316 Forest Home Dr Ithaca

Since 1955, the house on this lot has been set back from the road, on a flat, wooded lot, bordered at the rear by Fall Creek. It faces the Cornell Arboretum across Forest Home Drive.  A garage is closer to the road.  If anyone lived on this lot for the 1950 census, it will have been in another structure. 

The owners of the lot in early 1950 were Harrison and Sarah Williams, who lived next door in 320 Forest Home Dr.  Sarah E. K. Williams acquired two parcels (roughly the current lots for 316 and 320 Forest Home Dr) in 1927 from the estate of Ida. B. Hungerford.  Adjustments to the ownership of the land close to the high-water mark of Fall Creek were made later.  The division between lots for 316 and 320 has a jog where there used to be elm trees. 

Richard Pendleton and his mother Miriam Pendleton lived at 324 Forest Home Drive for the 1950 census. According to Richard Pendleton, the house at 316 Forest Home Drive was originally constructed as a barracks unit at Hancock Field in Syracuse, New York. Hancock Field was authorized for construction on 1 January 1942, and the first military personnel arrived on the airfield on 16 August 1942. The house was moved to Ithaca in 1945-46 and re-erected on a site known as East Vetsburg, near Maplewood Avenue and Mitchell Street.  East Vetsburg was one of three sites for housing occupied by veterans getting a college degree at Cornell through the G.I. Bill after World War II.  In 1955, the house was moved to its present location.

Minor modifications were made to this unit when it was moved to this site. Subsequent modifications include the addition of the two side porches, dates unknown. The garage was built many years later.  This is one of two houses in the area which were constructed from used military barracks.  The other is 326 Forest Home Dr.

This description is partly adapted from a provisional NYS Building-Structure Inventory Form (sometimes referred to as the "Blue Form") that was prepared as part of a Forest Home Improvement Association (FHIA) project completed around 1991. See https://www.fhia.org/wp-content/uploads/BlueForms/316FHD_BlueForm_1991_sm.pdf.

Other sources:
* 1927 transfer of two parcels from the estate of Ida B. Hungerford to Sarah E. Williams. In Tompkins County Clerk database with control # BF054580-001.
* 1926 map of "Ida B. Criddle Property at Forest Home" made by Carl Crandall,  July 13, 1926. In Tompkins County Clerk database as BF023473-001 MAP. This map page has two maps.  The upper map is of land in Cayuga Heights. The map relevant to 316 Forest Home Dr is the lower one; it identifies transfers made from the property owned by Ida. B. Criddle (daughter of William Criddle). Two adjacent parcels were acquired by Ida B. Hungerford at different dates. The eastern parcel (now 320 Forest Home Dr) was conveyed to Nye Hungerford and his wife Ida B. Hungerford in Oct 1917 by Frank Tappan & wife.  The western parcel (now 316 Forest Home Dr) was acquired directly from Ida B. Criddle on June 6, 1918.
* 1926 transfer to William T Stevens 3rd and his wife of the western section of land owned by William Criddle and inherited by his daughter Ida.  In Tompkins County Clerk database with control # BF053808-001.  Provides details and file locations for the deeds for transfers shown in the map above.
* July 1950 transfer from Sarah E. K. Williams to Henry and Virginia Clark of the western parcel (now 316 Forest Home Dr), with slight adjustments to the boundaries, particularly a jog to keep one or more elm trees in the eastern parcel and adjustments near Fall Creek. In Tompkins County Clerk database with control # BF139184-001.
* December 1953 transfer by Virginia Clark to Richard and Ann Pendleton of the western parcel (now 316 Forest Home Dr). In Tompkins County Clerk database with control #BF075220-001.
* Tompkins County Clerk online database of property records at https://countyfusion3.kofiletech.us/countyweb/login.do?countyname=Tompkins

[Note: This building is not in the Forest Home Historic District.]