FREEVILLE CELEBRATES ITS PAST

New Park Recalls A Once Vital Rail Hub

Twenty-four trains each day used to pass through the small village of Freeville as late as during the 1920s. Today, not a single piece of original track remains. But the village is freshly aware of this segment of its history, thanks to a handsome small park with historical panels that describe aspects of the railroads that once served Freeville. It is located at the corner of Railroad and Factory Streets, just east of the intersection of Main Street and Route 38.

David Fogel, who retired as mayor of Freeville last November, says that the whole project began when it became necessary to remove the last remaining relic of the railroad era.

“We had to demolish a local landmark that stood at the site for more than a hundred years—an octagonal concrete structure that had once supported a circular wooden water tower next to one of the two Lehigh Valley Railroad branch lines that used to cross in Freeville.”

Fogel was featured more than 30 years ago in the Ithaca Times for a detailed model he built of Ithaca’s West End as it looked before the construction of the Inlet ood control channel and the “Octopus” intersection. at model took eight years to build and was on display on the second oor of the Alternatives Credit Union for several years, though it’s now in storage.

“Around the time that I became mayor of [Freeville] in 2014,” he says, “I built a scale model of a history-themed pocket park for the Village-owned parcel on the old railroad right-of-way. [It] was designed to commem-

David Fogel, former mayor of Freeville was the driving force behind the creation of the new park. (Photo: Gene Endres)

By Gene Endres

The new Station Park celebrates Freeville’s history as a railroad hub. (Photo: Gene Endres)

orate the old railroad junction and included a proposed TCAT bus shelter modeled on Freeville's last passenger depot.” ough all traces of stations, tracks and water tanks used by the railroads have been obliterated in recent years, those familiar with the history know the village was an important junction. Fogel’s model, on display at the village o ce, attracted the attention of Freeville residents and most seemed supportive of his idea for a park. TCAT felt the plan had merit.

How did Freeville come to be such a nexus of various railroads?

In the post-Civil-War era, railroad construction became a center of attention and investment. Laws allowed municipalities to purchase bonds to help rail entrepreneurs build these new roads and assured the towns and villages that they would be served. Highways at the time were generally dirt and unpaved, turning into mud in the spring and unplowed but actually better when snow-covered.

Railroads, unlike canals and roads, could operate largely throughout the year and were fairly fast. ey did, however, suffer from washouts and derailments and even collisions between trains. e Southern Central Railroad came into Freeville from the south. It started at Athens, Pennsylvania, passing through Dryden and Freeville on to Auburn and North Fair Haven, on Lake Ontario.

Another railroad was planned from Ithaca to Cortland and gained the support of Ezra Cornell. is became the Elmira, Cortland and Northern, running all the way from Elmira to East Ithaca to Cortland and Camden, north of Oneida Lake.

Yet another was the New York and Oswego Midland, which meandered through hill and dale from either the Hudson River or New Jersey and planned to build west, perhaps to Bu alo. It was a roundabout route and only got as far as Scipioville or Merri eld in the middle of Cayuga County. e railroad building boom would not last. e Panic of 1873 caused a number of railroads to fail nancially. Town and village investments become worthless but debts still had to be paid. It was the worst depression the United States had faced until then and didn’t ease until 1879. e Freeville railroads did recover, with all the lines consolidated by 1890 under the control of the Lehigh Valley Railroad.

With railroads coming into Freeville from four or ve directions, usually twice each day, there was lots of activity. Passengers could get out, change trains, have a meal or even stay overnight. Add local and regional freight trains carrying items like lumber, milk, manufactured products and more and you had a very busy railroad junction in a very small village.

It all centered around the railroad station, the focus of all business. By 1900 four lines were le , all were part of the Lehigh Valley system. In that year they built a ve-sided wooden depot. As business increased, that odd building was demoted to be the freight station and a ne stucco station was erected, including indoor plumbing and even a restaurant. ere were extra side tracks so that four trains could meet and exchange passengers simultaneously. Freeville continued on, as did many other towns and villages. Places with railroad service prospered, while those without connection o en withered. Following the rst World War, the rise of the automobile and better roads meant the railroads were less useful. Passenger trains, used for local travel, even as transport for local schoolkids, were replaced by the car. Trucks distributed many products locally, though some, like milk, were still delivered by train until a er the second World War.

Freeville itself had a history both before and a er the railroads. e well-watered valley of both Virgil and Fall Creeks was undoubtedly used by the native peoples for raising crops and building communities. e Sullivan Expedition around Cayuga Lake, dispatched by General Washington to drive out these natives, may have caused some to seek shelter further east in places like Freeville.

When Revolutionary War veterans came here in 1798, they found few such original peoples. Daniel White, a veteran and early settler, built a dam and mill on Fall Creek. e location was known as “White’s Mill”, but some years later it is said that White himself felt it should not be named for any person and it came to be Freeville. It is the only “Freeville” in the country, perhaps anywhere, and thus you see the phrase “ e One and Only” in the new Station Park.

Freeville had a large number of businesses over the years ranging from factories producing cinder blocks and furniture to hotels, restaurants, gas stations and phone companies. According to the town historian, it supported ve weekly newspapers and yes, even a baseball team. e third Freeville passenger station lasted until 1940, when the railroads were beginning to lose their grip on American transportation. By the 1980s, railroad business in Freeville was no more, and even the ve-sided freight station was gone. ere remained the octagonal concrete base that had supported the old water tank for lling the tenders of steam locomotives. And its removal led to the idea of a park celebrating the community’s past.

“Over the course of the eight years that it took to construct Station Park, I functioned as project manager, coordinating the work of various contractors, Village employees, and volunteers,” notes Fogel. “For some ten months, I worked closely with Ithaca-based graphic designer Amelia Kaufman to create the nine large display panels mounted on the kiosk and in the bus shelter.” ose panels highlight not only the rail history of Freeville, but also summarize much of the entire history of the village. ey show pictures of historic houses built in Freeville, as well as other notable buildings and businesses. e kiosk and bus shelter provide welcome shade and lots of information in a compact space.

Most drivers heading through the village today may be bound elsewhere, as were most of those who used to travel on the railroads. Yet Station Park is worth a stop, giving the visitor a true sense of history of a place that really is “the one and only.”

This is reportedly the second Freeville Station, circa 1901.

The appropriately named Junction House hotel catered to those having a meal or staying overnight while they waited to make a rail connection.

Freeville was once a major regional railroad intersection. An aerial view of Freeville circa 1950 showing the unique fivesided freight station at the upper right and highlighting the location of the new Station Park. Special thanks to: e History Center in Ithaca; the Dryden Historical Society, which published the reminiscences of Ken Rice who was an agent at Freeville and a number of other local stations; and John Marcham, editor of the third edition of A History of Railroads in Tompkins County.

WELCOME TO “THE JUNGLE”

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the homeless population and illegal behavior seemingly linked to this increase.

Ithaca Acting Mayor Laura Lewis acknowledged that, “the Tacit acceptance policy is not… working, it is not helpful to the city, it is not helpful to unhoused residents, it is not helpful to the community at large, and does not address some of the issues that contribute to the growing homeless encampments.”

City Alderperson Cynthia Brock noted the “pressure tacit acceptance was placing on City personnel, including police o cer, re ghters, building department personnel,” and others, who are unsure of what they could or should do.

No one disputed that other e orts to provide options to residents of “ e Jungle,” including access to a ordable housing at the Arthaus project on Cherry Street, had fallen short of expectations. City Alderperson George McGonigal acknowledged: “Arthaus is not a safe place right now.” e need for speed quickly focused attention on the rst option from Bohn’s memo: an RFP and basing it on e Ithaca Designated Encampment Site (TIDES) proposal. e TIDES plan was proposed by a Volunteer Working Group consisting of Brock and McGonigal from Ithaca’s Common Council, Bohn of the IURA, Rich John and Travis Brooks of the Tompkins County Legislature, Frank Kruppa of the Tompkins County Department of Health, Chris Teitelbaum of St. John’s Community Services (the agency in the County that shelters people experiencing homelessness), Carmen Guidi of Second Wind Cottages (a New eld-based not-forpro t that provides housing for the homeless), and Jerry Dietz of CSP Management

Chris Teitelbaum noted, “local businesses and residents in Ithaca’s West End are already paying a hidden tax” to deal with homelessness. (Photo:

Provided via Zoom) and Michael Carpenter who has served on the En eld Planning Board, both of whom own property on Cherry Street. e TIDES proposal foresees a total cost for construction of an encampment at just over $1 million, with just over $600,000 in annual sta ng costs. e almost $2 million price tag raised eyebrows and concerns. However, as Teitelbaum noted, “local businesses and residents in Ithaca’s West End are already paying a hidden tax” by having to deal with issues arising from problems stemming from e Jungle. Guidi, acknowledged for his laudable past e orts on behalf of the homeless and his expertise in dealing with the issue, noted that “these people have been living on this land for years and years and years, and nothing has ever been done. Now we want to try to do something that can improve their lives and get them more help…. Just pull the trigger. ey're there. You’re obviously not going to remove them, so let's make [life] better for them.” Acting Mayor Lewis seemed to guardedly agree: “Right now we may be at a nexus point. We may have the right constellation of people in our community to really take some concrete steps.” e next one of those steps is for the committee to present the issue to the full Common Council.

Carmen Guidi of Second Wind Cottages stressed, “You’re obviously not going to remove them, so let’s make [life] better for them.” (Photo: Provided via Zoom)

PROPOSED SITE TOURED

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occupied by two adjacent student rental houses at 403 Elmwood Avenue and 408 Dryden Road.

“ is is all proposed. e agency is looking at this [land] and asking for the public to comment on if there are any issues, and then this community will make a recommendation to the IURA. en the IURA will make a recommendation to the Common Council, and the Common Council will make the nal decision. ere’s a process involved in this, and it gives the public the opportunity to be involved in the situation,” Nels Bohn, Director of Community Development at IURA, said.

A street view of the proposed site of the new Collegetown Fire Station at the corner of Dryden Road and Elmwood Avenue (Photo: File) Future feedback is likely to center on the impact the re station will have on what is a more residential area that that of the existing re station, and how re and rescue vehicles will navigate the notoriously crowded Collegetown roads. Laura Ilioaei

DAZED AND CONFUSED

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When asked about the situation, the OCM said that it doesn’t comment on investigations.

“Our intent when sending out these cease and desist letters was to get unlicensed sales to stop. We deeply appreciate all recipients of these letters who ceased to participate in any unlicensed sales. e O ce of Cannabis Management’s intent is to discourage any unlicensed sales, and we are thankful to those who cooperated,” Deputy Director of OCM Communications Aaron Ghitelman said.

As for the CannaMarket events, McLaurin asserted that no cannabis sales take place, including “sticker” sales, though attendees could exchange marijuana if they desire.

“ ere [are] so many legal ways to exchange cannabis…. Within our event, people are allowed to exchange cannabis in the ways that [are] legal in New York state,” McLaurin said. He feels that the goals of CannaMarket actually align with the state’s goals as an event that allows cannabis and CBD enthusiasts, farmers, educators and other people a liated with the industries to meet up. “I think I think what CannaMarket is actively promoting we're doing through the its local pop-up events and CannaMarket supports merchandise. (Photo: CannaMarket) and highlights what New York State wants from the legalization of cannabis. Really positive, healthy education, events, community,” McLaurin said. Julia Nagel is a reporter from e Cornell Daily Sun working on e Sun’s summer fellowship at e Ithaca Times.