ROCHESTER - In the centenary year of one of aviation's greatest triumphs, a patch of wilderness next to Keuka Lake is finally being turned into a park honoring the Wright brothers' archrival, Glenn H. Curtiss.
Outside his tiny hometown of Hammondsport in western New York, Curtiss flew his bamboo-and-fabric June Bug over a vineyard for 1 minute, 42.5 seconds on July 4, 1908. It was the nation's first officially observed flight exceeding 1 kilometer (0.6 mile).
A lengthy feud over whether to preserve or develop the largely unobstructed lakefront where Curtiss later carried out test flights for the world's first seaplane came to an end last weekend when the town bought 8 acres of overgrown lakefront land from a real estate developer for $900,000.
That money showed up in two chunks from anonymous donors - a $500,000 check delivered via a California charity and $400,000 offered by a local benefactor. Michael Doyle, a large-scale landowner and winery operator who acquired the contested land in the 1990s, came down from his $1.1 million asking price.
“I consider this a miraculous 12th-hour turnabout,” said Geoffrey Grimsman, a part-time resident who reinvigorated a decade-old conservation campaign in 2004, when he suggested naming the proposed public park for Hammondsport's fabled son.
“This went far beyond a typical grass-roots campaign. Glenn Curtiss is truly the big winner here.”
The land comprises abandoned railroad property, an unruly mass of brush, trees and tall grass, and up to 175 feet of lake frontage, said Richard Gardner, who was voted out of office at year-end after 14 years as town supervisor.
In the spring, Gardner expects to join a volunteer effort to spruce up the tract, install a few benches and picnic tables and map out walking trails.
“We really want it to be a low-key place,” he said. “It's not for swimming or boating or that kind of thing. We're very happy. ... Here we have an opportunity to preserve a large portion of lakefront forever.”
The town's efforts to create an 11-acre Glenn Curtiss Memorial Park were upended in 2004 when a referendum to issue $1.3 million in bonds was narrowly voted down.
Doyle still owns five adjoining acres of rezoned lakefront land. On one two-acre site, his plan to erect luxury condominiums stalled for unspecified financial reasons last year after the foundation was poured. He views the shoreline complex as vital in buttressing Hammondsport's tax base and keeping wealthy locals from moving to resorts elsewhere.
The village looks a lot like it did back in Curtiss' heyday but, except for a small Curtiss Museum on the edge of town, physical reminders of its taciturn titan, who died in 1930 at age 52, are hard to find.
“Anything out there that raises visibility on Glenn Curtiss is something we're in favor of,” said museum director Trafford Doherty.
Curtiss' aircraft innovations swiftly eclipsed those of Orville and Wilbur Wright and helped fight two world wars. In 1911, he created the first seaplane, earning renown as “the father of naval aviation.” And from 1915 to 1918, he turned Hammondsport into the airplane manufacturing capital of America.
A lengthy feud over whether to preserve or develop the largely unobstructed lakefront where Curtiss later carried out test flights for the world's first seaplane came to an end last weekend when the town bought 8 acres of overgrown lakefront land from a real estate developer for $900,000.
That money showed up in two chunks from anonymous donors - a $500,000 check delivered via a California charity and $400,000 offered by a local benefactor. Michael Doyle, a large-scale landowner and winery operator who acquired the contested land in the 1990s, came down from his $1.1 million asking price.
“I consider this a miraculous 12th-hour turnabout,” said Geoffrey Grimsman, a part-time resident who reinvigorated a decade-old conservation campaign in 2004, when he suggested naming the proposed public park for Hammondsport's fabled son.
“This went far beyond a typical grass-roots campaign. Glenn Curtiss is truly the big winner here.”
The land comprises abandoned railroad property, an unruly mass of brush, trees and tall grass, and up to 175 feet of lake frontage, said Richard Gardner, who was voted out of office at year-end after 14 years as town supervisor.
In the spring, Gardner expects to join a volunteer effort to spruce up the tract, install a few benches and picnic tables and map out walking trails.
“We really want it to be a low-key place,” he said. “It's not for swimming or boating or that kind of thing. We're very happy. ... Here we have an opportunity to preserve a large portion of lakefront forever.”
The town's efforts to create an 11-acre Glenn Curtiss Memorial Park were upended in 2004 when a referendum to issue $1.3 million in bonds was narrowly voted down.
Doyle still owns five adjoining acres of rezoned lakefront land. On one two-acre site, his plan to erect luxury condominiums stalled for unspecified financial reasons last year after the foundation was poured. He views the shoreline complex as vital in buttressing Hammondsport's tax base and keeping wealthy locals from moving to resorts elsewhere.
The village looks a lot like it did back in Curtiss' heyday but, except for a small Curtiss Museum on the edge of town, physical reminders of its taciturn titan, who died in 1930 at age 52, are hard to find.
“Anything out there that raises visibility on Glenn Curtiss is something we're in favor of,” said museum director Trafford Doherty.
Curtiss' aircraft innovations swiftly eclipsed those of Orville and Wilbur Wright and helped fight two world wars. In 1911, he created the first seaplane, earning renown as “the father of naval aviation.” And from 1915 to 1918, he turned Hammondsport into the airplane manufacturing capital of America.
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