Steuben County Historical Society

Steuben County Historical Society Kirk House, Director of SCHS posts pictures on this page. Usually Monday through Friday.

In the 1790s land agent Charles Williamson built a fine mansion… long since gone… near Bath’s Lake Salubria. He brought...
06/18/2026

In the 1790s land agent Charles Williamson built a fine mansion… long since gone… near Bath’s Lake Salubria. He brought in a few slaves to help build and maintain the place, and the next owners brought in many more. New York slavery ended in 1827 – other northern states followed suit, and millions were freed during the Civil War. Texas rebel troops finally surrendered on June 2, 1865, and the news of freedom started to spread through a large territory with poor transportation and communications. Since news reached enslaved people piecemeal there was no specific date when slavery ended in Texas – people learned that they were free on Juneteenth – whatever day the good news arrived. Magee House will be closed tomorrow, for this year’s observance of Juneteenth.

Our new Wednesday mini-series is “On the Farm,” and we begin with Arkport, where celery was a big product for years. In...
06/17/2026

Our new Wednesday mini-series is “On the Farm,” and we begin with Arkport, where celery was a big product for years. In the lower right of the first card we read the penciled note, “This is where I spent my happy days.”

We believe that this is Bath, and we suppose that it’s the Fourth of July. (Please correct us if we’re wrong in either ...
06/16/2026

We believe that this is Bath, and we suppose that it’s the Fourth of July. (Please correct us if we’re wrong in either case.) Using the flag as drapery may surprise us, but the elaborate flag code was not promulgated until after World War I, and was only made official during World War II. In the car we spy folks who appear to be representing a sailor; a soldier; Uncle Sam; and Dame Columbia… who is often overshadowed, these days, by Lady Liberty

World War I turned Glenn Curtiss’s precarious airplane business into a coast-to-coast, multimillion dollar enterprise, a...
06/15/2026

World War I turned Glenn Curtiss’s precarious airplane business into a coast-to-coast, multimillion dollar enterprise, almost overnight. But hundreds still worked at the original Hammondsport plant, and likely saw this cover on the company’s in-house magazine – a good image for Flag Day (one day late). “Living flag” photos quickly became a specialty of the military… they being able to rout out hundreds of people, direct each to stand on a specific spot, and then have them stay put for hours, until they were told to do otherwise.

The Pollio cheese plant in Campbell opened in the 1930s, though the business had operated in New York City for decades b...
06/12/2026

The Pollio cheese plant in Campbell opened in the 1930s, though the business had operated in New York City for decades by then. Besides Pollio (the company name) and Polly-O (the brand name, complete with parrot advertising mascot), the family name has also been spelled Palio and Polio. The business is now part of BelGioioso Cheese. This photo is probably from the 1970s or 1980s.

06/12/2026

When we wrap up 2026, we will look back on today, June 11, 2026, as a special day in Steuben County. Not just because a huge, rare steam engine crossed our territory, but mostly because so many residents of Steuben County showed up, in mass, together by the track, and later on social media. A possible "once-in-a-lifetime" event brought us together as witnesses to something truly great, and truly American.

Video by Amy Bates

Steuben is excited over today’s visit from the huge “Big Boy” steam locomotive, transiting the county and making a short...
06/11/2026

Steuben is excited over today’s visit from the huge “Big Boy” steam locomotive, transiting the county and making a short stop at the Erie Depot Museum in Hornell. So we thought we would share this more placid view, outside Canisteo, on the New York and Pennsylvania Railroad. (NOT the Pennsylvania Railroad, which was much bigger.) (ALSO not the Western New York and Pennsylvania Railroad, in either of its two iterations.) The 56-mile NYP operated in southwestern Steuben and nearby parts in both namesake states. The company had been losing money for years when the 1935 flood destroyed 10 miles of track and bridges, and that was the end of that.

We conclude our weekly mini-series on The Motoring Age at Thomas Aeroplanes in Bath… and we hope that these fellows are ...
06/10/2026

We conclude our weekly mini-series on The Motoring Age at Thomas Aeroplanes in Bath… and we hope that these fellows are just clowning, rather than setting off on a drive… though since they were pioneer aviators, such a drive might have seemed tame to them. William Thomas and his brother co-owned the company, which became Thomas Morse. Fritts, Burnside, Johnson, Eells and Brown all learned to fly at Thomas, and worked for Thomas. Fred Eells, a local man, was the first pilot over Bath, Naples, or Rochester… he and Burnside are both buried in Bath’s Nondaga Cemetery. Johnson and Burnside each married Bath women. Ralph Brown became president of Penn Yan Boat. Johnson and Burnside also worked for Curtiss. Burnside flew early air mail, while Johnson served in both world wars. Fritts was a barnstormer before the word was coined. Earl Beers often served as a mechanic. Can anyone identify the car?

In the first photo we see that Charles Clayson at Gunlocke is unlikely to run out of scrap wood. Photo 2 shows Gunlocke...
06/09/2026

In the first photo we see that Charles Clayson at Gunlocke is unlikely to run out of scrap wood. Photo 2 shows Gunlocke craftsmen at work – vast military expansion in the 1940s, followed by vast school and college expansion in the 1950s-1960s, created a vast demand for Gunlocke furniture. In photo 3 Gunlocke sponsors a float in the centennial parade (1948) for the company’s home town of Wayland. Sad to say, we understand that production in Wayland will cease next year.

Being between Memorial Day and the Fourth of July... in the year of our nation's 250th anniversary... we thought we'd sh...
06/08/2026

Being between Memorial Day and the Fourth of July... in the year of our nation's 250th anniversary... we thought we'd share some photos from Avoca's Memorial Day/Decoration Day observances, 75 years ago, in 1951.

Address

1 Conhocton Street
Bath, NY
14810

Opening Hours

Tuesday 10am - 3pm
Wednesday 10am - 3pm
Thursday 10am - 3pm
Friday 10am - 12pm

Telephone

(607) 776-9930

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