The St. Lawrence County Historical Association n1 Volume L Number 2 Spring 2005 L The St. Lawrence County Historical Association at the Silas Wright Museum The St. Lawrence County Historical Association is a private, not-for-profit, membership organi- zation based at the Silas Wright House in Canton, New York. Founded in 1947, the Association is governed by a constitution, by-laws, and Board of Trustees. The Historical Association's 2005 Omers: Susan 0mohundr0,~HannawaFalls Pat Pellegrino, Massena ussell Strait, Waddington thers interes archival mat grams. The St: ?Lawrence Membership in t $55; Supporter $100; Patron 825Of"'Members receiveyhe SLCHA Quarterly, the Historical Association's bi-monthly newsletter, and variousdiscohnts on publications, programs and events. St. Lawrence County Historical Association at the Silas Wright House 3 East Main Street, PO Box 8 Canton, New York 13617 (3 15) 38b-8133 fax (315) 386-8 134 e-mail: [email protected] www. slcha.org The St. Lawrence County Histcm'cal Association ?rly is also .'- '--A- &La Q $RTEE he Arts, a Volume L Number 2,2005 ISSN: 0558- 1931 CONTENTS From the County Historian Trent Trulock Potsdam Sandstone Buildings In St. Lawrence County: 1868- 1934 3 By Susan Omohundro 1930 Memories from -...- - resye Little Old Piercefield 05 by the By Ella Banford Chellis . rr. rig1 ion. AN kts reservec Evangeline (Vangie) Rorke xcept forb:rief excerp IS,no part c ... publ~cat~onmay be copred of Hopkinton By Arthur L. Johnson ssociation i s not respo~ ments, interpretation! Mystery Photo 28 contributors to The S1 Issue Editor: he SLCHl 4 Quarter [y is pub1 Susan Omohundro tinter, Spriing. Summer, and Fal . .* ". ciation for its membe On the Cover Two illustrationsj?om the January 7, 1893 Scientific American ar- le St. Lab issociation , P.O. Box 8, Canton. NY ticle, "The Potsdam Red Sandstone Quarries. " In thejrst, a mason 3617 at $L1.00 each ($2.00 for mem- is "selecting large dimension stone" to be put on a rail car: The bers),~., plus $2.00 for p second is a view of "quarry no. I, "probably the Parmeter quarry on the west bankof the Racquette River near the Potsdam-Pierrepont tributions. To submit a manuscript, or town line, owned in the late 19th century by the Potsdam Red Sand- for further information, pleasc contact stone Company the editor through the St. Lawrence County i listoricnl Associatio~~.Plcmc lddress con ,ns to: Mar :ditor, The, arterlx P.C I. Canton, 1 From the County Historian By Trent Trulock was saddened to read in the 1Watertown Daily Times of the death of Persis Boyesen on May 22, 2005. Any of you who have done research in the City Of Ogdensburg, Town of Oswegatchie, and Village of Heuvelton may recognize her name. If not, you may have come across some of her work on the history of these municipalities without real- izing it. Persis was the historian for all three of these locations at the same time for a num- ber of years. She also served as the Deputy The Silas Wright House, home of the St. Lawrence County Historian in 1966 under then County County Historical Association. Historian Mary Biondi (Smallman). there is a very active group working to bring Persis Yates was born in St. Albans, about this reconstruction. Vermont on June 26, 1924. She graduated It has been said that all history is lo- from the University of Vermont, Burlington, cal. It is the local connection for the most in 1945. Also in 1945 she married Lt. James part that makes history relevant to the gen- William Boyesen of the Army Air Forces. They eral public. After all, most of us do not have had four children, a son and three daugh- famous military, educational, scientific, or ters. Persis was a teacher and began her ca- political figures in our family history. But we reer teaching at Winooski High School in Ver- all do have family history (for good or bad!). mont. She also taught in Chaumont, Lisbon, And it is this family history that makes that and Ogdensburg. She was appointed the personal connection to the larger levels of his- Oswegatchie Town Historian and the tory. Without a doubt Persis championed the Heuvelton Village Historian in 1964, and the importance of family history to local history. Ogdensburg City Historian in 1986. The Persis was the historian emeritus for North Country Local Historians Zone 1 pre- Ogdensburg, Oswegatchie, and Heuvelton. sented Persis with the Bessie Walldorf Award She retired from her historian career several in 1992 for all of her hard work in the field of years ago and had been a resident of St. local history. Joseph's Nursing Home in Ogdensburg for the Persis was an extremely active histo- last few years. When she retired from her rian. She helped numerous people in their long career in local history her place was taken quest to fmd information on their families. I by Linda Marshall, Oswegatchie Town and was amazed by how much information Persis Village of Heuvelton Historian, and James had stored in her head. I always have to look Boyle, Ogdensburg City Historian. And while up dates and names, but she seemed to be these fine historians have taken Persis' place able to instantly recall whatever date and they have in no way replaced her, for no one name she needed. She also worked long and can. Persis did a tremendous amount of work hard with others in her community to make a for our local history and her legacy lives on reconstruction of Fort Oswegatchie a reality with the articles and research she leaves be- in the City of Ogdensburg. From all indica- hind She will he missed greatly<hut 3s lnng tions it looks like her faithfulness to this as the legacy of her work remains she will project will be rewarded in several years, as never be forgotten. 2 St. Lawrence County Historical Association Quarterly Lr2, 2005 Potsdam Sandstone Buildingsu In St. Lawrence County: 1868-1934 By Susan Omohundro ed Potsdam sandstone from the quar- of Hannawa Falls. It was a consortium of local Rr ies along the Racquette River first businessmen, including the politician-philan- gained notice soon after pioneer settlement thropist of Civil War fame, General Edwin began. The Parmeter family opened the first Merritt. The Clarkson family owned quarries quarry in the 1810s and their example was closer to Potsdam, one which opened in the soon followed by others. The pioneer era saw 1820s on the west side of the river near the the construction of many structures, mostly present Sugar Island dam, and one which houses, most located near a source of stone. opened in 1877 on the east side. The masonry was plain courses or the re- At the peak of the industry's prosper- gionally distinctive slab and binder style of ity, in 1893, Scientific American published an alternating bed-cut and cross-cut courses. article extolling the virtues of Potsdam sand- (See "Building with Potsdam Red Sandstone: stone, in particular its hardness and durabil- The Early Years," The Quarterly Vol. 44, no. ity, a feature lacking in most sandstone. The 1, Winter 1999 for further information.) author went so far as to say This is the best This early period of utilization of of all building materials.. ." This claim was sup- Potsdam sandstone faded out in the 1850s. ported by scientific data from various pres- However, after the Civil War, the industry sure and acid tests executed at Columbia Col- revived, albeit in a quite different character. lege as well as endorsements by several tech- The revival was facilitated by the growth of nical authorities. the railroad network, which permitted trans- The Potsdam Red Sandstone Company portation of heavy blocks of stone over large liberally quoted these reports in its advertis- distances. Also, the use of steam-powered ing brochure. The brochure was illustrated machinery developed during this period, with well-known public buildings such as the which made extraction and shaping of stone Canadian Parliament as well as mansions lo- much easier. cated as far away as St. Louis, Missouri. The Furthermore, the stone was used in a implication was that Potsdam sandstone was different manner. The industrial era build- a prestigious as well as practical building ma- ings are almost all large public buildings, not terial. private homes. In the post-Civil War period However, in only a few more years, the the masonry featured the widely popular sandstone industry was well on the way to ashlar style, in which the blocks are rectan- extinction. Only a few buildings were con- gular, have a rough-cut surface, vary in size, structed entirely of Potsdam sandstone after and are placed irregularly, not in even 1900, although the material continues even courses. now to occasionally be used for decorative ac- In the industrial era the quarries were cents. large-scale commercial businesses, not small Why did construction in Potsdam sand- private endeavors. There were only two ma- stone cease? One factor was the changing jor companies on the Racquette River. The fashion in masnnry. The elaborately rgrvprl Red Sandstone Company owned the Victorian ornament lost its appeal, and the Parmeter quarry and other sites just north pink and red color of Potsdam sandstone went St. Lawrence County Historical Association Quarterly L:2, 2005 Side-by-side front-left views of Potsdam's Presbyterian Church, built in 1868, and St. Mary's Catholic Church, built in 1900. Al- though both churches share many stylistic el- ements, the overall effect achieved is quite different. out of style. A second factor was the high cost of stone compared with inexpensive new ma- dustrial-era buildings in St.