Home of Effie Dallas Morse

Located at 512 Edgewood Place

Effie Morse (1861-1935) helped organized and was an early vice-president and president of the Ithaca Women’s Club. Closely involved with children’s education in Ithaca, she organized the first kindergarten in the city. She also oversaw the development of the Social Service League, which built the North Side and West Side community centers. Morse organized the Associated Charities, the Visiting Nurses Association, and was appointed Ithaca’s first woman Commissioner of Charities.

As a young woman, Effie attended the New England Conservatory of Music and became a proficient musician and talented vocalist. She married Virgil D. Morse on December 24,1887, who became partner of the Morse Chain company. In the early 1890s, Virgil chose architect Samuel Hillger, an Auburn native working in the office of William Henry Miller, to design their Shingle-style residence at 512 Edgewood Place.

Source: History Center of Tompkins County

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