Brief History of Town of Afton, Chenango Co., NY
by Hillis Craig
Afton Enterprise, March 4, 1926
Continuation of posting of July 29, 2016
The Benton family, noted for their great wealth, built up the section of what is now middle Bridge. Hotels and gristmills sprang up there. There used to be a bridge across the river at this point, which was later washed out by a flood.
In 1790, the first log schoolhouse was built with Nathaniel Church as teacher.
Daniel S. Buck was the greatest hunter in the town of Afton. He was said to have killed many panthers.
The Afton newspaper used to be called "The Afton Home Sentinel" which was edited by John Seaman. Later it changed its name to "The Afton Enterprise."
Afton Lake was formerly call Pratt's Pond.
The Phelps House was a large hotel which burned to the ground in Afton and was replaced by the Central Hotel, now called the Afton Inn, which is now operated by Mr. Hill.
There used to be an old academy (Union School) in place of the present High School.
There used to be five churches, now only four; there being no Universalist church now.
One of the chief factories located in Afton was the sash and blind factory which was destroyed by fire about 1908. there were also three hotels at that time, instead of two. There were thirteen stores and a population of 700 in the village at that time.
There was a beautiful suspension bridge laid across the Susquehanna River which was blown away by a fearful tornado and was later rebuilt by the bridge company. The latter was very unsafe and was carried away by an ice floe in eighteen months. The bridge company then agreed to replace it by a good substantial bridge. This was done and the bridge lasted for a considerable length of time until it was torn down and the present structure was built.
A saw and gristmill was located near what is known as Pixley's Glenn and was operated by Asa Pixley.
The first store was operated by E.M. Johnson on the present site of Gregg's barn at Bettsburg. Later the store was operated by Charles Seeley who is now living [in 1926].
Joseph Smith, the author of Mormonism, spent much of his life in what is now the dining hall of the Afton Fair grounds. He was married there.
Afton suffered two serious fires. The first or great fire burned all of the east side of Main street, which included most of the business section. Later, after these wooden structures were rebuilt with brick, the west side of the street suffered loss by fire, which included buildings on the land where the Morgan Bros.' block now stands. This of course was rebuilt with brick. Although these were terrible fires, they caused Afton to have as fine structures in the business section as are found in any village of its size.
About thirty years ago, the village was incorporated and was improved in many ways. The village water system was put into play and is considered one of the purest water systems in new York state. The water is carried from Vallonia Springs to Afton through pipes. Electric lights were introduced in 1917.
The Union School or Academy was changed into a High School in 1899. It was replaced with the present High School in 1908.
In 1918, plans were made for a factory for the manufacture of Anaro films in connection with the plant in Binghamton. Until June 1924, there were two dairy plants in operation in Afton. "The Borden Plant" and "The Dairymen's League." Later the former was bought by the non-pooltrs. This plant was partly burned in July of that year. It was bought by the poolers (Dairymen's League), and the old one was closed and is now used as a feed store.
The End
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