Above, this was Post Street before it was torn down. Drinking, prostitution and gambling were all part and parcel of the neighborhood. I'm sure many of the residents would have said, "It's a living." It certainly was a living for newspaper reporters working for local newspapers. Looking through the old archives there was always a story of some mayhem, crime or personal tragedy occurring on the street. Frankly, Post Street provided a constant stream of human interest articles portraying a people who were not about to sue newspaper management over the loss of their reputations. Post Street residents were safer to write about and were no doubt a mirror to the same human peccadilloes taking place in the city's white population. One group you could write about, the other you couldn't.
Above, satellite view of Post Street today. Oneida County Court House is just inside lower left frame.
Brick buildings are colored red while wood buildings are yellow. There aren't many buildings on Post Street and many are small.. Note the "Colored Presbyterian Chapel," where evidently Mother Lavender was often found.
THE DAILY OBSERVER - AUGUST 14, 1875
A Treatise on a dark subject - The Serious
Side of a Social Phenomenon
New York has it's Green street, Utica has its Post Avenue. Each has better neighborhoods to live in, - luckily for everybody concerned. And yet there was a time when Green street had some pretentions to respectability, and when Post Avenue boasted what were then considered good residences. How many of our citizens have walked thorough Post Avenue within the past five years. Very few. It is rated a dirty locality
It is dirty, but more inside of the frame dwellings that face the street than in the street itself. The pavements are kept rarely clean, - cleaner than they are on many streets of more pretentious and more reputable fame. Only the odors, and the prevailing air of steady, long-continued decay which has fastened
itself on the very frames of the dwellings would lead the casual passer-by to the knowledge that he was among the Way-Down Folks.
Sometimes they beg provisions.
Sometimes they buy provisions.
Sometimes they steal provisions.
Full text of article is here:
http://morestories.proboards.com/thread/33/post-st-blues-fiona-library?page=2
To save your eyes from having to read the originals, I (or Jon Hynes) transcribed the following.
From The Utica Herald Dispatch, Thursday Evening, December 15, 1900.
Mrs. Lavender in City Court
She demands That Post Avenue be “Cleaned Out”
GIRL CHARGED WITH THEFT.
Results of a Growler Party – Judge O’Conner says That all He wants is evidence against disorderly plces – Custom of Syracuse Colored Girls
Miss Ada Mingo, colored, 22 years old, was in City Court this morning, charged with petit larceny. The complainant was William Rogers, white, and he alleged that she stole $12 from his person and that he did not miss the amount until after he had said au revoir to Ada for the night. Ada was arrested by Officer Mullen last evening. When searched at the Police Station the only thing found in her possession was cash to the amount of $1.50. She strenuously denied the theft and was real provoked at being locked up.
With the building of the Central FIre Station in 1912 the Post Street neighborhood was destroyed.
December 1, 1912
The bright spot on Post Street was Mother Lavender.
Mrs. Lavender was an interesting character. Also known as Mother Lavender she was a preacher and reformer. As far as I can tell, she took over the small "Colored Presbyterian Church" on Post Street and called it Hope Chapel.
Since the following was written for advertising, I hope Malio Cardarelli doesn't mind my reproducing it here.
Utica's Mother Lavender
"Born into slavery and sold away from her family at age 7, Ellen Elizabeth Lavender had a horrific life in bondage and a benevolent one in freedom.
Moving north after her emancipation in 1865, Elizabeth first settled in Albany, New York with her son, Amos, born as a result of a forced mating with another slave in order to create a new generation of slaves.
In Albany, she married Nicholas Lavender with whom she had one surviving child, Nicholas Jr. After her husband’s death, she relocated to Utica, New York where she spent the rest of her life dedicated to her ministry of helping those less fortunate than herself.
Despite her illiteracy, color, and financial deprivation, she was able to establish a following of workers and contributors, resulting in an annual New Year’s Day Dinner for the poor, satisfying her belief that no one should start a new year on an empty stomach. Serving as many as 900 in her home, the dinners that began in 1901 were held without interruption until 1968, despite her death in 1928. While this was clearly her most visible event, Mother Lavender, as she affectionately became known, had a daily ministry, one for which she always kept the door of her home open for anyone in need of a meal or a temporary place to sleep.
Her commitment to doing good deeds lives in the memory of all who were in any way associated with her and even today serves as an inspiration to those who know of her.
The work traces her life, beginning with her harsh years in bondage and progressing to her time in Utica and ultimately to her death. Insight is given on what motivated this remarkable woman of kindness and devotion.
Although I haven't read it, I'm told by those who have that the book is an excellent resource on Mother Lavender.
"Utica's Mother Lavender: I'll see you in heaven"
by Malio J Cardarelli
It's out of print, but according to Amazon the book is available directly from Malio.
Go here:
http://www.booksbymalio.com/
In the 1890s, Mother Lavendar began to organize a free New Years Day dinner for the city's poor. It was to grow in size in the next century.
As mentioned above, the New Years Day dinners became quite large over the years.
Utica Daily Press
July 10, 1912
Open Air Meetings
Rev. S.H. Bebe(?), Mrs. Carrie Bebe(?) and Miss Gertrude Elelia(?), colored traveling evangelists from Garden's Theological training School in Boston, together with "Mother" Lavender, the well known local evangelistic worker, have been attracting large crowds on Franklin Square. Their songs. strong addresses and emphatic rxxxx are very impressive. These people are exceptionally earnest in their work and will continue to give open air meetings each evening for the next two weeks at the corner of Elizabeth and Genesee streets, or at Franklin Square.
I don't know if Mother Lavender Dinners are still held each year. I came across a newspaper article from 1933 that said the dinners began in 1898, but other sources said 1891. The last mention of the dinner I found was an article in the Utica Observer Dispatch showing the dinner held in 1972. And then in the mid 1980's a paragraph mentioning a Mother Lavender Community Service Award from a place called the Cosmopolitan Community Center, which today is located on Kemble Street in Utica. In prior years, the Center was located in Washington Courts, according to an interesting web site on black history from Hamilton College:
www.hamilton.edu/cache/black-history
www.hamilton.edu/cache/black-history
There
is a much more detailed thread … some 42 pages of posts … about Post
Street written by Fiona O’Downey,
the late Jon Hynes and myself on the MoreStories Forum.
