Above is a view of Genesee Street that shows the distance from the Busy Corner to the Winston Building at the intersection of Washington Street.
Uticans or formers Utican do not need to be told what they're looking at. The photo was probably taken shortly before Anna Stoddard penned the note to Miss Black in Winooski, Vermont. The automobiles would bear this out.
What we knew as the Savings Bank of Utica along with its gold dome breaks frame right and evidently the coloring artist missed applying some yellow or gold. (Or did I once hear the dome wasn't always gold?) We see the wedged shaped Winston Building at lower left that forms the intersection of Washington Street.
Anna wrote from 927 Schuyler Street in Utica: "Sorry I couldn't see you before I left, but I didn't have time to make any calls at all.Had to go to bed as soon as I got here with the Grippe. We like very much. Regards to family. Sincerely, Anna Stoddard."
If Google Maps is correct (and it sometimes is not) here is 927 Schuyler Street today. The home is off Court Street in West Utica. Winooski is an old mill town next door to Burlington, Vermont on Lake Champlain.
Below is a photo of the Butterfield House. I know I've run this before, but I love this photo. It has a very antique feel. You can just make out the Grace Church steeple beyond it.
Here below is a much better photo of the Butterfield House.
This shot appears by the style of the cars to have been taken in the 1940s. I'd guess the photographer was standing in front of the former Butterfield House shooting across the street. The building breaking frame on the right is the Gardner Building. It's front facade is lined up with Seneca Street rather than Genesee Street. We saw it on fire in the winter in a previous post (Elizabeth Street II.)
Above: I ran this before, but now have a bit more information. I'm not old enough to remember circus parades up Genesee Street in Utica. My earliest memories were filled with Memorial Day parades consisting of one or two UFD fire companies and loads of war surplus tanks that thrilled our little military hearts (during the Korean War.) On the building behind the elephant you can see the sign for the J. Conrad Max Coal Company. Here is their entry from the 1913 Utica City Directory:
J. Conrad Max & Co.
Miners and Shippers
High Grade Bituminous Coal
Greensburg and Yonghiogheny Gas Coals, Rey-
noldsville, South Fork and Clearfield Coals
Foundry and Furnace Coke
240 Genesee Street,
UTICA, N. Y.
Fiona tells me this is the Winston Building and the windows appear to verify she's right. (She's always right!)
Many of us remember coal yards situated in different neighborhoods around Utica in the
1940s and 50s. They were dirty places, so it seems unusual for a coal company to be downtown. But I'm
sure there was no coal out back of J. Conrad Max. In fact, all of their coal may have been on trains in
shippment to Utica and other cities where the coal was offloaded directly into factories and power plants.
Notice their ad above specifies bituminous coal. That was a soft coal used in industry. In the thousands
of furnaces in the basements of Utica area homes the burned for heat was a hard coal called anthracite.
The elephant is an excellent advertising device, as anyone should know. Paste your message on her sides and you're bound to attract passersby who will read your message, if they're not running from the beast. The circus, or carnival as Francis Feraris styled his show, could be quite large, depending upon how much you wanted to hire. See the add below for an Ilion visit. It's good to know there were no immoral shows. I guess.
Another shot from atop City Hall. Trees downtown on Genesee Street were certainly way before my time. I like the tree shadows in this photo. OK, let's get down on the street and work our way up the west side of Genesee Street.
Below is a colorized photo from about where City Hall used to be at one time. The street coming in on the far left is Pearl (City Hall sat on the corner of Pearl and Genesee Street.) So City Hall is just out of frame on the left.
By the looks of the sutomobiles I'd say this is 1910s or 20s.
If you look down the left hand side of the street toward Seneca Square (where Columbia Street begins at Genesee) you can just barely see an outdoor clock. Let me blow it up for you. It looks like the same type of clock that today stands at Washington and Genesee Streets.
OK, lets back up a few feet and get a look at Utica's old City Hall.
The letters across the front of old City Hall in this photo spell out "1832 Utica Centennial 1832." And the autos verify this was shot in 1932. It looks so ancient, but in reality it's only 11 years before my birthday. OK, you can tell me I'm ancient.
Below, another shot of City Hall in the 1950s. Interesting thing about this photo is that Jeep-style vehicles have changed only a little, while the Studebaker swept-around style has pretty much left the stage. Also notice in the upper left corner the Industrial Bank of Uticahas their name painted on their building. My parents were their customers for ages, I can personally attest (through my mother's experience) that even as late as the 1970's the Industrial Bank did their checking accounts manually without optical-sense accounting and routing numbers printed on the checks. The bank happened to have two Mary Griffins as checking customers and asked my mother to have my father sign her checks because they were confusing the two Marys when they processed checks and taking money out of the wrong accounts. Hard to believe, but true. It's no wonder they're no longer with us, as far as I know.
Now, where else would you be able to read such scintillating tales except at a Post Card presentation?
Another interesting point about the above photo. Have you seen any "No U Turn" signs lately? I haven't seen them after the 1960s. I guess people finally learned it was not very safe and the courts must assume people know it's illegal almost everywhere. The should have saved them, however. They could paint them over with "No Smoking," since I fully expect to see more of these outdoors in the coming years. Glad I gave 'em up years ago.
Here's the same area at night, date unknown.
Below are more photos of the old City Hall. It's architecture has been described as Romanesque Revival. Gone now, and perhaps someone could enlighten us as to when it was torn down. I'm not an historian.
Below: From City Hall behind the tree in the center of the photo up toward Washington Street. Looks like there's a firehouse wedged in there. Possibly someone knows which company it was.
Here's another early view.
In the 1930s.
And here it is today, below.
On the east side of Genesee we've already seen Grace Church and the Butterfield House. We'll work our way up the street toward the Mayro Buildig.
Yup, one more view of the
Butterfield House, an old Utica hotel. Eventually Neisner's would
locate on the ground floor. I don't know what's there today.
And now ... since I have no more photos of the east side in this block, we'll skip to the Savings Bank of Utica.
Here are some of my favorite shots of the Savings Bank of Utica.
Below, business conducted at the Savings Bank of Utica during a typical winter's day
Below, the bank with the Mayro Building next door.
Below, more of the Mayro Building. I've seen them, but I can't remember the names of the gentlemen whose names were contracted to form "MayRo."
Below, a photo of the aftermath of the Blizzard of '66. I don't know what Uticans experienced in the snow fall, but I remember the 3 day storm's totals in the cities I spent time in during 1966, just a few months after I was married. 140 inches in Watertown, 108 in Oswego and 96 in Syracuse. At the time I commuted from Syracuse to school at Oswego. I started up Route 48 just as the snow began. It was heavy and blowing so hard at Fulton that I crossed over the river to Route 57, a better road, and continued north for about five miles. I had never seen such snow, and believe me, I commuted in every kind of weather. A snow storm was not a show stopper. But this one was different. It was fierce and I turned the car around in the middle of 57 (crazy, I know) and headed back south. Had I not done that and presuming I ever reached Oswego, I would have spent the next three days there.
We should have a quick glance down Washington Street. There are a couple of classic buildings just down from Genesee Street.
Above you can see the old Balliol School at far left and the Westminister Church next door.
I believe the Balliol was at one time a young lady's school and eventually it housed the Utica YMCA.
What a beautiful building!
I do not know the denomination of the Westminister Church, but I'd guess it was Episcopal.
Below is a photo of the old Albert Hodel for Men. It became Utica's Masonic Temple. On the right in the photo is the New Century Club for professionals and businessmen.
Here is a closer view of the New Century Club on the corner of Genesee And Hopper Streets.
Across the street on the corner of Court Street was the Fort Schuyler Club. Having never been invited to join when I was a teenager (or ever), I remember it as a bus stop. Here are a number of views.
On the south corner of Genesee and Court Streets was what we called the Gas and Electric Building. At the time I was around Utica the owner would have been Niagara-Mohawk.
A couple of details from the above photo. Not good resolution, but interesting.
OK, we'll take a break here. I don't plan to go any farther than Oneida Square. I would like to do "Buses and Trolleys" and something on Cornhill, where I spent most of my growing up years. I don't have many photos for a section on "Court Street to Oneida Square," except some interesting construction photos of the Stanley Theater in 1927. When we come back we'll do that, maybe extending it up Genesee Hill to the Olbiston.
