AUBURN

Owasco Heights

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Three plat maps of the Owasco Heights subdivision, delineating 263 total lots, were submitted to the Cayuga County Clerk in June 1908 on behalf of Indiana-based developer, Grafton Johnson.  Situated just over the Auburn city line in the Town of Owasco, the development stretched from Owasco Street on the west to the east side of Shearin Street, including Adams, Aldritch, Van Duyne, and French Avenues, Hanckel Street ①.

 

Deeds for lots in the subdivision contained the following racial covenant:

 

 

 

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Although local newspaper advertisements did not explicitly mention the exclusion of African Americans, an ad in 1928 from Caruno Realty, Inc., boldly declared Owasco Heights was, "Restricted to Americans Only ②."

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Belmont

 

N.P. Dodge & Co., of Omaha, Nebraska, developed the Belmont Addition in Auburn, New York, in 1916, with lots going on sale on July 26, 1916.  The subdivision was comprised of 250 lots on Copley, Jarvis, Locust, and Fleming streets, between Lake Avenue (including 12 lots fronting Lake Avenue) and the Owasco River.  Every lot in Belmont included free use of “1200 feet of beautiful wooded river front....”  

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In keeping with N.P. Dodge's nationwide business model, lots were staked with tags and purchased on site from a local sales agent, John F. McGrath, for "$1 down and 50¢ a week."  Contracts were ready and waiting for buyers in a sales tent that was open from 8 AM to 9 PM, even doing business "by lantern light."​  Buyers paid no interest, no taxes for three years, and made weekly payments at a local bank, the National Bank of Auburn ③.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lots were advertised as investments "protected by our reasonable restrictions ④," as well as “restricted to desirable white people for all time ⑤.”  Deeds contained the following racial restriction:

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​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​① “Map of Owasco Heights,” 1908 (Map Book 2, pages 149-51, Office of the Cayuga County Clerk, Cayuga County, NY).

②  The Auburn Citizen, July 26, 1928, p. 16  Accessed via fultonhistory.org

③ The Advertiser-Journal (Auburn, NY), 11 August 1916 — Page 11.  Accessed via nyshistoricnewspapers.org

④ The Advertiser-Journal (Auburn, NY), Sat. July 22, 1916, p. 7.  Accessed via nyshistoricnewspapers.org

⑤ The Advertiser-Journal (Auburn, NY), Sept. 11, 1919, p. 10.  Accessed via nyshistoricnewspapers.org

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© MAY 2026​​​​