56-60 Main Street

The most concrete information about the early use of the northwest corner of Main and W Court Streets comes from a deed between Ebenezer Hopkins and Oliver W. Brewster. In 1828, Brewster purchased the property which he used as a female seminary. But the deed indicates that the lot was “known and distinguished by the Ballard stand,” with reference to it being a tavern.

This “Ballard” appears to be Joshua Ballard (1774-1855), who in the village of Homer built an inn on the corner of Main and Albany Streets that would later be known as Wisdom’s Gate. In 1819, he moved to the Cortland village and must have built a new tavern on the aforementioned site. His inn was the setting of the 1821 county convention, the purpose of which was to select delegates for the Congressional and Senatorial conventions. Ballard himself had been appointed County Clerk in 1819 (prompting the move to Cortland), the work of which he would have conducted in the office neighboring the tavern. He is also credited with serving as the first teacher in Homer, was a founder of the Cortland Academy, acted as third sheriff in the county, and represented Cortland in the legislature. Ballard was also a member of the Cortland County Anti-Slavery Society.

His tavern was passed on to Ebenezer Hopkins (Smith’s “History of Cortland County” likely erroneously attributes this inn to Moses Hopkins, who probably had a tavern located elsewhere), and subsequently to Oliver W. Brewster who opened up the female seminary. Here, the daughters of many prominent citizens earned an education in topics that included French, piano, painting, and drawing. The seminary existed for about ten years, then the property was sold to William and Roswell Randall, and is said to have been used as a tenement until the building was either moved down the street, or crumbled to make way for Taylor Hall and the Wallace building (sources conflict on this).

In June of 1867, the Gazette and Banner newspaper announced that they “will be removed from [their] present location to the new, spacious and commodious rooms recently constructed on the corner of Main and Court streets, directly opposite Messenger Bank, and adjoining the Messenger Hall Block. The rooms have been constructed and arranged with especial reference to a first-class Printing Establishment, and are complete in all its appointments.”

This information allows us to date a stereoview image to between 1867-1869, given that the paper was discontinued upon the death of its editor and proprietor, Charles P. Cole in 1869. This same image also shows that there was a dentist, as well as an “Apothecary’s Hall” in the bottom floor north store. To the south is the hat store of R.H. Spendley, whose name was associated with the block for a few years, even after 1871 when he had moved to Binghamton. Calvert & Blodgett (later Calvert & Sturtevant) occupied Spendley’s spot until 1874, replaced by the drug, book & stationary store of Charles H. Bradford.

In August of 1883, David F. Wallace purchased the building from Sackett L. Wright. Wright had briefly kept a boot and shoe business in the south store. The Cortland Standard reported that “Mr. Wallace intends tearing down the present buildings and erecting an elegant business block, to cover the entire space from Taylor Hall block to West Court street…The lease of Mr. Wallace’s present location does not expire till April 1st, 1887, so that the erection of the new building will probably not be begun before that time. Mr. Wallace intends the new block to be used chiefly for the accommodation of his own rapidly-growing business.”

A fire in 1884 that destroyed the block ensured Wallace’s plans were moved forward sooner than expected. “Mr. Darrow resided in the rear rooms of the block on the second floor, the entrance to which was on Court street…He states that on Friday night last he went to a dance in Union Hall and came home about 12 o’clock and retired. He had been in bed but a few minutes when he detected the odor of kerosene oil. Getting up he went into another room where he discovered smoke. Running to a window opening on the alleyway in the rear of the block, he cried fire a number of times and called to Mr. Frank Bickford who resides over the Democrat office. Mr. Darrow then ran down the stairs. When a few steps from the bottom a man ran pass the doorway toward the west. Mr. Darrow called to him but received no answer… Mr. Chas. Hale, who was in the employ of C.W. Barney, says that he had been to the dance at Union Hall and left there shortly after 12 o’clock. He escorted a lady to her home on Orchard street and was standing in front of the house when he heard cries of fire coming from the direction of the Wallace block. Quickly running to the scene he discovered smoke pouring out of the Barney store and front of the block, but could not see any fire. Running around in the rear, however, he discovered fire the entire length of a back stairway. He states that it had the appearance of being burning kerosene oil which had been poured on the stairs…There is no question but that the fire was the work of some fiend in human shape, who not only destroyed thousands of dollars worth of property, but endangered the lives of a man, his wife and four small children, who fortunately escaped the terrible fate of being burned to death,” (Cortland Standard, 5-29-1884).

About June of 1885, a new Wallace block became ready for occupation, with J.C. Gray’s jewelry store taking the coveted corner spot. He sold the business two years later to Uri Clark and Frederick B. Nourse. After a few years the business went under Nourse’s sole proprietorship.
D.F. Wallace & Co. took the north store, and was known as “the largest jobbing house of wallpaper in the state outside of NYC…one year high of 1,750,000 rolls.” Wallace’s business was taken over by William G. McKinney and Frank J. Doubleday in 1895, while Wallace focused on management of the Cortland Forging Co. of which he was a large stockholder.

In the 1920s, the jewelry store on the corner was taken over by Ford & Haviland, while McKinney, Doubleday & Co. continued to sell stationary next door.

There’s a fun find in the newspapers in 1930 that shows that if the golf simulator business opens up in the old Mullen’s building, it won’t be the first time golf came to Main Street!
“The golf bug has so infested the system of a number of local enthusiasts of the sport that one large room has been secured on the third floor of the Wallace block now owned by Dickinson & Son and is being placed in shape so that they may keep in trim until the links o the Cortland Country Club are ready to use. The equipment accessible for the golfers will be an indoor driving net and putting greens, “Cortland Standard, Feb. 13, 1930.”

The upstairs to the building was generally used for various offices , including dentists, opticians, insurance, and in 1930 George A. Brockway is listed as keeping his office in the Wallace building.

Around 1935, Brotan’s clothing store took over the spot long occupied as a stationary store (no.58). By 1955, Harry Alpert took over the jeweler’s corner, until 1965 when after 80 years of serving as a jewelry store, the corner became Chaffee’s Chocolate Shop.

You may notice in the photos that the Wallace building originally had four floors; indeed, this was the case until 1968 when the top two floors that had been vacant for many years were removed, along with a sagging rear portion of the building that was removed to form the entrance to the planned municipal parking lot.

In 1980, Chaffee’s was replaced by the Home Dairy Coffee Shop until 1982 when Jack Danielson’s moved in. In the summer of 1993, the restaurant relocated their dining room into 58 Main, which had long been used as military recruiting offices, and began offering dinners, then a few months later opened up a deli. Sometime in the early 2000s, Jack Danielson’s closed and Gilda’s came on the scene. In 2009, work was started to renovate the space for Brix, which opened in July 2010.