Grace Lester Austin had a composition book of her memories as a child living in Owasco and called it “I remember.” It was dated 1961, when she was 81-years-old. Grace lived to be almost 100 and had a retentive memory. She mentions the brick and tile yard owned by John Hare in her booklet where her father Alfred Lester worked.
She wrote, “I remember, Dot (her sister) and I walking down to the tile yard in order to ride back horseback with the men when they came to supper.” The Lester family must have boarded the men who worked at the tile yard because she also wrote, “I remember. .... Tile yard keep was seven months for $200.”
Mr. Lynn Ripley spoke at the Tri-Town Bicentennial meeting held at the Owasco Reformed Church in 1976. He told how many farmers fields in this area were drained from the tile made at Perkins brick and tile yard. The 1875 map of Owasco shows a insert with “Shaver and Perkins” owning the property with a “Brick Kiln” labeled on the map in the back of the property.
In 1943-1944 the property was owned by Clyde and Virginia Greenfield .
Mildred Greenfield Hole was raised there from the age of 9, and now lives just up the street on North Road with her husband Gene Hole. They both shared with me what they remember.
She remembers the creek bed sides covered with the gray slippery clay and how they would slide down the banks into the water embedding the clay into their clothes. She said, “The clay sides formed a natural swimming hole. We also would mold the clay and roll it out and sun dry it to make things.”
Gene was raised right next door and has a male perspective of the brick kiln as remembered through the eyes of a young boy. He said, “The brick kiln had a tall smoke stack similar in design to the one at Auburn Correctional Facility, but not as tall. It was made out of brick and still standing in 1939 after a fire destroyed the building next to it. The bricks that were fired in the kiln were different colors depending on the pigment in the clay. Sometimes gray, red/brown or even yellow. Each brick had a OW imprinted on them signifying Owasco. They never rebuilt.”
I heard from Jim Gere that Schoolhouse No. 2 on School Street in the village was made of brick from the tile yard. This brick is yellow in color, but the OW must be imprinted on the back of the brick facing inwards.
Gene also said, “The people in the area also used the excavation hole from digging the clay for a dump.” Millie remembers her brother digging in there and getting bottles.
The dump has been filled in and no longer is visible.
I would like to include here just a few of Grace Austin's memories.
“I Remember”
“The cannon ball” next to the Blacksmith shop
Dad and Mom riding their bikes to Syracuse to the State Fair.
Charles Tippett had the first binder.
The store broken into and the safe blown open sending a piece of it through the church door and into the back of the pew. (note: I REMEMBER seeing the splintered pew in front of the door before they were replaced in 1978).
The Ladies Temperance League entertainment at the Island Park.
While I was singing, two men who were “lit up” had a fight and the police took them out.
The plank road to Auburn
The cinder path for bikes $1 a year
Mr. Meaker's greenhouse over the store.
March 1931 Bought six pair of Enna Jettick shoes for $1 a pair
Indians selling bead work in the village
Mrs. Burgett installing her bath room. Also adopting two babies.
The skating rink in C. Bodines field.
The boys stealing Frank Burgetts chickens and then selling them back to him.
Bodines peddling cart.
Uncle Charlie Albring bringing the mail from Auburn, by horse and buggy.
Dr. Ford had the first car - A Ford
These are just a few of Grace Lester Austin's memories of life in Owasco Village from the 1890s until the 1930s.
Please contact me if you wish a copy of this whole booklet.
- Sources: “I Remember” by Grace Lester Austin, 1976; Tri-Town Bicentennial Meeting Transcript 1976; I875 Map Owasco and Owasco Village; Interviews with Mildred and Eugene Hole; Post Card Advertisement, and the Rev. Cassius J. Sargent Lantern slides, 1905-1911
Laurel Auchampaugh is the Owasco historian and can be reached at the Owasco Town Hall from 1 to 4 p.m. Tuesday afternoons or at nowthenwasco@aol.com
Mr. Lynn Ripley spoke at the Tri-Town Bicentennial meeting held at the Owasco Reformed Church in 1976. He told how many farmers fields in this area were drained from the tile made at Perkins brick and tile yard. The 1875 map of Owasco shows a insert with “Shaver and Perkins” owning the property with a “Brick Kiln” labeled on the map in the back of the property.
In 1943-1944 the property was owned by Clyde and Virginia Greenfield .
Mildred Greenfield Hole was raised there from the age of 9, and now lives just up the street on North Road with her husband Gene Hole. They both shared with me what they remember.
She remembers the creek bed sides covered with the gray slippery clay and how they would slide down the banks into the water embedding the clay into their clothes. She said, “The clay sides formed a natural swimming hole. We also would mold the clay and roll it out and sun dry it to make things.”
Gene was raised right next door and has a male perspective of the brick kiln as remembered through the eyes of a young boy. He said, “The brick kiln had a tall smoke stack similar in design to the one at Auburn Correctional Facility, but not as tall. It was made out of brick and still standing in 1939 after a fire destroyed the building next to it. The bricks that were fired in the kiln were different colors depending on the pigment in the clay. Sometimes gray, red/brown or even yellow. Each brick had a OW imprinted on them signifying Owasco. They never rebuilt.”
I heard from Jim Gere that Schoolhouse No. 2 on School Street in the village was made of brick from the tile yard. This brick is yellow in color, but the OW must be imprinted on the back of the brick facing inwards.
Gene also said, “The people in the area also used the excavation hole from digging the clay for a dump.” Millie remembers her brother digging in there and getting bottles.
The dump has been filled in and no longer is visible.
I would like to include here just a few of Grace Austin's memories.
“I Remember”
“The cannon ball” next to the Blacksmith shop
Dad and Mom riding their bikes to Syracuse to the State Fair.
Charles Tippett had the first binder.
The store broken into and the safe blown open sending a piece of it through the church door and into the back of the pew. (note: I REMEMBER seeing the splintered pew in front of the door before they were replaced in 1978).
The Ladies Temperance League entertainment at the Island Park.
While I was singing, two men who were “lit up” had a fight and the police took them out.
The plank road to Auburn
The cinder path for bikes $1 a year
Mr. Meaker's greenhouse over the store.
March 1931 Bought six pair of Enna Jettick shoes for $1 a pair
Indians selling bead work in the village
Mrs. Burgett installing her bath room. Also adopting two babies.
The skating rink in C. Bodines field.
The boys stealing Frank Burgetts chickens and then selling them back to him.
Bodines peddling cart.
Uncle Charlie Albring bringing the mail from Auburn, by horse and buggy.
Dr. Ford had the first car - A Ford
These are just a few of Grace Lester Austin's memories of life in Owasco Village from the 1890s until the 1930s.
Please contact me if you wish a copy of this whole booklet.
- Sources: “I Remember” by Grace Lester Austin, 1976; Tri-Town Bicentennial Meeting Transcript 1976; I875 Map Owasco and Owasco Village; Interviews with Mildred and Eugene Hole; Post Card Advertisement, and the Rev. Cassius J. Sargent Lantern slides, 1905-1911
Laurel Auchampaugh is the Owasco historian and can be reached at the Owasco Town Hall from 1 to 4 p.m. Tuesday afternoons or at nowthenwasco@aol.com
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