Memories of Cortland

     You asked me for my opinion of Cortland's Main Street today. Frankly and bluntly, it has no class, no harmony. You know the term "urban sprawl"--that is how I would describe downtown Cortland today--in a compact way. It never had architectural cohesiveness, but at one time it did have some nice stores, such as B.T. Jones Jewelry, Burgess Clothing, Fabrizio's, The Brother and Sister Shop, Brotans, The Rose Company, and just off Central Avenue, Latimer's Men's Store. There were other stores too, such as Bentley's Hardware, Newberry's, W.T. Grant and Woolworth's. Sears was located on Groton Avenue. But the storefronts never related to one another, and they look worse now. Montgomery Ward's took up the very prominent corner of Main Street and West Court Street. What a sad looking building it is today!
     The Cortland of my early memory had a certain sophistication and charm. How much of that was real, or how much of it my mind invented, I'm not sure. It is probably a combination of the two. But it did have economic vitality. There used to be a privately owned city bus line, and a train station. There were some large and small factories, such as Brockway, Smith Corona, Champion Sheet Metal, Durkee's Bakery, Cortland Corset, another corset company and Brewer's Metal Fabrication.
     Champion Sheet Metal off Owego Street was originally called Champion Milk Cooler Company. I won't go into details of its demise, but my father saw the handwriting on the wall and took early retirement--wisely, as it turned out. When the plant closed, Fred Compagni of Compagni Construction bought the property. Fred and my father got along well. I think my father respected Fred for being able to make a success of his life using his native intelligence and ambition, despite humble beginnings. Anyway, when Fred bought the buildings he asked my father for advise on what to do with the buildings. My father told Fred the best thing he could do was to tear them all down, and that's what Fred did. There is a painting of the Champion Milk Cooler Company at the Historical Society.
     People shopped downtown. They didn't go to a shopping mall in Cortlandville as they do today. There was a grand department store, G. H. Wiltsie's (not sure of spelling), that was upscale by community standards. We had passenger train service. Student housing was not the problem it is now, except that people were uprooted and houses were condemned or razed or moved as the college expanded. Several houses at the end of Belrose Avenue, for example, used to be in the Prospect Terrace area but were moved.
     Prior to Japanese imported cars, each car brand had a separate dealership in Cortland. I remember Ames Chevrolet, Dillingham Ford, Parker Pontiac, Gleason Buick, Dovi Motors, Brigg's Cadillac in Homer and there was another dealership on Homer Avenue. Every year there was an auto show at the skating rink across from A. B. Brown's. That's a store I forgot to mention earlier. It was really two stores. One sold farm machinery, and the other sold hardware and appliances. The hardware store had a small gift shop area.
     During WW2, Wickwire Brothers was running at full employment. My mother was executive secretary to Charles Wickwire and knew everything that went on in that factory. She made lifelong friends with women in other departments that lasted until her death--long after she stopped working and became a wife and homemaker. When the Wickwire mansion became the 1890 House Museum, I urged my mother to write or tape her recollections but she refused. That was too bad because she had a perspective on the company and the family that nobody else had. So much was lost by her refusal.
     There used to be three men's stores and three jewelry stores downtown. The former were Latimer's, A. Louis and Harold's Army and Navy, which changed the name to Harold's Men and Boys. Dad and I used to get our dress clothes at Latimer's. A. Louis was good, but old Mr. Louis was very pushy to the point of being a pest, so we didn't shop there. Harold's was out of the question, a very unpleasant place. It was owned by a family named Weinburg. Mr. Weinburg had passed away and the place was run by his wife and son, Bernard. The reason it was so unpleasant was that Mrs. Weinburg and her son did not get along very well and frequently had loud arguments in front of customers.
     At one point in time, there was a fire at the Central Avenue Latimer's. That was an elegant store. Inside, it was panelled in walnut. It exuded an old world elegance. After the fire, the business was moved to Main Street but the place was never the same.
     The jewelry stores were B.T. Jones, Fiorintini's, and I don't recall the name of the other. It was located on Main Street next to the old First National Bank which is Alliance Bank now.
     B.T. Jones was another elegant store that carried first class merchandise. It was located at the corner of Main Street and Court Street. The Jones family were what you might call American Aristocrats. He played polo. The polo ground was located where the Super Wal-Mart is located today, which speaks volumes about the direction Cortland and Cortlandville have taken over the years. Mrs. Jones' nickname was Mousie. I don't know why. First they lived on West Court Street in one of those large dignified houses. Then they restored the former Jere Wickwire house on Reynolds Avenue and moved in. That federal style house had been moved all the way from Cherry Valley. I believe it is now located at 7 Reynolds. The Historical Society has a file on the house with an article written when the house was moved from Cherry Valley. I remember speaking to Mrs. Jones during the 1980 fluoridation campaign. She was opposed to it. I will never forget her comment. With exquisite simplicity, she summed up the issue by saying, "It isn't necessary."
     My mother bought clothes at three places. G. H. Wiltsie's department store (expensive), The Rose Company and Leonard's Dress Shop. My mother had small feet and could not find comfortable shoes anywhere in Cortland. She shopped for shoes at The Addis Company on South Salina Street in Syracuse. The Addis Company was also very expensive but she didn't have much choice. Occasionally my mother would go with her friends to fashion show luncheons at the Persian Terrace in the Hotel Syracuse.
     These are just a few of my random memories. I hope your readers find them interesting.

A Former Cortland Resident


Editor's Note: The author of this post is also the creator of our $enator $ham character found in the August 2011 posts. Read Letter to $enator $ham and $enator $ham Reply.