Bainbridge 50 Years Ago
Mrs. C.M. Priest
Bainbridge Republican, Oct. 27, 1910
Extract from a paper written by Mrs. C.M. Priest and read before a Woman's Club meeting in 1910.
The School: In 1868 the trustees of this school district called a meeting to determine whether a Union Free School should be established. At that meeting a resolution was unanimously adopted:
"Resolved, That we the inhabitants of School District in the Village of Bainbridge, regarding the means of instruction inadequate to the public demands, and being confident that a Union Free School would better accommodate, more fully meet the wants, and better subserve the ends of education, do change the same in to a Union Free School District."
It was decided to purchase land in addition to the present site on which to build a new school house. In 1871 the contract of building was let, and when the foundation was nearly completed a suit was commenced, involved the question of title to the land. Pending the litigation which ensued, building operations were suspended, and school was held in the basement of Mrs. Joel Bixby's residence, and in the basement of the Baptist Church. My husband's sister, Hattie Priest, taught during the time it was held in the Church.
In course of time a settlement was effected, and the present site was selected and adopted in March 18, 1873. July 19, 1873, the building of the school house was let to Mr. O.C. Latimer of Afton. January 19, 1874, the building a two story brick structure was completed and formally dedicated, and school opened with Prof. E.W. Rogers as Principal.
Prof. W.D Graves came fourth on the calendar, and his excellent work won the approbation of both pupil and patron, and was the beginning of an enviable reputation. He remained with us six years, thence went to Delhi where he was equally successful. At the present time [1910] he holds the position of State inspector of High Schools and Academies.
Between the years of 1886 and 1890 or during the time we had the efficient services of F.J Turnbull as Principal, the Regents accorded the school the title of High School. Prof. Turnbull accepted a more lucrative position at Oil City, Pa., at which place he still remains, it being nearly twenty years.
Prof. F.W. Crumb came to us in 1891 and rendered faithful, efficient service for a period of sixteen years.
There is another fact I cannot refrain from mentioning, that during the existence of this school, C.M. Priest has held the position as President of the Board of Education for a period of thrity-three years.
In an address at Commencement two years ago, made by our worthy friend Frank B. Gilbert, of Albany, who is in the Department of Public Instruction said: "That a like record is unknown in the State of New York."
Our Bridges: The first bridge across the Susquehanna in Bainbridge was built in 1805 by Major Dezang, a Frenchman, who lived on the site of where the Benjamin house stood in this village. He was a man of considerable note for those times. He was reputed wealthy and was one of the proprietors of the turnpike road leading from Esopus near Kingston, N.Y., to Geneva. The turnpike passes through Bainbridge, Coventry, Greene, and thence onward. The construction of the bridge was given to two men of the town, one of whom was Henry Evans, and grandfather of the late Dr. Evans, and Dormer Evans of this village. It was an open bridge; painted yellow, with but one roadway but wide enough for necessary purposes, and stood, as nearly as can be learned, until the spring of 1844, when it was partly carried away by a flood.
The second bridge was built in the summer of 1845, the bridge commissioners, Dexter Newell, Elisha Bishop, and Lockwood Chandler (L.C. was an uncle of my mother and grandfather to Captain James L. Sill, who visited Bainbridge this summer), giving the contract to Jacob Coss of Sandford, N.Y., a bridge builder of considerable reputation. The work progressed rapidly and it was finished in the fall, but the following spring brought disaster. A freshet of unusual magnitude swept the new bridge clean from its piers and carried it down the river, lodging portions along the banks between here and Afton, at Stowel's Island, and even as far as Lanesboro. This removal of the bridge was a disheartening loss and a public calamity; but soon the bridge company rallied and found that matters were not so bad but that they might be remedied. They saw that much of the timber of the dislodged bridge could be gathered up and brought back to Bainbridge and used again. Jacob Coss was employed the second time and then the third bridge was begun.
Bainbridge had never seen a more active time in a business way than was that summer of 1846. Teams were constantly on the road returning the timbers of the strayed bridge which were deposited along the roadsides of the village, new timber was sawed upon the village green, men were busy blasting stone in the Evans' quarry over the river, the ferry was plying faithfully under the active service of Abel Bartlett, (who was as some of you know the father of Mrs. A.L. Palmer of this village,) and all was hurry, bustle and continuous excitement until the bridge was finished in November of that year.
All of these three, were toll bridges with toll gates and toll houses, and a toll gatherer who was an important individual in the community. Abel Bartlett occupied that position for about thirty years.
The town bought the bridge in 1874, since which time it was free to the public. It was never considered a work of art, but was a substantial monument to those who built it for use and long endurance.
We have had disaster by fire as well as flood: A foundry, sled factory and emery factory were destroyed by fire twenty-five or thirty years ago, and following, several stores, among which were Davis & Sherwood, C.P. Perry, Watkins Brothers, Barlow & Clark, A.L. Palmer, Thomas' Block, Priest Block, and several other buildings have succumbed to the flames. Several houses have been partially destroyed and thus much havoc, loss and inconvenience have been sustained.
In 1850 the project of a slack water navigation between Bainbridge and Lanesboro, Pa., was agitated. The distance by the Susquehanna river is 31 miles. A Stock company constructed a steamboat 112 feet long, sternwheel and flatbottom, called "The Enterprise." The boat was supplied with an 80-horse power engine and carried 30 tons burden. It was launched with great pomp and ceremony near the bridge, a beautiful and queenly lady naming and christening it "The Enterprise" by breaking a bottle of liquor over its prow, and it glided smoothly into the waters of the river amide the glad shouts and hurrahs of a large concourse of people from this and the surrounding towns. (The article that I found giving this history did not give the name of this beautiful and queenly lady, but I chanced to know her and remember it was Mrs. S.W. Corbin, wife of Dr. S.W. Corbin. The Doctor was a cousin of my father, Samuel Corbin, and a great uncle of Mr. C.B. Humphrey of this village).
Under the command of our enterprising fellow citizen, Captain Jacobs, it gave us a few rides up and down our beautiful river to the great joy of young men and maidens, old men and boys, many of whom never enjoyed any other ride on a steamboat; and during this time, while their hearts were gladdened by the sound of the steamboat whistle, the good people had a picnic and enjoyed a feast of good things on an island in the river which once belonged to my father just this side of where Peck's mills once stood, to and from which they were conveyed by Captain Jacobs in the splendid steamboat, "The Enterprise." But a year or later the near prospect of the Albany and Susquehanna R.R. (which by the bye was not half so near as we then thought it was,) allayed the slack-water navigation fervor, and ere long the beautiful boat was conducted by it projector and god-father, Captain Jacobs, to deeper water south, never to return.
At the period when the bicycle craze was on, when every boy and girl wanted one, I chanced to hear a couple of my elderly neighbors discussing the subject as they saw a girl ride by on a wheel. they said, "those are not the kind of wheels the girls used to use," and so the conversation led up to the time when the mothers and daughters used to spin and weave, and so manufacture cloth, for the use of the family. But would go forward and not backward. We would rather our daughters would sit with folded hands occasionally, if such a rare opportunity presented itself, than to go back to the primitive ways of modus operandi or ways of working.
The poet has told us that the groves were God's first temples; His temples are they still--not groves of bare trees but those where the thrush and the oriole sing, the trillium and the squirrel-corn bloom and the broken stumps are covered with moss, or twined with clematis and woodbine. And so we are taught to do things beautiful. Emerson says: "Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not." Let us strive to make Bainbridge beautiful, our homes beautiful, but above all may our greatest effort be made to make our lives beautiful, that our influence may be good, and not evil, and the world be made better by our having lived in it.
Compiler note: Mrs. C. M. Priest (b. 25 Nov. 1846) was Jane Elizabeth Corbin, the eldest daughter of Samuel and Augusta M. (Bennett) Corbin. She married Charles Martin Priest on 31 Dec. 1867. She died in November 1915.
