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HISTORIAN’S CORNER
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PHELPS HISTORY
200 Years of the Town of Phelps
From "Life of the Phelps Pioneers"
By John M. Parmelee
Chapter 11 - Industry & Stores (conclusion)
Several local farmers had lime kilns, used to calcine limestone to reduce it to quicklime for fertilizer.
Brick making was a large local industry in the pioneer days. It was a seasonal operation. The clay was dug in the autumn and turned and rolled during the winter so frost could mellow it. Stones had to be removed by hand. One pebble in a brick would cause cracking. In spring the crumbled clay was thrown into shallow pits, soaked with water, and then kneaded by men or animals or by a "pug mill" (a mill turned by horses hitched to a sweep). The clay was then placed in wooden molds which had to be sanded or dipped in water after making each brick to avoid having the next one stick. The green or raw bricks were then taken from the molds and arranged on the ground to harden. The hardening process was hastened by having boys "edge" the bricks or turn them over from time to time. When firm enough to handle, they were built into long, low walls, with air spaces, and covered from the weather. They were left to dry before being burned in the kiln. The kiln was usually located on or near the building site. When the bricks were cherry red hot, the baking was done. In hot climates, unburnt bricks were sometimes used after long sun exposure. These were called adobe bricks and were often used in the western plains. The Rathbun house in Phelps is partially made with adobe bricks. The ancient Greeks used these and preferred to expose them for five years.
Ashel Bannister had large clay excavations on his property west of the Log Cabin and Bannister's Bridge. The bricks were made across the road from his house (Forbes house) where the brick house now is. The Bannisters, Lemuel and Ashel, had a large operation and made bricks for buildings in Phelps, Geneva, Clifton Springs, and Canandaigua. A large church required 100,000 bricks. They sold 13,000 bricks to build the First Congregational Church in Canandaigua in 1812. The Peck family also had a large brick making operation, on Fort Hill Road.
Peddlers and tin caravan wagons came from Connecticut and Eastern New York to Phelps. They sold may items, such as tinware, combs, yard goods, needles, thread, mouth organs, and trinkets. In 1810, DeWitt Clinton, traveling through this area, wrote "Peddlers from Connecticut sell wooden clocks all over the country for $20 and they answer very well. We met tin peddlers in all directions, dickering for feathers." (for making featherbeds and pillows). The pioneer children gathered bones for fertilizer and rags for paper making to sell to peddlers, to earn pennies for sweets. Between 1816 and 1840 tin caravans headed for Oaks Corners where they set up booths in the Oaks Corners Commons, back of the Presbyterian Church, for the large crowds attending the trotting races and fairs. Incidentally, the Parmelee family has one of the clocks, with wooden works and made by Eli Terry in 1810, which DeWitt Clinton spoke of. It is now in the home of Virginia Parmelee.
The first store in the village of Vienna was a log house built in 1804 where the Johnson Hotel later stood, now the site of Angelina's Restaurant and the barber shop. A general store was started in 1812 by Oren Redfield, father of Ebenezer (a saddler and harness maker) and Lysander (printer, in the dry goods business, and long-time Justice of the Peace). Lysander donated Redfield Park to the village. Hotchkiss & McNeil had a mercantile business in 1810 in the Root Tavern. In 1816 they built the first brick block in the village on the site where the Gibson Block now stands. Leman Hotchkiss I, at one time, had the largest mercantile business in Western New York, with stores in Vienna, Newark, and Lyons. Wing & Nelson had a store in 1813 and Dwight & Theodore Partridge had one in 1816.
In 1821, between the brick store and the Root Tavern, was a row of sheds for the people to drive under when shopping. The main barn and stables for the tavern were attached to the rear of these sheds. The tavern was a long, narrow building with rear attachments standing lengthwise to Main St., about 12 to 15 ft. west of the sheds. Under the west shed hung a sign "Good Water under this Shed". There was a wooden tank or cistern partly sunk in the ground in the northwest corner of the shed. Water was constantly running into the tank with an overflow running out of the back of the shed. The water came in by wooden pipes from the Lester (Lyon) Farm on Griffith Rd., from a large spring feeding a stream going to Unionville.
In 1830 the Cuylers, Richard and John, overhauled the old tavern, making extensive additions, and made it into one of the best places to stop in Western New York. They called it the Vienna House. The Main St. hill and road where later cut down six feet and the basement rooms were built to be on street level. Opposite Vienna House was the Eleaser Hawks tavern built in 1799, located on the corner of Main St. and Ontario St. This tavern was moved in 1836 and used as a home by M. Carey. The basement of the old tavern was later converted into a glove and mitten factory. There was a row of sheds on the corner of Main and Church Streets where the DeBaere (Crothers) and Lapresi blocks are now. These sheds were for the Johnson Hotel, similar to the ones across the street. There was the Eagle Tavern where the Phelps Hotel is now. There was a long, narrow building, housing sheds and stables serving this tavern, behind the tavern on Exchange St., where the Phelps Village office and firehouse now stand. All three taverns were built and renovated by the same builder.
Teaming was a big industry during the 1820's, causing taverns or inns to be built every four or five miles, Covered wagons, carrying about one ton and drawn by three or four horses, came through here. They carried flour, pork, potash, grain, groceries, hardware, dry goods, etc. This was the route for transporting wheat, corn, and other grains from the Genesee Valley farms to Albany. Frequently, at night, eight, ten, or twelve wagons with canvas covers would stop here. Also families with their household things moving to Western New York, Ohio, and Michigan would stop. In 1826 Henry Vandemark's Tavern in West Junius was full every night. Travelers sometimes carried their own provisions. They wanted a table set but cooked their own meat and potatoes. Drovers with cattle, horses, and hogs came through here, also. Taverns had to keep a great deal of hay and corn for them. It took 16 ½ bushels of corn to feed five droves of hogs. Mr. Vandemark bought his groceries from the J.R. Green store in Oaks Corners.
In 1826, after the Erie Canal was finished, Bartle & McNeil, the Cuyler Bros., and Wm. Hildreth established warehouses in Newark and Lockville to ship local produce by boat.
Anson Titus, after traveling through Vienna and stopping at the Edmonston Hotel and the Free Bridge House, decided to move here in 1834. He was an inventor and manufacturer of stoves, plows, and various other implements for farm use. His air-tight stove and No. 8 plow received national attention. His company became on of the largest businesses in Phelps.
In pioneer days individuals became bankers. For example, Elias Cost was a bill collector, lent money, settled estates, recorded deeds, endorsed notes, and assumed mortgages for others. Later, Philander Mott did the same in Phelps. The first bank in Phelps was the Farmers Bank of Phelps, established in 1838. This bank only lasted one year because of the depression of 1839-40. Later on, both Mott and Hotchkiss had banks of their own.
Newspapers started in Vienna in 1832 with the publication of the Vienna Republican. Other papers over the years were the Phelps Democrat, Western Atlas, Union Star, Ontario News, and Phelps Citizen. The Citizen started in January, 1832, and lasted until 1936, when the Bussey Bros. sold it to the Phelps Echo.
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"Fires and Firemen" (continued)
by Don Tiffany
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The Phelps Fire Department placed a ¼ page ad in the "Phelps Citizen" on March 10, 1927 telling the Phelps citizens that a larger and more powerful fire truck with greater pumping capacity was needed for better fire protection in the village and town. The paper also ran an editorial supporting the firemen's plea and praising them for their unselfish service to Phelps. But it wasn't until March of 1929 that the public voted to spend $5500.00 to purchase the new pumper by a vote of 147 to 56. Thus the Fire Department bought their first factory-made fire truck, an American LaFrance built in Elmira, NY.
The new American LaFrance pumper had an open cab, no roof, just a windshield to protect the driver and other front seat passengers. Other firemen rode on a platform on the rear or hung on the sides as best they could. It must have been COLD riding to a fire! But it far outstripped its predecessors in capacity, speed, power and even appearance. Painted bright "fire engine" red and all accessories nickel or chrome plated, it was a glamorous machine but, there were problems.
The first major test of the new pumper came on January 23, 1930 when the Globe Hotel burned late at night. The new truck passed with flying colors but the supply system was inadequate.
All during the fire the pumper ran at 50% capacity and at no more than 60 lbs. pressure because the 6" mains could only feed enough water to supply three hoses. Clifton Springs sent their chemical truck and used it to wet down surrounding buildings. Geneva sent their large pumper but it couldn't be used as the Phelps truck was taking all the water the mains could supply. Again, as in 1864, Geneva made the effort but Phelps didn't have the capacity to use their apparatus. Mention was made that the Geneva firemen were "chilled to the marrow" having made the 15-mile run in 5 degree weather. They must have had a similar open-cab fire truck.
The huge wooden structure, fanned by a brisk wind, created enough heat to break the windows in a hardware store and bakery across the street and blister the paint on the Crothers building. Through the efforts of the three fire companies all the surrounding buildings were saved. In a footnote it was stated that the White Hose chemical engine was recharged 18 times during this fire.
The greatest change in the organization of the Phelps firefighters since the formation of the second village fire company almost 70 years before, began shortly after the Minet fire. On January 31st at a meeting of the Village Board the first steps were made to consolidate the four volunteer fire companies into one unit consisting of 30 to 35 active members. It was noted that only some of the men in the four companies took any active interest in fire department affairs and that some members were living in other communities.
While chief D.A. Hibbard and Henry Coon were extinguishing a fire in a dump near the Howe coal yard on February 14th at about 9 p.m., an alarm came in from a fire at the farm of Supervisor J.Lewis Salisbury. The firemen responded with both the new pumper and the chemical truck. They were followed by a string of 50 to 100 cars loaded with men ready to help if needed!
The four fire companies agreed to disband and, on February 20th the first meeting of the Phelps Volunteer Fire Department was held. The following officers were elected: Chief David Hibbard, 1st Asst. Chief James Woolf, 2nd Asst. Chief Minor Sebring, Captain Frank Courtwirght, 1st Lt. Captain Ralph Petty, 2nd Lt. Captain Harry McDougal, Driver Ray Celehar, President John Canfield, Secretary James Cudebec, Treasurer John Bailey, Fire Wardens Floyd Cudebec and Matthew Meath. Other members were: L.S. Partridge, Henry Coon, Harold Combs, Frank McAllister, William Corwin, Arthur Conklin, Wayne Southern, Herman Bengtson, Fred Redder, Ben Palmer, Clarence Young, Elkanah Young, Bert Beach, Charles Miller, Lester Gilliam, Lester Marshall, Lawrence Bowen, Hugh McStravic, Peter Carlson, Fred Wilson. Out of an aggregate membership of four companies there was now an active company of 32 men.
The Redfield Hook & Ladder held a banquet at the Hotel Rochester on March 7, 1930 to finalize their disbanding. The Empire Hose Company wound up its career at the Odenbach Restaurant in Rochester on March 10th. The White Hose Company held their banquet at the Grange Hall on April 7th. Frank Benton was the toastmaster. There were eight charter members of White Hose present, two of which were originally members of the Crothers Hose Company. E.W. Fairman, A.H. Hildreth and Frank Holleran were appointed as a committee to contact the other companies to see if an exempt firemen's association could be formed. A meeting was held in the Village Hall on April 21st to form the association. A.S. Hildreth was elected president, George Brown 1st vice president, L.E. Popeck 2nd vice president, Charles Main 3rd vice president, Norval Norton treasurer, James Kavanaugh secretary, B.M. Coon drill master, E.W. Fairman, Herman Bengtson and Frank Benton committee on by-laws. The association was to be known as the Phelps Exempt Firemen's Association. The enrollment fee was to be $.25. The Edmonston Hose Company had their banquet at Champion's dining room in December. Charles Main was the toastmaster.
About 9:00 a.m., April 29, 1930 a spark from a steamroller ignited the roof of the old, empty Howe malt house. The fire department made "short work of the blaze." A truck at the loading platform of the Tri-County fertilizer plant on West Main Street caught fire on July 18th the same year. The truck was pulled into the street and the fire was extinguished with the booster hose. It was felt that more water could have been available for the fertilizer plant fire if there were a means to pump water from Whitney Pond (the water in the back of the stone dam next to Main Street bridge). The following month Whitney Pond was deepened and the approach widened and improved on the east side of Flint Creek just south of the bridge. To prove the worth of this water access the pumper suction was dropped into the Creek and a line of hose was laid up Main Street to the business section and a stream of water was sent over Ben Coon's house next to the Town Hall. Chief Hibbard claimed that all the property, from the Methodist Church to Wayne Street, could be reached from this location.
The last industrial operation in Orleans, the Tamblyn & Chase evaporator, caught fire on November 15, 1930. Companies from Phelps, Clifton Springs and Geneva responded. The different fire companies protected the adjoining property but were unable to save the evaporator building next to the Pennsylvania Railroad tracks. Chief McGuigan and the Geneva Company placed their truck on the Flint Creek bridge, dropped 20 feet of suction hose into the Creek and pumped water 400 feet to cool the ruins of the building.
The Village Board, at their monthly meeting in November 1931, approved firemen's exemption certificates to A.M. Canfield, Floyd Wilson, Ralph Pratt and Lee Britcher who had been members of the Empire Hose Company for five or more years.
A smoky fire broke out in the cellar of the Phelps National Bank about 6:30 p.m. on October 27, 1932. The Phelps firemen rushed to the scene but had difficulty locating the source of the heavy smoke because they were not equipped with gas masks. Smoke seeped into the Happy Thought Tea Room to the east and C.M. Bullock's store to the west of the bank building. The smoke also filled the telephone office over the bank but the telephone operators, Ethel Main and Marion Welch stayed on the job. A hose was pushed through the basement window and the fire was extinguished. The bank opened the following day. Gas masks were obtained shortly after the bank fire.
A rural committee composed of Hale Austin, T.C. Oaks, Ford Cuddeback, R.L. Wheat and Norman Rockefeller met with the Village Board in January of 1933 to try to work out an agreement with the Village to furnish fire protection to the residents living outside the Village. This was an ongoing problem as the Town government did not tax for nor furnish this vital protection for its residents. The committee volunteered to canvas the five or six hundred farm owners to subscribe to paying for rural fire districts. This was an ongoing problem and took a couple of years to solve. The Village suspended its recent order to prohibit firemen or apparatus from responding to fires outside the corporate limits of the Village until something could be worked out.
In February of 1933 the Fire Company responded to five fires in six days - four of them chimney fires. In early October of the same year there was a bad fire at the Post Office on Church Street. The second floor was badly damaged but the mail and post office machinery was removed to a room across the street in the Crothers Block. Connolly's store suffered a fire in early December of 1933. There was much smoke damage but the firemen contained the fire without much damage from the water. Connolly's had a "fire sale" for two months afterward.
Although the Village continued to provide fire protection for rural residents of the Town, response time and the availability of sufficient water to fight these blazes continued to be a problem. If a barn or even a house had a good start before the firemen arrived it usually was a total loss. The lack of a nearby water supply exacerbated the problem.
David Hibbard served as Phelps Fire Chief until 1937. Frank Courtwirght was Chief in 1938 and Fred Grimsley served as Chief during the Second World War. The Village ordered a new Sanford pumper in December of 1941 but after the bombing of Pearl Harbor the war effort took priority over everything. The new pumper did arrive, finally, in 1943, which helped to give rural residents a bit of added protection as the new truck had a small water tank on board. A tanker truck was added to the fleet in 1947 giving the Fire Department an added water supply for farm fires but a 500-gpm pumper could quickly empty a 1000-gallon tank truck.
Henry Coon was elected Chief in 1947 and Paul Hulster Jr. became President. The following year, 1948, Rollin Hood was elected Chief and served in this capacity until 1955. During this period the tanker truck was added and "Old Mort", an ancient Dort hearse, was used as an emergency car. It was equipped with four huge spotlights and other emergency gear. This gave the Fire Department two pumpers, one tank truck and one emergency vehicle, the most equipment the Company had ever had. The old American LaFrance open cab pumper was replaced in 1952 by a new, modern, state-of-the-art American LaFrance 750 gpm pumper with a bigger capacity water tank and powered by a V-12 engine. It was a beautiful truck with an enclosed cab and crew compartment.
The following men were elected presidents during this period: Francis Henry Jr. - 1948, '53, '54, '55; Ralph McIntyre - 1949, '50, '51, '52. The following were named Honorary Members in 1952; James Woolf, David Hibbard, Frank Courtwright, Ray Celehar, Clarence Young, Lawrence Bowen, Chester Hood, Minor Sebring, Merton Tiffany, John Bowen, Fred Grimsley, Charles Conklin, Louis Holtz, Lester Marshall, Harold Murphy, Kenneth Schafer, Ralph McIntyre and Herman Donk.
A huge fire destroyed the Phelps GLF Bean Plant on Ontario Street on December 20, 1945. The service store on the other end was saved in spite of freezing water and hoses.
Mr. and Mrs. John Schefke were killed by a gas explosion in their home on West Main Street on February 21, 1947. The resulting fire damaged their home.
The Northern Central New York Volunteer Firemen's Association convention was held in Phelps in June 1950 and the program booklet was dedicated to David Hibbard, the long-time Phelps Chief and past president of the NCNYVFA.
The Phelps Volunteer Firemen's Association purchased the property on Ontario Street in 1951. The by-laws were amended that year to add the office of Chaplin. Leonard B. Whitney, the Methodist minister, first held the office.
The old barn that stood on the firemen's field was burned in 1955. Restrooms were built on the property and a new emergency car was purchased that year.
Continued…
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