CORNING

Belmont

 

Brothers Albert and Truman Pritchard, the patriarchs of the Pritchard family in Corning, NY, died within one week of each other in 1914 ①, leaving behind a 60-acre farm on the north side of the city ②.  A group of family members including Jennie Sayles Durrant, of Geneva, NY, – a niece of Truman Pritchard ③ –  appear to have begun selling lots in what became the Belmont Addition in 1918 ④.  In addition to the name “Belmont,” a subdivision name commonly associated with national developer N.P. Dodge and Company, newspaper advertisements evidence that N.P. Dodge was involved with the subdivision.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Deeds in the subdivision -- such as the one below for Lot #18 in Block 44 and transferred by Jennie Durrant, Nettie Pritchard, Mary Sayles, Harrie Pritchard, and Bertha Pritchard -- included a racial covenant similar to that routinely used by N.P. Dodge:

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Kingsbury Farm

 

Ella Kingsbury Heyniger inherited 65 acres in Corning valued at $44,000 from her uncle, Frank D. Kingsbury, when he died suddenly without a will in 1917 ⑤.  Subdividing the property and plotting the streets was “turned over” to N.P. Dodge and Company ⑥, who sent E. M. Murphy and H.E. Ball in September 1920 to “[stake] out the lots and [prepare] the ground for sale…. ⑦”

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The 250-lot development was “located west of Dodge Avenue and north of Pulteney street and extending northwards from Pulteney street to the Lackawanna railroad tracks…. ⑧.”

 

However, prospective buyers had to submit applications to “the management of the estate,” and there were “certain restrictions incident to the sale of the lots,⑨” including that lots could only be used for residential purposes, and that lots could never be owned or occupied by “colored people” as evidenced by deeds like that below for Lot #6 in Block 68 signed by Kingsbury Heyniger and including racial covenants similar to those commonly used by N.P. Dodge:

 

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A July 1929 legal notice published in The Evening Leader reveals that Corning Co-Operative Savings and Loan imposed the very same racial restriction when it auctioned off Lot #22 in Block 66 of the Kingsbury Farm subdivision: "This lot is sold on the express covenant that it shall never be occupied by a colored person."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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​​McBurney Plot

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Houghton Tract

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The Houghton Tract was developed in 1922 by Corning Home, Inc., creating 320 lots organized into 22 blocks on East Pultney, Roosevelt, Wilson, Pershing, Legion, Belleau, Argonne, Marne, Metz, Catingney, Aisne, Chateau, and St. Mihiel Streets, Pyrex Place, Corning Boulevard, Sims Avenue, Houghton Circle, and Allied Boulevard Avenue.  The subdivision also included Navy Park, Army Park, and Memorial Square.

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​The idea of dividing the Houghton Flats into home building lots came as a result of a questionnaire sent to 3000 residents of the city by the Corning Chamber of Commerce in 1917 and intended to determine what improvements were needed in the city ⑩.  The Houghton Estate -- heirs of the late founder of Corning Flint Glass Works (today, Corning, Inc.) -- had given 103 acres of land to the city of Corning in 1920, "with the stipulation that it should be used for homes, and the profits from the development of that land, to go to a Corning Community Clubhouse, to be known as a Soldier's memorial ⑪.”  As the city charter did not allow Corning to engage in real estate development, Corning Homes, Inc., was formed as a subsidiary corporation of the Chamber of Commerce and its board, consisting of eleven prominent Corning businessmen ⑫, was chosen to serve without pay by the Chamber ⑬.  

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Sale of lots began Oct 16, 1922, and potential buyers were assured that “all of the usual restrictions and many others that will tend to make the new section of the city a fine residential development with many park features, are incorporated into the agreement ⑭.”

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The first deed found in the 1917-1923 Grantor Book for a lot in the subdivision, dated July 17, 1923, did not contain any racial restrictions ⑮, but the second deed -- for Lot #6 Block #16 and dated August 27, 1922 -- included the following racial covenant:  "Possession or ownership to be vested only in and with people of the white race ⑯."  Use of this racial covenant persisted in the subdivision for years.​​

 

The Houghton Tract was sold on October 6, 1937, to Elmira businessman Gordon L. Strubler.  Strubler filed a Declaration of Restrictions for the subdivision on August 11,1938, that included the following racial covenant:

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​The declaration further stated, “the foregoing restrictions shall be deemed to supplement such of the restrictions in said conveyances from Corning Homes, Inc.,... and shall also supplement restrictions contained in conveyances of lots in said tract heretofore conveyed by the undersigned,” keeping the previous whites-only restriction in place.  Strubler would continue to reproduce the racial covenant from Corning Homes, Inc., and/or reference his 1938 declaration in deeds for Houghton Tract for decades.

 

A 1949 article in The Evening Leader newspaper announcing 58 new lots for sale in the development east of North Pine Street explained the benefits of restrictions -- without specifically mentioning racial covenants -- to readers:

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​What appears to be the last Houghton Tract deed signed by Gordon Strubler is dated April 8, 1954. Strubler included the clause, “subject to any restrictive covenants imposed upon the land either before or after the grantor acquired title thereto,” in deed for Lot #16 Block #19, which was transferred to Union Free School District No. 13 of Corning, Steuben County, New York ⑰.  This parcel of land, which sat south of Corning Boulevard and west of St. Mihiel Street, is now part of the Corning Painted Post High School campus.

 

Gordon Strubler would later sell the remaining unsold lots in the subdivision to Alexander W. Axelrod ⑱.

 

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①  Elmira Star-Gazette, March 5, 1914, Page 3.  Accessed via newspapers.com

②  Elmira Star-Gazette, February 28, 1914, Page 9.  Accessed via newspapers.com

③  Finger Lakes Times, Geneva, NY, Mar 5, 1914, Page 9.  Accessed via newspapers.com

④  Deed. 11 July 1918, Steuben County, Book 352, Page 272,  Office of the Steuben County Clerk, Steuben County, NY.

⑤  Elmira Star-Gazette, Apr 20, 1917, Page 13.  Accessed via newspapers.com

⑥  The Evening Leader (Corning, NY), circa Sept 1920, p. 8.  Accessed via fultonhistory.com

​⑦  The Evening Leader (Corning, NY), Sept 29, 1920, p. 3.  Accessed via fultonhistory.com

⑧  The Evening Leader (Corning, NY), September 23, 1920, p. 5.  Accessed via fultonhistory.com

⑨  The Evening Leader (Corning, NY), circa Sept 1920, p. 8.  Accessed via fultonhistory.com

​⑩  “Old Questionnaires Show Real Advance by City in Five Years,” The Evening Leader (Corning, NY), November 27, 1922, p. 9.  Accessed via fultonhistory.com

⑪  Rotarians Hear About Homes Inc.,” The Evening Leader (Corning, NY), November 2, 1922, p. 5.  Accessed via fultonhistory.com

⑫  The Evening Leader (Corning, NY), April 17, 1925,  p. 14.  Accessed via fultonhistory.com

⑬  The Evening Leader (Corning, NY), March 25, 1926,  p. 6.  Accessed via fultonhistory.com

⑭  “Homes Inc., Sale Begins on 16th,” The Evening Leader (Corning, NY), October 5, 1922, p. 5.  Accessed via fultonhistory.com

​⑮  Deed, 17 July, 1923, Book 373 Page 303-4, Steuben County Clerk's Office, Steuben County, New York.

​⑯  Deed, 27 August, 1923, Book 383 Page 55, Steuben County Clerk's Office, Steuben County, New York.

​⑰  Deed, 8 April 1954, Book 668 Page 302-4, Steuben County Clerk's Office, Steuben County, New York.

​⑱  "City Never Owned Property It Now Seeks For Stadium Use Plans History Reveals," The Evening Leader (Corning, NY), April 7, 1947, p. 7.  Accessed via fultonhistory.com

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