Clik here to view.
Tales of Woe at 1893 Grand Central Ave.
by Erin Doane, Curator The house that once stood at 1893 Grand Central Avenue had served as a hotel, boarding house, tavern, inn, restaurant, and private home throughout its history. It was also a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Black Out
Black OutBy Rachel Dworkin, archivist On January 3, 1942 at 9:35pm, every factory whistle and siren in the greater Elmira metro area began to sound the alarm. An attack was imminent. Within minutes,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
What does the Historical Society do?
by Susan Zehnder, Education DirectorInstead of taking the Trolley into Mark Twain County ride, our curator and her husband, accompanied by our trusty museum mascot Mark the Mammoth, recently walked all...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Wellsburg Fire of 1912
by Erin Doane, CuratorThe locomotive sped down the tracks, casting up sparks as it passed. Usually, the tiny glowing embers cooled and blinked out as they drifted through the air and settled to the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Wrong Side of History: The Anti-Suffragists
By Rachel Dworkin, Archivist2020 marks the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment, which granted American women the right to vote. Since I’ve already written about the suffrage...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Throw Like a Girl
by Susan Zehnder, Education DirectorOne day while playing ball, thirteen-year-old Clara Cook threw a life changing pitch. Clara was a left-handed pitcher and batter who honed her skills playing with...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Three Generations of Local Fame: Robert, James, and Henry Dumars
by Erin Doane, CuratorThere are different levels of fame. Some people are known within their own town or city, but no one knows who they are outside that community. Some people achieve regional fame...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Last Video Store
by Rachel Dworkin The Family Video on College Avenue is closing. The other weekend, I stopped by to pick up some of their old stock on the cheap. Is it streaming, I asked the manager, or the pandemic?...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Chemung Speedrome
by Susan Zehnder, Education DirectorIn 1950, while visiting an auto mechanic in Ithaca for repair work on his car, a Chemung County farmer was asked, “Do you have any land on your farm where a small...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Other Tunnel Escape
by Erin Doane, CuratorOn October 7, 1864, 10 Confederate soldiers tunneled their way out of Elmira’s prisoner-of-war camp. You can read all about that famous Civil War-era tunnel escape in Rachel...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Absence Makes the Vote Go Yonder
By Rachel Dworkin, Archivist President Trump has claimed that universal mail-in ballots will mean that no Republican will ever be elected again, but the original absentee ballots were introduced by...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Spirits of the season...
By Susan Zehnder, Education Director.For those of you able to make this year’s historic Ghost Walk, we hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. This was the 14th year in a row the Chemung County...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Spooks in Wellsburg
by Erin Doane, CuratorThe death of Miss Mabel Evans in Wellsburg was a great mystery. How did the beautiful young lady die, and why was she quietly buried at midnight? Thomas McGraw was sitting...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Win with Willkie
By Rachel Dworkin, archivistCan anyone remember the last time a presidential candidate visited Chemung County? It wasn’t in my lifetime, that’s for sure. There have been a few vice-presidential...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Bachelor Governor
by Susan Zehnder, Education DirectorBack in the day when our building housed the Chemung Canal Bank, there were apartments for rent on the top floor. A quick look around reveals about 5 rooms and a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Carrying On During the Flood of 1902
by Erin Doane, CuratorWhat would you do if you saw flood waters rapidly rising in the street in front of your downtown business? Would you barricade the door and hope it was enough to keep the deluge...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Iroquois Confederacy: The Original American Federalism
By Rachel Dworkin, archivist In honor of Native American Heritage Month, let’s all take a moment to acknowledge that Chemung County is on Seneca land. The Seneca are one of the five original members...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Esther Baker Steele: A Woman of her Word
by Susan Zehnder, Education DirectorIn the 19th century, the Reverend Gardner Baker and his wife Esther, and daughter also named Esther, lived in Lysander, a village located in Onondaga County, New...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A Fall Tradition goes Virtual
Reds, Whites, Blues and Brews: Making Spirits BrightDuring this unusual time, we have all had to make adjustments. Here at CCHS we were closed for several months when the Covid-19 outbreak first began,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Souvenirs from a Doomed Voyage
by Erin Doane, CuratorThe purpose of the Lady Franklin Bay Expeditionfrom 1881 to 1884 was to establish a polar research station near Lady Franklin Bay on Canada’s Nares Strait north of Greenland. The...
View Article