A National Park for Women's Rights

The Genoa Historical Association and Museum invites you to listen to Judy Hart speak on A National Park for Women's Rights: The Campaign That Made it Happen. This will be Zoom presentation on Saturday, March 29, 2025 from 1 - 2:30pm.

In 1978 the author proposed the development of The Women's Rights National Historical Park. The park's centerpiece is the Wesleyan Chapel that was the site of the 1848 women's rights conference that first called for the right for women to vote. However, in 1980 the Chapel was a deteriorating laundromat! This is her story of bringing that dream to fruition - challenging rules, flouting policies, and tenaciously leading the campaign to create a park that now holds and tells that story of being a woman during that era that took place almost in our back yard.

Zoom Link:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88656668801

Meeting ID: 886 5666 8801

Passcode: 682817

Women of WWII: On the Front Lines & the Home Front

Barb Warner Deane

Barb Warner Deane will be the speaker at the Frontenac Historical Society & Museum on March 16th at 2pm. She is the award author of four published novels and a public speaker on the role of American women in World War II. Her books feature strong women and small towns.

The Frontenac Museum will have a grand opening of a new exhibit honoring women who have served in the military from our local communities. Visitors had commented that there was a lack of women representatives in the Thomas Eldred Military History Room.

So, the curators began to look at ways to address the issue. They perused the 1976 Springport Bicentennial Record and came up with 6 names of women who served in WWII and the Korean War. An appeal was put out for other women, who served in the military, to contact the museum. This appeal led to over 25 women with representatives from Vietnam to the present. Each 'lead' required research for bits and pieces relating to these names. High school yearbooks, newspaper articles, phone calls and emails for information or photos was undertaken.

At the upcoming March program, it is expected that there will be profiles of the women identified, but will continue to collect names and stories of women from the areas represented by the museum as part of an on-going chapter of local history.

We hope to see you at this exciting program. If you know of a woman who served or is still serving in the military, please contact the museum at 315-889-7273 or email us at frontenac178@gmail.com. It will allow us to add to our base of knowledge and history.

Free parking and refreshments will be served. Looking forward to seeing you!

Fireside Reading on History of Frontenac Museum

The First Presbyterian Church of Union Springs, NY, built ca. 1840, is an imposing structure located on Cayuga St., the main street of the village of Union Springs in west central Cayuga County. A block from Cayuga Lake, the building is a large and dominating edifice constructed in Greek Revival style on the east side of the street, which is also NYS Route 90, the western most north-south thoroughfare of the county. It is sheltered on three sides by tree lined hedges in the midst of historic residences in the village. It faces the lake on its west end behind which is a small lawn edged by the village sidewalk. On its north side sits the Howland Chase House, already on the National Register of Historic Places.

The founders of this church had roots in a Congregational Church in 1779, which built a small stone meeting house on Cross Road, near Cayuga, NY in 1816. Some members of the original group applied to join the Presbyterian Church in 1822 and incorporated as the First Presbyterian Society of Union Springs in 1835. According to Session records, they formed a building committee in 1839. Session records from September 1839 indicated that the building committee unanimously agreed to hire Ferrand Kitchell to build the structure "in a style and instructions corresponding with a draft drawn by (John) Hagaman of Auburn for the sum of $2,650 (which contract is now on file with the clerk)". On October 8, 1839, the church trustees accepted a donation of land in Union Springs from George Howland and his son, Augustus Howland according to a deed filed with the county clerk. An 1840 letter from the representatives of the Church Society to the Boards of Assistance for the Western Agency of the Presbyterian mentioned that the Society contributed around $2,900 for the construction. The letter also stated that the construction of the new church had commenced, and its foundation had been laid. The foundation blocks are assumed to have come from local quarries active in the area in this period. According to meeting minutes, by December 29, 1840, the Society met in their newly built Meeting House. It was not until 1914 that the opalescent windows were purchased and installed by the Booth Art Glass Company, a business that existed only from 1909-1914 but in that time installed art glass windows in numerous church buildings in western and central New York. The windows are dedicated to the memory of 19th century church members including Peter Yawger, grandson of Phillip Yawger, one of the first settlers in the Town of Springport. His father was an active leader in the building of the Presbyterian Church that became the home of the Frontenac Historical Society.

The structure of the building is an example of classic Greek Revival Architecture featuring a symmetrical facade with a low-pitched gable roof, an entabature with cornice (projecting border near the roof line), frieze (the pronounced horizontal band at the bottom), and architravewhat (the area, a lintel or beam that rests on the columns) above a complete row of six impressive Corinthian style fluted columns (with roman style bases) standing on a broad portico. The capitals are specific to the Tower of the Winds in Athens, an archaeological reference that suggests a limited number of references being used by a well-educated architect. Fenestration is symmetrically and functionally placed. Door and window moldings are heavy and distinct, but plain and simple, consistent with the Calvinistic beliefs of Colonial Presbyterianism, and perhaps with some echo of the Quaker roots of many of its founders, who also referred to their worship structures as Meeting Houses rather than 'sacred space' associated with churches and cathedrals.

In 1875, the brass bell manufactured by Andrew Meneely Bell Foundry in West Troy, NY was purchased and installed. Meneely has been described as one of the greatest bell makers in American History with over 65,000 bells cast under the Meneely brand between 1826 and 1951.

The first major modification to the original building was the construction of a 'Prayer Room' in a hand dug basement under the auditorium described in a 1962 program for the Dedication of the Christian Education Building.

...a review of our Church records shows that on May 28, 1860, the (Presbytery) Session authorized certain funds for what apparently what was a thriving "Sabbath School". Since the American Sunday School Union was not established until 1824, we assume that our Sunday School may be one of the oldest in the country.

We find that during the pastorate of Rev. Henry R. Fancher, (1891-95), the basement of the church was excavated Several of our members remember seeing the work done when they were little children. We understand that Charlie Davis, older brother of our own Jerry Davis, drew the dirt out using a "slip scraper" and his team. This was a long arduous task, since all the work had to be done by hand. There were no machines as we know them, in those days. The only other person living today who worked on the excavation is William Schenck. This room was used first as a Prayer Meeting room, then for Sunday School and later for social affairs of the church ...

We notice too, in reviewing the old Session minutes, that in 1927, during the pastorate of Rev. George Davis, some thought had been given to an addition to the church building. Following several months of discussion...the idea was dropped as being too expensive.

The idea of an addition was revisited thirty years later and with a fundraising effort in 1960 netting $33,000 in gifts and pledges, construction on an addition began. It was completed in 1961 with a documented congregational celebration in October of that year. The total cost of the project was $42,754.51 and included refurbishing the basement dining room and new kitchen with new ceiling and flooring and a modern heating system throughout, including the original sanctuary. A stairway from the addition to the basement under the original building was added.

This history was researched and written by Linda Albrecht, Trustee of Frontenac Historical Society.