Steuben County Historian

Magee House is closed today in honor of Veterans Day. The observance began as Armistice Day, celebrating the end of the Great War on November 11, 1918. Surviv...ors of that war formed the American Legion, often naming their local posts after fallen comrades. Aging members of A. J. Carlton Post 922 gathered in Painted Post in 1941, on the eve of another war, to form a "Last Man's Club." On October 11, 1989 Mason Bower became the last man, and presumably got that bottle of wine from 47 years earlier. Carlton Post is gone now, along with every veteran on every side of the war to end all wars. See more

"My brave lad sleeps in his faded coat of blue; in a lonely grave unknown lies the heart that beat so true." Richard Hill of Savona has very kindly shared this... photo and information: "The 24th NY Infantry was recruited in Oswego county, but contained at least two Steuben County natives. The man on the left is 2nd Lt. Ten Ecyk Pawling, a Bath native. 2nd Lt. Pawling was killed Aug 29, 1862 at the 2nd Battle of Bull Run. Lt. Pawling is buried Bath's Grove Cemetery. The man in the center is Capt. Orville Jennings, from Oswego county. Capt. Jennings was wounded at the 2nd Battle of Bull Run. The man on the right is 1st Lt. Richard L. Hill, a Steuben county native, born in the town of Wayne. Lt. Hill was severely wounded at the Battle of Cold Harbor June 6th, 1864. He was left for dead, but was rescued the next day. He was transported to a hospital in Washington, recuperating for nearly 6 months. He eventually moved to Corning, and died there in 1902. He is buried in Corning's Hope Cemetery." Thank you very much, Richard, for sharing this with us. See more

Since only about 3% of Americans owned stock in 1929, many of them found the Wall Street crash to be of only academic interest at first. But the crisis reached... "Main Street" when Sturdevant Bank in Avoca failed that same year, paying depositors ten cents on the dollar in 1930. Savona National went down in April 1931, while Painted Post National crashed in December. Hornell started 1932 with three banks, but First National closed on Valentine's Day. Panic started a run on the surviving banks in April -- Steuben Trust weathered the storm, but Citizens National was broken on the 30th... and, of course, there was no deposit insurance to speak of. If any other Steuben banks failed in the Depression years, please let us know -- local historians, please correct any errors of fact! Information on these events is kind of sketchy. See more

It is sad but true that these days when we read about an historic landmark building, it is most often being razed to make way for a parking lot or super drug st...ore. But recently, the hamlet of Wheeler experienced quite the opposite! The Wheeler Center Depot was in dreadful condition. It had been empty for many years, then turned into a rental housing unit until it was purchased by an adjoining land owner who was determined not to let it deteriorate any further. The approaching Wheeler Bicentennial was just the incentive necessary to get the Depot on the road to recovery. Here is its history and the timeline of its total makeover . Built in 1889 to serve the Kanona Prattsburg Railway which was nearly complete, the Depot welcomed the first passenger train on October 12, 1889 for opening day of the Prattsburg Fair. Thanks to the Wheeler Historian, we have a record of the progress building the Depot. The original color, English spruce, is not, as you might think, a shade of green, but rather the color of spruce buds when they come out in the spring. It is actually a deep, mustard yellow. Known as the Kick and Push, the Railroad kept up passenger and freight service between Prattsburgh, Kanona and points beyond for 70 years. Passenger Service was cancelled on March 9, 1929. Freight service continued for another 30 years providing growers of potatoes, tobacco, wheat, beans, grapes and onions with much-needed delivery of their crops to far-away markets. The Board of Directors voted to close the Wheeler Station on June 3, 1936. The last train over the line was September 29, 1959. The assets of the Railroad company were sold at auction June 10, 1961. The Interstate Commerce Commission approved the final abandonment in 1962. Moving up to 2020, the building received a makeover that would put the TV ones to shame: -Remove dormers put on to increase space for rental unit. -New Roof. -New siding-nearly like the original. -New Windows. -A Wheeler sign that is just like the original. -Trim painted terra cotta. -Benches placed outside to welcome travelers. While the owner still has some more restoring to do, the building is now nearly as lovely as it was when it was new. Many of the Wheeler Bicentennial activities took place at the depot including rides in a miniature train, a Civil War encampment and an informative display about Wheeler’s one-room schools. The Depot is located on Gardner Road in the hamlet of Wheeler, just off State Route 53. It merits a drive by. Submitted by Linda Ferris of the Steuben County Historical Society.

On April 24, 1990, the Hubble Space Telescope was launched on the space shuttle Discovery. Construction of the Perkin-Elmer mirror that would become an integral... part of the telescope began in 1979, starting with a blank manufactured by Corning Glass Works from their ultra-low expansion glass. The same technology has been used in Gemini, and Subaru telescopes; along with window glass for all of NASA's manned spacecraft missions and the International Space Station. The photo on the top shows the Hubble Space Telescope's Primary Mirror being ground at the Perkin-Elmer Corporation's large optics fabrication facility in March 1979. The bottom photo is the crew of Corning Glass Works in 1905.