Elmira, NY: History, Fun Facts, & Nuances - for SHS 45th Reunion
Elmira
History
-
Original town in Chemung County was Chemung, in 1788. (Note
- Chemung means "big horn" in Iroquois...from the wooly mammoth
remains in area)
-
Town of Newtown established shortly after, at junction of Chemung River
and Newtown Creek
-
The first documented Newtown settler was Abraham Miller of the Continental
Army...he built a cabin just after resigning before the Revolutionary War
(supposedly his house still remains, but haven't heard of it...but, we know of
Miller Street, Miller Pond, etc...)
-
The Battle of Newtown, 29 August 1779, near present day Lowman, was led by
Generals Sullivan and Clinton, and tamed the Indian
uprisings, clearing the way for white settlement (the village of
Horseheads is named after the many horse skulls found in the area by early
"pioneers" after the campaign...)
-
In 1792, the adjacent settlements of Newtown, Wisnerburg, and DeWittsburg
joined into the Village of Newtown
-
In 1828, the Village of Newtown changed its name to Elmira
-- Local legend has it that, while the city fathers were deliberating one
evening on what to call the town, a local mother was heard calling her young
daughter Elmira home, and thus...
-
The Chemung Canal by the 1820s connected Elmira, via Senaca Lake, to the
Erie Canal...but the railroads soon followed, and became the dominant
transportation means. Elmira eventually became a significant east-west
(Erie, Lackawanna, others) and north-south (Penna RR, others)
hub...as did Corning and Hornell...all thru the 1950s and 60s...
-
In the 1861-1865 Civil War era, Elmira, due to its location and
extensive railroad networks, became a marshalling point for the western NY
area...Camp Rathbun was the enlistment, send-off point for many Upstate NY
militia units, most of whom fought in the Northern Virginia campaigns, all the
way though to Appomatox
-
Camp Rathbun was converted to a Civil War prison camp in 1864. The
site is completely gone now, except for a plaque in the back yard of a
West Elmira home around Wisnor Street. The prison
camp existed only 2 years (1864-65), but housed over 12,000
Confederate prisoners, and came to be known as "Hellmira" (or the
"Andersonville of the North") as its hasty design and poor sanitation
led to 2,900 deaths.
-
John Jones, an escaped slave, was prominent in the Underground
Railroad history of Elmira, and classified all of the dead Confederates in the
Civil War camp with meticulous record keepings...thus, the emergence
of the Woodlawn National Cemetery (Note - the John Jones home has
recently been restored...)
-
The city grew steadily in the Industrial Revolution era (post Civil War
are into the 1900s)...becoming an industry town dubbed the Queen City (it was
bigger than Binghamton right up thru the 1920s...and such huge cities now as
Tampa, Phoenix, Las Vegas, etc., where much smaller than Elmira well into the
1920s...or so...)
-
Of course, Mark Twain spent 20 straight summers at Quarry Farm in the 1870s
thru 90s...and it is documented much of "Tom Sawyer," "The
Adventures of Huckleberry Fin" and others were written in his study, built
by the Langdon's in 1874. He made is last trip to Elmira in 1907...after
his wife, Olivia Langdon, had passed away (1904 in Florence, Italy).
He died in 1910
-- How Twain met Olivia - on Twain's ship to Europe on the 1860s,
he became buds with his suite mate, young Charles Langdon
of Elmira, and was captivated by a cameo of his
sister. After his lengthy stay all over Europe, the Langdon's invited
Twain to Elmira in 1868, where he eventually won
"Libby's" hand. They married at the Langdon home, by the
Rev Thomas K. Beecher (he became one of Twain's best friends) on
2 Feb 1870
-- Twain, Olivia and their children are buried in
Woodlawn...with other notables Hal Roach (early Hollywood producer/studio head
- "Little Rascals" & "Our Gang" Comedies, etc), Ernie
Davis (Syracuse All-American and first black to win the Heisman Trophy/1961),
etc...
-
The Elmira Star Gazette is the first Gannet newspaper...founded by Gannett and
Tripp in 1906...(Gannet is the news empire now that includes USA Today,
etc)
Elmira
Population Thru the Years
1890
- 30,893
1900
- 35,672
1910
- 37,176
1920
- 45,393
1930
- 47,397
1940
- 45,106
1950
- 49, 716 (high point, when we were in lower grade school)
1960
- 46,517
1970
- 39,945
1980
- 35,327
1990
- 33,724
2000
- 30,940
Ethnicity
- from records I could dig up, show the Elmira/Chemung County population
derives roughly from:
- Irish
- 18%
-
German - 17%
-
Italian - 11%
-
Black/African-American - 11%
-
English - 10%
-
Polish - 7%
-
French 3%
-
Dutch 3%
-
Plus, 1 to 2 % each of Scottish, Welsh, French Canadian, Swedish and Russian
Naturally,
the Hispanic population has grown the most recently, from almost zero as
recently as the late 1980s...
-
Chemung County peaked at 98,000 in the 1960s...and is ~91,000 today
-
However, Elmira serves as the central point in the 4-county Twin Tiers
Chemung & Steuben in NY/Bradford & Tioga in PA) ...total
population over 300,000
-
Elmira, NY has been designated one of the US government's 362
Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas (SMSAs) since the 1960s...granted, on
of the smaller, weighing in the high 200s...
-
It has been said that Elmira/Corning area is one of the few of
its size that has its own:
--
Airport (USAir, Northwest, Continental, Pan Am Clipper)
--
Performing arts centers
--
Art museums (Arnot and Rockwell Museum of Western Art, etc)
--
Bus transportation network
--
Nature center (Tanglewood)
--
First Arena (minor league hockey, circuses, WWE, concerts, youth hockey, Harlem
GlobeTrotters, home shows, etc)
--
Dunn Field (historic ball park since the 30s)
-- 3
TV stations and numerous radio stations
--
A Fortune 500 Corporate Headquarters (Corning - with one of the biggest tourist
attractions in NY State)
-- 2
aviation museums (National Soaring Hall of Fame and Discovery Wings of Eagles)
--
State-of-the art medical centers (numerous)
--
Daily newspapers
--
Elmira College
--
LPGA Golf tourney (Corning CC)
--
Very active soaring (Harris Hill...still with many competitions)
--
Equestrian events (little known outside that community, but many regional
northeast events every year...mostly at the Fair Grounds)
--
Golf galore (Mark Twain Golf Course, designed by the famed Donald Ross, and
developed as a works project in the depression era 30s, was
rated the #1 public course value in the whole USA by Golf Magazine last
year...)
-
Of course, most cities don't have 2 prisons either...(note - the Elmira
Reformatory in the late 1800s initiated attempts to rehab
prisoners, to get them back into society...that was an innovation at the
time, called the "Elmira System"...adopted nationwide... )
-
Elmira's current theme is "Honoring the Past, Building the
Future"...featured on a new sign at the Church Street entrance off Rte
17/!-86
--- The sign honors aforementioned Elmirans Twain, Roach, Davis, and
Jones...along with Tommy Hilfiger, Eileen Collins, and Brian Williams
(his childhood hero was TV newsman Carl Proper, who retired in Aug 2006
after a storied career at WETM-TV - NBC)
-
Jeanine Pierro is another prominent native - Westchester County DA, on TV a
lot...and ran for NYS Attny General
-
Elmira was the home of American soaring from the 1930s on...via the 3
Schweitzer Brothers. The company still exists, and it was just announced
that Sikorsky will be adding jobs and facilities for Blackhawk helo work
-
The Mark Twain Hotel, from 1929 thru 1973 (now an apartment house for the
elderly) hosted so many notables...Babe Ruth, actors, politicians, etc (can't
find list now...have seen). Was site of our Senior Prom (one of my tasks
was hiring the band...ha...)
- The
annual NASCAR Nextel Cup race at Watkins Glen International in August is
the biggest sporting event in NY State...attendance-wise...
-
The Eldridge Park carousel has been reconditioned for service...led by a
local dentist. The mechanism had remained in place all these years, and
a fund-raising drive enabled the horses ands other animals to be
produced. A gala re-opening was held in May 2006...with Brian Williams
appearing (Hilfiger, Pierro, and others had supported past few years)
-
Elmira is somewhat of a medical center now, with Arnot-Ogden, St Josephs, the
Elmira Psychiatric Center, a VA clinic...and the nearby Robert Packer and
Guthrie complexes
-
No one can dispute the sad shape of downtown. with respect to
shopping/entertainment (the First Arena, Clemens Center, and a few
restaurants/bars aside) ...but, many businesses remain and weekday
traffic is still plentiful (the new summer Thursday market is a hit...)
-- And, the Big Flats commercial area has features we wouldn't have
thought of a few years ago in Elmira - virtually all of the chain
restaurants, Barnes & Noble (with Starbucks), Jos Banks
clothing, Pier One, numerous new hotels/motels, Outback Steakhouse,
etc...plus Best Buy, Target and Panera Bread just opened, with a new
24-hour Super Wallmart replacing the old one soon...whoopee...
Of
course, one can never overlook our Appalachian hills roots...and the
fact Elmira is a stonešs throw from the Finger Lakes, wine country,
Watkins Glen, Ithaca/Cornell, Hammondsport (Glenn Curtis museum)...and twin
city Corning, with Market Street shops/restaurants that remind us of the Elmira
downtown of old...etc, etc...