Hi everyone, here are the Local History Photos of the week!
(Click on the photos for a larger view)
Photo 1: Ross O. Smith’s New York Central Railroad Company Certificate of Service
Since the writing on this certificate of service is a bit hard to read – here it is in plain text:
“Certificate of Service
This is to certify that Ross O. Smith has been employed by this Company or its allied Lines from December 16, 1910 to May 23, 1948 and having faithfully performed the duties of said employment for a period of 37 years and 5 months is hereby honorably relieved from active duty as a CAR INSPECTOR AND REPAIRER and his name placed on the honor roll by this company.
THE NEW YORK CENTRAL RAILROAD COMPANY (with a faint and unreadable signature by the then company) president.
What a neat piece of history from what was indeed another age!
This certificate of service reminds me of the personal items of note that used to appear in the Corning newspapers in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.
Notices would say something like: “Mr. and Mrs. John L. Smith returned yesterday from attending a family reunion in Cape Cod,” or “Matthew Benjamin Johnson, a recent graduate of Corning Free Academy, will be attending the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the fall, where he will study engineering,” or “Doctor James Sinclair has just returned from visiting his sister, Sarah Sinclair Dobbs, in Burlington, Vermont.”
The Corning paper in its current and various previous incarnations, i.e. The Corning Blossburg Advocate The Corning Democrat, The Corning Daily Journal, The Corning Weekly Journal and of course, The Leader, may be perused at the library on microfilm. Ask the staff for more information!
And if you know who Ross O. Smith was, let us know!
Photo 2:
Our second photo of the week is a photo of an old postcard showing Market Street, in Corning many, many years ago – before the street was even paved, horses and carriages being the standard mode of transportation.
What a cool postcard!
From doing a Google Images search I found a date for the postcard, via the Hippostcard.com website – 1907. And the big white building seen on the right side of the photo is the Dickinson House – a local hotel of days gone by.
And on a final note, here is a related vintage postcard found on the flickr site:
DICKINSON HOUSE SQUARE AND N.Y. CENTRAL STATION, CORNING, N.Y.
Have a great weekend!
Linda, SSCL
Library Local History/Creation Station Resources:
At the library you can scan your photos and slides to create digital family albums and slideshows; and even use one of the Circut machines, and other Creation Station equipment, to help you create a special paper family history album.
Also of note, we have the local paper, at times called the Corning Leader, Corning Journal or Corning Daily Journal, on microfilm from 1840 to the present — so you can visit the library and research local history and your family tree if you wish!
And…
And if you find any old photos of the Corning area that you don’t know what to do with – you can always donate them to the library!
We’re happy to add new photos to our Photo Archive!
Corning History 