October 30, 1951 First Meeting of Interlaken Historical Society

From an idea, to a gathering, to an organization that is a vital part of our community.

September 28, 1951 “A preliminary meeting was held at the residence of Mrs. Charles Wickes…Resolved, that the formation of an Historical Society in Interlaken is desirable.” [Page one of the first minute book of the Interlaken Historical Society]

“The next meeting was held Oct. 30, 1951 at 8 o’clock at the Legion Home on South Main Street. The meeting was opened by John Kellogg who read an article from the Rochester Historical Society book showing the value and aims of such a Society.”

After being elected Temporary Chairman, Myron Bassette “called for an expression of those present as to their desire for organization. It being favorable, Mr. Kellogg read the constitution and by-laws of the Rochester Society to suggest a pattern for the Interlaken Society.”

“Mr. H. P. Minor moved that we organize as Interlaken Historical Society. Motion seconded by Adrian Dickerson and carried.” [excerpts from pages 2 and 3 of the handwritten minutes of the Interlaken Historical Society]

For a detailed discussion of the Interlaken Historical Society’s history see Covert Memories 1950 to 2015. In honor of their 65^th anniversary the society published this volume which includes the history of the community, families, businesses, organizations, agriculture, and government from the time the society was formed until 2015.

During this Town of Covert Bicentennial year the Historical Society has worked closely with the TOC200 committee to host three very successful events. In July the community celebrated the Bicentennial at the Summer Social. In September 200 Years of Transportation focused on the many different means of travel. Most recently the community celebrated our common history with an evening of Music and Dance.

Summer Social, July 29, 2017

Visitors lined up for free ice cream from Cayuga Lake Creamery

Reynolds' Battery 1st NY Light Artillery Demonstraion

Interlaken Fire Department Historical Display

Farmerville Union Lodge, Re-creation of 1900 School cornerstone ceremony

200 Years of Transportation September 9th. 

Enjoying the Saddle Display

Mural artist Mike Stiles (3rd from left) with TOC200 Committee members and local politicians

Erie Canal Cousins display

Flowers and the ever popular kids train

Barn Dance October 14, 2017

Great music and lots of dancers

Friendship and Fellowship, a trademark of any event.

Healthy snacks to go along with the music and enjoyment of the evening

Dewitt’s Diary, October 30, 1951 and 1952

Tuesday, October 30, 1951

Milder, temperature 50, south wind.

Borrowed Isaac Hill’s corn sheller and shelled some corn with the tractor.

Thursday, October 30, 1952

Mostly cloudy temperature 38 and Southwest wind. Fair and dry every day.

Many forest fires threaten the worst fire conditions ever throughout the nation as a whole.

Painting storm windows.

October 26, 1825 Erie Canal Opens

Today’s Snippet is another in the vein of op-ed rather than direct history.

There are many ways to learn about history and each person has their own preference. Sitting in a classroom, at any age, would seem to be the main teaching method. But, it doesn’t have to be. A well written historical fiction piece may be the stepping stone to learning more about an event, a time, a person.

Perhaps a visit to a museum, a living history event, or a public program will be the jump start.

We can listen to all the lectures about the men who worked to create the Erie Canal in the early years of the 1800s. How much more history will be learned with a visit to the Erie Canal Museum (https://eriecanalmuseum.org/https://eriecanalmuseum.org/), or the Flight of Five in Lockport? (http://www.newyorkcanals.org/preservation_lockport_locks.htmhttp://www.newyorkcanals.org/preservation_lockport_locks.htm)

Both of these are wonderful ways to get children and youth into history. They don’t have to just sit and listen, they can touch, walk along the pathways, hear the sounds of life in that earlier time.

At the 200 Years of Transportation event hosted by the Town of Covert Bicentennial Committee and the Interlaken Historical Society, children’s author Dorothy Stacy talked about the Erie Canal. When she first wrote Erie Canal Cousins it was not intended to be a series.

Cover, book 1 in the Erie Canal series

The five books, written at the grade school level, tell of travel on the canal in 1841. Interspersed are items about family life, friendships and much more.

Author Dorothy Stacy at the TOC200 Transportation event,  September 9, 2017
Photo by Grace Hunt

Today, travel on the canal is much easier and can make an enjoyable vacation. For an adventure, one retired school teacher began a canoe journey in Buffalo and paddled his way to Albany. Others have used the whole canal system to travel from Cayuga Lake going west to Chicago, or possibility east and down the Hudson River to New York City.

However history is explored, it should be experienced with joy and shared with others, especially those who create the history of the future.

Dewitt’s Diary, Monday, October 26, 1925

Edna cleaned the dining room today.

I husked some corn in the field

I have a fine field of corn if I can only have the weather to husk it.

October 23, 1983 Beirut Lebanon Bombing

A picture truly is worth any number of words. And words cannot describe the loss, the shock, the coming together of a community in the face of that loss.

Today, 34 years later, each recalls the days and weeks that followed.

Lake View Cemetery, Interlaken
From the Author's collection

Dewitt’s Diary, Friday, October 23, 1964

Temperature 36, cloudy and stones wet.

Took a load of wood over to Jacksonville, one cord fireplace wood.

Had a goose hunt on the old Biggs farm. Bunny, Wes Eva, Bunny boy, and Mr. Everingham. We shot 14 geese about sundown. There have been many geese around this fall at times. The two geese I had were young geese.

October 19, 1957 Dewitt's Remington Shot Gun

In the course of reading Dewitt’s diaries, occasionally an entry will require going back to find other related items.

Today’s entry from 1957 is one case in point.

Dewitt’s entry mentions purchasing a Remington shot gun on October 14, 1927. That entry begins with the farming work completed, “We finished up corn this morning.” Dewitt then notes, “Went to Geneva this afternoon. Francis and I bought a new auto loading shotgun for $51.00.”

Two years later, on his 30^th birthday (August 13, 1929) he wrote in closing, “I shot a hawk at 110 paces with the 22 spc.”

I’m not a fire arms person, so went asking about the entry. “In 1890 Winchester and Remington developed elongated .22 cartridges in order to get more velocity out of the rimfires of the day. Since they didn't have smokeless powder, the only way to get more velocity was to extend the cartridge and put in more black powder.”

With regard to Dewitt’s ‘22 special,’ “Winchester introduced a slide (pump) action rifle called the Model 1890, and Remington had their Model 12. Remington called their cartridge ‘22 Special’.”

Over the years Dewitt would talk about hunting and game taken down from pheasants to coons to deer. While he doesn’t note in those entries which gun he used, it could well be the Remington.

Dewitt’s Diary, Saturday, October 19, 1957

Temperature 42, cloudy and rain, and cold north wind.

We painted storm windows this morning.

We emptied one corn crib this afternoon.

Cold north wind and cloudy tonight.

I got my Remington Automatic shot gun back from the factory today. It looks like new ($69.80). Bought it new on October 14, 1927. Cost new $51.00 at that time.

October 18, 1913 Boyer Opera House Fire

Another of the Snippet items that needs no introduction.

Interlaken Review, October 24, 1913

Boyer Opera House, Burned October 18, 1913

The clang of the fire bell, that most unwelcome sound, at 2:35 last Saturday morning, awoke most of the citizens of Interlaken, brought a large crowd to the Boyer opera house on Cayuga Street.

Boyer Opera House, Cayuga Street, the barn in the background is still standing
The Hubbard Heating and Plumbing warehouse is located where the opera house was.
Interlaken Historical Society photo  #20.

When discovered, the dressing rooms on the south end of the building were a roaring furnace, and a few minutes later the flames burst from the roof of the main building, while a pillar of smoke was rolling from the tower on the north end. The firemen soon had the engine at work at Dr. Hill's pond, with two lines of hose pouring water to save the blacksmith shop of Charles Reiley, less than 30 feet east of the opera house, and his barn, about the same distance from both shop and hall.

It was a terribly hot and quick fire—all down within an hour. Mr. Reiley’s barn was burned, but his horse and wagons were saved. The barn contained about four tons of hay. All the contents of the blacksmith shop and a good share of the furniture in his house, about 20 feet east of the shop were removed.

At onetime the roof of the shop was all ablaze but the firemen got a stream and conquered the flames, but it was a terribly hot job to stick to the hose between these buildings, but the fire fighters won the battle, and saved the shop and house.

Mr. Reiley had no insurance on either barn or shop, letting it lapse over a year ago.

The opera house was insured for $2,500-about one half its value. While the firemen were fighting these fires, a hard fight had to be put to save L.W. Seaman’s storage building, not far to the southwest. The roof was on fire several times.

Residents on the north side of the street were in very warm quarters for an hour, heat blistering paint on the houses owned by A. V. Minor. The sparks came like a snow storm on the houses on North Main Street, keeping watchers there on a jump, until the opera house building fell in.

While working on the roof of his father's house, George Stout fell backward and landed in the cellarway, spraining his ankle and being severely bruised.

Warren Miller was the first to discover the fire, when he got up to let the cat out. Without waiting for shoes or other clothing, he ran and pulled the fire alarm. His quick action no doubt saved other property, by getting people quickly to the fire.

The firemen are entitled to much credit for the work performed on Saturday morning. A number of young men took hold of the fire engine and stuck to it, until their services were no longer needed. As is usual at such times, a number of able-bodied men stood around, with hands in pockets, and refused to work on the brakes. It demonstrated most clearly the urgent need of a water works system right here·in Interlaken, and we will all be wise when we get it—instead of talk about it.

The Boyer opera house building was erected in 1853, by John Stout, as a machine shop. He sold it to John Kennedy who, for several years, used it as a place to fit horses for the eastern markets, with indifferent success. Next a subscription paper was started, and the building purchased for a town hall. Later the company, known as the Farmer Village Town Hall Association, was formed with the late John B. Avery at its head. After a number of years it came into the possession of D.C. Wheeler, who sold it to the late W. W. Boyer, March 1, 1894, who remodeled the building into a commodious opera house, and it was owned by his estate. The building and equipment could not be replaced for $5,000. There was $2,500 insurance on it. As the place will not be rebuilt, it is a decided loss to the whole community.

“The Girl of the Streets” Company played there Friday evening. All their outfits, in seven large trunks, went up in flames. The management said $1,000 would not replace the wardrobe of his company. They went from here to Willard, and the manager to New York, to buy new outfits. He said he would be ready again in a week.

After the above article was printed in the Interlaken Historical Society newsletter, a question was raised about the cause of the fire. In the paper the following week it was noted a cigarette was the cause.

Dewitt’s Diary, Saturday October 18, 1924

Francis and I shook off 72 bushels of apples and picked them up.

Francis shot a large Red-tailed hawk 48 inches across the wings.

Heavy frost this morning. We have had several heavy frosts lately. 

October 15, 1954 Hurricane Hazel

The information available on Hurricane Hazel comes from a few diary entries and notices in the newspapers from other areas. For whatever reason, there are no collected copies of the Interlaken Review for the time period June 1952 until January 1957.

Under the headline, “Hazel Destroys Ovid Area Property,” two items relating to Interlaken are noted.

At the Elmer Aho farm home, Townsendville Rd., in the southern end of Seneca County, papers laid on the floor of a three-story brooder house to keep dampness out, were hurled against a brooder stove, setting fire to the building. Of 5,000-day-old chicks on the third floor, 500 were stepped on or smothered as firemen of the Interlaken Fire Company under Chief Adrian Dickerson tried to quell the blaze in the raging hurricane wind. On the first and second floors of the brooder house 2,700 pullets were saved.

Four trees near the Myron Bassette home, Interlaken, crashed under the twister. Windows in homes, business places and barns were smashed.

[Geneva Daily Times, October 18, 1954]

Dewitt’s Diary, Friday, October 15, 1954

Cloudy, strong south wind, temperature 70. Hurricane Hazel coming up the coast. Expects to touch here with rain and wind.

High winds all day and rain. Temperature 70 at 6:30 pm.

Storm is expected to hit here at 12 to 4 tomorrow morning.

Storm struck here at 10 o’clock and it was fierce. Edna went to Covert Grange at 6:30 but got back in a hurry.

Myron drove in with Lem at 9:15 and we went down to his house in town (Leland and I). Lem’s birthday. We stayed about 15 minutes and made it home at the height of the blow.

Trees down in every direction and no electricity for six hours at home.

October 13, 1983 Railroad Depot Torn Down

A picture is often worth much more than words.

The November 23, 1983 Interlaken Review carried the photograph of the Lehigh Valley Railroad depot being torn down. The caption only noted “last month.” Wanting a better date, a check of the Village Board meeting minutes for October 13, 1983 noted, “Train depot has been torn down by N.Y.S.E.G.”

One view of the Lehigh Valley Railroad Station at Interlaken
Interlaken Historical Society photo collection #1862

Originally built in 1910 and opened for service on June 13, 1910 (see Snippet) the building was closed in the 1960s. Note the horse and wagon on the right side.

Detail from a 1960s aerial view of Cayuga and Geneva Streets. The depot is in the lower left corner.
Interlaken Historical Society photo #2050.

 Today Pine Tree Farms has their parking lot where the depot was; the upper background is now Conifer Village at Interlaken.

Detail from Google Maps of the same area.
The cars at Pine Tree are on the remaining concrete from the train station.
The driveway on the upper right goes into Conifer Village at Interlaken.

And in the end, a pile of rubble and the memories of generations who traveled from Interlaken to other places.

The ends of the station came down first, then the rest of the building.
Interlaken Historical Society photo #2325,
part of the community photos donated by the Ulysses Historical Society

Dewitt's Diary, Sunday, October 13, 1968

Temperature 47, clear.

Sorted up some potatoes.

Many geese flying. The goose hunters are chasing them.

Jack and Eva came up for dinner and the afternoon.

A fine summer day. Temperature 75 in the sun. Trees are showing a little color.

Le mowed over the back lawn.

Gray squirrels are very thick. See them in the yard everyday. 

October 12, 1905 Charter Granted to Interlaken Chapter, Order of the Eastern Star

Original chater granted to Interlaken Chapter #335, Order of the Eastern Star
Photo by the author

November 21, 1905 Interlaken Review, “Nearly 175 Eastern Star ladies and Master Masons assembled Tuesday evening, November 21, 1905, to witness… the presentation of their Charter, No. 335.”

The charter was granted on October 12, 1905, by the Grand Chapter of the State of New York. The November ceremony featured the second installation of officers by the District Officers.

This snippet actually begins in the earlier part of the century, “for several years past an effort has been making among the members of Farmerville lodge, No. 183, and their ladies to get an Order of Eastern Star established in our village.” [Interlaken Review, October 28, 1904].

The article continued, “On Wednesday evening last these long-cherished hopes were realized, the petition of the necessary 20 eligible ladies and 10 members of the Masonic fraternity having been rewarded by a dispensation…Mrs. Sarah Horner…instituted Interlaken Chapter.”

As part of the evening the first installation of officers was held, including Mrs. C. F. Leonard as worthy matron, and John B. Moore, worthy patron. The article lists all the officers.

Interlaken Chapter #335 has continued to meet in the Chapter rooms on Main Street Interlaken. In 1988 with declining memberships in the local chapters, Lodi Chapter #200, and Interlaken Chapter #335 petitioned Grand Chapter to form a new chapter, South Seneca Chapter #200.

Charter for South Seneca Chapter #200, Order of the Eastern Star
Photo by the author

Dewitt’s Diary, Monday, October 12, 1970

Temperature 60, foggy but stars out. The stones are wet from the light mist of last evening. Cloudy after daylight and we had a very sour day.

Mom and Le washed.

I sorted up some potatoes.

Drove to Ovid and paid G. Lynn for pipe we put in to the barn for running water.

Rain some this evening.

A thunder shower this evening while we caught some old hens to go later tonight. Selling off the old hens for 70 cents each. Getting a dozen pullet eggs now. 

October 8, 1956 New Milk Plant Open

The Geneva Times reported on October 8, 1956 that the new Milk Plant on Cayuga Street in Interlaken was open and an open house was planned.

“The plant was erected during the summer by the Floriat Dairy Products Company of Brooklyn, at an estimated cost of $125,000.” Sheffield Farms Inc. of New York City had an earlier milk plant on the same site.

Continuing to describe, the new facility “contains new can washer, new milk cooler, and two new 4,000 gallon holding tanks.”

The plant manager, Lawrence Peer, noted that they went into operation with “fluid milk hauled from 100 dairies in the area. The fluid milk hauled into the plant by the farmers each day is shipped by tank truck to New York City where it is bottled.”

The service area for the plant included patrons from Interlaken, Trumansburg, Lodi, Sheldrake Springs, Ovid and Ovid Center.

The Sheffield  milk plant, torn down to be replaced with the new milk plant in 1956.
Interlaken Historical Society photo #497

In 2015, when writing an article for the Covert Memories book, John Hunt shared memories of the milk plant.

Where the Pine Tree Farm operation is now, there used to be the Fiorlat Receiving Plant for milk. Farmers would bring their milk in large galvanized milk cans that you see used for decoration now. The evening milk was strained to remove straw pieces, placed into cans, and then into a can cooler in the milk house. Ours pumped ice water over the closed cans to cool it. After the morning milking, all the cans were loaded onto the pickup and you would wait your turn to unload onto the conveyor, which moved the cans into the plant. Each farm had its own number painted on their cans so as they sampled and weighed your milk, you got credit for your milk. After being emptied, the can went through a wash process and slid out to the other end where you took them back. The milk was loaded onto a semi-truck to take for processing into cheese at Campbell or Watkins Glen. [Covert Memories 1950-2015, Interlaken Historical Society 2016, page 94]

After being closed for several years, the building was purchased and used by Egg-it, Inc. Today, it has been remodeled over the years, and is home to Pine Tree Farms.

Dewitt’s Diary, Monday October 8, 1956

Temperature 60, strong south west wind.

We pulled one half of the red beans today.

October 6, 1950 First Fire House Sold

The Village Board had voted in September 1950 to sell the first fire house property on Main Street, (now 8377 Main Street).

The property was acquired on June 9, 1891. Patrick and Alice Mathews sold to Eldred Frost, supervisor of the Town of Covert, “all that tract or parcel of land, situated in the Town of Covert…described as commencing in the centre of the highway in Main Street Farmer Village, forty-eight South of the southwest corner of land of Amos H. Leet and running East seventy-one feet; thence South sixteen feet, West seventy-one feet North sixteen feet along the centre of the highway to the place of beginning…”

Included in the deed was the intended purpose of the building, “…to be used  only for the accommodation and benefit of the fire department of Farmer Village and to be under the control and care of the Board of Trustees duly elected by the said Fire Department.” The resolution, as printed in the Fire Department minutes, goes on the explain that the Fire Department was no longer using the building, and that Theodore Day, then supervisor of the Town of Covert, should sell the building to the Village of Interlaken.

The “resolution was duly moved by Ainsworth Gardener, seconded by Clarence Haskins and unanimously Adopted. Signed James L. Daily, Homer Stewart and Chas. J. Wickes, trustees.”

At the October 6, 1950 meeting, the three bids were recorded, $1,100, $1,285 and $1,250. “On motion by Morehouse, seconded by Hildebrand that the old fire house be sold to the highest bidder, which is Daily Bros at a price of $1,285.”

There are several artifacts relating to the building as fire house. Possibility the most recognizable, is the photograph of Main Street with the fire bell prominently featured, even though the building itself is not shown.

Main Street looking south. The fire bell, in front of the original fire house is on the left.
Interlaken Historical Society photo collection #96.

Daily Brothers owned the building for a number of years. The law office of Victor Mount was on the first floor and an apartment was created on the second floor.

One of the features of the building, from its creation was its “central stairway.” The door on Main Street opened to a landing and stairway. To the left was the door into the law office; going up the stairs there were two doors, one right, one left. It was this central staircase that prevented Seneca County from tearing down the old Darling Restaurant. While they started the work, they had to board up the exterior. After purchasing the building in 1980, we completed the demolition of the south portion, put in windows in place of the south doors, and made a single-family home out of the old fire house.

Today, the front of the building has a double window where once the fire equipment came and went from the building.

Dewitt’s Diary, October 6, 1949 and 1950

Thursday, October 6, 1949

Temperature 42, partly cloudy and mild. Trees are very beautiful now. I saw just a little frost down by Halstead’s spring across the road.

We began pulling beans today. Most beans are not a very good crop, too dry most of the time.

Brooklyn 1, NY 0.

Friday, October 6, 1950

Partly cloudy and cool, temperature 38. Frost in the orchard this morning.

Setting up field corn this afternoon, after finishing the sweet corn. 

October 5, 1959 Water Shortage

In 1934 the Village of Interlaken was installing the first water works system. Wheeler A. Bassett, Village Historian, wrote an article for the August 31, 1934 Interlaken Review on the progress of the water system.

He first reported that “pipes have now been laid on all the streets excepting Main, and Main street was finished from the south end as far as the Baptist Church on Saturday night, August 25.”

The bulk of the article describes the work of building the water tower. “Six separate cones or pyramids of concrete are being poured, forming a circle…about 38 feet. In the center of the circle a seventh cone will be placed. About six feet of earth is excavated for the foundation of the cones…The cones are pyramidal shape, 10 feet square at the base, 4 feet square at the top, and 7½ feet high. It requires about five hours work for seven men to fill one.”

Barbara Stewart, then Water Commissioner for the Village, wrote an article for the January 2008 Interlaken Historical Society newsletter. It included a timeline of events with the local water system, and the more recent events.

1933 Water System started

1934 Board borrows $60,000 for improvements

1936 Board borrows $15,000 for improvements.

First water shortage. School closed Mason-Harris Springs infiltration gallery areas obtained

1944 First recommended to tap into Cayuga Lake

1948 Second water shortage

1949 Sheffield Well hooked up

1951 Third water shortage - school closed.

Mason Spring area closed

1952 Proposal to tap Cayuga Lake with Trumansburg for $78,000. Rejected by Trumansburg

1952 Proposal to tap Cayuga Lake for $170,450 Rejected by Interlaken due to high cost

1953 Pond dug at Mason-Harris Springs

1954 Pond closed

1955 Halstead Fields leased

1959 Halstead Fields purchased for $55,000 Fourth water shortage.

1960 Unsuccessful drilling of new well at Goodman Hotel.

1962 Fifth water shortage

1963 Halstead line and building installed for $25,000. Tank trailer purchased

1964 Sixth water shortage

1966 Seventh water shortage

1967 Purchase of Wilson Well investigated

1969 Eighth water shortage

1971 System tie-in to lake investigated.

1972 Wells drilled at VanArsdale and Halstead Springs without success

1973 Ninth water shortage

1974 Water study completed, with recommendations to increase ground water sources and go to Cayuga Lake

1976 Tenth water shortage

1980 Eleventh water shortage. Complete system depletion. Water trucked in. Wilson Well used with permission of owner. Parrott & Wolff geologic survey complete

1981 Gowdy & Hunt Water Supply Study complete with recommendations to drill test wells at Mason area and Halstead Fields and to purchase Wilson Well. Test wells dug with no success at Mason and Halstead. Wilson Well purchased for $60,000

Two wells at Mason area pumped dry Leaks in system cut from 33% to 7% by Village Repair Program

1983 Production from Wilson Well begins to decline. FmHA joint water project with Lodi and Covert rejected by FmHA due to lack of funds

Harris Springs closed

1984 Twelfth water shortage. O'Brien & Gere Water System Study complete with recommendation to develop new source at Cayuga Lake.

1985 Thirteenth water shortage. Complete system depletion barely avoided. HUD grant for $400,000 received.

The total project cost was $800,000. $400,000 coming from the HUD grant and the additional $400,000 from local monies.

By the spring of 1988, the project was well under way. The shore well had been drilled and the lines were laid along Cemetery Road for transmission to the water tower. A pump house had to be built, housing the chlorination equipment.

Along with the very visible activity, behind the scenes were the completion of hydrogeologic studies, purchase of land and easements, surveying, design, engineering and the final project inspection. This was a big step for the village and one all were proud of.

Once the system was up and running and proved itself, the village decided to allow those residents along the Cemetery Road to hook into the system.

The added revenue would help to defray the cost of the system. The village had a backup system consisting of some wells west of the village; they could be used in case of an emergency. (Or in the case of renovations to the water tower in the early 1990s). In 1992 Capital Reserve monies were used to paint, treat and repair leaks to the water storage tank.

Today, the topic of water within the village is an ongoing discussion. A new tower is being planned and the funding needs are being reviewed.

Dewitt’s Diary, Monday, October 5, 1959

Temperature 60, cloudy, still.

The village is badly pressed for water enough to keep the school going and the town too. They have been drawing some from the lake.

We raked up one chunk of beans this morning.

Rain and wet this afternoon. We have not had a good drying day since the big rain last Thursday. Beans are in bad shape and there is not many beans that are more than a half crop.

Rain and mild tonight.

Rode up on the hill with Ed Hayward and Bob Akins this afternoon.