Bainbridge Central High School - Echo Yearbook (Bainbridge, NY)

Page 78 text:

HISTORY OF BAINBRIDGE The hlstory of Ba1nbr1dge IS truly llttle more than the short and srmple annals of how a handful of courageous men and women seek mg for homes they could call the1r own on the old New York frontier changed for us thrs valley and these hlllsrdes covered wrth prlmeval forests mhabxted by anlmals wxld and v1c1ous and an aborlgmal humamty crafty and cruel mto a pleasant and fertile farm land teammg wlth act1v1ty and rndustry and the abldrng joys of a contented cultured and God lovmg c1v111za txon Human endeavor anywhere no matter how humble IS worth recordrng and for those who love Ba1nbr1dge and there are those of us who do I am sure thrs short thumb na1l sketch of the orlgm and development of the town w1ll have rnterest Untrl the close of the Revolutronary War the western hmrt of the whlte mans country ln th1s part of New York State was the Unadllla R1ver and a lrne extendlng southward from 1ts pomt of confluence w1th the Susquehanna It will thus be noted that the terrxtorj now com prlsed w1th1n the Town of Ba1nbr1dge was just west of the Llne of Property as rt was called and was the eastern hmnt of the mdefinlte ln d1an doman One hundred and seventy one years ago C1 7851 Governor George Clmton pur chased for the State of New York from the One1da and Tuscarora Indrans a cons1derable tract of land west of the l1ne of property 1n wh1ch was rncluded that area rn wh1ch we now lrve A port1on of thls land represented by what IS now the towns of Ba1nbr1dge and Afton and a small port1on of Coventry was set as1de and sur veyed as the townsh1p of Clmton The chorcest land along the r1ver banks was granted to a group of people known as Vermont Sufferers These were persons who had been dlspossessed of the1r property and otherwlse pumshed owlng to the1r unfaltermg allegrance to the govern ment of the State of New York durrng the con troversy wh1ch had exlsted between lt and the State of Vermont over a boundary dispute These Vermonters and the1r descendents played a promment part 1n the later development of the area In 1791 lt was found expedlent to make a new arrangement of this port1on of the state and at this trme a new town was created m the southern port1on of what IS now Che nango County Th1s town embraced wlthm 1ts borders portions of the present towns of Nor w1ch Oxford Guxlford Greene Coventry and all of the present towns of Ba1nbr1dge and Af ton Th1s town was g1ven the name of jerrcho by Slmeon DeWitt the Comm1ss1oner of the Land Office ln accordance w1th his 1nterest1ng desxgn to deslgnate some 250 new townships erected by Act of Legrslature rn that year by us1ng B1bl1cal and ancient hrstory place names as well as those of famous persons Remams of th1s dev1ce of the commxssxoner stxll exrst 1n such town names as Nxneveh Pharsal1a Marathon Gxlboa Smyrna C1nc1nnatus Sc1p1o Hanmbal Sparta and even Syracuse and Rome obvrously to do honor to the glory that was Greece and the grandeur that was Rome The records show that the first town meetlng of jerlcho was held at the Guthr1e tavern Apr1l IQ 1791 Phmeas Bennett of Bennettsv1lle was the first Supervxsor The 3CtlVltlCS of the 1n habltants of early Jerlcho was almost ent1rely confined to loggmg and raft1ng the logs down the r1ver to the large towns along the shores of the Chesapeake Bay from where they would walk back home In 1798 another xmportant rearrangement of th1s part of the state was made at wh1ch trme Chenango County was created and the town of Jer1cho was reduced in s1ze to the present bound ar1es of Barnbrrdge and Afton then called South jerrcho Cln 1857 South Ba1nbr1dge was separated from the present town of Ba1nbr1dge and g1ven the name of Afton J Soon after I8O0 there came to jerxcho one Freder1ck Augustus Baron deZeng a Saxon nobleman born ln Dresden who crossed to Amerxca rn command of some of the Hesslan troops ln the servxce of Great Brxtaln He ar r1ved too late to part1c1pate rn the Br1t1sh cam pargn agalnst the Colonrsts but became h1m self a v1ct1m of the conquermg fr1endl1ness of the colonlsts he had come to subdue and hav mg made many 1nt1mac1es among wh1ch was one of a drstmctly romantrc nature he dec1ded to abandon a mxlrtary career and cast his lot wrth the new country He was naturallzed as an Amerlcan c1t1zen and g1ven the tltle of Major IH the m1l1t1a In 1784 he was married 1n Trlmty Church IH New York Clty to Mlss Mary Law rence and at the tlme of the1r com1ng to jerlcho the fam1ly consrsted of nme chlldren Major DeZeng was a well educated hlghly cultured gentleman possessed of cons1derable wealth He mvested heavlly 1n turnp1kes wh1ch at that time were usually owned by prlvate lndxvxduals or stock compames Hls property 1nterest rn the recently completed Ulster 85 Delaware Turnplke brought h1m to JCYICIIO where th1s road termx nateo and ln 1805 he had erected the first of our r1ver brldges wrth the mtentron of contm umg the road further to the west Th1s was later accomplxshed by the constructron of the Sus quehanna 81, Bath Turnprke largely promoted by hrmself He had buxlt for h1s famlly at the west end of the r1ver brldge a handsome and capaclous residence and at the lower end of the Newton Creek gorge he buxlt the first saw mrll and grlst mxll m jerxcho village No doubt the Major s correct appra1sal of thrs valuable water power mfiuenced h1m to make h1s selectxon of 3 ! 3 H ' 1 a s 1 1 9 ' h if 7 . . . . H Y I v s . . . . . . . - - - , . Y y J ' . . . ' 7 . . n v . ,M ,L - . . , . . . , . . . . . , ' ' 1 - I . ' If YY ll ' ,Y ' ' 1 ' v r ' ' s v , - n , , - 1 ' v jj ,, . . . . . . ' a ' 7 7 Y - . . . , , . 1 . , - 1 9 r s ' ' ' 9 - . H . ,, . . . . 9 y , Y , . ' v

Page 77 text:

LITERARY 0 xf ff X 0 X 'aff SX f M WH-.,g15f 42 i X V , f - X x , ' ' A 4.2 ' QQ' ' f N X 'C ' I 1,21 XXX 4 ,A ,, if 1 'I IHXK f . 3 vpai! J uk 1 f f ' Q pf ' A ff N l 'x'ifaff C f I ' if 'A ' N5 4 X .X YJ xx , . J! XX I I K Xxx N ' xl X1 XR-Xxx , 1 Y X K X ,A J X X x uk: X ik ' ge Park ' 916 73 ' The Park, Bainbridge, N Y

Page 79 text:

the locatxon of the brxdge and hrs resrdence where he drd fo1 th1s made them of convement access to hls mxllmg busmess As a result the vrllage grew up raproly about th1s locatxon The mxlls have long smce gone but the creek re mams to plague us Later act1v1t1es of the Ma Jors was the buxldmg of a commodxous tavern on the slte now occupled by the rectory of St Peter s Church and a home for h1s son Rlchard where the parsonage of the Baptlst Church now stands The only rema1n1ng monument of M3101 DeZeng IS the juhand house for whlch reason lt mxght be said to wear the brlghtest hrstorlcal halo of any 1es1dence m Bambrxdge He bu1lt th1s wxth the a1d of hls older son Rxchard fox a younger son Phxhp rn 1813 The house and surround1ng farm land was later sold to Col Rxchard juhand whose descendents st1ll occupy Evldently the problem of youthful delm quency was present back ln these remote jeucho days for IH 1813 some vandal mlnded youths set fire to a half frmshed church located where the fountam 1D the v1llage park IS now located The unfavorable publ1c1ty rn the surroundmg towns caused by th1s shameful act determmed the people of Jerlcho to seek a new name for the town and 1n 1814 by Act of Leg1slature the name was changed to Bambrxdge rn honor ot Commodore W11l1am S Bambrldge who was at that t1me a popular naval hero There was never any personal assoclatlon of th1s famous ofhcer of the Amer1can navy w1th the town The corporatlon of the vlllage of Ba1nbr1dge was formed Apr1l 2I 1829 Colonel Rlchard Julxand was the flrst Pres1dent In 1850 a stock company was organ1zed by Orren Jacobs then engaged ln a tannery busl ness to construct and operate a flat bottom stern wheel steam boat whlch was to navlgate the r1ver between Bambrxdge and Lanesboro Pa a statlon on the newly opened Er1e Ra1l road By th1s method the valley was to be opened up to commerce The launchxng of th1s steamer called The Enterprlse was the occa sxon of a great celebrat1on whxch was stxll v1v 1dly recalled by some of our oldest mhabxtants fifty years ago The board 1tself was 112 feet long and was equxpped wlth an 80 horse power engxne It had a carrylng capac1ty of 30 tons The venture m1ght have met wxth some measure of success had not the valley been Hooded wlth advertlsmg crrculars seekmg subscrlptrons for stock rn the contemplated Albany 8.1 Susque hanna Ra1lroad Thls project was eventually al though belatedly a success as It was not uutxl 186, that the rallroad was completed from Al bany to Bambrldge Later th1s Company was accluxred by the old Delaware 81, Hudson Canal Lo and has smce been operated by thenr successors Fhe mdustrlal hrstory of Bambrldge may be summar1zed ln two words LUMBER and MILK Durmg the frrst century of 1ts exlstence logg1ng and lumbermg and later the mlllmg and fashlomng of the wood gleaned from the hxll srdes mto useful and readxly salable art1cles of commerce were the back bone of the lndustry of the town The Culbert factorles of the 1860 s among the Frrst to make use of steam power were for over a quarter of a century a part of the ut1l1zat1on of the lumber harvests of the locallty Whxle lumber domlnated the 1ndustr1al scene for the hrst century there developed soon after 1890 a defimte fadmg out of xts xmportance and slowly at first but wlth mcreasmg tempo there occurred a growth of the product1on of mxlk as an economlc support for the growmg townshlp Creamerxes were bu1lt and the farmers 1ncreased the s1ze of the1r herds of mllch cows Mxlk prod ucts mcludmg the adaptatlon of casem for many useful purposes 1nclud1ng casem plastlcs and glue found ready markets The manufac ture of machmery for the separatlon of butter fat from raw m1lk became at one t1me a l1vely lndustry All of these m1lk related products have put the accent of Balnbrldge bus1ness on MILK for the past half century and are l1kely to contmue to do so for the rema1n1ng half of the second century of 1ts exlstence Most other 8CtlV1t1ES mn the bus1ness hxstory of the town have been of a very local charac ter The manufacture of beaver hats 1n Jerrcho days later the makmg of shoes boots clgars household furmture the ra1s1ng and processmg of flax and wool the mrllmg of gram the black smxthxng the Burgess 1ron foundry the stage coach and llvery bus1ness and more recently the auto garages and fillmg statlons the Frank Lew1s const1uct1on work these have confined themselves largely to the xmmedxate localxty But rn LUMBER and MILK and therr anc1llary mdustr1es Bambrldge has certa1nly pushed xts markets far mto the outer world Dr Edward Danforth Dr Edward Danforth has lnved the busy llfe of a small town physxcnan here for fifty years In addrtlon to the twenty four hour Job as vxllage doctor he has also found t1me to become an authorlty on the hxstory of hns nat1ve town and to hlm we feel very grateful for the hlstory of Bambrxdge he has wrltten for our Echo , . . . , x v - 1 . , ' . . , . , ' . . , . . . , . . X , . . 1 , . . . . . - - - l ,.-. . . . 1 v 1 . . . . . . . . . . , E . . . . . , - .. . , - - . . , - - 1 . . . ' , . , I . , - ' 1 . 1 1 1 , .. . , 1 . 1 , . ' 1 y - 1 - - , - 'Y 1 J 7 1 ' 7 ' 1 1 ' u ' 11 , . . Y 1 1 ' - 1 1 ' 1 1 1 . , . ' - 1 1 as va