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1505 N Cayuga St Ithaca
Details
- Address
- 1505 N Cayuga St Ithaca
- Year Built
- 1924
- Demolished
- 1981 (ca.)
- Building Type
- Residence
- Construction
- Wood structure
Description
This small home on North Cayuga St, just north of the boundary between the City of Ithaca and the Town of Ithaca, was constructed in 1924 by the owner, Fred E Howe. He lived there until shortly before his death in July 1980. His life ended with a period in a nursing home after an accident. In 1975, he had agreed to sell the property to the Ithaca City School District, contingent on being able to live there until his death.
The structure was probably demolished circa 1982.
The structure was probably demolished circa 1982.
Media (Photos, Videos, Audio Recordings)
Subdivision Map of the BERGHOLTZ PARK - Ithaca, NY. By Carl Crandall, C.E. June 18, 1923. Very few of the lots were purchased and built on. All were eventually acquired by the Ithaca City School District and any houses demolished by around 1982. Four that were occupied are: 121 Rosemary Ln {Lot 23 of Block B}; 109 Rosemary Ln {Lots 16 & 17 of Block B}; 106 Rosemary Ln {Lots 5 & 6 of Block C}; and 1505 North Cayuga St {Lots 3 & 4 of Block C}. June 18, 1923
Add Source/NarrativeSources & Narratives
Chronology of conveyance transactions and directory entries confirming the address and location of this property from 1924 until ~1982.
Deeds and maps referred to are available from the online database service of the Tompkins County Clerk by clicking the link below, logging in as guest, and searching by Instrument (Document) Number, for example: BF051484-001
Deeds and maps referred to are available from the online database service of the Tompkins County Clerk by clicking the link below, logging in as guest, and searching by Instrument (Document) Number, for example: BF051484-001
- A subdivision map for a proposed development named "Bergholtz Park," between Lake Road and North Cayuga Street dated June 18, 1923 was filed in the Tompkins County Clerk's Office. [See BF018646 MAP]
- Frederick E. Howe and his wife, Grace, acquired an empty lot from the Bergholtz Realty Company in April 1924 [See BF051484-001 DEED in Tompkins County Clerks Office]. The lot was Lot 3 in Block C as shown in the subdivision map of the proposed Bergholtz Park development [See BF018646 MAP]. Fred built the house himself. The property is in the Town of Ithaca, just north of the Boundary with the City of Ithaca.
- In 1927, the Howe's purchased the adjoining Lot 4 in Block C of the Bergholtz Park subdivision, but did not file it with the County Clerk until June 11, 1956.
- In 1930, the Ithaca City Directory (ICD) began to list properties on Cayuga St north of the city line, but without house numbers. Frederick E Howe owned the first property north of the city line, just north of Rosemary Lane.
- In the 1949 ICD, Fred Howe's was still the first property north of the city line, still without a house number.
- It was not until the 1956 ICD, that the property had a house number. The address was 1505 North Cayuga Street.
- In 1960, the new campus for the Ithaca High School opened at 1401 North Cayuga Street.
- In 1971, the new Jr. High School just north of the High School was under construction
- In 1975, Fred Howe was convinced to sell his house to the Ithaca City School District contingent on his being able to live there until his death. [See 021142-001 DEED]
- Fred Howe died on July 26, 1980.
- In December 1980, the School District put out a notice for bids for Sale and Removal or for Demolition of the house and the garage at 1505 North Cayuga Street.
Note: No documentation has been found indicating that the house was moved and erected elsewhere. It is likely that it was demolished by 1982.
- Deeds and maps referred to are available from the online database service of the Tompkins County Clerk by logging in as guest, and searching by Instrument (Document) Number. [https://countyfusion3.kofiletech.us/countyweb/loginDisplay.action?countyname=Tompkins]
- Ithaca City Directories at Tompkins County Public Library. [https://www.tcpl.org/archives?field_ar_categories_target_id_op=or&field_ar_categories_target_id=149]
1924 - 1982
The Schools' Good Neighbor [Fred Howe] - "Oh, It Was a Beautiful Place When We Came..."
The Ithaca Journal, Nov 27 1975, P. 3, with aerial photo of house and picture of Fred Howe mowing.
Extract:
" Fred Howe is an island, holding out against the concrete. And his house is a place where the floodwaters of modernity haven't yet washed over old ways.
But he is crowded - you might say surrounded — by other's plans.
His home has, for some time, been sandwiched between Route 13 and the Ithaca school district playing fields - more recently, between those and some new tennis courts.
In order to avoid having his house condemned, Howe agreed, last summer, to sell it to the school district with a single provision: That he could live there for the rest of his life. Meanwhile the fields are being renovated.
...
Today Howe is 88, turning 89 in April.
"This is my house, regardless of anything else," he said, looking out a lace-curtained window."
The Ithaca Journal, Nov 27 1975, P. 3, with aerial photo of house and picture of Fred Howe mowing.
Extract:
" Fred Howe is an island, holding out against the concrete. And his house is a place where the floodwaters of modernity haven't yet washed over old ways.
But he is crowded - you might say surrounded — by other's plans.
His home has, for some time, been sandwiched between Route 13 and the Ithaca school district playing fields - more recently, between those and some new tennis courts.
In order to avoid having his house condemned, Howe agreed, last summer, to sell it to the school district with a single provision: That he could live there for the rest of his life. Meanwhile the fields are being renovated.
...
Today Howe is 88, turning 89 in April.
"This is my house, regardless of anything else," he said, looking out a lace-curtained window."
- The Schools' Good Neighbor. The Ithaca Journal, Nov 27 1975, P. 3. [https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-ithaca-journal-the-schools-good-nei/188824147/]
November 27, 1975
Frederick Ellsworth Howe (1887-1980); A country man cut from a different mold.
The Ithaca Journal, Aug 2 1980
The Ithaca Journal, Aug 2 1980
- Part 1, with photos, one of him as young man and one of the house he built in 1924. on page 3
- Part 2, on page 4
Extract:
=== from Part 1
'He called himself Frederick Ellsworth Howe, but his real name was just Fred. And if heaven's got an award for stubbornness and eccentricity on earth, he's surely an Ithaca contender.
Frederick Ellsworth Howe: A big, hard-working man with a green thumb who in his youth could lift a sledgehammer with a single finger and who could nurse walnuts into trees.
To hundreds of Ithaca school children, he was the eager-to-chat man who chopped wood and gardened in a house surrounded by Ithaca High School athletic fields.
To school administrators, he was a thorn who wouldn't budge, who preferred to keep his house rather than sell to allow the expansion of school property.
Born April 26, 1887, in Peruville. A blue-collar man. Work was a passion. Country and family were his first concerns. Last Saturday, weak and feeble at 93, Howe died at Lakeside Nursing Home.
The blue-gray North Cayuga Street house Howe built in 1924 sits boarded up and silent now.
Probably within a year, the Ithaca school district, its new owners by a five-year-old agreement with Howe, will arrange to have it razed or moved.
Howe, an eighth-generation red-headed American whose ancestors journeyed to the North America from England in 1630, was first approached by the district in the mid-1950s and asked to sell, according to school officials. Yet it wasn't until nearly 20 years later, in 1975, that he sold the house for $35,000, on the condition that he could spend of the rest of his life there.
"He was a rare character," said Kenneth Decker, who worked with Howe for nearly 20 years as a steam fitter at Cornell University. "He came up the hard way, and he did things the hard way. Instead of using jacks and hoists, Fred did it by hand — just as good as everyone else.'
=== From Part 2
'As for the house itself, school officials say they will consider its fate in two or three months. Possibilities include razing it or selling to someone who will move it, said Superintendent of Schools Richard Backer.
"I hope they move it," said Peg. "It's a fine old house, in bad shape now, but those oak floors never creaked."
Frederick Ellsworth Howe: April 26, 1887 - July 26, 1980. Five grandchildren, 12 great-grand-children and many memories. '
=== from Part 1
'He called himself Frederick Ellsworth Howe, but his real name was just Fred. And if heaven's got an award for stubbornness and eccentricity on earth, he's surely an Ithaca contender.
Frederick Ellsworth Howe: A big, hard-working man with a green thumb who in his youth could lift a sledgehammer with a single finger and who could nurse walnuts into trees.
To hundreds of Ithaca school children, he was the eager-to-chat man who chopped wood and gardened in a house surrounded by Ithaca High School athletic fields.
To school administrators, he was a thorn who wouldn't budge, who preferred to keep his house rather than sell to allow the expansion of school property.
Born April 26, 1887, in Peruville. A blue-collar man. Work was a passion. Country and family were his first concerns. Last Saturday, weak and feeble at 93, Howe died at Lakeside Nursing Home.
The blue-gray North Cayuga Street house Howe built in 1924 sits boarded up and silent now.
Probably within a year, the Ithaca school district, its new owners by a five-year-old agreement with Howe, will arrange to have it razed or moved.
Howe, an eighth-generation red-headed American whose ancestors journeyed to the North America from England in 1630, was first approached by the district in the mid-1950s and asked to sell, according to school officials. Yet it wasn't until nearly 20 years later, in 1975, that he sold the house for $35,000, on the condition that he could spend of the rest of his life there.
"He was a rare character," said Kenneth Decker, who worked with Howe for nearly 20 years as a steam fitter at Cornell University. "He came up the hard way, and he did things the hard way. Instead of using jacks and hoists, Fred did it by hand — just as good as everyone else.'
=== From Part 2
'As for the house itself, school officials say they will consider its fate in two or three months. Possibilities include razing it or selling to someone who will move it, said Superintendent of Schools Richard Backer.
"I hope they move it," said Peg. "It's a fine old house, in bad shape now, but those oak floors never creaked."
Frederick Ellsworth Howe: April 26, 1887 - July 26, 1980. Five grandchildren, 12 great-grand-children and many memories. '
Frederick Ellsworth Howe (1887-1980); A country man cut from a different mold. The Ithaca Journal, Aug 2 1980,
- Part 1: The Ithaca Journal, Aug 2 1980, P. 3, with photos [https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-ithaca-journal-frederick-ellsworth-h/188825514/]
- Part 2: The Ithaca Journal, Aug 2 1980, P. 4. Cols 1-3. [https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-ithaca-journal-frederick-ellsworth-h/188825977/
August 2, 1980
Call for Bids for Sale and Removal or Demolition of 1505 North Cayuga Street
The Ithaca Journal , Dec 9 1980, P. 23
"NOTICE TO BIDDERS
Sealed bids for Sale and Removal of House and Garage or Demolition of House and Garage at 1505 North Cayuga Street, Ithaca, New York for the Ithaca City School District, Ithaca, New York, will be received by the Board of Education at the office of the Board of Education at 400 Lake Street, Ithaca, New York, until 3:00 p.m., E.S.T.. 5 January 1981. All proposals will be publicly opened and read aloud at that time in the Board of Education Building, Ithaca, New York."
The Ithaca Journal , Dec 9 1980, P. 23
"NOTICE TO BIDDERS
Sealed bids for Sale and Removal of House and Garage or Demolition of House and Garage at 1505 North Cayuga Street, Ithaca, New York for the Ithaca City School District, Ithaca, New York, will be received by the Board of Education at the office of the Board of Education at 400 Lake Street, Ithaca, New York, until 3:00 p.m., E.S.T.. 5 January 1981. All proposals will be publicly opened and read aloud at that time in the Board of Education Building, Ithaca, New York."
- Call for Bids for Sale and Removal or Demolition of 1505 North Cayuga Street. The Ithaca Journal, Dec 9 1980 P. 23. [https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-ithaca-journal/188853933/]
December 9, 1980
Resident Household in 1950
| Name | Sex | Age | Relation | Occupation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fred Howe | M | 63 | Head | Foreman in Plum[b]ing |
| Grace Howe | F | 60 | Wife | None |