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The First 20 Years The five incorporators were economically and socially prominent men and women in the community of Canandaigua. They were Charles Milliken, President, Antoinette Granger, Vice-President, Herbert Huntington, Secretary, Mary C. Williams, Treasurer, and Edwin Hicks. Charles Milliken served as president from 1902 until his death in 1933 and Antoinette Granger served as Vice-President until her death in 1929. A certificate of incorporation was received from the state on September 4, 1902. Their statement of purpose is similar to what ours is today. The purpose is to discover, procure and preserve whatever may relate to the history of New York and the respective towns and villages of Ontario County in particular, and to gather and preserve matters pertaining to the growth, development and history of said Count and such statistics of population, education, manufactures and business as shall be of public utility and of use to the society. There were 27 original members. They held their first Annual Meeting on October 21, 1902 at the Congregational Church Reading Room. Now that they had a formal historical society where would they meet? That was their next quest. By the end of September in 1902 the board had leased the Callister Law Office owned by Charles M. Coyle at 50 cents a week with option to purchase the property for $1,500 within 3 months, which they eventually did. This building was located about where the old post office is today on North Main Street. It looked just like the Hubbell Law Office now behind the Granger Homestead There was a Grand Opening of the building on Nov. 13, 1903. It was renovated, some new furnishings were put in place and many items both given and lent were put on display. Guests came from many places in the region, even the Buffalo Express newspaper sent a reporter-photographer. During the first several years of existence, OCHS was very busy with lecture series, exhibits on various topics, and collecting local and regional artifacts. A Civil War Loan Exhibition in early 1904 was considered most satisfactory. Charles Milliken stated that it was the largest ever held in this part of country. They were assisted by members of G.A.R and Women's Relief Corps. There was a series of talks by army veterans given. The minutes noted that they were very interesting but lower than expected attendance due to weather, bad roads, illness. About $20 was made on admissions. Other topics of interest were the Seneca and the history European early settlement. Several talks were given and there even was a day trip of following Sullivan's Trail from here to Honeoye Lake. On July 4, 1904 the minutes describe an Ice Cream Social. The Building opened to the public, cake and ice cream were sold by the officers assisted by young ladies in old time costumes. Songs of olden times were sung by Miss Anna Finley with guitar accompaniment by Mr. F. Coleman. By 1906, OCHS has 15 life members and nearly 140 annual members. The "Historical Rooms" as they were called, were open every Saturday afternoon and on special holidays. A Miss Annie Smith was the caretaker of the rooms; she greeted visitors and gave tours. She held this position for over 30 years. By 1907 about 1000 people had come through the doors in one year, including many schoolchildren from the Union School next door. In 1908, the leaders of the Historical Society were met with a new challenge. The property on which their little museum stood was to be sold to the Federal government so that the new Post Office could be built there. They eventually sold the property to the government for $3,000 and moved the museum/law office in late 1910 to a rented site on Ontario Street behind the Canadaigua Hotel. Unfortunately the move weakened the building and there were insufficient funds to repair the chimney and foundation. Therefore the museum was closed and the artifacts were put into storage in the basement of the County Court House. The old law office as torn down in October 1911 as it was found to be unsafe - the portico and columns were saved. In the mean time the Board had started a building fund with monies from various sources in the community. By 1912 there were nearly $20,000 in pledges including a $1,500 bequest from Atty. Walter Hubbell and plans were begun to solve the problem of the future home of the Society. During that same year the Board resolved to purchase Daniels property for $6000 as the future site of the Historical Society building - this is the property on which our museum now stands. There also was a joint meeting of OCHS and Wood Library to consider erecting a building together on this site. A draft agreement was made between the two groups whereby OCHS would hold title and Wood Library would rent the space and pay for certain utilities and building maintenance. By the end of 1912, the renowned Rochester architect, Claude Bragdon, was retained to design a building to house both groups - Bragdon estimated it would cost $30,000 to build. Although it is not stated explicitly in the minutes, this Board clearly wanted to make a statement about the importance of history to this county by placing a solid but elegantly designed building on the Main Street of this community. Bragdon's design of a classic Georgian Revival style building of dark brick with a temple façade would be a prominent addition to the building landscape and it would complement the many other beautiful buildings in Canandaigua. By 1913, the Board had Bragdon's plans in hand and they got busy making minor changes and suggestions to suit their needs and budget. Bragdon appears to have been at most of these meetings. They put out a contract for bid in June and eventually chose Fredericks Co. in Rochester with a revised bid of $35,250. What changes did the Board suggest and make to try to keep within budget? What was important to keep or in some cases upgrade? The Board decided to cut out certain features: cheaper brick instead of "Harvard" brick, cement instead of cut stone below the water table, cheaper stone and slate for stair treads in some of the trimmings, not to have concealed radiators. They had considered using cheaper moldings and useing birch for the doors instead of mahogany but they decided not to. Therefore, every single door in our museum is beautiful, solid mahogany and the moldings around the windows and doors are detailed and deeply cut. The board also decided to go with a state-of-the-art boiler system instead of a cheaper one. However, this heating system plagued them for years with numerous expensive breakdowns. It was topic of discussion at many board meetings over the next ten years. The Board did ask Mr. Bragdon to arrange the third floor for use as a dancing hall with adequate stairwell and fire escape at rear. This added about $2000 to the price. The room had seats around the edge and served as a source of revenue for many years as it was rented out for private functions. Wood Library chose library stack bids that included two tiers of stacks, mezzanine floor of glass, railings, book lift. Bragdon recommended Smead & Co. at $3,000 as their stack bases would work well with cork tile floor. These same stacks and the original cork floor are still in use. With regard to furnishings of whether to have mahogany or oak furniture - Bragdon preferred mahogany but the OCHS committee thought would be too expensive. A compromise of using both was made. We still have some of the original exhibit cases of mahogany and a few of the old oak library chairs. There was a question of whether to use iron or wooden railing in the balcony - wood was favored. Bragdon recommended installation of an electric vacuum cleaning system in the building. According to the minutes this was eventually installed but there doesn't appear to be any evidence remaining in our building of where it was. It would be nice to have today! Ground was broken for the new building in August 1913 with a completion date of May 1914. At the Twelfth Annual Meeting, Nov. 18, 1913 the museum/library building under construction was described as follows: "The Historical Society will occupy the north side of the building and will have on the main floor a museum room and a room furnished somewhat on the order of an old time living room. [now the McKechnie Meeting Room] On the second floor will be an old fashioned bedroom [now the Main Office]. In the basement an old fashioned kitchen will be reproduced [it's still there.] The basement will also contain an up to date service kitchen [now the room where the hot water heater is], boiler room, toilet rooms and storage rooms for both societies. "The Wood Library Association will occupy the south side of the building. [Now our South Gallery and Research Room]. It will have a reading room for children as well as one for adults, a librarians office, cases for maps and commodious metal stacks for books with capacity sufficient to provide for the growth of the library for many years. On the third or attic floor [now artifact storage] will be a large attractive room which can be used for private dances or other entertainment". "The gift of mantel and various household fittings from some of the historic homes on the town will bring old associations into the new building as will also the grand furnishings and fine old furniture which have been presented". "The new building will furnish a safe place, as well as a beautiful background for the exhibition of old furniture and old time relics and household utensils and the society hopes many of its friends will give or loan articles which will help to make this Historical Building famous throughout the state". While the building was being constructed several additional decisions had to be made with regard to lighting, the exhibit cases, the old-fashioned kitchen and some other items. It seems that these were some of the areas where costs increased from the original estimate. Milliken fortunately had made arrangements with Canandaigua National Bank to borrow additional funds. For example:
The OCHS/Wood Library building officially opened to the public July 16, 1914 with light refreshments served in the old fashioned kitchen. The minutes from the 13th Annual Meeting, November 1914. describe the atmosphere of preparation and opening of the museum: "Our possessions seemed but a sorry lot when we took them out of storage, but arranged in such favorable surroundings and with the addition of so many valuable gifts and loans which include, a clock for the Museum Room, sofa, tables, chairs and pictures for the living room; tent bed and its fittings and furnishings, a bureau, high boy, table chairs, curtains for the old fashioned bed room; a piano for the dancing hall, andirons and many articles for exhibitions. We have a collection that not only compares favorably with others in the state but in some respects surpasses them." In the end, how much did the new OCHS and Wood Library building cost? President Milliken noted that total cost of building, fittings, and grounds reached $50,000. and they were in debt $18,000. Our beautiful building cost $50,000 - a sizeable sum in 1914. What would it cost today to replace? The construction of the OCHS/Wood Library was certainly one of the biggest single accomplishments made in the history of our organization. It provided a center for the community as well focusing on the importance of local history through the programs and the display of artifacts. Over the next five years the Historical Society was a busy place. The Society aided the war effort during WWI by allowing the Red Cross to take over several rooms for preparation of bandages and other items. Other groups such as the Traveler's Club met here, piano recitals were given. The Society grew in membership and many of our most important artifacts were donated in that time period particularly as people now felt that there was a safe place to items of local historical significance. As we look to the future of OCHS, we continue with many of these same themes and traditions. What were some of the first donations to the museum? 1903.1 Mrs. Bunnell's Red Cloak. Red wool fabric possibly 18th century but cloak much later. 1906.1 Accordian, presented by Mrs. C. Buell 1907.1a-d Surveyor's compass made by Peregrine White of Woodstock, CT, c. 1800. Of the type used to survey lands in Western New York. Also stand and chain. Donated by Mrs. W.C. Stoddard. 1914.9 Sampler donated by Mrs. F.F. Thompson, from her collection of early American samplers. Made by Phoebe Louisa Wiley, 1800-1809. 1919.3 Diary of Caroline Cowles Richards, 1908 edition. Donated by her daughter, Abigail Beals Clarke Mosher. 1920.1 Canandaigua Treaty. Purchased for the museum by Charles Milliken, Clark Williams, Glenroie Vail from auction of the library of Henry F. DuPuy, NY |
