1889 Lindley Flood Article
Our Town Lindley,N.Y.
Lt.Col. Eleazer Lindsley and Lindsley Coat of Arms (Composite photo made for the Steuben County Hall of Fame) Lindley no longer has a school in the town and this is my way of letting the residents learn about the town where they live . The following will be excerpts from various histories about the history of the Town of Lindley. Each historian or person writing the following information has made his own interpretation of the facts . Kitty Lt. Colonel Eleazer Lindsley was born December 7th, 1737 in Morristown, New Jersey -the son of Jonathon Lindsley. He died in Lindley, N.Y. June 1,1794. He served as a Lt .Colonel. in Colonel Oliver Spencer's Regiment of New Jersey Continental Troops. He was ,also, a Second Major in the Morris County ,Militia . He married Mary Miller of Morristown N.J. He served in the New Jersey Assembly in 1780; was a Justice of Peace in 1783 and moved to Steuben County, New York in 1790. From M...
Tracy and I have discussed the 1949 date on this article which she found on a Genealogical Website "Ancestry". I have a feeling that this was the date it was copied for their files.
ReplyDeleteThe events described actually (as the Grandkids say) occurred in June of 1889 and was called the Great Flood of 1889.
William Burr wrote about it in his 1951 History of Lindley. A copy of his writing along with a photo of the Lindley bridge (then) is in the Heritage Days "History of Lindley " 1990 under Natural Disasters.
Both writings mention the Town Hall washing away with other buildings. This would explain why the "Old Lindley Town Hall at the end of Morgan Creek /Lindley Road was built in 1897 and the old iron bridge was built in 1898. (*See plaque mounted by new Lindley Bridge)
The Hill store mentioned was to become the Manley/Orr/Whitaker store. Burr states this building burned (no date); so apparently it was rebuilt on same location. In 1972,the Whitaker store was damaged to the extent that it was removed. Today-the west end approach of our new 2 lane bridge crosses this site.
This area must have been quite a business center about this time. The 1873 maps show blacksmith and wagon shops,a sawmill,and a R.R.depot. There are traces of the mill race of the old sawmill behind the Old Town Hall. Bill Canfield found an article describing the fire which destroyed a sash business in this area. Fireman from Lawrenceville came to help fight the fire!!!!
It is articles like this that gives us a glimpse of what Lindley was like in the early days.
I appreciate Tracy sharing her find and encourage anyone else who has stories or articles like this to share them. For too many years,there has been little documentation of the history of Lindley. This kind of information is added to the Town's Historian's files and can seen by contacting me or by attending the Open Houses that I have several times a year.
Kitty Pierce -Lindley Historian