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VISITOR SERVICES History of Corning, NY Prehabitation The geologic history of the Corning Area stretches far back into the depths of time to a juncture many hundreds of millions of years ago. The barren land of this ancient time had to wait most of these millions of years and experience vast changes before the first man would set foot upon it. During the area's earliest years a shifting of the land lowered its level so that it was submerged under a vast continental sea for 325 million years. Countless tons of eroded particles washed from higher land to the east and settled to the bottom of this sea forming the sedimentary bedrock that underlies our area today. About 220 million years ago subterranean forces wracked and shifted the land during what is now known as the Appalachian Revolution. In this process the land was lifted above sea level where it has remained ever since. Subsequent uplifts of the land raised it to a plateau and then the forces of erosion vied with those of uplift to create a new land, an eroded plateau. Almost one million years ago great sheets of ice began to creep southward from more northern areas. From that time until eleven thousand years ago at least four advances and retreats of continental glaciers gouged and scoured the surface of the land. The changes these glaciers wrought transformed the area into a moderate relief region with southwestward drainage. During the latter stages of the "Ice Age" great mammals began to appear in this region. Among them were the elephant-like Woolly Mammoths and later Mastodons. These great creatures roamed the local area and remains have been found throughout man's history in the Chemung Valley. Man first came to North American in pursuit of these great mammals. He probably first entered the area the is New York State about 7000 B.C.    Native Americans The Paleo-Indians were the first of many Indian groups that would pass through or use the Chemung Valley. They were followed by the Lamokas; the Genesee; the Laurentians; the Sus-quehannas, or Stonebowl peoples; the Algonquians; the Hopewellians, or Moundbuilders; the Owasco; and the mighty Iroquois, especially the Andaste. These first human inhabitants never appeared in great numbers, and the existed in relatively small social units widely scattered throughout the area. The
Archaic Indians were the next inhabitants of the region and were a
semi-nomadic culture. They were hunters, fishers and gatherers who had
not yet developed the practice of agriculture. Eventually Archaic
Indians inhabited most of the area that is now New York State. The
earliest Archaic culture know to affect the Chemung Valley was the
Lamoka Culture, named after a major site that was discovered on the
inlet to what is now Lamoka Lake. A great variety of artifacts have been discovered at Lamoka sites, including small, narrow-bladed, side-notched or stemmed projectile points, rough almond shaped choppers; beveled stone adzes; bone awls and fishhooks; stone axes and some decorative items. The Lamokas did not use spears and, like all Archaic cultures, had not developed clay pottery. Other cultures of Archaic Indians came to inhabit the region. As these cultures made contact with each other the exchanging of ideas, skills and knowledge began. The process of cultural sharing eventually lead to the end of the Archaic stage of Indian development and lead to the beginning of the Woodland stage. Woodland Indians had two major advancements over earlier ancestors: (1) the making and using of pottery and (2) the use of domestic plant food or the beginnings of agriculture. The early Woodland Indians in the Steuben County area are known collectively as Algonkian. Less than 2,000 years ago Indians of southwestern New York were influenced by another great culture, the Hopewellain Culture. The Hopewellians were one of the most advanced groups of the time. Also known as the Mound Builders, as it was their custom to build elaborate burial mound for their dead. By 800 to 1,00 years ago the Owasco Culture had developed in central and western New York. The Owasco Indians had well-developed systems of agriculture and pottery making. These Indians took full advantage of agriculture, hunting and fishing. The Owasco Indians lived in rectangular shaped houses framed with poles and covered in bark. These houses were from twenty to ninety feet long and about twenty-two feet wide, with doors at each end connected by a central corridor dotted with fire pits. The last great Indian culture to occupy central New York State was the Iroquois Culture, which existed in Pre-Columbian period and bridged the gap of time continuing into the historic period. The Iroquois Nations habitat eventually spread north into Canada, and east and south into Ohio and Pennsylvania. This great nation of Indians had numerous tribes the Senecas, Algonkians, the Mohawks and Oniedas to name a few. The Iroquois called themselves the "Owanonhsioni" or the longhouse builders. Five Great Tribes occupied the territory from the Hudson Valley to the Genesee River. These were: the Mohawk or "Kanyengehaga," the people of the place of flint; the Oneida or "Oneyotdehaga, "the people of the Standing Stone; the Onondaga or "Onantage," the people on the mountain; the Cayuga or "Gayokwehonu," the people from were they land boats; and the Seneca or "Onondewagaono," the people of the great hills. Perhaps the best know achievement of the New York Iroquois was their political confederation. There is a great deal of debate about the actual time the New York Iroquoian tribes joined together in a league to become "Hodinonshiono" or the People of the Long House. Estimates for this event vary from 1450 to 1660. Early in Iroquoian times villages were small but by the 1600's some had grown to include as many as 1000 Indians. Size of the villages varied from a few longhouses to as many as 120. The Iroquois, the last Indian group to control the area prevented White settlement of it until the late 1780's. Their power remained unbroken until 1779 when under General George Washington's direct orders, armies led by American Generals Sullivan and Clinton swept through Western New York destroying the Iroquois and wiping out their threat American frontier settlements. Subsequently, in 1789, the first land in the area was sold to settlers.    
Settlement Every pioneer farmer had to clear his land of trees before he could grow crops, so thousands and thousands of fine trees were cut and burned to clear the fields. But timber was a valuable cash crop if it could be delivered to market. The insatiable needs of Europe and the more settled areas along the American coast for firewood, building materials, fine wood for furniture making and shipbuilding, and somewhat later for industrial uses, guaranteed a market. It was costly and slow, if not impossible, to move heavy lumber from the frontiers by land transportation methods. The streams and rivers, with their currents leading always to the seacoast, provided a cheap, efficient way of moving heavy cargoes such as timber. Trees were cut and skidded out of the woods in the wintertime and when the snow and frozen ground made it easier to drag them. The logs, or sometimes, finished timber from a sawmill, were lashed into platforms or rafts. The platforms were attached to one another to make "fleets". Even small creeks and feeder streams when swollen by a spring or fall flood, a freshet, could float the rafts downstream. Rafting was a serious business and the task of piloting a fleet down the river was one, which required good judgment, steady nerves, and a memory for obstacles of the river-bed, as well as an eye for unexpected dangers. It was part-time work, for the season depended upon the rivers rising. The crew of four or five, who poled the raft under the direction of the pilot, was made up of any willing, strong men who could spare a couple of weeks for manual labor away from home. Almost every able-bodied young man from the Chemung Valley tried his hand at rafting at one time or another. For many of them it was the only travel-adventure of their lives. On one of the platforms of the fleet a shanty was constructed with crude bunks and a fire-pit to provide shelter and warmth when the raft was tied up along the river-bank for the night. The raft made a one way trip to the sea where it was broken up for its timber, so the crew traveled with minimal baggage since everything on it must be carried back home or given away. They depended upon fire to keep them warm at night and dry out their clothing, but often the cool, rainy weather of early spring or fall made the journey uncomfortable. Occasionally the crew purchased fresh eggs, milk, or other perishables to cook from a river-side farm, but usually the depended upon baked beans which could be prepared before the trip, eaten cold, and kept well. Folklore records that hard cider and other strong drink sometimes supplemented the diet, but responsibility for navigating the river required a sober pilot, for carelessness could mean a smashed raft and forfeited wages. The trip down-river was hard work, but not without its fun. First-time rafters were the butt of practical jokes and pranks in a sort of crude initiation. The hike home was sometimes turned into an endurance race as crews vied with one another to see who could make the best time. In later time, canal boats and trains made the return journey more comfortable. Some young men lingered in Pennsylvania or even made a detour to visit coastal cities, Philadelphia or New York. Eventually, the depletion of timber and improved transportation by railroads put and end to the rafting in the Chemung valley. Lumbering itself was one of the first industries of the frontiers. In this area, Eleazer Lindsley brought saws with him and had a sawmill in operation by 1790. There were also early mills on Post Creek and along the river where Denison Park now stands. Most communities had sawmills, which provided the lumber for building local barns houses and even plank roads. Most important to the area were the large mills which grew up at the place now named for them, Gang Mills. At one time these mills were reputed to be the largest in the world. After the Civil War, when the countryside had been limbered off, the mills moved farther west to new forests areas. Many of the residents of Painted Post migrated to upper Michigan with the company, but the name Gang Mills continues to remind us that Painted Post was once lumbering country.      Photos provided by The Benjamin Patterson Inn & Corning Painted Post Historical Society History text provided by Tom Dimitroff Canals The success of the Erie Canal built across New York between 1817 and 1825, spread canal fever throughout the state. The booming prosperity of the communities along the canal quickly created a demand in other cities for canal connections so they could share in the good fortune and business. The tiny village of Elmira was able to convince the state of New York that a canal was practical from the Chemung River to Seneca Lake. It was impractical to draw water for the canal from the river at Elmira, so a "feeder" canal was planned from the river at a point near modern day Gibson to Horseheads. Some of the residents of the village of Painted Post hoped that the dam for the terminal of the feeder canal would be close to their village, but the engineers picked a spot at Chimney Rocks near present-day Gibson. The dam was constructed and a large pool of water was impounded on the river flats behind it. The Chemung Canal opened in 1833. A canal boat could enter the Feeder Canal at Gibson, follow it to Horseheads and the Chemung Canal, and then journey to Seneca Lake where steam boats towed strings of canal boats up the lake to the Erie Canal. From there the boats followed the Erie to Albany, and eventually their cargoes could be delivered to the docks of New York City or Brooklyn. In time thousands of tons of coal from the Blossburg mines were carried on the Blossburg-Corning Railroad to the docks of Corning to then follow this canal route to the industrial cities on the seacoast. Most of the canal boats were freighters, not packets or passenger boats. However, the families of the canal captains often lived on the boats, where the wives set up housekeeping in compact quarters. Boys and girls traveled along, assisting with household chores, as well as helping drive the mules and attend to the tasks necessary around the boat. Some families spent the winter in Gibson, where there was a convenient repair shop for the vessels. Many of the boats were constructed in the village of Millport in Chemung County, which at that time was a busy, thriving town. Above Gibson, on the south shore of the Chemung River, a new community began about the time that the canal was opened. The usual boat was up to sixty feet long. In the stern there was a cabin, which included a galley, and sleeping berths. The bow had a stable for horses, which were kept on board at night when the boat had a steam tow. A group of Albany speculators purchased some farmland, and planned a new village, reasoning that where this planned railroad and a canal met business would prosper. They called the new village Corning, after Erastus Corning, an Albany banker who was one of the investors in the plan. Before the new village began, Knoxville had already grown up on the north side of the river. It had a church, school, and several stores. The oldest building in the settlement was the Jennings Tavern, also known as the Patterson Inn. It was built in 1796 and Benjamin Patterson, a frontier scout and great hunter, was its first host. Centerville, now called Riverside, was also a busy settlement. But the new settlement at Corning grew rapidly and within a few years surpassed the older settlements in numbers and in businesses and services. Canal cargoes from Corning included soft coal, limber, tobacco, grain, and whisky. From April 22 to December 11, 1850, the canal season that year, the newspaper reported that 1,116 boats left the port of Corning. Tolls for the year totaled $54060.39. Among items shipped were 46,572,400 pounds of coal. The canals best peacetime year was 1854 when 270,978 tons of freight was hauled. The Civil War brought an abnormal amount of business with a peak of 307,151 tons hauled in one year. The canal was abandoned at the close of navigation in 1878. By then the railroads could provide more dependable year-round freight service. However, the city of Corning may be said to be the child of the canal because its building was the first event in the chain of circumstances, which culminated in the founding of the village of Corning.     Photos provided by The Benjamin Patterson Inn & Corning Painted Post Historical Society History text provided by Tom Dimitroff Railroads The Village of Corning joined with Knoxville became the City of Corning in 1890. By that time it had become the busy commercial and industrial center of southeastern Steuben County. It served as the business center for the surrounding rural areas and supported diversified local industries led by the Corning Glass Works, the various cut glass firms, and the Weston Engine Works in nearby Painted Post. Physically the city had spread out, stretching across the valley on both sides of the river and climbing the slopes of the boarding hills, especially those on the Southside. This growth coupled with the changing lifestyles prompted by industrialization generated a need for constantly improving local transportation facilities. Several local leaders had proposed the building of an electric street railroad as early as 1873, but nothing came of these plans for over twenty years. Finally, in 1895, the first streetcar left the Northside powerhouse of the new Corning-Painted Post Street Railroad Company bound for Painted Post. The first railroad in New York began operation just six years after the completion of the Erie Canal and while the Chemung Canal was under construction. One of the investors in the first New York railroad, the Mohawk and Hudson, was Erastus Corning. Corning became the scene of smaller railroad lines busily weaving webs of tracks connecting the major trunk line to smaller communities. The Blossburgh, Corning & Tioga Railroad was busier than ever during the summer of 1868. The Morris Run Coal Company alone was shipping 800 tons of coal daily by railroad. IN the spring of 1870 the Fall Brook Company began construction of a railroad line from Lawrenceville, Pennsylvania, via Stokesdale and Wellsboro to the coal mine at Antrim. In 1871 several Corning citizens subscribed to $20,000 worth of stock to expand the line up to Cowanesque Valley from Lawrenceville to Elkland, Pennsylvania. This expansion, completed in the 1880's, produced the Corning Cowanesque & Antrim Railroad, owned and operated by the Fall Brook Company. By 1882 another expansion was under way, connecting Stokesdale and Williamsport in Pennsylvania. Many of the 2,500 laborers who built the railroad that summer were Italian immigrants, though a hundred black laborers from Virginia were also on the work force. This expansion was important as it connection Corning to Williamsport, Pennsylvania. The Fall Brook lines were prospering and their expansion continued. In February 1878, plans were made to build a railroad along the Crooked (Keuka) Lake between Penn Yan and Dresden. The Syracuse, Geneva & Corning Railroad Company would operate the line. The Fall Brook system had tremendous importance to Corning. Besides generating commercial activity and employing local men, the company made Corning its center of operations by establishing its office here in 1859 and its machine shops here in 1862. In April 1900, the New York Central Railroad leased the lines and equipment of the Fall Brook Railroad for 999 years. On May 1, 1899 the Fall Brook Company became the New York Central's Pennsylvania Division. The central also made improvements on the railroad. In 1901 and 1902 it built the five-span truss bridge across the Chemung. In 1902 the double tracking of New York Central reached Corning., and in 1903 the ground was surveyed for a new round house at the Corning shops. With the presence of lines, like the Erie Railroad (1849) and the Lackawanna Railroads (1880), Corning increasingly was becoming a "railroad Town". The was evident from the number of individual tracks the passed through town. Despite the advantages of the rail industry to the economy, having a railroad cut through the center of town, as did the Erie line, proved both hazardous and deadly. Between 1867 and 1903 Erie trains killed seventeen persons between Painted Post and a point three miles east of Corning. Corning had become a "railroad town" in the late 1880's. Railroads were everywhere, and they employed hundreds of local men. Local railroad leaders kept Corning in touch with the country's most powerful railroad magnates. According to the Corning Journal, the railroads' taxable real estate in Corning amounted to $510,310 in 1885, as compared to the $30,000 worth of taxable property of Corning largest industry, the Corning Glass Works. Corning's railroads were a vital part of her life; and during the year ending June 30, 1891, 12,000 trains passed through the community. Early the next year trolley service reached the Southside. The line was an immediate success, carrying over 250,000 passengers in its first half year of service. The success of the local trolley company led to plans for an interurban trolley line connecting Corning to Elmira and Waverly. Such a line, the Elmira, Corning and Waverly Railway, began operations between Corning and Elmira in 1911. The new line prospered until the late 1920's when competition from automobiles began to reduce its use and profitability. The line finally discontinued operations in 1930. The era of the trolley in Corning and Painted Post helped span the gap between the 19th and 20th centuries. It provided mobility, comfort, and depend-ability to local travelers in the decades before the automobile. The trolleys played a vital role in the economic growth of the area by providing cheap, reliable transportation. They also left nostalgic memories of a bygone era, one filled with the clanking of trolley bells, the joy of excursion trips, and the sight of steel ribbons of tracks stretching along local streets.      Photos provided by The Benjamin Patterson Inn & Corning Painted Post Historical Society History text provided by Tom Dimitroff Industry Before the Civil War, Corning was a key location in the shipping of farm products, lumber, and coal, first by canal and then by railroad. Corning became a prosperous and busy commercial town hustling with the business of handling commodities that were destined for final delivery elsewhere. After 1868, Corning was to see its basic commercial nature change, as it began to become a manufacturing city. The change eventually brought railroad manufacturing, glass making, rock drilling manufacturing and many other industries to the area. Once established, these basic industries began to influence every aspect of the region's development. The employees the expanding industries required to operate and grow, the physical plants they built, and the money the generated in the local economy all began to give the area the stability, maturity, and wealth of an urban center. In short, the Industrial Revolution came to Corning. Corning's first major post-civil war industry was glassmaking. In 1866, Elias B. Hungerford of Corning patented a glass windows blind that was actually an inside shutter. Hungerford approached several glass companies about manufacturing this blind. As he did so he learned more and more about the glass business and became convinced that Corning would be an ideal location for a glass-manufacturing firm. Some 300 miles to the southeast of Corning, the Houghton family and their partners were ready to move the Brooklyn Flint Glass Works. By 1868 the Houghton were receptive to Hungerford's proposal of a move to Corning. The combination of Hungerford's initiative, the Houghton's' receptivity, and the attractions offered by the Corning area led to an agreement. If the people of Corning raised $50,000, the Brooklyn Company would add $75,000 and relocate to Corning. Early in June 1868, work began on the foundation for the new glass plant, a T-shaped building on a foundation of local stone. There were two 100-foot brick chimneys, one for each coal furnace. The construction used two-thirds of a million locally made bricks. The Houghtons had entered into an agreement whereby Hoare & Dailey, a cut glass firm, would also open a branch in Corning. This firm had operated two cutting shops on Long Island, one of them in the Brooklyn Flint Glass Company's building. Hoare & Dailey were to use the new plant's second floor, a mutually beneficial agreement. The Corning Flint Glass Works would make crystal blanks for Hoare and Hoare would sell the finished product. The new plant began manufacturing glass on October 22, 1868. A number of workmen moved from Brooklyn to Corning with the firm. These men and their families created an immediate housing shortage in Corning. A Flurry of home construction combined with construction of the factory had created a frantic local building boom. Thomas G.
Hawkes, began the second generation of cut-glass manufactures in
Corning. He established Hawkes Rich Cut Glass Works in the building
over L. Field's marble works on Market Street inn 1882. The glass
industry was growing and Corning was gaining the reputation as the
"Crystal City". The Industrialization of the Corning area was not limited to glass manufacturing during the second have of the nineteenth century. The years following the Civil War were exciting ones in the world of business and finance. The Corning area developed many industries after 1865. The Ingersoll-Rand plant at Painted Post is the area's second largest industrial giant. The beginnings of this company lie in the post-Civil War industrialization of the area. Abijah Weston established a foundry and machine shop in Painted Post in 1848. The Weston Engine Works included about a dozen buildings on the north side of East Water Street in 1896, when it burned to the ground in Painted Post's most disastrous fire. Financial loses due to the fire caused the closing of the Weston Bank. For a time there was great apprehension about the rebuilding of the company, but by March 1987, the new Weston Engine Company was built. It now included acres of yards, a foundry, machine shop, pattern shop, brass foundry, and a number of smaller storage buildings. The new plant also boasted its own electric lighting plant and fire department. Following Mr. Weston's death in 1898 the company closed its doors. The community was deeply concerned over rumors the company's equipment might be purchased and moved. Frederick W. Parsons, former resident of Painted Post, was then associated with the Rand Drill Company, which he notified of the availability of the Painted Post manufacturing facility. On December 28, 1898, news of the purchase of the Weston Plan by the Rand Drill Company was announced publicly, and Painted Post sighed in relief. The new owners planned to build a specialty air compressor and to continue making Weston's Imperial Steam Engine. The new industry began with 125 employees in a plant with 3,375 square feet of floor space. The first compressor manufactured in the plant was shipped to the Union Pacific Railroad in Omaha, Nebraska, on November 24, 1899. The business prospered and in 1900 enlarged its plant by adding a new building. In 1901 the Rand Brothers and associates who included F.W. Parsons organized the Imperial Pneumatic Tool Company at Athens, Pennsylvania. The highlight of 1905 for Painted Post was the merger of the previously competitive Ingersoll-Sergeant Drill company and the Rand Drill Company, the merger bringing together two experienced and successful makers of drills and compressors. The pooling of their know-how and resources was to bring about great advances in the design and production of rock drills and compressors. At this time the firm had eighteen foreign sales offices. In 1908 the Tarrytown Plant of the old Rand Drill Company moved to Painted Post. The Corning area had added a giant industry to its economy. Many other smaller industries were founded in Corning: Corning Furnace and Stove Company, Corning Stove Works, Hood and Furnace Supply Company, and Corning Iron Works to name a few. Charles A. Rubright, a veteran of the Civil War, established the Corning Brick Works in 1878. By 1889 the Victorian love of ornamentation prompted the Corning Brick Works to add decorative terra cotta to its products. Eventually an entire decorative terra cotta department was established. In 1896 Morris E. Gregory bought the company and changes its name to the Corning Terra Cotta and Supply Company. Its brick and decorative terra cotta can still be seen on hundreds of buildings in the Corning area. Local streets and sidewalks were made of Corning Bricks, and the Corning Brick Works also became a major supplier for projects outside of the local area. In 1893 it furnished three million bricks for Rochester's water works system.      Photos provided by The Benjamin Patterson Inn & Corning Painted Post Historical Society History text provided by Tom Dimitroff
Although the Chemung River Valley has a history of floods as long as men have been here to write of them, the flood of 1972 was a shock. Several years of particularly dry weather had lulled the area into complacency about the surprising power and destruction of flooding. The flood of 1946 had been cited as a hundred-year flood, a flood so great it was likely to happen only once in a hundred years. In spite of this the dikes had been raised and strengthened, a reassuring precaution. No one in Steuben County was concerned when the first hurricane of the 1972 season hit the Florida coast June 18, although hurricane Agnes was responsible for eighteen tornadoes, nine lost lives, and thirty-five million dollars worth of damage before she left Florida. By the time the storm reached South Carolina it seemed to have lost some of its strength, then predictably became worse, turned out to sea, and finally swung back across the Southern Tier of New York State and the upper half of Pennsylvania. Unfortunately, a low-pressure system had developed over Ohio and the two storms joined, dropping an unbelievable amount of rain. Six to eight inches of rain dumped onto the Chemung drainage basin. The Elmira weather observer reported 6.3 inches by June 22, when the gauge went under water. Hornell is reported to have received a total of 11.1 inches. Some residents evacuated in the early hours of the morning as word spread through neighborhoods of possible danger. But still people could not accept the reality of the impending flood. Departing residents sometimes stopped to place an item up high, on the refrigerator or on the top of a bureau, not dreaming how futile the act was. To their regret many people walked out of their homes empty handed or with unimportant items when they could easily have taken along important business papers. They went to the homes of friends or relatives, to schools, or just parked on a high street. At daylight residents on the hills were surprised to see extra cars on their streets. In some cases it was their first indication that something was wrong in the city. The dikes broke in several places. The first break occurred in Painted Post about 4 a.m.; Friday, June 23, flooding the Post, Riverside and the Northside. The New York Central railroad bridge, which had been loaded with coal cars to weigh it down, collapsed about and hour later and by 6 a.m. the water was over the Southside dikes. The river crested in Corning about 9 a.m. The water trapped many people. Some were forced to take refuge in attics or the crawl spaces of their homes, where they could only pray that the water would not come higher than their shelter and that the house would not be washed from its foundation. Others were rescued from porch roofs or second story windows by strangers in boats. At the Lodge-on-the-Green, 135 people were taken off upper story porches. One hundred people waited out the flood on the roof of St. Vincent's School. But not everyone escaped. In the Corning area eighteen lives were lost, an amazingly small number considering the complacency and the inadequacy of warning. For days rumors circulated through the city about large numbers of dead. In the absence of normal radio and newspaper coverage to dispel the rumors, the stories persisted and caused unnecessary worry and horror. The water receded within a few hours, leaving thick mud with a characteristic odor. The mud dried, cracked, and powdered into a fine dust which permeated everywhere. The job of cleaning up began. Immediate help came from many sources. The National Guard began arriving in Corning on Saturday. Their reassuring presence, guarding in the flooded areas and directing traffic, was a conspicuous, comforting sign that something was being done. The Salvation Army moved to setup feeding stations, which ultimately served thousands of meals. Two federal agencies were soon on the scene and became household words. HUD (Department of Housing and Urban Development) and SBA (Small Business Administration) set up offices. SBA loans for rebuilding were granted at 1% interest, with $5,000 forgiven, up to $10,000 for personal property replacement and $50,000 for buildings. Lack of water was another immediate concern. Safe drinking water was promptly trucked in, packed in paper milk cartons and beer bottles, which provided and element of much need humor. Later, New York City tank Trucks were stationed around the city to fill containers with drinking water to be carried home. Most lucky city residents who escaped flooding, lacked not only water, but gas, electricity and telephone service for many days. Only two of the large supermarkets were still in business, so after the initial glut of freezer stock was eaten to keep it from spoiling, shopping required more traveling than in normal times. The cleanup was strenuous, filthy work. Groups of young people, sometimes sponsored by a church, appeared from great distances to offer help. They paid their own way, brought their own food and sleeping bags so they were self-sufficient. The Mennonites brought skill and manpower in unexpected number. The Youth Emergency Service, sponsored by the Corning-Painted Post Area School District and financed by the Corning Glass Works Foundation, cleaned and repaired appliances, as well as engaging in general cleanup work. The huge piles of muddy, soaked possessions piled along the curbs for removal to the dumps was a sign of progress, but also heartbreaking, as families discarded ruined, irreplaceable books, photo albums and heirlooms, as well as once prized items like pianos, rugs, and furniture. Corning Glass Works had flood problems too, millions of dollars worth, but they did not forget the community. Numbers of employees were assigned to community projects where their expertise was needed. Amory Houghton's radio address of June 27 brought welcome reassurance to the area. Speaking from his position as Chairman of the Board, he put an end to the rumors that the company was abandoning Corning and announced interest-free loans for employees and retired employees. The Glass Center suffered great damage from floodwater. The Steuben factory was under twenty-five feet of water and the Hall of Science and Industry, five feet. The Center, with cleaned and repaired exhibits, was reopened August 1, but many valuable damaged items from the museum collection waited for years for expert restoration. Immediately after the flood the water logged library books, a world-famous collection of information about glass, were placed in a deep freeze to halt bacteria and fungi growth and to prevent drying. A program of carefully controlled experimentation was inaugurated to scientifically test various restoration techniques. Vacuum freeze-drying was found to be the most effective and a surprising eighty-percent of the books were salvaged. The experiments not only made it possible for the Corning Museum of Glass to save many irreplaceable books, but results of the study were publicized in academic circles to aid other preservationist who might face similar problems. Ingersoll-Rand in Painted Post had a massive ten million dollar cleanup job. On a rainy Sunday, May 20, 1973, the company held an open house, which was attended by 12,000 visitors, many of who came from great distances. The two-mile-long tour through the Engine Process Compressor Division, and Foundry gave the community new appreciation for the operations of the Painted Post plant.      Photos provided by The Benjamin Patterson Inn & Corning Painted Post Historical Society History text provided by Tom Dimitroff
Post Flood The Flood of 1972 was a disaster of great magnitude. Its powers wracked havoc on the Corning area bringing death, injury, destruction, devastation, and much human suffering. It also brought an end to an era in Corning and opened the door to new beginnings. Almost immediately after the flooding the people and institutions of the Corning Area begin to unify in a sense of great purpose. This unity along with massive help from local industries, the government, and people from many areas soon began to change tragedy to opportunity. Industry, businesses and homes were rebuilt and restored. Yet, it was not business as usual there was great change in the air. Public and private rebuilding began to take a new planned and visionary course. Downtown urban renewal was the most obvious symbol of this and continues to be so today. There were other changes. The days of Corning as primarily a factory town were limited for not only was Corningís biggest industry changing in both technology and local activity, but a new economic focus was clarifying in Corning, tourism. Factory buildings came down and a new Corning Incorporated headquarters building arose from the rubble. Research and engineering facilities expanded. New highly technical production facilities opened. All of this brought new people to town and the areaís prosperity blossomed. At the same time, our museums and tourist attractions have grown and been modernized. Retail merchants turn more and more toward tourists and regional tourism promotion has become a reality. Our community is poised and ready for the promise of a new century.
Corning Area Chamber of Commerce |
