41 Main Street

41 Main Street is a small structure, but if we got our history right its bones are made up of one of the oldest buildings that remain on Main Street!

In 1860, brothers Isaac and Martin Edgcomb purchased the lot south of Cloyes and Garrison’s grocery to move their harness business there. Presumably, this is when the location first became occupied by a building, although we remain somewhat unsure given how the area is presented in maps. Sometimes it appears that the neighboring buildings must have been to close to allow for any kind of building to be put there, and other maps make it seem as if there once was entirely too much space between buildings for them to come anywhere close to representing how they appear today. So, we leave some room to revise my claims should more information come across our desk to dispute my current understanding that in 1860 a wooden structure was built to house the Edgcomb harness and saddle business, and that this original structure makes up the bones of the building still standing there now.

Martin Edgcomb sold out his interest to Isaac in April of 1886, and “started for Plainfield, Dakota, where he [had] a brother, with a view to locating there if he [liked] the country and climate.” We must assume he didn’t like it much since he died and is buried in Cortland!

Isaac continued in the business and was described in the Cortland Standard as follows:
“Prominent among the leading industries of Cortland is the establishment of Isaac Edgcomb, situated at 41 Main-St., where is carried the most complete stock of harnesses, robes, blankets, etc., which include all the latest shades and patterns direct from the leading factories. Also is carried in stock a most comprehensive assortment of trunks, steamer and railroad valises, telescopes, the English Gladstone and other varieties too numerous to mention, and which have to be seen to be appreciated, and besides should you wish a trunk made to order or have it finished inside to suit your taste you can do so here. This house was founded about 25 years ago [actually more than 30 years ago] and has been a decided success from the start. The proprietor, Mr. Edgcomb, is thoroughly conversant with all the details of this business and customers obtain advantages here that cannot be easily duplicated elsewhere. Mr. Isaac Edgcomb is held in the highest estimation in commercial life for his many sterling qualities and strict integrity and justly merits the success attained by his ability, energy and perseverance.”

Isaac appears to have at some point partnered up with J.L. Marritt and either shifted to or added onto the original business by selling boots and shoes. This carried on until 1898 when W. G. Mead bought the block, made a number of improvements in the place and started his jewelry store there.

The following year, the Cortland Standard reported that Mead was making improvements in the rear rooms with paint and paper. “One of them is used by S.N. Holden as his coal office and as general headquarters of the village presidents, and the other is used by Mr. Mead as the work room for his jewelry and watch repair department. George Peters is doing the work and doing it well.”

A bit of excitement occurred on November 2nd of 1900:
“Yesterday afternoon at about 5 o'clock a fire broke out in the basement of W.G. Mead's jewelry store, 41 Main-St., that might have done considerable damage had it not been for a bottle of ammonia that happened to be near the flames, the heat of which burst the container and the gas acted as a self preventive. In the basement of his block, Mr. Mead keeps a lathe polisher, and on this a lamp was kept burning through the day. It is thought that the chimney of the lamp burst and that the particles that had been thrown off from the polisher and lodged on the burner began to burn and so exploded the oil retainer of the lamp. The flames from this soon spread to a board partition near the lathe, and by the looks of things about there, were having a free for all race, when a bottle of very strong ammonia, that was used in polishing, exploded and the gas put a sudden damper on the flames. A dense cloud of smoke resulted from this and filled the store above. When Mr. Mead went down stairs there was but little fire left and a tumbler of water finished the ammonia' s work. In the same block as Mr. Mead, are the offices of S. N. Holden and John W. Cudworth (optician) and the art studio of E. H. Hyatt (photographer). That bottle of ammonia did good work in saving all of these from the possibilities of loss by fire and the sure damage by water that must have been turned upon them but for its presence alongside of the lamp on that polishing lathe.”

The coal business of Samuel N. Holden was bought out by H.W. Chaplin & H.L. Peckham in 1902. The firm also handled wood, mill feeds, grain of all kinds, shingles, roofing, fertilizers and cement, with their yards located on Squires Street. J.W. Morgan bought out Peckham’s share sometime around 1912.
In 1907, Berdell T. Jones purchased Mead’s jewelry business and stayed in no.41 until relocating to 55 Main Street sometime prior to 1921.

This spot became home to a couple of shoe stores (Family Shoe Store, then Bull’s Boot Shop), then in 1922 Charles D. Sanders set up his cigar shop there and remained until his retirement in 1938. This same year, George Carbulon purchased the block and presumably conducted exterior renovations. “G.Carbulon” remains etched in the stone at the top of the brick façade.

Highlights of some interim years include the following:

1938- Good Friend Shop, ladies’ clothing

1942- George Carbulon (not living locally) donates use of the second floor for a war bond office.

1955- Freeman’s Jewelry

1965- The Singer Co.; Nahra Hage (tailor) upstairs

1985- Marsen Security Co.; Place Insurance; Hage Tailor Shop

1996 marks the year that Pita Gourmet opened, started by Cy and Nassima Karam, who in an interview to the Cortland Standard talked of their story of escaping war-torn Lebanon to eventually fall in love with and settle in Cortland. The restaurant continues under the ownership of their son Charbel and his wife Hana Karam. They renovated the interior in 2009, work that included a new floor and ceiling, furniture, kitchen equipment, and wallpaper depicting a landscape in Lebanon. In 2010, Pita Gourmet earned the “Best Falafel in CNY” status in an online poll.