DEERFIELD
Wells Gardens
The plat map for Wells Gardens in Deerfield was submitted to the Oneida County Clerk's on August 15, 1940. Additional lots added to the subdivision in 1941 and 1942 brought the total to 58 along Stuart Terrace, Julia, Shirley, and Martha Places, and the northern side of Walker Road (the numbering is somewhat confusing because it jumps from lot #56 to lots #79 and 80). An advertisement in the Utica Observer-Dispatch promised homebuyers moderate prices, low taxes, modern conveniences, and "sensible restrictions ①."
The developer, Julia Wells, signed and submitted a declaration of restrictions for “all of the premises” in her subdivision that included the following racial restrictive covenant:
Tarlton Heights
Tarlton Heights was built in 1946 along the west side of Trenton Road. The subdivision was comprised of 65 lots on Trenton Road and Tarlton Road, Tarlton Drive, and Tarlton Circle. The neighborhood attracted attention when, in 1966, New York State Attorney General Louis J. Lefkowitz filed legal action against the Harty-Parry Corporation, every member of the Oneida County Board of Supervisors, and 90 people named on the deeds of 61 properties in Tarlton Heights. At issue were racial restrictive covenants found in deeds in a 1952 transfer of 50 lots from Denton and Waterbury, Inc. to developer Floyd J. Speck.
In an open letter to the Utica Daily Press, Lefkowitz disclosed that his office had been alerted to the existence of racial covenants in Tarlton Heights by Federal housing officials ② and, although the restrictions had already been invalidated by existing state law, he nevertheless sought to have the court declare the restrictions "void and unenforceable ③."
Several years prior to the aforementioned transaction, however, John J. Harty, Secretary-Treasurer of the Harty-Parry Corporation (a prominent commercial construction and contracting company in Utica, NY) signed and submitted a declaration of restrictions for Tarlton Heights in 1947 that included the following racial restrictive covenant:
① Utica Observer-Dispatch, May 1941, p. 10-C. Accessed via fultonhistory.com
② Daily Sentinel (Rome, NY), August 30 1966, p.10. Accessed at www.fultonhistory.com
③ "Mr. Lefkowitz Explains Reason Why State Acted in Tarlton Heights Property Case," September 29, 1966, Utica Daily Press, p. 4. Accessed via fultonhistory.com
© JUNE 2026
EXCERPT: Declaration of Restrictions, 6 September 1940, Julia Wells (Deed Book 1008, page 10, Records Department of the Office of the Oneida County Clerk, Oneida County, NY).
EXCERPT: Deed, 13 February 1947, Harty-Parry Corp. (Deed Book 1153, pages 203-6, Records Department of the Office of the Oneida County Clerk, Oneida County, NY).
