The first Ontario Bible Conference meeting in Fair Haven was held in a tent in 1921. A tabernacle was built in 1926 at 14493 Richmond Avenue. In 1940 they purchased the old Maplewood Inn at 550 Main Street and changed the name to Maplewood Lodge to house attendees during conferences. The last Conference in Fair Haven was held in 1946 when it was moved to 385 Lakeview Road in Oswego..
Listen to these two Timco Radio Commercials from October 1, 1959
Timco Commercial 1 – Conversation between Fido and Tabby
The following information on 19th Century Fourth of July celebrations in Fair Haven was provided by John Duda.
The parade goes back at least into the 1880’s, when it was known as the “fusileer’s parade.”
A description of the celebrations from the 1880’s relates that, in addition to the fusileer’s parade, they also had a yacht race, a reading of the Declaration of Independence, baseball games, and bicycle races, horse races, and of course fireworks, during which a band concert was held on the hotel lawn. It was known as the “fusileer’s parade” until at least 1911. Continue reading “Fourth of July Parade”
This jog in the bay’s shoreline became known as Harrison Point when Hannah and Henry Harrison purchase the Octagon House farm from the estate of Samuel Wells in 1878.
by Reverend George Lansing Taylor
This article from the Auburn Daily Bulletin, December 16, 1873
was contributed by John Duda.
In a recent issue of the New York Christian Advocate, the Rev. Geo. Lansing Taylor gives a charming description of a day spent on Chrysler’s Bluffs, in the vicinity of Little Sodus Bay, on Lake Ontario.
Mr. Taylor, who is a graceful poet and prose writer, as well as preacher, grew up from boyhood to manhood in the town of Sterling, in this county. Last October he spent several days amid the old scenes, giving one whole day to a ramble on the lake shore, among haunts of his boyhood. His description of the visit is a beautiful word-picture, and moreover possesses local interest, though we presume few of our readers were even aware so charming a locality lay within the borders of our county.
Mr. Taylor describes his adventures as follows :
On the morning of the 18th of October [1873], Jacob Chrysler, Esq., of Fair Haven, drove me in his buggy from Fair Haven, some five miles, by roads familiar to my memory, past well-known farms and old houses, past “M.Knight’s red school house,” whence several of my schoolmates Continue reading “An Autumn Day on Chrysler’s Bluff”
Contributed by John Duda
Here, you are sitting on the porch of the Maplewood Inn, which was located where the village park is located nowadays. Across the street you can see the building known as Central Hall, which was located on the corner of Main and Richmond, where the parking lot for the grocery store and the ice cream stand are now located.
Continue reading “Central Hall”
The subject of the 2013 Academy Award winning Best Picture is the kidnapping of Solomon Northup (also spelled Northrup and Northrop by some family members). Northup had been born a “free man of color” in upstate New York. He was a well educated, talented violinist who was abducted in 1841, transported to Louisiana and sold into slavery. The film is based on his 1853 autobiographical book titled Twelve Years A Slave. In January 1853 friends in Saratoga, New York received intelligence regarding Solomon’s whereabouts and, with the help of New York Governor Washington Hunt, arranged for his freedom. The story of his ordeal and survival fascinated readers at the time as well as preserving a firsthand account of the slaveholder practices in that era of America’s history. Continue reading “Zip Northrup in Fair Haven”
On Valentines Day, 1900 Frank and Jenny Longley purchased lots 39 and 40 at the northwest corner of Main and Lake Streets. Longley’s Market opened there a short time later. In the building immediately adjacent to it Herb and Minnie Grant opened a soda fountain, confectionery, and pool hall. The families lived in the apartments above their stores.
Leon Lindsley was a meat cutter in Frank Longley‘s meat market. On October 8, 1904 Leon married Frank’s daughter, Maud.
Herbert Lindsley, Leon’s brother, was the manager of the Hotel Dietel, until he served two undercover excise agents whiskey Continue reading “1908 Grant Block Fire”
Just before midnight on Saint Patrick’s Day, March 17, 1955 Harold Wallace smelled smoke. He and his family were living above the store he owned on Main Street at the corner of Fancher Avenue. Today this is the location of new store he built after the fire.
