Back to Top

posticon Lansing Bicentennial Minute

Print Print
Pin It
Lansing Bicentennial MinuteThe N.N.P. Lyceum, a study group in Lansing, presented a program January 6, 1869 on the resolution "That the right of suffrage should be extended to women." After an interesting debate, listened to by an appreciative audience, the judges decided that "woman now occupied her proper sphere." This decision brought a fiery criticism from Mary A. Wager, a newspaper writer  from New York City. She described herself as being a "Tompkins County Child" as she had been born on Algerine Road.  She said, "It is a pity that that humble village could not be scooped up out of the hollow in which it grovels and be set upon a hill where the sunlight of progress and common sense could vitalize it."
Pin It

posticon Lansing Bicentennial Minute

Print Print
Pin It
Lansing Bicentennial Minute In Ludlowville torchlight processions were held during presidential years just before the election. The march was introduced by drummer boys wearing fancy home-made paper caps , vigorously beating snare drums, in time or out; it didn't matter. Behind them came two men carrying a billowing banner on which were enlarged pictures of the presidential candidate and his running mate. Then followed a line of old and young men holding signs with slogans of the party and its candidates. They alternately shouted and sang silly, unkind, and usually untrue quips about the opposing representatives. The fascination of it all was not alone in the lights, the noise, and the marching. It was also in the ridiculous incongruity of the presence of those dignified members of the church and community tramping along so pompously and shouting those foolish sayings. Trailing behind them, as close as they dared, were the little boys of the village imitating the swagger before them, and catching and repeating as much as they could of the shouting.

"Tippecanoe and Tyler too!"
Pin It

posticon Lansing Bicentennial Minute

Print Print
Pin It
Lansing Bicentennial MinuteNear Genoa there was a saw mill with a vertical saw. On one occasion the miller that operated this saw mill was eating his lunch when a passing bear caught scent of food. The bear came in the mill and was fascinated by the moving saw. He went to the saw, hugged it, and was cut in half.
Pin It

posticon Lansing Bicentennial Minute

Print Print
Pin It
Lansing Bicentennial MinuteThe Town of Lansing, formed in 1817, was originally part of the larger Town of Milton. Then the name was changed to Town of Genoa in 1808. One of the final resolutions of the Old Town of Genoa came in 1816 when a "Certificate of Freedom" was granted to one Issac Middleton, a person colored, about 40 years of age. He was a free man as he was born free in Salem, Massachusetts.
Pin It

posticon Lansing Bicentennial Minute

Print Print
Pin It
Lansing Bicentennial MinuteSouth Lansing, January 12, 1924: Wednesday was a memorable day for the Grangers of this vicinity, when the mortgage of their hall was burned, a sumptuous dinner was served, and officers for 1924 were installed. The building was fully equipped by the women of the Grange, who sold ice cream and baked goods, and who later sold sandwiches and coffee to purchase the gasoline lamps now used on both floors. This Grange building is our present Community Building.
Pin It

posticon Lansing Bicentennial Minute

Print Print
Pin It
Lansing Bicentennial MinuteQuill pens date from the dark ages when bird feathers replaced hollow reeds the Romans used. To make a quill pen, you first had to catch your bird. Goose feathers were favored. Swan quills were best, but who would approach an angry swan? Crow feathers were unbeatable for drawing fine lines. If you were lucky your quill might last a week. For almost 1500 years people used quill pens to write letters. By the nineteenth century, however, steel nibs were well on their way to ousting the trusty quill.
Pin It

posticon Lansing Bicentennial Minute

Print Print
Pin It
Lansing Bicentennial MinuteJunior Prom 1959 - The Junior Prom on May 16 was a successful event with the Esquires supplying the the music to the theme, "Apple Blossom Time".  The gym was decorated with two-toned pink and white colored streamers reaching from the top of the gym to the sides, with a pool of water in the center of the dance floor which contained apple blossoms and a revolving reflecting light. Around the outside of the gym were tables with apple blossoms and a candle on each table. Joyce Barron was crowned queen.
Pin It

posticon Lansing Bicentennial Minute

Print Print
Pin It
Lansing Bicentennial MinuteIn 1954 Cayuga Rock Salt owned Ludlowville Falls and several acres of land surrounding the falls. (They had bought the property earlier as a possible future water power site.) The  International Salt Company also owned another former dam site a short distance upstream from the Falls (the Red Bridge area). The International Salt purchase appears to have been intended to block any future development of the Falls by the Rock Salt, and also for their own future power use. The two companies ownership of the two Salmon Creek sites continued for many years with neither company willing to sell to the other nor were they interested or able to proceed with any water power development. In 1954 The Rock Salt was contacted by the Town (Russ Lane, Supervisor) to see if they would be willing to deed the property to the town for a town park. Rock Salt was happy to do so, provided the land would always be used as a park.  In this way Ludlowville Park became our first Town Park. A couple of years following the Rock Salt transfer of land, International Salt deeded its land around Red Bridge to the Lansing Fish and Game Club and this became the Rod and Gun Club that we know today.
Pin It

posticon Lansing Bicentennial Minute

Print Print
Pin It
Lansing Bicentennial MinuteA game played during recess at the one room schoolhouse was, "Anty Over". The children would get on either side of the building and throw a ball over the roof. They would call, "Anty over!" when they threw the ball. If it was caught on the other side that side scored a point.
Pin It

posticon Lansing Bicentennial Minute

Print Print
Pin It
Lansing Bicentennial MinuteA game played during recess at the one room schoolhouse was, 'Anty Over'. The children would get on either side of the building and throw a ball over the roof. They would call, "Anty over!" when they threw the ball. If it was caught on the other side that side scored a point.
Pin It

posticon Lansing Bicentennial Minute

Print Print
Pin It
Lansing Bicentennial MinuteThe  South Lansing School was originally built on Conlon Road. When it burned the children attended the Grange Hall while waiting for the "new school" ( now the Lansing Community Library) to be built in 1925. There were no school buses in those days and all the children walked to the district schools which were located so that almost all the children walked under a mile. The Field School, which is the only remaining one room schoolhouse in Lansing, was nearby on the corner of Route 34 and Van Ostrand Road. At one time Lansing had 23 schoolhouses.
Pin It

posticon Lansing Bicentennial Minute

Print Print
Pin It
Lansing Bicentennial MinuteIn 1957 the drama club of the high school put on the play, 'The Valiant' with these actors: David Wicham, Tom Frady, Steve Dunn, Joanne Horvath, Marty Trinkl, and David Bowman. The student director was Nancy Maine. Dramatic readings were given by: Janette Larson, Faye Ann Ferris, Carolyn Cochran, Wanda Holden, and Ralph Lobdell. In another vein; Herbert Milliman, James Phillip, Evan Phillips, Thomas Frady, and Ralph Rose were making fudge and other goodies in Mrs. Juracka's Home Economics class.
Pin It

posticon Lansing Bicentennial Minute

Print Print
Pin It
Lansing Bicentennial MinuteAbout 1880 Dick Howell built a boat, the 'Clayton', with M.E. Sperry. They bought the complete set of patterns from a man in Geneva. "We just laid them on the timber and cut out the pieces", Dick explained.  It took all winter to build it on the beach at Ladoga Park near Myers. Reynolds and Lang in Ithaca built the machinery for the 'Clayton' which Dick ran for about ten years.
Pin It

posticon Lansing Bicentennial Minute

Print Print
Pin It
Lansing Bicentennial MinuteSome of the boys who left Lansing to fight in World War II in 1941 are: Aub Cratsley,Jr., Don Wagner, Jim Hercinger, Mike Saleem, Jess Solomon, George Issac, Al Kastenboder, Bill Minturn, Bob Cratsley, Bud Holden, Ed Kowalski. They are pictured in front of The Corner Cupboard as they wait for the bus to take them to the camp where they would be given physicals and be inducted into service for their country.
Pin It

posticon Lansing Bicentennial Minute

Print Print
Pin It
Lansing Bicentennial MinuteAlgerine Road was probably named for an Algerine, or one who acted 'like an Algerine pirate', referring to the Barbary pirates from Algiers on Africa's North Coast. The use of this term in Lansing surely implied that the people living on Algerine Road were thought to act illegally. Before the road took the name Algerine, it was known as Cooney.
Pin It

posticon Lansing Bicentennial Minute

Print Print
Pin It
Lansing Bicentennial MinuteThrough thick and thin, winter cold and summer heat, Everett V. Nobles for 42 years carried rural mail out of the Ludlowville Post Office until December 1, 1955, when he retired. He had seen his route grow from 20 miles in 1913 to 68 miles at his retirement. In 1953, when additions were added to his route, he covered more miles than any other carrier in the state. He estimated he traveled a total of some 650,000 miles, leaving mail at 350 roadside boxes. He started his rounds with horses and even after he got a car in 1914, he relied on his horses during the winter months.
Pin It

posticon Lansing Bicentennial Minute

Print Print
Pin It
Lansing Bicentennial MinuteLansingville was first known as Teetertown, named after Conrad Teeter who came here around 1807 to join his brother, Peter Teeter, who came in 1795. Conrad had tavern there which made it a 'town center'. When the tavern was sold in 1828, the name was changed to Lansingville.  The first Teeter to arrive here was Henry Teeter who came in 1791. He also built a tavern, but it burned in the spring of 1804. His wife was consumed in the flames and Henry died about six months later from injuries sustained in the fire.
Pin It

posticon Lansing Bicentennial Minute

Print Print
Pin It
Lansing Bicentennial MinuteIn the early 1800's Daniel Buck traded a red shirt and a yoke of oxen to his brother-in-law, Rufus Herrick for Military Lot # 80 in the Town of Milton. A Military Lot was 600 acres of land, so that was a pretty good deal, I would say. Daniel helped to to build Dug Road down to Ludlowville which was the nearest market. Since Lot # 80 is over by the intersection of VanOstrand and Buck Road that would be a pretty long road to dig! But with this road they could draw four-foot lumber to Ludlowville and sell it for 50 cents a cord.
Pin It

posticon Lansing Bicentennial Minute

Print Print
Pin It
Lansing Bicentennial MinuteTilman Bower and his wife came here in 1794 and settled on the Lansingville Road one quarter mile south of the Old German School, which was also used as church on Sundays. This was a common practice in pioneer days. The Old German Cemetery is behind this small original school/church building located very near the Groton town line. Of his sons, John and Honteeter settled near their father, but Samuel, Adam, and George made their homes across Salmon Creek near North Lansing.
Pin It

posticon Lansing Bicentennial Minute

Print Print
Pin It
Lansing Bicentennial MinuteMusic for a picnic in Merrit's Grove in King Ferry, July 3rd, 1873 , was provided by the Ludlowville Coronet Band. The grove was lighted by lamps suspended from trees, and beautifully decorated tables were supplied abundantly with substantial and delicate provisions.
Pin It

posticon Lansing Bicentennial Minute

Print Print
Pin It
Lansing Bicentennial Minute In North Lansing the Methodist and Baptist churches united to build a church which was to be dedicated at a special meeting. Some of the Methodists had a meeting (unknown to the Baptists) and dedicated the church as a Methodist one. Things remained this way for a while, then the Baptists withdrew and built their own church. This split the congregation, even families, as each member attended his or her own church.
Pin It

Page 1 of 3