Download Limestone Quarries

UNION SPRINGS HISTORIC SITES
(Listed in Alphabetical Order)
1- Backus Stone Barn
The stone barn behind the present auto agency on South Cayuga Street is a sad reminder of the quality and beauty of the estate that once graced this site. It was one of three
outbuildings of similar design that served the extensive mansion that graced the site before
its demolition. It still demonstrates the quality of design and excellence of materials used.
Clinton Backus obtained the site from D. D. Allen who had owned the house that was
built following the building that had housed the first post office run by John Mosher.
Early in the Twentieth Century the building was owned and occupied by Mr. Barkley
whose will bequeathed the property to the Union Springs Masonic order. Since they did not wish
to avail themselves of the use of the site, they sold to Gordon Palmer who razed the house to
build his auto agency. The stone outbuildings were left to mourn the passing of this house that
had graced the Village.
2 – Courtney-Gibbs House on Chapel Street
In 1873 the Courtney house at No. 6 Chapel Street was built in sight of their business
housed at the west corner of Chapel and Salem Streets. It was the New York Central Planing
Mill and Hub Works, established in 1875 by John and Charles Courtney. They manufactured
hubs, sash, doors, blinds and mouldings, giving employment to some 20 men.
Charles Courtney gained fame as the International Single Shell Champion. His fame also
included his outstanding success as coach of the medal-winning Shell Racing Team at Cornell
University.
Robert and Marjory Gibbs purchased the property in 1965 and through the years brought
it to its original Victorian stature, meticulously maintained and restored with high-ceilinged
rooms and a spacious wrap-around porch.
3 – Cozzens-Arnold-Foulke House
The house at 79 South Cayuga Street was at the southern outskirts of Union Springs in
the early history of the town. It had been built by the Quaker Sea captain William Cozzens
whose home in the earliest days of the Nineteenth Century marked the southern limits of the
Village of Union Springs.
4- Crise-Metcalf House
It is believed that the Crise-Metcalf House was built by Barnett Crise who first purchased land
north of Union Springs and later moved to the area south of Union Springs and used the limestone from the nearby quarries to build his home. In the latter part of the Nineteenth Century
William Utt owned the property. However, the Twentieth Century saw its decline to the point
where it was a roofless shell with the front door swung open to reveal the deteriorating circular
staircase. Fate saved the building when the property was purchased and the building restored to
its former beauty. The Metcalf Family, that had summered on the Cayuga Lake shore for many
years, purchased the property and continued the restoration
5 - Durkee-Kimber House
This limestone house just beyond the Union Springs village limits is of earlist origin and its outstanding architectural quality has been lovingly preserved through the years since it was built by
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Almeron Durkee who came in from Wyoming, Pennsylvania. Succeeding owners included the
Irving Family that is noted for its invention of the loose-leaf binder... Today’s owners, John and
Patricia Kimber have researched the history of the family and restored it further. The 1979 Reinberger Survey conducted by Cornell University recognized the superior design and construction
of the house with its outstanding front doorway.
6 – Episcopal-Catholic Church
On May 2, 1869, the cornerstone of Grace Church was laid, with a cornerstone containing documents in the north end of the tower. On Easter Sunday, April 17, 1870, the first service
was held in the building. Members of Church were grateful for the unselfish devotion of Mrs.
Phebe Hussey, who was largely responsible for a large part of the financial support of the early
church. After her death, Mrs. Hussey’s home, on the corner of Park and Cayuga Streets, was left
to the church for a Rectory. The original Rectory which stood between the church and Mrs. Hussey’s home was then used as a residence for the Sexton.1
7 – Dr. B A. Fordyce Stone Columned House on S. Cayuga Street)
When Dr. Benjamin Allen Fordyce returned from his service as Surgeon during the Civil
War, he moved his practice from Scipio to Union Springs where he purchased the Greek Revival
stone house on South Cayuga Lake that had seen duty as a school for young ladies. The house,
with its beautiful circular staircase, overlooks Cayuga Lake.
Dr. Fordyce came there, after his service as a Civil War Surgeon, with his Quaker Wife,
Emeline Slocum Fordyce and his daughters, Estella and Abbie and son, George. Dr. Fordyce
opened his practice and served the community’s medical needs for twenty-seven years. At the
same time he participated in the commercial life of Union Springs when he assumed ownership
with his son-in-law, Thomas Jefferson Yawger, in a business at the foot of Basin Street dealing
in produce, grain, coal, etc.
8 – Frontenac Island
Frontenac Island, containing somewhat less than an acre of land, was used by the aborigines as a place of sepulcher, and for many years large quantities of bones and relics of Indian
warfare were to be found there. In 1856 the State Legislature deeded the island to the trustees of
Union Springs, and for a time it was kept as a park and pleasure ground, having been cleared of
underbrush, and gravel walks built, with seats along each shore for visiting pleasure seekers.
Frontenac Island is the only island in this tier of lakes.
The island has been explored and catalogued by State of New York geologists; and its
importance as an ancient and valuable archeological area has been established.
During the building of the railroad through the Union Springs area, the rocks of the island were mined and used as fill in the construction. When the desecration was reported, the use
of the island for that purpose was prohibited.
9 - Hamburg Stone Tavern-Barner House
Research in 1976 revealed that the building was first used as a grocery by George Ham,
for whom the settlement of Hamburg is named. He conducted his business on the second floor
while he operated a stone working business on the first floor. There were large openings on both
sides of the building so that mule teams could draw the stone wagons through and unload on either side. At a later date it housed a tavern where Saturday nights produced brawls between the
“Northmen” and the “Southmen” that gave the place a poor reputation. Later owners were re1
- Bicentennial History of Springport and Union Springs NY 1976. Page 73 et sequens.
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membered by the names of Whipple, Clark and Hino, when the Barner Family purchased the
property and have renovated it to its present-day beauty.
10 – Laban Hoskins House
Laban Hoskins (1790-1863) opened one of the first dry goods (grocery) stores in Union
Springs with Judge Walter Wood from Aurora. He built for his store the building now owned by
the Masonic Lodge. He built his home across the street at the northeast corner of Cayuga and
Park Streets.2
Mrs. Phebe Hussey became owner of the property and her will bequeathed the property to
the Episcopal Church for a rectory. Later title was transferred to Fr. William H. Casey who had
been the priest of the church. With the death of his daughter, Nora Casey Woodward, the house
was sold and has since been turned into an apartment house.3
1 1- Howland-Maier House
We are drawn to admire the French Chateau style of the Howland-Maier house; built in
1847i by George Howland for his son, Robert B. Howland, who lived during the building in the
present Grayson Stubbs house on Park Street. Nineteen gables highlight the beauty of the building. It was constructed , as were the various out buildings, from limestone quarried on the site.ii
12 - Howland/Chase-Wolff House
The Georgian style house that George Howland built for his son Charles never became
his residence; and so the property reverted to George Howland’s daughter, Elizabeth, who had
married William H. Chase. Mr. Chase was active in the commerce of Union Springs and many
sites can be attributed to his ownership. When the Chases no longer used the residence, it became
the property of Oakwood Seminary who used it as a dormitory for their school on nearby Seminary Street. The property was ultimately sold to various families who cherished the beauty of the
property – from Dr. R. R. McCully to Major Louis B. Lawton who died in 1947. Shortly after his
death and subsequent sale to Mr. & Mrs. Raymond Carpenter, an article appeared in the Auburn
Citizen Newspaper that describes the property as follows:
“As to the house – the woodwork is of clear white pine, not a knot. The doors are from
two to two and one half inches thick. The side trim of the doors and windows is archaic, taking
the shape of an open tent, modified. Such wood and such craftsmanship are not attainable.”iii
13 - Howland-Stubbs house on Park Street
The house at 10 Park Street was built for George Howland ca. 1850. However, it was
never occupied by him, but by his daughter, Elizabeth Howland Chase prior to her living in the
house that had been built for but not occupied by her brother, Charles Howland, the HowlandWolff house. The house on Park Street, later the home of Isaac and Elizabeth Hazard, was purchased by Grayson and Linda Stubbs who cherish its architecture, fine woodwork and gracious
atmosphere.
14 – Springport Free Library (formerly Orthodox Quaker Meeting House)
At the time of the separation. In 1848, this Friends society [Church on Grove Street] became Hicksite. The society gradually died out and had no representatives. About 1844 a sufficient number of Orthodox Friends came in and a society of that denomination was formed. The
meetings were first held around at private houses, but afterward a building was erected on the
2
- Centennial History of Springport and Union Springs NY 1976, Page 136, and Sarah Winegar Sleeper December
7, 1886 Letter.
3
- Bicentennial History of Springport and Union Springs NY 1976, Page 73 et sequens.
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corner of Cayuga and Seminary streets, east of the site of the Episcopal church, and later about
1857, the meeting house on Cayuga street now in use was erected (costing $1,500 to seat 400
people.) Mary H. Thomas was the minister of this society“
By the early Twentieth Century, the Orthodox Meeting was so diminished that services
were discontinued. Meantime in Union Springs a library had been maintained since 1898 when it
opened its doors in an upstairs room over one of the stores in the northern-most business block.
On June 15, 1910 the Library Association offered to purchase the Friends Meeting House. Their
offer of $450 was accepted and after numerous fundraisers and volunteer efforts the building was
renovated to its present form. The double entrance… one for the gentlemen and the other for the
ladies…. was modified, the mellow Mission style woodwork and shelves, installed, and the
doors opened to the public as the Springport Free Library.
15 - Mosher-Webb House
The house at 15 South Cayuga Street is mentioned in early records where Sarah Winegar
Sleeper wrote in her reminiscences of early Nineteenth Century Union Springs” “Some of the
first inhabitants were Captain Cozzens, Aunt Amy, then the widow White, and her mother, Aunt
Lizzy Mosher. They had a row of poplar trees in front of their house, (about the only shade trees
the village could boast)….”
The Reinberger Architectural Survey conducted in 1979 called attention to the front
doorway that is of excellent design and pointed out that it closely resembles that of the DurkeeKimber house, suggesting that they may had the same builder.
16 – North Mill and Mill Pond Area & South Mill Pond Area
In 1796 Edward Richards dammed the pond and built a log mill; but soon afterward he
was forced to leave by the terms of the Indian treaty . The name Longnecker is next identified
with the area. The second mill at the site was a woolen mill. A third building is described in an
1826 advertisement in a New York City newspaper as having three and one half stories, with
three runs of stones. History reveals that James Barker, whose father had settled here in 1800,
was interested with William Burling and Barney Earl in the property which then included both
springs, the North and the South, approximately ten rods apart. The three men subsequently separated; Burling and Earl retained the North Spring property; and Mr. Barker, the South.
A settlement grew up around the North Pond. Asa Burnham kept a store in the red stone
building at the southeast corner of the pond, while on the opposite corner, Jonathan Stout operated a tannery in the wooden house that he built west of that. Timothy Bush’s blacksmith shop was
south of Burnham’s store. In the basement of one of the buildings was a small distillery. On the
southeast corner of the street leading east from the millpond was the Lucky House, a two-story
tavern.
William Burling evidently encumbered the mill, for it was sold by his creditor, William
Rotch, to George Howland of New Bedford, Massachusetts. From his whaling business he had
amassed sufficient wealth to permit him to erect the building that still graces the village of Union
Springs. The four story 65 by 84 foot building that cost $40,000 to build of the limestone from
the local Hamburg quarries had four-foot walls and four run of stone powered by an eighteenfoot fall of water. Adjoining the mill was a saw and lath mill connected with Cayuga Lake by a
canal constructed close by. The milled flour was shipped back east in sixty-gallon oak casks
made in the stone cooper shop by Robert Greble, a New Bedford cooper. Robert Howland owned
a bending works on the opposite side of the canal. Hiraim McDonald built boats in a yard west
the mill and north of the canal. Nearly $100,000 had been invested in the extensive operation by
the time that George Howland died in New Bedford in 1852. Afterward, Robert B. Robinson
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came to Union Springs to assist in the handling of the estate, and then he became a partner in the
firm of Howland and Robinson who operated “The Spring Mills.”
In 1875 Robert Robinson disposed of his share in the business; and in 1894 title to the
Howland property turned to Clinton Backus. For eighteen years it was held by the Backus Family. In 1927 John Campbell, a subsequent owner, sold to Milan F. Pratt, a former Oakwood Seminary student who had amassed a sizeable fortune through his merchandising of “Certo”, a pectin
preservative. During his ownership the mill building was used as a fish hatchery.
In 1932 Fred E. Allen and Alex S. Hecht formed the General Products Corporation for
the manufacture of automotive ignition replacement parts. In 1934 Mr. Allen withdrew from the
company and Alex Hecht continued the business until his death in1939 when his son, Marco
Hecht., succeeded him until 1962 when he sold to Gulf & Western Industries., although he continued as manager of the operation for another twelve years. Title to the mill pond area was given
to the Village of Union Springs by the Hecht Family. Through the ensuing years the business
was enlarged to a working plant of 105,000 square feet, producing products that included the requirements of automakers Ford, General Motors and Chrysler. Ownership changed from Gulf &
Western Industries to 84 Lumber Company to Wickes Industries, who ultimately moved their
operation to their Detroit facility and the buildings stood idle until the Mill property was purchased by a local group.
In 1816 Philip Winegar, together with his father-in-law, Caleb Mosher, purchased the
South Mill Pond from James Barker, previously identified with the North Mill Pond area, The
South Mill Pond supported a log grist mill. Philip Winegar raised the dam several times which
extended the pond much farther south. The old mill was a one and a half story frame building,
situated a little to the north of the centre of the pond as it is at present, with a basement, where
the fulling and dyeing of the wool was done; the big wheel that carried the machinery was there
too. The first floor above was the finishing room; the upper room was where the carding was
done. It was reached by a flight of stairs outside on the south of the building. The saw mill was
still farther north; and the flume which carried the water to the wheel was between the buildings.
With two sets of hands, In the carding season the machines were kept running night and day, the
same with the saw mill when there was water enough. Facilities for manufacturing were gradually increased, enlarging the building; but in November 1835 the factory took fire and was burned
to the ground with most of its contents. The stone mill was built the next summer. It had three
stories and a basement and contained three run of stones, two for flour and one for feed. Later
was renovated to serve as a grist mill. In 1823 an additional ninety-six acres in Lot 98 had been
purchased from William Burling. Mr. Winegar purchased his father-in-law’s share and continued
in business with his sons until he moved his business to Clarskville, near Auburn, in 1854.
In 1859 Curry and Hathorn were conducting a tannery north of the mill pond and north of
the saw mill. In 1861 Mr. Howell purchased Mr. Hathorn’s interest in the tannery, thus the
change of name to Curry & Howell. They employed a steam engine of fifteen horsepower for
grinding bark and propelling their machinery. J. C. Culver operated the grist mill.
On October 1, 1877, Gaylord Anthony purchased the South Pond property, which included a flouring, a grist and a saw mill. In 1878 J. W. Perrine joined with Mr. Anthony to form the
enterprise of Anthony & Company with machinery introduced for the manufacture of flour by
the new process.
By 1881 the firm of Howland & Anthony was doing business. Title to the property was
transferred through the hands of George Backus, Otto Spencer, Herbert & Lyman Lyons, and
William Griffith who did business as the Finger Lakes Creamery with William M. Murray. LaterGeorge Ragsdale became the owner. At one time Finger Lakes Creamery produced 460,000
pounds of butter. Still later, Hood & Company operated the creamery. During the period from
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1960 to 1966 Steprel Limited owned the property for storage use by its affiliate, General Products Corporation. Art-in-Bronze then became the owners in the production of Architectural letters, plaques, tablets, etc., until 1973 when they ceased operation. In 1975 the Village of Union
Springs purchased the property; and used the wooden mill that existed on the site as a Municipal
Building. With the renovation of the nearby Lehigh Valley Railroad Station for that purpose, the
wooden structure was demolished and a Municipal park developed.
17 – Peterson-Abbott House
The home of an early sea captain - identity unknown at this time, is the second house
south of the intersection of Homer and S. Cayuga Street. – At a later date it was owned by
Dr. P. H. Peterson and his heir, Susan Y. Abbott. She and her husband R. R. Abbott, whose portraits of Union Springs inhabitants are well known and cherished, were the parents of the outstanding musicians Ethel Abbott, accompanist for Reinald Werenwrath, and Muriel Abbott Marshall, violist with the Cincinnati Symphony.
18 – Presbyterian Church - Frontenac Historical Society
This Greek Revival building was built at a cost of $2,650 in 1840 by Erastus Myers on
land given by George Howland .”Many improvements were added,” according to history; and
included might be the distinctive opalescent windows in memory of various members of later
generations. These windows are considered superior to stained glass windows in that the glass
used in the windows is colored in the glass itself, rather than being applied to the surface.
19 – Railroad Station .
The building that presently houses the Village Office was formerly the Union Springs
station for the Lehigh Valley Railroad, successor to the Cayuga Lake Railroad that had served
the area from the year 1873. The design of the building is distinctive of railroad stations elsewhere. The building is the second site of the Railroad station as a building of similar design was
located farther south near the foot of Basin Street. The earlier building was destroyed by fire.
20 – Richardson-George Fordyce House
It was early in the Twentieth Century, ca. 1906, that the house at 4 North Cayuga Street
was renovated by George Fordyce from an earlier house owned by the Richardson Family. He
had finished his responsibilities as Assemblyman in Albany during the years and served as Supervisor of the Town of Springport and was returning to Union Springs to actively participate in
the coal and grain business that had been his family’s responsibility for many years.
However, history had been made at that site in the early years of the development of the
settlement of Union Springs, for The Cayuga Tocsin, the first newspaper in the area, was published on the site by Royall Chamberlain in a “long, low building between the two houses.”.
21 – Richardson-Yawger-Bowman
In 1855 John Richardson died, leaving his wife with four children. Sarah’s father, Henry
Yawger, son of the pioneer Philip Yawger, built the house at the corner of South Cayuga and
Seminary Streets for his daughter. The design of the house produced the Italianate style that had
recently been introduced. Her son lived only a year and so she spent her years in the house with
her three daughters. Succeeding generations enjoyed the home until the demise in 1971 of Elsie
Yawger, the last to bear the name in the annals of the town. Succeeding owners, the Healys and
the Bowmans, have cherished the style of the house and maintained it admirably.
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22 – Stone School House
The first school, founded in the village, was about ten rods east of what is now the Bertram House and was afterwards moved farther east and south on the hill [No. 6 Center StreetLawrence] and was known as the ‘South District. The second school was held in a small stone
building that stood east of the house at the corner of North Cayuga & Schoby Streets and was
known as the ‘North District.’ Apr. 9, 1816, a deed had been given by John Yawger and his
wife, Elsie, to John Mosher, Laban Hoskins and James Van Sickle, as the trustees of the school.
After a time this building was unable to accommodate the many scholars, that came to school
and a larger two story stone building was built, which was later the home of Mrs. Lawlor [stone
building at Union Springs Central School].
23 - Thomas House (Opposite Ridgeway St. on south side of Homer Street )
The home of David Thomas and his son, John J. Thomas has an interesting history.. The
accomplishments of these two gentlemen are included in the annals of New York State history
and earned the historic marker that greets the passer-by.
David Thomas, engineer, born in Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, in 1776; died in
Cayuga county, New York, in 1859. He was of Quaker parentage. Removing to the vicinity of
Aurora, Cayuga County, in 1805, he was appointed chief engineer of the Erie canal west of
Rochester, and subsequently he became principal engineer of the Welland canal, Canada. He was
distinguished as a florist and pomologist, and by his writings rendered great services to scientific
agriculture. He contributed extensively to the "Genesee Farmer" and in 1816 published “Travels
in the Western Country in 1816.”
His son, John J. Thomas, agriculturist, born near Aurora, Cayuga County, New York, 8
January, 1810, was almost entirely self-taught. He studied the botany of the neighborhood
andmade an herbarium of 1,300 species. In 1834 became associate editor of the Genesee Farmer
at Rochester, that merged and in 1853 became known as the Country Gentleman, at Albany,. He
was horticultural editor of the Albany Cultivator, contributed to the Transactions of the New
York state agricultural society in 1841-'7, and to The Farm, and edited the nine-volume “Illustrated Annual Register of Rural Affairs .” He published “The American Fruit Culturist” ; “Farm
Implements, and the Principles of their Construction and Use” and “Farm Implements and Farm
Machinery.” He received the degree of A. M. from Haverford College, Pennsylvania, in 1876.
24 – Village Hall Building
Mrs. Caleb Winegar sold land to the Village of Union Springs to permit them to build the
red brick building that became the Village Hall. A jail cell on the ground floor and a large room
for Village meetings, on the second floor were complimented by space for the Fire Engine “Princess Louise“.
25 – Winegar House-Park Street Barn
Sarah Winegar Sleeper wrote in her December 7, 1886 letter to the Union Springs Advertiser “My father lived in a small story and a half frame house on the site of the Sanitarium,
which was moved off in the spring of 1829 to make place for the new brick dwelling which was
built that summer, and we moved in in October. The next spring the old house was repaired and
brother Esek moved into it, remaining there until he moved to Auburn.”
A photograph of the southern exposure of The Sanitarium shows this small building as it
stood in the foreground of the picture.4
Later the building was moved to Park Street where it remains today as the barn at No. 3
Park Street. Signs of its former use as a home is still apparent in the interior of the building.
4
- Copy may be viewed at Page 50 of the Bicentnnial History of Springport and Union Springs, NY 1976.
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26 - Winegar-Mersereau-Gardner Building
In 1886 Sarah Winegar Sleeper wrote of her father’s activities in early Union Springs,
referring to this location:
“The only flax I ever saw growing was on the corner opposite the Sanitarium, reaching to
your [Hoff house east of South Mill Pond] house. That was, I think, in 1825. In 1827 the corner
store of the block was built, where Mersereau’s is. The rest of the block was built some years
later. In the spring of 1828 Dr. John Mosher and my father opened a store there. He closed his
store and put his goods in the new one. He stayed but one year, after which brother Esek managed the store. The two upper stories were used for storing grain, which our people either
bought of, or stored and shipped for the farmers.”
Daniel Mersereau, who had conducted a general store near his residence on North Cayuga Street (the second house north of the North Mill Pond) closed his store there and took over the
business at the corner of Factory and South Cayuga Streets. However, his death at an early age
turned the conduct of the business to his son, Thomas Jefferson Mersereau who continued the
business with his brother, Daniel P. Mersereau and his son, William C. Mersereau., who later
discontinued the business and moved to Rochester, NY. A succession of businesses have occupied the building, the H. D. Marble grocery, William Smith watch repair shop, the Kahn-Pope
antique shop, until today when the Gardner Agency has faithfully retained the store front in its
original form.
27 – Daniel Yawger House
Yawger Family tradition states that when Daniel Yawger built his house at the corner of
Schoby and North Cayuga Streets he copied the style his brother, Henry, had used in building the
house at the corner of Seminary and Cayuga Streets for his daughter, Sarah Yawger Richardson.
28 – John C. Yawger -Beyea House White Columned House on S. Cayuga south of Homer
Street
John C. Yawger built this white, columned Greek Revival house on South Cayuga Street
ca. 1850, copied the style of the house that his father, Henry Yawger had employed in building
the house that stands at the corner of Route 90 North and Backus Road.
29 – Henry Yawger House at corner of Backus Road and Route 90 North
When Philip Yawger’s eldest son, Henry, married in 1817 he built the house at what is
the corner of Backus Road on Route 90 North. It stands today as a result of the Staeher renovation during the latter part of the Twentieth Century. Extensive modifications have included a
wing to the north and another toward the west to accommodate a garage; however, it retains
much of its former Greek Revival design that calls attention to its architecture value.
30 – Peter Yawger-Casas House
The brick Greek Revival house on Route 90 approximately 3 miles north of the Union
Springs village limits was built in 1838 by Peter Yawger who had distinguished himself in public
life when he had been elected Sheriff of the county, filled the office of Inspector of State Prisons,
and represented the county several sessions in the Legislature [50th Assembly Session 1/2/18274/27/18 27 and 9/11/1827-12/4/1827 and 54th Assembly Session 1/4/1831-4/26/18 31]; and in
1846 was chosen a delegate to revise the Constitution of the State of New York..
He and three of his brothers had continued his father, Philip Yawger’s business of mining
and shipping Gypsum for use nationally as a crop fertilizer. Philip Yawger had discovered the
ore on his farm on Lot 86 as he was plowing shortly after he came to the Springport area from
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New Jersey and Owego NY. He had built up a fine business mining and shipping the Gypsum
via the Susquehanna River, when during the War of 1812 his boats were confiscated by the government, taken to Oswego where they were sunk. This loss was disastrous for the company.
However, the four brothers were successful in their efforts to revive the mining and shipping
with great success, which allowed them to build the various houses that grace the town.
With the death of Thomas Jefferson, Peter Yawger’s last surviving son and resident of
the brick house overlooking Cayuga Lake, the farm and the house were sold. The years that followed saw the decline in the structure until it was purchased by Andreas Casas of Florida who
has lovingly and accurately restored it to its former beauty.
ii
Per Emily Maier phone with Lydia Hecht on July 5, 2004.
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~springport/pictures53/5387.jpg
Quarries
From the 1905 writings of the Geologist Harris at Cornell University who visited and researched
the Union Springs area’s extensive quarries and their geolocic history, we find a record of the
busy life of those quarries that shipped limestone throughout the countryside for the building of
railroad bridges, etc. as well as the stones that paved Wall Street in New York City. We quote
from his writings below:
31 - Smith Quarry
It is no uncommon sight near the station at Union Springs to see huge piles of limestone
on either side of the street, awaiting shipment to various points along the Lehigh Valley railway.
Such rocks may be quarried at several places in this vicinity, but Smith's quarry, 1 mile east of
the village, has of late furnished a large share of this material. If time permits and there are those
still in need of exercise, a brisk walk to the quarry will prove both pleasant and profitable. The
illustration given as Plate 8, shows the western face of this excellent rock exposure. It seems
most surprising to see the steep southerly inclination or dip of the rocks, when the surface of the
soil is so level. There is little doubt that the smooth farming land of this region owes its existence
to the glaciers which scoured off the projecting rocks and filled up the lower places with the debris. (Geology Survey re Quarries – Harris 1905)
32 - Quarry No. 7
About 1 mile south of Union Springs the upper part of the Onondaga limestone crosses
the lake road and causes the grade to increase near the many rock quarries new and old. lit the
first quarry to the left (going south) one observes a thick coating of glacial till with Marcellus
shale beneath and still lower a good depth of Onondaga limestone. all in an approximately horizontal position.
33 -Shalibo Quarry
Around a little to the southwest, perhaps a hundred yards, the old Shalibo quarry may be seen. It
is grown over to a considerable extent with underbrush, but gives, nevertheless a fair rock section
Gypsum Quarries
34 – Philip Yawger Quarry
35 - Cayuga Junction
36 - Richardson Quarry
37 - Thompson Quarry
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38 - Backus Quarries
"In 1802 Philip Yawger, who had emigrated from New Jersey to Owego and then to
Springport to settle on Lot 86 of the East Cayuga Reservation, discovered gypsum in the soil on
his farm along the lake shore. His experiments with this mineral confirmed his hope that it could
be used as fertilizer; and from this he built a thriving business in quarrying the gypsum and pulverizing it in the mill for use by neighboring farmers. With the Embargo of 1812 to restrict English commerce, the importation of Nova Scotia Gypsum was stopped. The Yawger operations
grew as their fleet of fifty to sixty plaster boats delivered the gypsum from Union Springs to Ithaca to be forwarded by wagon thirty miles to Owego, to continue by boat along the Susquehanna,
for sale (at $6.00 per ton, unground) throughout the country. At that time this was the only
known source in the United States. Later the Yawger boats were confiscated by the government
for use as troop transports, only to be sunk at Sackett's Harbor on Lake Ontario. Philip Yawger
was unsuccessful in seeking reimbursement of his loss from the government, which caused him
serious financial embarrassment. He died in 1830; and his sons formed a partnership to carry on
the business. It was then that the highest degree of prosperity was attained . Plaster was also
discovered and quarried on Lot 92 owned by E. Dougherty, south of the Yawger holdings, later
on the Barnett Crise farm, and still later on the Richardson and Thompson farms.
"Subsequently, the Cayuga Plaster Company was formed in 1874 for the purpose of mining grinding and disposing of plaster rock. Members of the company were Clinton T. Backus,
James Fitch, R. B. Howland, B. Robinson and R. B. Robinson. The company operated the R. B.
Howland and C. T. Backus quarries and bought the products of the Yawger and Richardson
quarries on the Cayuga Lake shore and employed approximately fifty men about two thirds of
the year, when annual production varied from 20,000 to 40,000 tons. Later it was sold to the
United States Gypsum Company, which operated until 1916, when the mill burned.
"At Hill's Branch (near the intersection of the present Cross Roads and Conners Road)
were two plaster mills, both owned in 1879 by J. W. Woodruff of Auburn. George Hibbard, who
then lived at Hibbard's Corners (near where Route 326 today meets Route 90), was the foreman
of the mill, where the annual production of ground plaster was 3000 tons.
"At the intersection of Route 90 with Yawger's Creek, approximately three miles north of
Union Springs, was a grist and plaster mill which was built about the year 1853 and in which 500
to 600 tons of plaster were ground per year. A cooper shop was located on the east side of the
highway. Approximately one hundred years ago Lafayette Yawger, son of Peter Yawger and
grandson of the pioneer Philip, was the proprietor.
"Storke's History of Cayuga County 1879 tells us that at that time on the farm of Stephen
Patterson, near the center of the north line, is a plaster quarry from which 300 to 400 tons are being taken annually. Messers Patterson and Shank have a plaster mill in that locality. This was on
a branch of Yawger's Creek where it crosses the present Benham Road. (Source: BICENTENNIAL HISTORY
OF SPRINGPORT AND UNION SPRINGS NEW YORK 1976 - Excerpt copied from Page 45 et sequens.)
Mabel H. Casey handwritten notes in Springport Free Library – “And in the History of Cayuga
County from 1897 Elliot Storke writes of Hamburg:---- At that time the South Quarries were the
largest in the County and ranked with the most extensive in the State. The stone was used mainly
for bridges for the expanding Lehigh Valley and N.Y. Central railroads and for the bridges spanning the Hudson River. John Whipple remembers one of those historical signs across from his
house near that quarry . It said: Stone taken from this quarry was brought by barge to N.Y. City
and used among other things in the paving of Wall Street.
071804<HistoricSites.doc>
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RESUME OF THE ABOVE LISTING
1 – Backus Stone Barn
2 – Courtney-Gibbs House
3 – Cozzens-Arnold-Foulke House
4 – Crise-Metcalf House
5 – Durkee-Kimber House
6 – Episcopal-Catholic Church
7 – Dr. B. A. Fordyce Stone, Columned House
8 – Frontenac Island
9 – Hamburg Stone Tavern-Barner House
10 – Hoskins, Laban House
11 – Howland-Maier House
12 – Howland/Chase-Wolff House
13 – Howland-Stubbs House
14 – Library, Springport Free (formerly Orthodox Quaker Meeting House)
15 – Mosher-Webb House
16 – North Mill and Mill Pond Area & south Mill Pond Area
17 – Peterson-Abbott House
18 – Presbyterian Church – Frontenac Historical Society
19 – Railroad Station – Village Hall
20 – Richardson-George Fordyce House
21 – Richardson/Yawger-Bowman House
22 – Stone School House
23 – Thomas House
24 – Village Hall Building
25 – Winegar House- 5 Park Street Barn
26 – Winegar/Mersereau-Gardner Building
27 –Daniel Yawger House
28 – John C. Yawger.- Beyea House
29 – Yawger, Henry House
30 – Peter Yawger-Casas House
31 – Sarah Yawger-Bowman House
Limestone Quarries
32 – Smith Quarry
33 – Quarry No. 7
34 – Shalibo Quarry
Gypsum Quarries
35 – Philip Yawger Quarry
36 – Cayuga Junction Quarry
37 – Richardson Quarry
38 – Thompson Quarry
39 – Backus Quarry
11