Elijah Cornell Pottery

On the southwest corner of Lincoln and Lake Streets (423 Lincoln St.), across from the current Fall Creek House, Ezra and his brother, Elijah, built a pottery for their father, also Elijah (1771-1862). "In the summer of 1842 in his 71st year, Father Elijah burned his first kiln of Ithaca ware," noted Ezra Cornell's biographer, Philip Dorf. Glazed redware pottery and then stoneware pottery was made there under various owners from 1842 until 1890.

After changing ownership several times over the decades, the property had fallen into disrepair by the 1970s. In 1975, preservationist Carol U. Sisler purchased and rehabilitated the former pottery works. She initiated an archaeological project conducted by a Cornell student to excavate the site, and redware and stoneware with maker's marks were uncovered and preserved.

The building has been designated an individual local landmark and is on the New York State and National Register of Historic Places. It is now utilized as apartments, an example of successful adaptive resuse of a historically significant structure.

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