Historical Wyoming County Jan 1980 - Old Fulton History

JANUARY 1980
(Village In Valley Cont)
July 23, 1859, three years after his house
was built.
On August 7, 1910, a petition signed by the
Catholics of Varysburg requesting Holy Mass
to be offered at least twice a month in the
village hall, was presented to Most Rev. Charles
H. Colton of Buffalo, by Miss Mary Sheridan,
a summer visitor in Varysburg, and resident
of Buffalo. On Sept. 8, 1910, a meeting was
held at the home of Louis Shreder, of Varysburg,
to form a church, with, the Rev. Edmund
Gibbons, of Attica, present. Pending
the purchase of a lot and the building of a
church, Rev. Father Gibbons rented this house
from John W. Whitney. Here on Oct. 9, 1910,
the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass was celebrated
for the first time by Father Gibbons, and
thereafter every Sunday and Holyday until Feb.
4, 1912, by a priest from St. Vincent's R.C.
Church in Attica.
THE FILLMORE HOUSE
The present home of Richard Laird and
family was believed built around 1856 by James
Hart Fillmore and his wife, nee Julia Rozella
Clapp, when they came to the village from
Bennington. Their families had been pioneers
in that area. Mr. Fillmore, a manufacturer
of boots and shoes, built his shoe shop to
the southwest of his house, upon a site now
occupied by Robert Embt III. During the Civil
War Mr. Fillmore had the government contract
for manufacturing boots.
It was here that Thomas Bryson also made
shoes when he came to Varysburg in 1860
working for Mr. Fillmore. The house was
later occupied by the Fillmores' daughter,
Cora Mae, and her husband Fred William
Embt. His place in later years was the millinery
shop of Mrs. Fidelia Cornish, and during
the 1940's became the electrical store
operated by Robert Embt Sr., and his son
Robert Embt Jr. After the family moved to
the Corner Store, it became the home of
Maurice Cooper and John Cooper, his father,
who also had moved to the village from Bennington.
Located behind this house is now the firm
of Laird Bros., Dry Cleaning, which was established
around 1947 by Richard and Hurley
Laird. Their present shop was the former
barn of Irving Duschen, which was moved
to this location from "Slusher". An addition
was made to the front to house their equipment.
The firm remains today.
WILLIAM GOODRICH VARIETY STORE
The Grinold sisters occupied this house
for a number of years and it is thought this
was the location of their millinery shop in
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the village. Following the death of Anna Grinold
in 1891 William Goodrich and his mother
Agnes Graham Goodrich, widow of Charles
moved here from their home on Attica Street.
William who was a peddler had moved his
variety store business into a small storelike
addition to the house around 1890 and
continued here until 1920. The story is told
that this house had a board rail white fence
about it and each Halloween the village boys
would take it down and the next morning William
D. would put it right back up again.
In 1923 Millard F. Embt, Bert Cooper,
and Louis E. Cornish formed a corporation
and purchased the corner lot from the merchant
Goodrich. They dismantled the old house
and built the present structure and opened for
business Jan. 1, 1924 operating a Ford Agency.
The operation, however, was not a financial
success. Louis E. Cornish became the owner
and continued alone until about 1941 when
Louis Donnelly purchased the building for his
trucking business. Around 1945 Theodore Cornish
rented the garage for six months until
1946 when Vincent Almeter and Donald Keenan
purchased the building. They continued their
partnership until 1960 when Mr. Keenan worked
alone. In 1962 Sonny Treeman purchased the
automobile service station where Vincent Almeter
bought the garage in 1965.
Here at the intersection of Rt. 20A and Rt.
98 (Main and Attica Streets) a large Republican
pole was erected in the summer of 1876. It
was 50 to 60 foot high, painted white with red
and yellow metal rooster on the top. No other
account of this pole and its existence is found
but it is said it remained a number of years.
THE CORNER STORE
The original structure was supposedly built
in 1820 by a Mr. Stewart but nothing exists to
prove this fact. Asa Baldwin and Charles
Brown operated the store before 1850 under
the firm name of Brown and Baldwin. Mr.
Brown moved West and Mr. Baldwin returned
to Humphrey Hollow. It is believed they sold
the store to Wyman H. Ainsworth, the son
of Dr. Ainsworth around this time. Mr. Ainsworth,
who was born in Vermont around 1819
was a dealer in dry goods, groceries, crockery
ware, hardware, patent medicine and all else
usually kept in a first class country store. It
was here that John M. Bryson first entered
the world of business in 1867 as a clerk. About
the year 1878 William W. Beane purchased
the store with his son Clarence H. Beane and
operated under the firm name of W.W. Beane
and Son. Mr. Beane, who was a professor
at Keuka College, never actually conducted
business here; his son came directly from
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