Oh Where; Oh Where; did Belva’s school go?

Belva McNall (Lockwood) operated the Owego Female Seminary on the property of which 249 Front St. was a part. She left Owego in 1865, returning again for Old Home Week in 1909 and after extraordinary accomplishments, earning her law degree and establishing a successful practice, joining the DC Bar and winning a case before the Supreme Court and running twice for President, and so much more. 

When she returned, she reminisced fondly about her time on the banks of the Susquehanna. She may have sat on the porch of the home built by Jefferson Dwelle, now an inn, named in her honor all these many years later; but as Tom McEnteer writes, the former Charles Pumpelly mansion (built in 1815), with its Greek Revival style colonnade (added in the 1830’s) was gone. Tom tells us that Charles Stebbins, who in 1866 built the large brick home at 118 Front (still standing), converted the old mansion for use as a barn / carriage house, after it had been cleared from the East Front property by Charles Pumpelly’s heirs when they divided the old property and sold off the lots, including 249 Front.

While I can’t add anything to Tom’s excellent research, I can add a picture. I was retelling Tom McEnteer’s story to John Spencer at the Riverow Bookstore when he beckoned me upstairs, unlocked a cabinet, and pulled out the “stereo view” post card that accompanies this article, a view taken from the tower of the Tioga County Courthouse looking Southwest toward the river, and with Squaw Island in the distance. 

Remarkably in the center of the view, taken around 1875, is the Stebbins’ brick house and directly behind (left and on the river bank) is the former Charles Pumpelly mansion, minus the colonnade, where Belva once nurtured the young women of Owego lucky enough to attend her seminary. 

Interestingly many of the structures in the photo still grace Front Street in the village. I have expanded and labeled one side of the photograph to provide context. Tom tells us that the Old Seminary building was finally torn down in the 1930’s, but the memories live on.