Courier and freeman., May 27, 1975 - Ten village historic houses studied by SUCP history research group.

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A study of 10 of the village of Potsdam's historic houses has been completed by a group of State University at Potsdam history majors under the direction of Judith Becker Ranlett a professor at SUCP. The completed studies have been placed on permanent deposit with the Potsdam Museum where, according to Museum Director Dee Little, they will be part of the building structure inventory for'the Division of Historical Preservation of New York' State's Office of Parks and Recreatibn.

Using old village directories, maps, photos and assessment records avail- able at the Museum, deeds and census records available at the county office in Canton, architectiral histories, and extensive interviews with owners, tenants, and other Potsdam residents, the ten students, all members of Ranlett's Colloquium in American History, have augmented their histories with careful descriptions of the houses as they now exist. Many of the histories are illustrated with photos and interior floor plans. In addition, each student has completed for each house the New York State Historic Trust's \Building-Struc - ture Inventory\ form.

The houses studied are the following: The \Old Walling Home,\ now the First Church of Christ, Scientist, located at 28 Elm Street, was studied by Meredith Kohn. William Walling, a Civil War Congressional Medal of Honor recipient, patterned it during its construction in 1877 upon his childhood home in Gouverneur. Upon Walling's death in 1912, it passed to his daughter, Julia Walling, and was later owned briefly by both Trinity Church and Clarkson College before being purchas- ed by the First Church of Christ, Scientist, which held its first service there on Thanksgiving Day, 1947. The structure was remodeled for religious purposes by Charles Draper Faulkner, a Chicago architect, who is the designer of the building's present facade.

Delta Kappa Theta fraternity house at 53 Elm Street, once associated with the Sisson family and, from 1958 to 1967 the Presbyterian manse, was the object of Nancy B.Demarkis's study. Demarkis learned that the present structure, apparently built sometime between 1896 and 1906, and extensively remodeled about 1920, surrounds a core consisting of a house built during the 1840's. It was owned by the Sisson family from 1906 to 1958 and, after serving nine years as the residence of the Rev. Varre Cummins of the Presbyterian Church, was occupied by the fraternity, its present owner, in 1967.

The Snell residence, now Theta Xi fraternity house at 88 Market Street, was the subject of a study by Susan C. Guszcza. The structure, apparently built in 1885, was owned in turn by the Ellis, Kingsley and Barnhart families before being purchased in 1907 by B Bertrand Hollis Snell, the North Country's representative in Congress from 1914 to 1939. The building was purchased by Theta Xi in 1969, five years after the death of his widow.

The "Farmer's Greek Revival" house at 78 Main Street, now occupied by retired Potsdam School Superintendent A.A. Kingston, was the subject of Marcia Ragan's research. Built bet- ween 1845 and 1848 by Barnes J. Olm- stead, and extensively remodeled between 1866 and 1876, the house remained in the Olmstead family until 1902. Its owner in the 1930's succumbed to the financial pressure of the depression and, the mortgage foreclosed, the house was sold at public action at the Civic Center entrance in June, 1937. The Kingstons purchased it in 1952.

expression was the house at 83 Main Street now owned by Edward McHugh. Nancy Virgil, whose project it was, discovered that the brick Mansard roofed structure, built between 1882 and 1886 by Potsdam lawyer William M. Hawkins, fell to the control of the Citizen's Bank sometime after 1936. Wartime renovation limits prevented the bank from maintaining it properly, so that extensive * restorations were required after its purchase by the McHugh's in 1943.

The Delta Upsilon fraternity house at 30 Elm Street, described by the Courier and Freeman in 1922 as "one of the best in town," was studied by Kathy Safford. She discovered that the striking towered and bay-windowed house was originally built in quite another style in 1842, and was extensively remodeled to its present appearance in 1893 by its then owner, Charles Adams. It was owned briefly in the early 1920's by John R. Pert, Potsdam and Norwood business- man, before being purchased in the autumn of 1922 by Lambda Iota fraternity. The fraternity in 1961 joined the national fraternity, Delta Upsilon.

Another Elm Street fraternity, the recently vacated property of Theta Chi at 18 Elm Street, was the subject of Yvonne Rich's researches. She dis- covered that although Samuel Par- tridge, one of the founders of both Trinity Church and the Potsdam Fire Department, built the first house on the site in 1818 the present building with its distinctive fish-scale shingling and onion-shapped turrets was constructed only in the 1890's. Its original owner was Frederick L. Dewey. After a succession of owners following Dewey's death, the house was purchased by Theta Chi in 1956.

The house at 61 Elm Street, variously known as the Sisson House and the Elm Street General Hospital, was studied by Kathryn Gerrish. The house's history began shortly after 1821 when its core was constructed by Nicholas BMsh. A series of owners enlarged the building, and John White, the architect who is responsible for the Masonic Temple on Elm Street, rebuilt it in the Greek Revival style for Charles Sisson around the turn of the century. A later owner, William D. Hayes, had the garage pannelled in mahogany to supply a proper setting for Potsdam's first electric automobile. The Clionian Sorority occupied the building from 1937 to 1945, when it was converted by Hans E. Scheyer into the twenty-five bed Elm Street General Hospital. Upon Scheyer's return from the Korean War the house was converted to apartments.

Fifty-nine Elm Street, built in the 1850's by Comer Peck, (a Potsdam druggist, businessman, and, for 16 years, town treasurer) , was the subject of Melissa Morgan's study. The house stayed in the Peck family until 1926, when it was occupied by J. Handley Foote and his wife, Margaret Clarke Foote, who, after 1933, operated their undertaking business from the house. After Foote's death the house changed hands three times and was briefly occupied by Sigma Tau Psi fraternity. It is now vacant but is undergoing extensive interior renovation.

Perhaps the most unusual history in the series was that written by Robert J. Long whose subject was the houses at 14% and 16 Pleasant Street. The original house at this site was built in 1868 by Milton Petit, who enlarged the structure in 1870 and again in 1879. In 1886 the building was divided in two, the west side being moved thirty feet to create the house subsequently known as 14% Pleasant Street. Since 1903 the two buildings have been under separate ownership. Number 14'/4 is now the home of Gerald B. North while number 16, owned since 1968 by Daniel Kocan, is rented to college students.

The \Blue Mansion,\ Jacob Van Heuvel's Greek Revival home con- structed in Heuvelton in 1834, was the only house outside Potsdam to be studied by a member of the colloquium. That study was the work of Gregory Timmerman.

The house studies were undertaken as a part of the work in the State University College's Colloquium in American History, a course offered each semester and required of history majors, the course is designed to teach methods of research and of the writing of history. Specific projects vary from semester to semester, but original research of some type is always required.

Members of the colloquium noted that they were pleased with the \interested cooperation they received from officials at the Potsdam Museum and the county office in Canton, and were especially appreciative of the help offered by the owners and tenants of the various houses they studied.\

References

http://nyshistoricnewspapers.org/lccn/sn83031769/1975-05-27/ed-1/seq-29/