm of this quaint Catskills village.

There are two mottos on the welcome sign here. “The Land in the Sky” refers to the perch the village sits on in the Catskill range. With an elevation at more than 1,600 feet, the views coming in and out of Andes are spectacular. So much so that a pull-off viewing area has been created at the edge of town heading south on New York State Rt. 28. From here you can see varying shades of “purple mountains majesty,” all lined up before you for miles in the distance. This chorus line of Catskill beauties incudes small hills, steep mountains, towering ski destinations, and pitched valleys. The sign at this pull-off features the image of a camera. And they are right. This is a great Upstate photo opportunity!

The Anti-Rent War was a nasty land dispute that took place between 1839 and 1845. The farmers had suffered long enough under the outdated rules of the manor system put in place by the mega-landowning patroons from a system begun a century before. The farmers rebelled against paying rent to absentee landlords and demanded full consideration for the land they toiled on. The “war” literally went from push to shove here in Andes on August 7, 1845.

After years of legal skirmishes and minor physical altercations across several Upstate counties, it all came to a head at Moses Earle’s farm just outside the village.

Earle had accumulated a sum of back rent, and when the Delaware County sheriff came to collect it, Earle refused. It seems that he, and many of his neighbors, had had enough. After refusing to pay, the sheriff ordered that Earle’s cattle be auctioned off to pay his tax debt. On the day of the auction, more than two hundred of Earle’s friends and fellow farmers gathered en masse at his farm to protest the auction. Many of them were dressed in ragtag homemade Indian clothing and painted masks to hide their identities. They called themselves Calico Indians.

Undersheriff Osman Steele got the short straw that day. He went out to force the auction of the farmers’ cattle. Tempers rose quickly under the noonday sun, words flew, and before anyone knew it, a shot ran out. Mortally wounded, Steele was carried into Moses Earle’s farmhouse, where he soon died in the farmer’s bed.

In effect, this violent insurgency ended the formal Anti-Rent War. But with that, the stories of what happened that day up on Dingle Hill continued to grow as the years went by.

It was said that Sheriff Steele stopped by a local bar in the village, the Hunting Tavern, to have a drink before he faced the angry mob on the hill. Apparently, the bartender warned him that violence was afoot if he went to the Earle farm. The legend is that upon hearing this, the ornery Steele downed a glass of whiskey in a single gulp and blustered, “Lead can’t penetrate Steele!”

It was also reported that when Steele’s dying body was taken into the Earle home, his last words were, ‘Moses, if you only had a paid your rent there would’ve been none of this. I wouldn’t have shot you.” To which the farmer replied to the dying Steele, “If you had stayed home and minded your own business you wouldn’t have been shot!”

The Hunting Tavern still stands on Main Street in Andes. And just a mile or so out of town, up on Dingle Hill, a historic marker tells the dramatic story of the face-off that took place on the very spot where a shot rang out, Undersheriff Osman Steele died, and a mob of Calico Indians helped cause the end of the Anti-Rent War.

The Hunting Tavern is now a museum. Known as the Andes Society for History and Culture, the museum has a great amount of local history and information pertaining to the Anti-Rent War. You can also see the fully restored tap room where Steele mistakenly thought “lead couldn’t penetrate Steele.”

Hunting Tavern Museum: www.andessociety.org

3

BAINBRIDGE,
CHENANGO COUNTY

“HOME OF ELMER’S GLUE. STICK WITH US!”

For a small village of fewer than 1,500 residents, this pretty little community on the Susquehanna River has a long and storied past. And it is all told in the small village museum on Main Street, which is open only a couple of days a month.

Inside the museum you will read about and see displays telling the story of native son Jedidiah Smith, an American explorer known as “The Pathfinder to the Sierras.” You will read about the formation of a Bainbridge company called American Plastics, which ended up giving America everything from construction hard hats to the ubiquitous Fisher Price “pop beads.”

You will learn about politician Irving Ives, born in the village on January 24, 1896. He served as a United States New York senator from 1947 to 1959. He was also the co-sponsor of the first state civil rights law in the United States, which prohibited discrimination based on race. The village was once the home of America’s first successful instant breakfast, Hansmanns Pancake Mix. Their motto was “just add water.” Bainbridge has also hosted the longest single-day flat-water canoe race in the world, the seventy-mile-long General Clinton Canoe Regatta, since 1963.

All this and more, and it is all showcased in this tiny museum in the heart of the village.

Oh, and don’t forget Elmer’s Glue.

This iconic memory of our school days was born here in 1929. Borden’s went on to become one of the area’s largest employers. The Bainbridge Museum has a wide display of Borden’s glue products from down through the ages on display, from the earliest beginnings to the last glue products, which rolled out of the Bainbridge factory before it closed in 2006. The factory started as the Casco company, which made a milk by-product that, it was discovered, could also help make glue in the same production process. Elmer the Bull was chosen as the mascot name for the glue product line because he was the “spouse” of the other famous Borden bovine, Elsie the Cow. Among the products on display at the museum are jars of Elmer’s Safety Glue, made in Bainbridge.

Elmer’s Glue was introduced to the nation in 1947 and was a big hit. Elmer’s Safety School Glue was a godsend to parents and elementary school teachers alike. Before this, the temptation to taste the gooey glue was just too much for some children to resist. Borden’s made a safety glue that was nontoxic and easy for children to use. It soon became a leader in the field. And who can forget those iconic glue bottles with the “tongue depressor stick” attached to the jar with a rubber band?

An interesting footnote is that Gail Borden, the millionaire inventor of condensed milk and the namesake of Borden’s Glue, was born in Norwich, New York, which is just twenty miles north of Bainbridge.

Bainbridge Museum: https://www.facebook.com/BainbridgeNYHistoricalSociety/

4

BATAVIA,
GENESEE COUNTY

“BIRTHPLACE OF WESTERN NEW YORK”

Batavia is a city of 15,000. Back at the dawn of New York State, this part of the region, what is now Genesee County, was about as far west as the frontier went. More than three million acres of land (the Holland Purchase) was sold to a group of Dutch bankers by owner Robert Morris on July 20, 1793. Morris, known as the “Financier of the Revolution,” was an American Founding Father and a signer of the Declaration of Independence.

A land office was established in what is now Batavia with the purpose of carving up western New York into separate parcels that could be developed. Joseph Ellicott was hired to perform the largest land survey ever attempted. It took him more than two years to travel the area and document the land mass.

The Holland Land Company established an office in Batavia where most of the survey data and land distribution took place. This really was the opening of the door to western New York for development. Hence the “birthplace” mention on the city’s welcome sign.

The Holland Land Office is today a fascinating museum in Batavia that helps visitors understand the magnitude, complexity, and importance of Ellicott’s survey. The limestone building was designed by Ellicott and built in 1810. Initially the building was a busy place, with land seekers coming in and out in a steady stream asking about settlement possibilities in western New York. The building was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1960, the first such designation in western New York.

The phrase “doing land office business” refers to the activity around this important bu...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Foreword
• 1 Adams: “The Arbor Day Village”
• 2 Andes: “Epicenter of the Anti-Rent War”
• 3 Bainbridge: “Home of Elmer’s Glue. Stick with Us!”
• 4 Batavia: “Birthplace of Western New York”
• 5 Bethel: “Home of the 1969 Woodstock Festival”
• 6 Brockport: “The Victorian Village on the Erie Canal”
• 7 Canisteo: “Site of the World’s Largest Living Sign”
• 8 Chaumont: “Home of One of the Largest Freshwater Bays in the World”
• 9 Cherry Valley: “First English Speaking Church West of the Hudson”
• 10 Chittenango: “Birthplace of L. Frank Baum: Author of the Wonderful Wizard of Oz”
• 11 Conesus: “Home of the Turtlestones”
• 12 Cooperstown: “Home of Baseball; Village of Museums”
• 13 Cuba: “First Oil Discovered in America, 1627”
• 14 Dansville: “Home of Clara Barton Chapter #1 American Red Cross. Home of New York State Balloon Festival”
• 15 East Bloomfield: “Home of the Northern Spy Apple”
• 16 East Durham: “Emerald Isle of the Catskills”
• 17 Elmira: “Honoring the Past; Building the Future”
• 18 Fredonia: “America’s First Gas Well”
• 19 Geneseo: “Home of the Greatest Show on Turf”
• 20 Gorham: “Bandstand of the Finger Lakes”
• 21 Granville: “The Colored Slate Capital of the World”
• 22 Hamilton: “Birthplace of John Vincent Atanasoff, Inventor of the Computer”
• 23 Hobart: “Book Village of the Catskills”
• 24 Hoosick Falls: “Grandma Moses Country”
• 25 Hornell: “Home of Bill Pullman”
• 26 Horseheads: “Three Horses on Sign”
• 27 Ironville: “Birthplace of the Electric Age”
• 28 Jamestown: “Birthplace of Lucille Ball. Birthplace of Roger Tory Peterson. Home of Robert H. Jackson”
• 29 Kinderhook: “Home of 8th U.S. President Martin Van Buren”
• 30 Lackawanna: “Home of Father Baker”
• 31 Lake Placid: “Site of the 1932 and 1980 Winter Olympics”
• 32 LeRoy: “Birthplace of Jell-O”
• 33 Lily Dale Assembly: “World’s Largest Center for the Religion of Spiritualism”
• 34 Marathon: “Home of the Central New York Maple Festival”
• 35 Mount Morris: “Home of the Pledge of Allegiance”
• 36 North Tonawanda: “Home of the Carrousel”
• 37 Phelps: “Home of the Sauerkraut Weekend”
• 38 Pine Island: “Heart of the Black Dirt Region”
• 39 Port Henry: “Champ Sightings in Bulwagga Bay Area”
• 40 Roscoe: “Trout Town U.S.A.”
• 41 Seneca Falls: “Birthplace of the Women’s Rights Movement”
• 42 Sherrill: “The Smallest City in New York State”
• 43 Springfield: “The Place to Be on the 4th of July Since 1914”
• 44 Troy: “Home of the Burden Water Wheel”
• 45 Unadilla: “Home of Boy Scout Troop #1”
• 46 Upper Jay: “Home of Toy Maker Arto Monaco”
• 47 Wallkill: “Elsie’s Birthplace”
• 48 Waterloo: “Birthplace of Memorial Day”
• 49 Waterville: “Historic Center of International Hops Commerce”
• 50 Whitehall: “Birthplace of the U.S. Navy”
• 51 Wyoming: “The Gaslight Village”
• Index
• Back Cover