CORTLAND

The Greater Cortland Company Tract

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The Greater Cortland Company was formed on April 11, 1911, by ten prominent businessmen: Abram M. Schermerhorn (secretary), S. W. Sherwood, J. A. Wavle, A. F. Stilson, Frederick N. Nourse, Henry Corcoran (vice president), G. H. Garrison, Harry W. Chaplin, Henry L. Peckham (treasurer), and Henry A. Dickinson (president) ①. The company acquired a 75-acre parcel of land in Cortland known as the Randall Flat, bounded by South Main Street, Port Watson Street, Pendleton Street, and the Lehigh Valley railroad tracks, with the intentions of subdividing the property into building lots.  From 1914 through the company’s dissolution in 1927, every deed transferred by the company included the following restrictive covenant:

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​The anti-immigrant covenant was notable for a two reasons: first, list of specifically prohibited immigrant groups included an ethnic slur for people of Polish descent; and second, it did not bar African Americans from purchasing, renting, or otherwise occupying lots.  A small number of lots were sold prior to 1914 without this covenant, and in at least one case all or part of eight lots were sold to Gooley & Edlund, Inc., Syracuse-based manufacturers of high duty milling machines in which the restrictive covenant was altered to allow the company to employ immigrants workers:

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In 1920, the Greater Cortland Company sold sixteen lots on Cedar Street (between Port Watson and Randall streets) to the Cortland Home Building Corporation ②. CHBC subsequently built homes on all of the lots and transferred them to homebuyers using deeds that included the standard Greater Cortland Company anti-immigrant covenant.

 

Belmont Addition

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In 1919, Nebraska-based N. P. Dodge & Co. began selling lots on Scammell Street, Pine Street, and Spruce Street in the Belmont Addition for 50 cents per week ③.  As was standard practice for the company, racial covenants were included in all titles as exemplified by the deed to 9 Pine Street:

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In 1934, 28 tax-delinquent parcels in the Belmont Addition – 12 on Pine Street and 16 on Scammell Street – were offered at auction by the City of Cortland ④. To date it is unclear if any of these lots were sold by by the city chamberlain, Archie A. Somers, and whether their deeds included the N.P. Dodge & Co. racial covenants.

 

 

① Cortland Standard, June 1, 1911, p. 1.  Accessed via fultonhistory.com

② “The Good Old Days,” Cortland Standard, April 30, 1970, p. 4. Accessed via futonhistory.com

③ Cortland Standard (Cortland, NY), March 5, 1919, p. 5. Accessed via fultonhistory.com

④ The Cortland Democrat, Aug 31, 1934, p. 1. Accessed via fultonhistory.com

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© MAY 2026