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Elmira’s First Bridge
by Erin Doane, CuratorThe Lake Street Bridge closed to vehicular and pedestrian traffic in March 2011. I started working here at CCHS in May 2011, so I never had the chance to go over the bridge that...
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The Lady and the Tigers
by Rachel Dworkin, ArchivistIn September of 1941, Ethel Nichols was on a mission, and so were the 300 men of the American Volunteer Group (AVG). Ethel, an Elmira native and member of the Southside...
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Thank You and Good Luck!
by Bruce Whitmarsh, DirectorOn August 20, our Education Coordinator Kelli Huggins let you all know that she had taken a new position at the Catskills Interpretive Center and would be leaving CCHS....
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The Six-Day Ladies’ Bicycle Race
by Erin Doane, CuratorStarting on August 28, 1900, Eldridge Park hosted “the greatest and most novel athletic event ever conceived” – a six-day-long ladies’ bicycle race. The management of the park...
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Eclipse and Rebirth
By Rachel Dworkin, archivistIn the spring of 1942, with World War II raging, Elmira’s factories were all hands on deck. Or at least, they would have been if not for American’s oldest and most...
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Monuments in Wisner Park
by Erin Doane, CuratorFor generations, people have been going to Wisner Park to meet with friends, gather for celebrations, speak out about various causes, shop for summer produce, and simply sit and...
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Briggs Brewery: The Last Raid
By Rachel Dworkin, ArchivistOn April 12, 1933, New Jersey mobster Waxey Gordon, aka Irving Wexel, received troubling phone call at his office in Elizabeth, New Jersey and left. Minutes later, a...
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Seven Years in the Amazon
by Erin Doane, CuratorOn November 18, 1894, Fritz Up De Graff of Elmira sailed from New York City on the SS Advance bound for Ecuador. The young man had recently graduated from Union College in...
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Flu Season
By Rachel Dworkin, ArchivistOn October 1, 1918, the Weinstein family of Elmira was notified that their son, Jacob, was sick at the Great Lakes Naval Training Station near Chicago. Spanish Flu had...
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“Clothes of Charm” - The Gorton Coy
by Erin Doane, CuratorThe Gorton Coy, northeast corner of Main and Water Streets, 1949For 56 years, the Gorton Coy was Elmira’s leading specialty shop. Women of discerning taste shopped there for all...
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Stough It!
by Rachel Dworkin, archivistOn New Year’s Eve 1912, a new preacher rolled into town and he was looking to stir things up. Dr. Reverend H.W. Stough was a traveling revivalist with a serious beef against...
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The Trolley Card Game: Look Out For It!
by Erin Doane, CuratorIn 1904, the Snyder Bros. of Elmira put out a new card game called Trolley. It was marketed as “Society’s Card Game for 1904,” and it seemed to have sold fairly well. In 1906,...
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Iszard's Holiday Parade
by Rachel Dworkin, ArchivistIn case you missed it, last Friday was Elmira’s annual holiday parade. The beloved community tradition began life as a crass marketing ploy. In 1957, the S.F. Iszard Company...
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The Country Club and The City Club
by Erin Doane, Curator"The Country Mouse and the City Mouse" by Scott Gustafson, c.2010www.scottgustafson.com/During the late 1800s, businessmen in Elmira were looking for places where they could...
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A True Story Word For Word As I Heard It
By Rachel Dworkin, archivistIt was summer-time, and twilight. We were sitting on the porch of the farmhouse, on the summit of the hill, and "Aunt Rachel" was sitting respectfully below our level, on...
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Bank Night at the Keeney
by Erin Doane, CuratorIn February 1936, the Keeney Theater in Elmira held its first Bank Night. Coloradan Charles U. Yaeger, a former booking agent from 20th Century Fox, invented the lottery-type game...
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The Big Game
By Rachel Dworkin, ArchivistIn the fall of 1920, Elmira Free Academy principal Francis Parker traveled to Binghamton for the annual EFA-Binghamton football game. He would have been better off staying...
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Come Fly with Me: A History of the Elmira-Corning Regional Airport
by Erin Doane, CuratorIn 1927, American Airways leased about 100 acres of farmland in Big Flats to serve as an emergency airfield along its New York-Buffalo route. The airline spent $30,000 preparing...
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Big Shoes To Fill!
By Susan Zehnder, Education DirectorStepping into the position of Education Director at the Chemung County Historical Society, and into the big shoes left by my predecessor Kelli Huggins (a shout out...
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Impact of the Flood of 1972
by John Liquori, 6th grade English and Social Studies teacher at Horseheads Intermediate School[Staff Note: CCHS was pleased to work with Mr. Liquori and his students in the creation of the exhibit...
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