“It was George Rankin and his son, George S. Rankin, who in 1879 remodeled and improved their store building at 138 E. State St., to include the famous sun dial that was built in the facade. They were the grandfather and father, respectively, of Everett Rankin of Ludlowville RD 1, and proprietors of a china, glassware, and lamp store, known as "the handsomest store in Western New York."
When the building was demolished recently, the sun dial was presented to the De Witt Historical Society by R. L. Schooley of Auburn.
George Rankin had come to the village from New York in 1856 and opened a small store in the building. In 1869 his son, who had 6 years training with a large New York china firm, entered into a partnership with his father.
The business prospered, and in 1880 the store front was rebuilt in Queen Anne style. An historian of 1883 says ‘fine plate glass windows were made to replace the old-time windows with their small panes of common glass, and the exterior of the building became through these changes by far the handsomest in the village.
‘A feature of the front is that it possesses a large and fine sun dial, consisting of an extended bronze arm, in the hand of which is held an inverted lance, and beneath this is painted an are upon which in gilt figures are the hours of the day. The front is also decorated with fine colored glass from the works of the artist, John LaFarge.’
LaFarge was a prominent American painter who was born in 1835 and died in 1910. He decorated Trinity Church, Boston, and among his famous windows were those in St. Thomas's Church, New York; Memorial Hall of Harvard, and the Cornelius Vanderbilt mansion. Improvements Made Improvements at that time included extending the building in the rear to make its dimensions 33 x 100 feet.
The Rankins took over the rear half of the adjoining store for a packing room, the basement under both stores for storage, and they had ‘a handsome display room on the second floor 75 x 18 feet." The historian recorded that "a feature meriting special mention is a line of the finest polished cut glassware. These goods are the richest cutting produced, Tiffany of New York having nothing finer."
The Rankins displayed ‘the finest wares - elegant Haviland china in tea, fruit, and dinner sets; beautiful Limoges and Faience (majolica) goods, rich Japanese porcelains in salad bowls and after dinner coffees, fine hand-painted Dresden china, in plaques, vases and salad bowls. Here also may be seen the newest designs in elegant library lamps of polished bronze, with prisms, vase lamps of real bronze in numerous striking designs, and other handsome vase lamps.’
When the Rankins remodeled their store in 1879 the workmen apparently labored long hours as well as industriously for they completed the job in month. The Ithaca Journal reported that ‘those interested in the new front of the Bool-Rankin Block are in hopes to shame their neighbors into taking down their ugly, dilapidated wooden, shed awnings.'”
“Sun Dial Included in Building Here by Rankins in 1879,” Ithaca Journal, August 25, 1948, 5.