Opinion: It’s the people, not the homes, that are part of history

Dear Editor,

I have been seriously thinking about some of the comments that I heard at the public hearings for OHPC and feel that I need to make a few comments.

I heard people talk that without OHPC that the older homes in the Historic District will be allowed to go into disrepair.  

Well, what disrepair is it that someone wants to renovate a home that they own and pay the taxes on it so that it looks nice and is safe for their families, but may not use the more expensive windows, and doors or siding that the members of OHPC require? 

Which I say, “Which is better?” To have a home that is pleasingly restored and being lived in by the homeowner or one that sits empty, as some of our older homes are today, without any upgrades because the owners can’t do it in a way that OHPC approves. 

There is a building on North Avenue that remains an eyesore because, based on OHPC member statements, OHPC decided a court solution was preferable. It was stated at one meeting that the then owner of 81 North Ave. would be allowed to replace the windows on the side of the building but not the front windows and that he was taken to court to stop him from replacing them.  

If you look up at those front windows yes they are unique, but they are also full of LEAD. How many of you would allow your family to live in a building that you knew had lead in it without trying to remediate it? I know that I wouldn’t! So the building sits pretty much empty with windows boarded up and the front windows looking like they are about ready to fall out. Is that beneficial to our village and its historic value? 

It is an eyesore and is only going to get worse, but OHPC won and that seems to be what’s important. Oh and for those who do not know, the owner’s young children were getting sick from Lead Poisoning but according to the OHPC representative if the owner removed the side windows and left the front ones the children would not be as exposed to lead and they seemed to be getting better. Would this be acceptable to any of us if these were our children or grandchildren? 

Someone asked the question, “What would our ancestors say, wouldn’t they want us to save the history?” Well, I know what my grandfather, his friends and their families that helped to build this village would say, “The homes are not what made the history for this village the people are.”   

Did any of the houses fight in the Revolutionary War or the Civil War? Was it Mrs. Canfield’s home on Front Street who marched in the suffrage movement or invited Susan B. Anthony to stay there? No, it was the people; the people are the true history of this village, not the buildings.  

Would it have been any less exciting to know that Susan B. Anthony stayed in a home in Owego if the building was no longer there, not really because it was Elizabeth Canfield who invited her to Owego, it was Elizabeth Canfield who worked with Susan and marched in the suffrage movement, not the home.  

All historic homes, even those where Canfield and Anthony lived, most assuredly had gone through evolution as their owners took advantage to upgrade their homes to latest technologies that would afford them the ability to better heat, light, and maintain their homes. 

WE are celebrating the women’s suffrage movement and I suspect that if they were with us today they would be saying, “Just as women were not willing to stay locked in by past practices why should our homes be prevented from embracing the future?” 

Mrs. Canfield and Susan B. Anthony – should we remember them because of a house or do we remember them for their achievements? Does a house that is not exact in every detail make the history of what they did less important?  

Buildings change, and should so they are enjoyable to the owner, but that does not change what is important, the people and what they did. If the history of our Village’s past is what makes it all-important, then why are there no log cabins or tents, or maybe even teepee’s existing in our village? It’s because the people who came before us knew that progress is what is going to make the village survive.  

Mr. Pumpelly made his living growing tobacco, but do we still have tobacco fields in our village? No, his home has been turned into a guesthouse, a place for banquets and weddings. Is that what it was built for? Not really! But does the change make it any less valuable or desirable? Certainly not to the people that own it! They make their living from the building and what they have turned it into, not necessarily its past.  

I had the advantage of enjoying listening to two old men reminisce about the village and its history; these men were my grandfather and Mr. Pumpelly. There might have been one or two discussions that brought the building (such as the Awhaga Hotel) and some of the things that happened there into the discussion with any importance, but for the most part it was about the people and their achievements that were discussed and what they did for the village.

My home was the original Owego Spring Water Bottling Company plant. The house was moved from its original location about 150 feet north and turned into a home. Does that change the fact that Owego at one time had a Spring Water Bottling plant and that the water was declared more pure than Chemung’s? Not really! Modern water distribution system came and the bottling the plant closed, a home was needed and so the decision was made by the owners to move the building and reconvert it.  

This is what our ancestors did; they realized the benefit of the buildings, not what they had been but what they could be.

This town needs things in it to revitalize it such as a replacement for Stackmore, the Foundry or the Creamery my father managed for years! How about a replacement for the bus company?  

These are what made Owego vibrant, not the buildings. People need work and a reason to stay, and they are not going to stay and new people aren’t going to move to our village just to live in a historic home that may be too expensive for them to rehab.

They need a place to work, the small shops downtown are great but how many people do they employ? To visit and stroll our quaintness for a few hours is not the same as moving here and helping to carry the financial load for our Village to survive. But it appears that we are willing to discourage people from wanting to invest in our community and save buildings that have sat empty for years.

Ladies and Gentlemen I love the history of this Village, I love to look at the older homes and buildings; but as my grandfather would have said, “The buildings aren’t going to make a living for you.”  

They are beautiful, but there are a lot of places in this country with old historic homes that have far more significance on our country’s history than the ones in our hometown. They are not going to draw the crowds every year to visit them, they are important to the people who own them and maybe a few of us who love this village, but for the most part they don’t have a historic draw to pull in enough visitors each year to make our village survive.  

I love to go into The Kitchen and see the posters and items that were found when they were remodeling it, but I believe that most of the people younger then I am wouldn’t know what most of those posters represent, they like the food but the fact that the building was one of two shoe stores in Owego back about 50 years ago doesn’t mean much to them.  

To the rest of us who do remember, it is a fond memory, but the building has changed its function. Does that make it less valuable? Certainly not!  

And when the Kitchen is gone, what will the building house then?  It is not the buildings that are important to this village but the people who will save it.

Sincerely,

Judy (Baker) Hartman 

A lifetime resident of Owego