History of the North Avenue Underpass

Did you ever wonder what North Avenue looked like before the underpass was built and why and when?

To begin, it was after Frederica Ford was killed at the East Temple Street railroad crossing on May 7, 1930 that the Erie Railroad Company first proposed the elimination of the crossings at East Temple, Paige and Greene Streets in the village. Then, on Christmas Eve, Dec. 24, 1931, James F. Bell was killed at the East Temple Street crossing.

At a meeting held in November 1932 the Public Service Commission announced the closing of four crossings: East Temple, Paige, McMaster and the busiest one of all, North Avenue, located just south of East and West Avenues. They first suggested building an overpass, rather than an underpass, but nothing was decided.

Then, on Feb. 22, 1933 tragedy struck again when Daniel Champlain met his death at the Paige Street crossing. Three months later, on May 16, a preliminary hearing was held at the Tioga County Courthouse with forty residents from the affected areas attending. After a lot of discussion between the railroad officials and the village board of trustees, nothing came of it. Mayor Albert S. Andrews and village attorney, Benjamin W. Loring declined to make a statement.

At the July 28, 1933 hearing, the first plan for the proposed elimination of the North Avenue crossing was submitted at a cost of $238,800, exclusive of the rights-of-way and property damage. The plan was offered by the State Department of Public Works and provided for the co

nstruction of an underpass on North Avenue instead of an overpass as first suggested. The plan included the underpass to extend from Fox Street to the intersection of East and West Avenues for a total length of 1, 141 feet. The approaches would have a 5 percent grade and the roadway would be 40 feet wide with six -foot sidewalks on both sides. There would also be a 14-foot overhead clearance from the road to the 49-foot span of the two-plate girder railroad bridge above it. Heavy concrete walls would be constructed and concrete stairs with railings would be built to allow people access to their adjoining properties from North Avenue.

The village mayor and board of trustees did not like the idea of closing off streets and making them dead-end because it would depreciate the property value. Instead, they suggested that the railroad company build a lateral road from the East Main Street crossing to Paige Street, south of the tracks so people could simply drive on out through Fox Street to North Avenue. However, the businessmen of Owego objected, saying that it would divert traffic from the businesses in the village.

 

By October 1934, the Public Service Commission finally ordered five streets closed with plans to start the underpass in 1937. But again, Mayor Andrews and the board of trustees caused delays because they were adamant about not wanting any of the streets closed. Finally, when Mayor Edward C. Till and a new board of trustees were elected, they took the opposite position. In the meantime, contractors made borings and tests, but no work was started.

People who lived in or near the underpass site voiced their concern about flooding. They felt that the sewer was not large enough to carry off the water, but they did not object to going ahead with the project. 

Construction of the underpass.e placed in a concrete structure on the west side of the underpass, nearly opposite the railroad station. The Erie engineer told the newspaper reporter, “Nothing short of a cloudburst would ever flood the underpass and stop traffic.”

 

In addition to eliminating the crossings, a pedestrian underpass was constructed at the corner of Paige and Fox Streets under the railroad tracks leading to Erie Street. Also, a number of buildings had to be razed, including two hotels; the old United States Hotel and the Gardner Hotel, both on the west side of North Avenue. The Cottage Hotel on the east side had a 14-foot section removed. Another building removed was a concrete garage near the Cottage Hotel belonging to the Comeford Amusement Company (with hopes of building a theater there someday.)

On the west side, along with the two hotels, were two double houses and a single-family home. The large brick building belonging to the Baker brothers escaped being razed. It was moved just 22-feet north of its original site by the L. D. Dexheimer & Son Co., of Guilford. A large crowd gathered to watch the operation. A photo was in the Aug. 4, 1949 Owego Gazette. Also, on the northeast side a two-story building used by Hubert & Reed Grocery and owned by Miller Lumber Co. was razed. A big shade tree was removed on the west side and the entire front room of a house owned by Mrs. William Marquart at 139 North Ave. was removed.

In order to make way for the underpass, three streets had to be closed at the intersections of North Avenue: John R. and South Depot streets on the east side and Delphine on the west side. At South Depot and Delphine, concrete stairs were installed. New intersections were constructed on both East and West Avenues. West Avenue was only slightly changed, but East Avenue saw changes all the way back to Erie Street. Both streets were widened and repaved with new curbs and sidewalks along with concrete steps up to the properties. When the whole project was finally completed, including East Avenue, there were 18 sets of concrete stairs with railings installed.

The state paid for damages and for the purchase of properties. They agreed the settlements would be fair, but would not agree to exorbitant prices. If the state and property owner disagreed, the matter would be taken to the Court of Claims, which usually resulted in expensive litigation. The total amount of damages could not be estimated accurately because the individual owners refused to reveal the amount of their claims.

In the beginning it was stated that the state and railroad would pay 99 percent of the costs and the village just 1 percent. It would be difficult to find out today if in fact it worked out that way. The Owego Gazette reported the total cost of building the overpass, crossing eliminations, stairs, etc. was $777,999.59. Another issue of the newspaper reported the total cost would exceed $1,000,000.

The North Avenue underpass officially opened to traffic at 11:30 a.m. on Jan. 24, 1951. There were no formal ceremonies, no ribbon cutting or speeches made; the workmen simply removed street barriers and trucks began to roll.

Note: In response to my request for photos and memories of the underpass, a couple of people sent me photos and who shared their memories relating to the underpass. One of the first was Jack Morse who grew up in Owego and graduated from OFA and now lives in Loveland, Colorado. He told how he watched most of the underpass being built.

When he was about 14 years old (1954) he was walking to his home on Talcott Street when he witnessed a large truck pulling a flatbed with a shovel driving through the underpass. A joint in the shovel hit the steel girder overhead with a loud bang and made a big dent in it. The driver stopped the truck, got out, made some adjustments and then drove off. (And yes, the dent is still there!) He said he thinks he was the only witness. He also recalled how he and several of his teenage friends would climb down through the top and get inside the structure over the cars just for fun. When he was old enough to drive he had his first auto accident just coming from under the pass going north. Thanks, Jack.

 

I also received a picture of the Cottage Hotel in 1942 before the underpass was built from Anita Slocum. It shows a huge crowd of people seeing the largest contingent of WWII draftees off to war, one of which was her uncle. Where the crowd is standing is now the underpass. Thanks, Anita.

I received another very interesting photo from Keith Jastremsky. It shows a little boy named Joe Ward standing near the site being excavated for the underpass. Thanks, Keith.

 

And last, but not least, a big thank you to the Tioga County Historical Society.