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HISTORIAN’S CORNER
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From "Life of the Phelps Pioneers"
(By John M. Parmelee)
"SCHOOLS" (Chapter 12)
Schools were an early priority for the pioneers. It was, as it is today, necessary to educate the children. In the early 1790s, John Decker Robison set aside part of his wood shop to start a school. He brought Miss Phelps, sister of Oliver Phelps, here as the first teacher. By 1802 attendance increased so much that they ran out of room. That year a long plank-type building, 20' x 40', was built on the site where the Norstar Bank is now. Joseph Woodhull and Catry Robison Woodhull lived in the east half and the school was in the west half. The building had wide door jambs, a stock chimney plastered over with mud, and greased paper windows. The school had a platform in the center with benches all around it for the students to sit upon. There were no backs on these benches. Behind these, along the wall, were continuous desks with benches for the older children. Students were called to the platform to recite, read, and spell. Many lessons were committed to memory and recited in unison. They learned rules for everything they did and learned many "tables". Text books were scarce and sometimes the teacher was the only one who had a copy of the textbook. Each student made his own record of the day's lesson and kept it for future reference. They used "foolscap" paper, size 16" x 13", and a quill pen. They sewed the sheets of paper together into a crude book. The three "R's" of our ancestors - "readin', 'ritin', and 'rithmetic", gave children a good foundation in orthography (a part of the language dealing with letters and spelling as well as sounds and printed symbols), syntax, and the science of numbers.
Drinking water was shared from a bucket and dipper, and the fire in a crude stove was tended by selected students as a reward for merit. The wood for the stove was contributed by the parents as payment for the children's schooling. Within ten years there were 25 or 30 students attending. Soon after the school started, church services were also held there.
In Oaks Corners the first school was held in Oaks Stand or Tavern with Solomon Goodale, a minister, as the first teacher. The first school house was a brick building on the site of the present schoolhouse (now a private residence). This first school was constructed after the English style schools, with a series of graded platforms or steps. As the students advanced in their studies they sat in the higher row until they reached the "Upper Form".
There was a schoolhouse in Melvin Hill before 1805 but we have little information about it. There was also a schoolhouse in Coxsackie where the present schoolhouse (now a private residence) stands. It was a log cabin, built by the Grangers, and was also used as a church where Pierce Granger preached Methodism before the church building (Yellow Meeting House) was built on West Main St. in 1812. This school was started in the mid-1790s.
There was a schoolhouse at the "Cape" (Five Waters) on the Canandaigua Outlet. This school was sustained by private contributions. The terms were $1 per quarter and one week's board for the teacher per scholar. Wood was furnished by the patrons. In 1812 a new schoolhouse was built. Mr. Spoor was the first teacher.
Before 1812 some children were taught in various houses around town. Here is a chronological list of the more formal Phelps schools:
1795 - John D. Robinson Tavern
1795 - Oaks Tavern
1802 - East Vienna school
1805 - Melvin Hill log school (before brick school was built in 1817
1810 - West Vienna school (log cabin on present site of Tyman Motor Co.)
1812 - First school districts formed: 1) Oaks Corners; 2) Melvin Hill; 3) Armstrong School (CR 6); 13) East Vienna; 19) West Vienna
In 1846, numbers 13 and 19 were combined to form District 8, or Phelps Union and Classical School.
Punishment for four to six year old boys was to be seated between two girls of the same age, where they could be seen by the whole school. This punishment was worse than a moderate whipping with a birch branch or being seated on a "dunce block" with a high conical hat made from a newspaper or "foolscap paper". When reversed, the girl was placed between two boys. She enjoyed it but the boys hated it.
Few women were educated beyond the grades. Their first formal education came through schoolmasters hired to teach their brothers. Such teachers were available for female instruction during harvest time when the boys were busy in the fields.
Prior to formal colleges, there were no courses for doctors or lawyers, just a system of apprenticeships. A student served five years apprenticeship with an established doctor as payment for his medical instruction, board, and lodging. Of course, he helped with household and barn chores, too. An apprenticeship for a shoemaker was seven years and for a goldsmith, twelve years.
Larger and more advanced schools became available in the early 1800s. Canandaigua Academy was formed and incorporated in 1795. The trustees included Oliver Phelps, Nathaniel Gorham, Gen. Chapin, Charles Williamson, James Wadsworth, and others. Phelps and Gorham gave 6,000 acres of land as a subscription to support the Academy. They sold some of the land and raised $4,581. The building was begun in 1796 and the school organized. In 1837 the Academy had 150 students and five teachers. Tuition was $4 per semester and board $1.64 per week.
Hobart College was started, as a seminary, in 1806, called Fairfield Academy and connected with the Trinity Episcopal Church under the leadership of Bishop Hobart. Later, classical and medical studies were added. The Geneva Medical School became part of Hobart before transferring to Syracuse University.
Ontario Female Society was established in Canandaigua in 1824 and lasted until 1875. Geneva Union & Classical School was started in 1839 and by 1876 had 1,000 students and 22 teachers. Oaks Corners Academy, next to the church, was built in 1834. During the 1820s a private school was started in the church. This school was so successful that a two-story, brick building was built as a college-preparatory school. For over twenty years, 50-60 students attended each year. It was forced to close for financial reasons in the early 1940s. The academy building was used as a parsonage until 1915, when it burned, along with the church. As early as 1822, classical teachers were hired by the Phelps schools to prepare students for college. The Misses Spencer early conducted a female seminary here which was well attended.
The first library was started in the Oaks Tavern in Oaks Corners in 1808. They started by subscribing to newspapers named Balance, New York Herald, Boston Gazette, and Universal Gazette. Village people paid the cost and the papers were kept for six months. Thaddeus Oaks had to go to Geneva, the closest post office, to pick up the papers. Imagine the travelers staying at the inn seeing a newspaper in the wild western frontier in 1808!
The custom was to lock the schoolhouse on Christmas and New Year's Day. The teacher would come and couldn't get in and a number of students would come and laugh and dance. Then the teacher would have to announce that there was no school that day. There were no holidays in the early days until the above custom started. The children attended the country schools every week day all year long. When high schools were established in the 1840s the school year was divided into three terms. The first term started Nov. 1 and lasted twenty weeks, followed by two weeks' vacation. The second term started the first Monday of April and lasted fifteen weeks, followed by three weeks vacation. The third term started the second Monday of August and lasted eleven weeks. During the fall vacation the students helped with the fall harvest on the farms. The students, then, attended a total of forty-six weeks of school, with only Christmas and New Year's Day as vacation days. This compares with today's school year of forty weeks, with a week's vacation at Christmas and one at springtime, plus another ten or so individual holidays and two months' vacation in the summer. This at a time when our society is much more complex and education should be more advanced.
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"Fires and Firemen" (Continued)
By Don Tiffany
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Different but significant changes were taking place during the latter half of the Twentieth Century. Harold Combs Sr. and Frank McAllister were awarded 33-year membership certificates in August 1955. They both had originally been members of the White Hose Company. Paul Hulster was elected Chief for 1956 and served until 1960 in that capacity. Ken Overslaugh Sr. served as President during those same years. A new, up-to-date American pumper, mounted on a Ford Chassis was put in service in 1957 giving still better rural service.
But the outlying areas were concerned about fire protection during this time period. John Fabrizi, the owner/proprietor of the Town Pump in Orleans bought a 1949 Buffalo pumper from the Canandaigua Fire Department and gave it to the Orleans Community Association. It was stored in an old barn along with a 1941 Ford tank truck. The Clifton Springs Fire Department took over the operation of the trucks and the Orleans firefighters became members of the CSFD. A 1963 Ford pumper was acquired in 1966-67 and a block building was built on to the Orleans Community Center and heat was added. No longer would the trucks have to be drained in the winter giving much faster response time to fires.
At the same time, 1955-56, discussions were being held at the Enterprise Grange in Oaks Corners to address the same problem in their area of the Town. Cebern Lee of L.S. Lee & Son donated a fire truck to the newly formed Oaks Corners Improvement Association and a firehouse was built in 1965-66 on Cross Road on land donated by Nathan Oaks & Sons While the firehouse was under construction the new Oaks Corners Firemen met at the new building and elected their first slate of officers. The charter members of the newly organized group were: Robert Adsitt, Charles Brignall, George Chase, Mike Calabrese, William Day, Clifford Day, Richard Day, Arthur DeMay, Stan DeWind, Fred Ganz, Robert Hefferon, Richard Howard, Donald Minns, Edward Oaks, Stanton Palmer, Kenneth Phillips, Kenneth Swanson, and Erwin (Bud) Smith, Jr. Richard Howard was elected President; Edward Oaks, Vice President; Richard Day, Secretary; Donald Minns, Treasurer; Robert Adsitt, Captain and Stan DeWind & Robert Hefferon, Fire Police.
From 1965 to 1969 the Oaks Corners Firemen and the Oaks Corners Improvement Association raised money by holding Booster Days, a smorgasbord, carnivals, auctions, barbeques, waterball contests, rummage sales, and a clam tent at the Phelps Firemen's carnivals. The Corners citizens donated money, time, expertise, labor and sweat for the new company. All the time, labor and donations were justified when the last mortgage payment on the building was made to Security Trust Co. on February 3, 1969. A superb community effort!
This same group of men joined the Phelps Fire Department in 1966. This group was called the Oaks Corners division of the Phelps Fire Department. The following year the position of 3rd Assistant Chief was created to allow an Oaks Corners member to be represented in the Phelps department. Richard Howard held this post from 1967 to 1971, Donald Rouland in 1972 and Donald Minns and Lee DeRuyter in 1973. The Oaks Corners division started operation out of their new two-bay station with a 1949 Ford pumper, a 1955 Ford tanker and a1955 Ford ambulance which was used to transport equipment and personnel.
The Phelps Fire Company was busy also. A Ladies Auxiliary was formed in 1950. The Company built the Firemen's Hall on Ontario Street in 1957-58. A new 1959 Ford station wagon was purchased and equipped as an ambulance. The Fire Department now offered ambulance service to the area. Two-way radios were installed in the fire trucks about 1963, tremendously improving the speed and efficiency of communication not only between the Phelps equipment but with other fire companies as well. It also connected the fire companies with the several police departments. This led eventually to a whole new era of dispatching fire equipment and information.
There were still fires and catastrophes to the dealt with. In 1956 there was a major fire at Hart Manufacturing Co., which completely destroyed their facility. This was the building just north of the NYCRR and west of Church Street, (now Pleasant Ave.). It was originally opened as the Collins Iron Works over 50 years before and later housed the Wright-Hibbard Company who manufactured electric lift trucks before, during and after the Second World War. The fire companies from Clifton Springs and Geneva assisted but another Phelps landmark was gone. It was covered by insurance and the owners chose to build a more modern facility in its place. Another minor fire occurred in the new Winship Corporation factory there in 1962. The building is now unoccupied.
Dave Hibbard died in 1960 and closed an earlier era of the PFD.
A fire, aided by high winds, destroyed the old kraut factory located across the RR tracks to the south of the Caves Lumberyard. It was being used as a warehouse at the time and the building and all its contents were destroyed. Firemen from Phelps, Clifton Springs, Shortsville and Geneva fought the blaze. No damage was done to the lumberyard or to the Ontario Foundry building to the west. Traffic on the railroad had to be stopped because many fire hoses were laid across the tracks to fight the fire.
Two Pennsylvania Railroad freight trains collided head-on on May 14, 1964. Three railroad crewmen were killed and four others were injured in the accident. The collision occurred between Wheat Road and Flint Creek just north of County Road #23. Firemen responded from Orleans and Phelps as large amounts of diesel fuel were spilled and there was a danger of fire. Both diesel locomotives plunged down the 50-foot embankment and 33 cars out of a total of 143 were derailed. Several hundred feet of track was ripped up. The size of the disaster and the remote location made it very difficult to get to the scene. Although no fires occurred, the amount of labor just to carry equipment to the site was a major undertaking.
The PFD purchased a new Jeep truck in 1965. It was a specialized piece of equipment to be used to fight brush and grass fires. It had a small hose reel, pump, and water tank and other tools to fight this particular type of fire.
1967 was a busy year for the Phelps Fire Department. The Village had purchased the empty garage on Exchange Street. The south end of the building was used as Village offices and meeting room. The north end of the building was renovated. An addition was built on the rear (west side) in 1976. This became the new Phelps Fire House. This was a much-needed change as the old Fire House on Church Street was overcrowded with the additional apparatus the Fire Department now owned.
Another 1967 fire gutted part of the Consolidated Gas Company's building on Cress Road. The size of the fire required the mutual aid of Clifton Springs, Northside and Oaks Corners firemen. But, the worst fire of the year destroyed the old Nester malt house on Ontario Street.
The fire broke out early Sunday morning, August 13. Ironically, the fire was thought to have started in the cupola on the building. This cupola had dominated the skyline of Phelps village for decades. It was the tallest and most dominant structure in the Village, always prominently obtruding into postcards and photographs. The building was owned by Agway Corporation and was being used as a seed warehouse and bean processing plant. There was little wind so the fire was contained in the building itself. Geneva and Newark Fire Companies furnished their aerial ladder trucks to help fight the blaze as well as pumpers from Newark, Clifton Springs, Orleans, Seneca Castle and Border City. Water was pumped from the hydrants as well as from nearby Flint Creek. Motors, elevators, cleaners, separators, dryers and dust collecting equipment were lost in the fire as well as 15,000 one hundred pound bags of wheat and oats and 7,000 bags of kidney beans. There were also 42 bins filled with wheat, oats and kidney beans. The warehouse was not consumed by the fire but was destroyed by the larger building collapsing on it. Ontario Street was closed for almost a week while the remains of the building were pulled down and carted away. The conflagration drew a huge crowd in spite of the early hours and was the talk of the town for weeks afterward.
The PFD undertook another, important project during 1967. Jim Caves, Bill Symonds and Dick Howard and other volunteers put up fire code numbers on every house and lot in the town of Phelps. They used a grid system to determine the numbering of each farm, home and empty lot. This system was a tremendous help in locating the origin of a fire or emergency call received by the Department. The importance of this system, originated by the Phelps firemen, was proven just a few years later when the U.S. Postal Service adopted the same procedure to give each individual residence a personal mailing address. Gone were RFD #s 1, 2, or 3 general areas and now all places in the Town had their own, unique identification number. This huge, ambitious, unique project was completed by the firemen in 1970.
A lease was signed with Phelps Central School in 1961 for the school to use the Firemen's Hall as a kindergarten classroom. The new ambulance was purchased and put in service in 1969.
Another landmark building was destroyed by fire on Christmas Day, 1973 when the Ontario Foundry burned. This company was housed in the old Crown Drill factory on the south side of the NYCRR east of South Wayne Street. Railroad Apartments are now on the site of that old building.
By 1974 the Oaks Corners Division of the Phelps Fire Department expressed a desire to start their own fire company in Oaks Corners and so became the Oaks Corners Fire Department in 1975. The OCFD also added more truck bays and a meeting room to their fire station in 1975. The office of 3rd Assistant Chief was abolished in the PFD when the OCFD was established.
The PFD was given the responsibility to answer calls for assistance on the New York State Thruway, also in 1974. A crash gate was installed off Cress Road in 1982 to give better access to this road. A new tank truck was put in service in 1976. Bill Symonds was elected the first ambulance crew chief in 1976. Merton (Mike) Sweet Sr. was honored in 1977 for serving 23 years as treasurer of the Fire Company. [Mike passed away 3 years later (1980)]. The "Jaws-of-life" were purchased in 1978 to help extricate people in auto accidents. A new, 1,000-gpm tanker-pumper was put in service in 1980.
The PFD answered hundreds of calls during these 25 years - house fires, barn fires, grass fires, motor vehicle accidents and countless trips with the ambulance. The firemen pumped out flooded cellars, hosed spilled fuel from highways and answered mutual aid calls from other fire companies - all the while improving and updating their training and equipment.
The leaders of the Phelps Fire department during this period (1961-1980) were: Chief, George Conklin - '61, '62; Kenneth McAllister - '63-'72; Larry George - '73-'78; Ned McAllister - '79, '80. President, Gary Fisher - '61, '62; Robert Bliven - '63, '64, '65; LaVerne Peake - '66; Robert Bliven - '67-'71; LeRoy Weaver - '72-'74; Robert Dennis - '75, '76; Charles VerStreate - '77; Robert Bliven - '78, '79; Edward Grimsley - '80.
Continued…
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