For this month’s Webster Museum History Bit, I introduce you to a piece of museum furniture that you might recognize from your school days.
Do you remember library card catalogs? Before the days of computers and electronic catalog records, these bulky wooden cabinets held individual cards for every book in the library’s collection. To find the book you wanted, you had to find the right drawer and flip through the cards.
One of those classic card catalogs has been creatively repurposed at the Webster Museum, to the delight of visiting children and adults alike. It was donated to the museum several years ago by Spry Middle School, and has found a new life as a kind of surprise cabinet, thanks to the hard work of museum volunteer Carol Saylor.
Each of the cabinet’s 25 drawers now holds a different historical curiosity. They’re all very small items, of course, and run the gamut from jewelry and household objects to toys and personal grooming items.
The cabinet has become a regular stop on school tours of the museum, and the children enjoy taking turns pulling open a drawer and examining the tiny objects inside. (Most adults are rather fascinated as well.)
Next time you’re at the museum, discover for yourself how much history has been packed into those very small drawers. (Three examples are pictured below.)
The Webster Museum is located at 18 Lapham Park in the Village of Webster. It’s open Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from 2 to 4:30 p.m. Visit the website at webstermuseum.org to learn more.
Veterans Day is fast approaching, and the Webster Museum has planned a great program to honor those who have fought for our country.
On Saturday November 19 at 2 p.m., Chuck Baylis, Executive Director of the Military History Society of Rochester, will present “A New War, a New Story,” his stories from the Vietnam War, gleaned from his experience as a Special Forces medic during that war and his subsequent research.
There will also be time for stories of other veterans’ experiences and for refreshments, and time to view a display of Vietnam memorabilia, including the Michael Geisler collection.
Cider, donuts and apples from local farms will be served.
Also to honor our veterans, an in-person Reading of the Names ceremony will take place in Washington, D.C. at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial beginning November 7. Every name on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial will be read in order of which it appears on The Wall, including five Webster boys who lost their lives in the Vietnam War: Leonard Coles, Rex Daniels, Donald Holleder, Peter Kaulback and David Semmler.
The estimated time of the reading of Webster memorials is noted below:
The Webster Museum is located at 18 Lapham Park in the Village of Webster. The museum is handicap accessible and open to the public Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from 2-4:30 pm.
It’s the most wonderful time of the year! The Webster Museum’s annual Festivalof Trees has returned.
Right now the trees are all still in storage, eagerly awaiting businesses, organizations and individuals to step up and sponsor them for this year’s Festival of Trees, wondering what pretty things creative minds plan for decorating this year.
If you’d like to answer your tree’s call, please phone Sharon Pratt at (585) 347-4202. Reserve soon, as these trees go fast!
Trees can be decorated by sponsors during the museum’s regular open hours, 2 to 4:30 p.m., on November 26, 29 or December 1. Community members can start voting for their favorite trees on Saturday Dec. 3 during the Village’s Winter Wonderland festivities. More information to come about that.
Usually it’s during the summer months that the special events pile up so fast I can barely mention them all. But summer’s got nothing on this coming weekend.
Things start off on Friday evening, Oct. 28, with a Community Food Truck Rodeo to benefit the Webster Montessori School. As you can see on the poster here, the trucks that you’ll find include Pop Up & Eats, Waffles R Wild, Al Dente Mobile Pasta, Marty’s Meats and Kona Ice.
The rodeo takes place at the school, 1310 Five Mile Line Rd. (next door to Bauman’s Farm Market) from 5 to 7:30 p.m. Friday.
It looks like it’s going to be a beautiful autumn day on Saturday, Oct. 29 for these next few events:
At 10 a.m., The Friends of Webster Trails is hosting a Cars Along the Creek Hike at Four Mile Creek Preserve, at the corner of Phillips and Lake roads.
The two-hour guided hike will introduce participants to the many abandoned cars you can see along the preserve’s trails. Apparently the land on which the preserve is now located was once used by the local youth as a makeshift racetrack in the early 1960s. Among the cars you’ll see are:
* 1951 Chevrolet Styleine Deluxe Bel Air * 1961 Ford 500 Galaxy Club Victoria * 1959 Nash Rambler * 1959 Chevy Bel Air * 1954 Plymouth Belvedere Suburban * 1949 Green Nash Airflyte
The hike is free, and begins at the parking lot on Phillips Rd.
One of the Village of Webster’s most popuar events, Halloween in the Village, returns this Saturday, beginning with a costume contest from 11 a.m. to noon at Village Hall.
The Trick-or-Treat Trail begins at 11:30 a.m., where children can stroll the village streets and trick-or-treat at dozens of village businesses. Look for the orange pumpkins in storefront windows to see which businesses are participating.
The Festival Wagon will be taking riders along Main Street, and don’t forget to get your pet involved in the fun; the Pet Costume Contest, complete with prizes, takes place on Main St. at 1 p.m. (Click here for a recap of last year’s Trick or Treat Trail, including lots of photos.)
While you’re in town for the Halloween festival, make sure to stop by the Webster Volunteer Fire Department during their open house. They’ll have candy, of course, but this is also a great opportunity for your kids to visit with real firefighters, climb into a fire truck, see some demonstrations, and get a fire hat.
The Fire Department is at 35 South Ave. Just look for the big red trucks in the driveway.
ALSO on Saturday during Halloween in the Village, take the short stroll down to 18 Lapham Park and stop into the Webster Museum. They’ve put together a scavenger hunt and a contest, and have some Halloween treats for everyone. Plus, there will be plenty of helpers there to give you a tour through the museum if you’d like one.
Then, after the village Halloween, how about taking in some great music at the New Horizons Combined Band Concert at Willink Middle School.
New Horizons is a really cool band which welcomes all adults, even those with no musical experience. These enthusiastic concert and symphonic band musicians will be performing their fall, combined concert at Willink, on Publisher’s Parkway, beginning at 4 p.m.
There’s no charge. Check back here in a day or two for a more complete blog about this great organization.
And here’s your Saturday evening entertainment:
The Webster Recreation Center’s Pumpkins on Parade is Saturday from 7 to 8:30 p.m.
This is a very fun, family-friendly event where young and old can take a leisurely walk along the Chiyoda Trail behind the Rec Center and view hundreds of creatively carved jack-o-lanterns. At the end of the trail, there’ll be music, a kids’ slide, a mini hay maze, a bonfire, free cider and donuts, a family photo area and kids’ activities. Plus, professional pumpkin carver Eric Jones, t
The festival is totally free. The Webster Recreation Center is on Chiyoda Drive, off of Phillips. Click here to read more about this great event.
…and if you get to all of these events on Friday and Saturday, plan on sleeping late on Sunday. You’ll need the rest.
BUT THERE’S MORE!
If you need to work off some of that candy and good food, the Webster Parks and Recreation Department has got you covered.
They’re hosting their third annual Halloween-themed fitness class sampler on Sunday from 9 to 10:30 a.m., which is absolutely free and open to the community. This year’s theme is disco, and the instructors will be handing out funky glasses and disco ball necklaces until supplies run out.
You might have noticed the recent “Bit of Webster History” feature I wrote for the Webster Museum when it was published in the Webster Herald and the weekly Town newsletter. It told the story of two houses, which now sit across from one another on Corning Park in the Village of Webster, and how they used to be one house.
I heard the story from my friend Karen a few years ago and it has fascinated me ever since. I knew it was going to be one of my first History Bit features when I took over the reins a few months ago.
The story reads:
Anyone who’s ever walked or driven down Corning Park in the Village of Webster probably hasn’t noticed anything unusual about the houses on that peaceful little street. However, two of those houses, which stand across the street from one another, do have a curious history: in the early 1900s, they used to be one house.
Around 1859, a spacious boarding house was built at 71 Corning Park, to serve students from the adjacent Webster Academy. The Academy and boarding house were discontinued in 1876 when the Union Free School was established, and for the next 50 years, 71 Corning Park remained a two-family dwelling. In 1928 it was purchased by Gordon Witmer and Amos Taylor, who divided it into two units. The larger portion remained at 71 Corning Park, and the smaller north wing was moved across the street to 76 Corning Park.
Unfortunately, no photos of the original boarding house have ever been found, but the two, now separate residences, still stand across the street from each other on Corning Park. Additions and renovations have changed their appearance significantly from when they were one house in the early 1900s. But if you look carefully and use your imagination, maybe you can picture what they looked like together.
For the sake of newsprint space, I try to keep these bits fairly short. But it was story that so intrigued me that I wanted to dive deeper into it for my blog. So several days ago sat down for coffee with Dave and Kathy Whitlock, longtime owners of 76 Corning Park, the smaller, former north wing of the house. They provided some interesting details I hadn’t come across in my earlier research.
Kathy first gave me a quick tour, explaining the many renovations and additions completed since they bought the home in 1965. I learned about the huge, 7-inch beam holding up the living room which still has bark on it, and how some of the original beams are charred, perhaps from a fire at the adjacent boarding house before the wing was moved. A few hand-wrought nails, found during a renovation, are displayed in a small shadowbox.
Dave and Kathy think they know why it was divided. When the two-family home was bought in 1928 by Gordon Witmer and Amos Taylor, Witmer — who was getting married — wanted a separate house for himself and his bride. So he divided it, moving the north wing directly across the street, so that the back of the house became the front, and the front the back. (Too bad no photos of that move have been found.) Witmer was going to move into that half, but as it turned out, the new, smaller, house sold first, so they moved into the larger half.
There’s a woman buried in the back yard of 76 Corning. The Williams family, who lived there decades ago, had a relative who would visit from England. At the time, the land was a huge apple orchard (The Corning Farm). The woman used to love sitting under an apple tree in the back yard and drinking beer, and asked to be buried there. The apple tree is gone, but her ashes are still there.
Dave also tells the story about how the man from whom they bought the house in 1965, a Mr. Jenkins, emphatically denied that it had once been connected to the house across the street. I would have thought that’d be a unique selling point for the property, but apparently he didn’t think so.
On a side note, I mentioned earlier that I heard about this story from my friend Karen. She remembers learning about the houses during a village tour her fourth grade class took decades ago. That tour has long been dropped from the elementary school curriculum, but maybe that decision should be reconsidered. After all, look at how much that little piece of Webster history interested that young person, and then me, and now you.
I’d like to lead this week’s mailbag with a huge THANK YOU from the Webster Museum.
The recent Museum Barn Sale, held Sept. 15 to 17, was a tremendous success, reportedly the best ever. Museum volunteers would like to thank the Webster community for all the donations, purchases and “delightful company.”
Your support for this — the organization’s biggest fundraiser of the year — assures that the Webster Museum will be with us for another year, carefully preserving our town’s rich history.
The Webster Museum is located at 18 Lapham Park in the Village of Webster, and is open Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday from 2 to 4:30 p.m.
In honor of National Hispanic Heritage Month, the Webster Public Library brings these two events your way:
Hispanic Heritage Month Night, Thursday Sept. 29 from 6 to 8 p.m. Celebrate the month with a culture-filled evening of food, dance, music, crafts and more. All ages are welcome, and registration is requested. (Click here)
Hispanic Heritage Month Crafts, Saturday Sept. 30, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. All ages are welcome, drop in anytime and no registration is required.
Also from the library, their big Fall Book Sale is right around the corner.
It happens Thursday through Saturday Oct. 6 to 8, with the best deals saved for Friday and Saturday. Check out all the details in the flyer below.
If your kids are REALLY into fire trucks, then you’ll want to mark these dates on your calendar.
The West Webster Fire Department will hold their open house on Sunday Oct. 16 from 1 to 4 p.m., and the Webster Volunteer Fire Department will hold their open house on Saturday Oct. 29 (during Halloween in the Village). These events offer much more than fire trucks, too. There are demonstrations, giveaways, a chance to check out all sorts of emergency equipment and talk to real first responders. But of course, there’s definitely plenty of opportunities to take a picture of your young firefighter sitting in a real fire truck.
The West Webster Fire Department is at 1051 Gravel Rd., and the Webster Volunteer Fire Department is on South Ave. in the Village of Webster. These events are both free and open to everyone.
Gleason Orthodontics, on South Ave. in the village, will be hosting a winter-wear donation drive from Oct. 1 through Nov. 20.
You can drop off adult and youth-sized coats, hats and gloves at the office, 246 South Ave., during regular business hours.
The Webster Recreation Center, Webster Central PTSA and Webster Teachers Association are also hosting a Concert Apparel and Coat Drive. They’re looking for any size (toddler through adult) of the following items in good condition:
Winter coats, jackets, pants, boots and accessories
Concert apparel: white and black tops, shoes, bottoms and accessories
Collection boxes are loated at each Webster Central School building through Oct. 27.
On Saturday Oct. 29 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Webster Recreation Center, 1350 Chiyoda Dr., anyone who needs winter or concert gear can come “shop” for gently-used items for free.
The Webster Aquatic Center will be hosting a Blood Drive on Tuesday Sept. 27 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Aquatic Center, 875 Ridge Rd.
Call 1-800-RED-CROSS or log onto RedCrossBlood.org to make an appointment.
I’m going to begin today’s mailbag with lots of stuff from the Webster Public Library. I haven’t blogged about them much recently, but it’s NOT because there’s nothing going on over there. Actually, there are so many new programs happening at the library, I’m just going to kind of list them, and you can get even more detail from the flyers posted below.
Thursday Sept. 15, from 6:30 to 8 p.m.: Classical Guitar Salon. Bring your guitar and meet other guitarists of all ages to socialize, share and perform. Registration is requested.
Saturday, Sept. 17, from 2 to 3 p.m.: a parenting program from Parent to Parent called Understanding OPWDD Support Services (Office for People with Developmental Disabilities). Especially for parents of children with developmental disabilities.
Tuesday, Sept. 20, from 2 to 3 p.m.: Practical Tips for Aging in Place, a discussion offering practical tips, strategies and home modifications to allow you — or your loved ones — to age in place. Registration is required.
Thursday Oct. 6 through Saturday Oct. 9, the Webster Public Library Fall Book Sale returns, with an incredible variety of books at more incredible prices. More to come about this, but check out the flyer below for more information.
Here are some follow-up reminders about some things I’ve already blogged in more detail about. If you’re interested in any of them, click through to the original blog.
The Webster Recreation Center has two family-friendly events this week. The first is a concert at the Arboretum on Thursday Sept. 15 at 6 p.m., featuring the wonderful folk/pop duo Doctor’s Orders. Bring chairs, a blanket (it’s getting cooler in the evenings) and a cooler if you want. There’s no admission fee.
On Saturday Sept. 17, from 10 a.m. to noon, the Rec will hold its second annual Mud Run, a fun one-mile, non-competitive run through mud and obstacles. I’m definitely going to be there this year. Cost is $5/person for lots of laughs.
The Red Hot and Blue Band will hold a benefit concert at the village gazebo on Sunday Sept. 18, beginning at 3 p.m. There’s no admission fee, but free will donations will be taken at the concert, with all proceeds to benefit St. Jude Children’s Hospital.
Get your German on at the Challenger Miracle Field Oktoberfest, Friday and Saturday Sept. 16 and 17, Webster Firemen’s Field. The two-day event runs from noon to 10 p.m. each day and will have lots of great German bands and German food. Admission is $9, free for children 12 and under.
The next St. Martin Lutheran Church’s Drive-Thru Chicken BBQ will be held Saturday, Sept. 17 beginning at 4:30 p.m. at the church, 813 Bay Road, Webster. Dinners are just $12, drive-through only. Click the link for more details.
And finally, don’t forget about two big garage sales happening this weekend.
The Webster Hope, Inc.Garage Sale is going on today through Saturday Sept. 17 at Holy Trinity Church, 1460 Ridge Rd. Webster. And the annual Webster Museum Barn Sale runs Thursday, Sept. 15 through Saturday Sept. 17 on Phillips Rd. Click here to read about this incredible sale, which is the museum’s largest fundraiser of the year.
I’ve long been impressed by the volunteers at the Webster Museum. The challenges they tackle every week curating, organizing, sorting, setting up displays, serving as docents — all designed to keep Webster’s history alive for us all — take a lot of work and incredible dedication. But all that pales in comparison to the monumental task these volunteers tackle every year at Barn Sale time.
For weeks, the museum invited community members to drop their donations off at the barn on Phillips Rd. in anticipation of the sale, which takes place later this week. When I drove by a few weeks ago to drop some stuff off, I had a chance to pop into the big barn.
The sight was overwhelming. Toys and dishes and tools and books and dolls and home decorations were EVERYWHERE, stacked on tables in piles and boxes. I’m sure the barn sale volunteers could see some method to the madness, but all I saw was an organizational challenge of monumental proportions.
Over the last couple of weeks, however, these amazing folks tackled that challenge and turned confusion into orderliness, evidenced by the email I recently got from museum volunteer Kathy Taddeo. She provided a tantalizing example of some of the beautiful items shoppers will find at the sale: an elegant teacup and saucer collection, and a Boyd Bears collection.
They’re just a few of the thousands of items shoppers will discover, so many that they’ll not only fill the big barn, but also the carriage house and two adjacent barns, and even spill out onto the lawns.
Shoppers will find glassware, crafts, ceramics, lamps, dolls and jewelry, holiday wares, outdoor and garden care, books, music, electronics, paintings, toys and games, sports equipment, furniture, bikes and trikes, auto, tools and hardware and more, at really low prices.
The sale will run Thursday and Friday Sept. 15 and 16 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Saturday Sept. 17 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 394 Phillips Rd. Please bring your own shopping bags and small bills!!!! This is the Webster Museum’s biggest fundraiser of the year, so come ready to shop!
Beginning this month, I’ve taken over the job of writing the monthly “Bit of Webster History,” a short feature produced by the Webster Museum highlighting interesting historical tidbits from around our town.
For the last six years, these “Bits” have been researched and written by Webster Museum volunteer Kathy Taddeo. She’s a great writer and I always enjoyed seeing what gems she came up with every month. Needless to say, I have some big shoes to fill.
Here’s my first stab at it:
A Bit of Webster History — Rules for Teachers
In honor of the first week of school and our hard-working teachers, this month’s History Bit takes us back to a time when school was held for all grades in one room heated by a wood stove, writing was done on slates, and the drinking fountain was a metal pail and cup.
The first school recorded within the township of Webster was a log cabin at the corner of Salt and State roads in 1813. In those days the school year was typically divided into summer and winter terms. Usually a woman would teach girls and young children in the summer, and a man would teach the older boys in the winter after they were released from farm work.
It was a tough job with some pretty strict rules – and not just with regards to classroom management. Consider this list of Rules for Teachers from 1872:
Teachers each day will fill lamps, clean chimneys
Each teacher will bring a bucket of water and a scuttle of coal for the day’s session
Make your pens carefully. You may whittle nibs to the individual taste of the pupils.
Men teachers may take one evening each week for courting purposes, or two evenings a week if they go to church regularly.
After ten hours in school, the teachers may spend the remaining time reading the Bible or other good books.
Women teachers who marry or engage in unseemly conduct will be dismissed.
Every teacher should lay aside from his pay a goodly sum of his earnings for his benefit during his declining years so that he will not become a burden on society.
Any teacher who smokes, uses liquor in any form, frequents pool or public halls, or gets shaved in a barber shop will give good reason to suspect his worth, intention, integrity and honesty.
The teacher who performs his labor faithfully and without fault for five years will be given an increase of 25 cents per week in his pay, providing the Board of Education approves.
See the list for yourself at the Webster Museum, where it’s posted just outside the museum’s classroom, which emulates how an actual one-room schoolhouse might have looked in the early 1900s.
The museum, located at 18 Lapham Park, is open Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from 2 to 4:30 p.m. Visit the website for more historical tidbits about our town’s schools and teachers.
(P.S. The photo above pictures one of the district’s earliest schools, the District No. 7 school on Schlegel Rd., circa 1846.)
Two big museum-sponsored events are coming up in the next several weeks you’ll want to know about.
The first is the museum’s annual Barn Sale, scheduled for Sept. 15-17 at — well, a barn — at 394 Phillips Rd. It’s a huge barn, but already there have been so many donations that organizers know they’ll definitely be spilling out onto the lawns surrounding the barn, plus the carriage house and two additional adjacent barns.
Among the thousands of items you’ll find are glassware, crafts, ceramics, lamps, dolls and jewelry, holiday wares, outdoor and garden care, books, music, electronics, paintings, toys and games, sports equipment, furniture, bikes and trikes, auto, tools and hardware and more all at very low price points.
The sale will run Thursday and Friday Sept. 15 and 16 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Saturday Sept. 17 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.Please bring your own shopping bags!!!! All proceeds will benefit the all-volunteer Webster Museum.
Donations are still being accepted, by the way. You can just drop them off at the barn anytime before Labor Day.
Next month, the museum and Webster Public Library will feature a fascinating program by shipwreck explorer Jim Kennard, hosted at the library.
Kennard will take everyone along his personal journey and his underwater explorations of Lake Ontario, sharing stories he’s gathered while researching and locating the most historically significant shipwrecks of our Great Lakes. These include the 1780 British warship HMS Ontario and the sloop Washington lost in 1803.
Kennard has also authored a book, Shipwrecks of Lake Ontario: A Journey of Discovery, which can be borrowed from the library. He’s been featured in local publications as well as National Geographic, national and local news stations, the Discovery Channel and most recently National Geographic’s “Drain the Oceans” series on the American Revolution.
Kennard will share stories gathered over those 50 years while researching and locating the most historically significant shipwrecks in our Great Lakes. These include the 1780 British warship HMS Ontario and the sloop Washington lost in 1803.
The program will be held Saturday Sept. 24 from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Webster Public Library, 980 Ridge Rd. Attendees must register for this event by calling the library at 585-872-7075 or by using the library’s program registration link here.
This program was originally scheduled for May at the Harmony House but had to be postponed.
Yeee Haaaa!!! There’s a ro-DAY-o comin’ to town, and it’s gonna mean some SWELL eatin’!
For those of you who don’t know cowboy-speak, what I mean to say is that the Webster Marching Band’s annual Food Truck Rodeo is back this year on Tuesday Aug. 23 at a brand new location (because the Schroeder parking lot is kind of filled with school buses at the moment).
This year’s rodeo will be held at the Webster Firemen’s Field from 4 to 8 p.m. on Tuesday. Among the trucks which will be there are:
Macarollin’
Tuscan Wood Fired Pizza
The Meatball Truck
Roc City Sammich
Rob’s Kabobs
Rob’s Sweet Tooth
Eat Greek
Effortlessly Healthy
Terry’s Tips and Beef
Melt Truck
Brusters
Proceeds from this delicious event will benefit our 2021 State Champion Webster Marching Band, so bring a big appetite.
I understand the Marching Band will actually be performing at this event, so bring some lawn chairs and make it a family night out. Admission is free.
The Village of Webster would like YOUR opinions on how the village can be improved.
The Webster Economic Development Alliance, in conjunction with the Webster Business Improvement District, is competing for $4.5 million from the NY Forward community revitalization program. As part of the competition process, Webster must submit an application on how we intend to spend $4.5 million in our community.
So the coalition is asking for community input. They’ve put together a short survey, hoping to gather thoughts about things like
• your vision for the downtown area • where you’d like to see the money invested • how projects should be prioritized
It’s a quick, 5-minutes or less survey. Click here to take it and to get more information.
The Webster Museum’s huge barn sale is fast approaching, and the donations are piling up. Word is that toys and games, puzzles and stuffed animals have taken over one whole corner of the donation barn at 394 Phillips Rd.
There’s still time for you to add your donations to the pile, but please do so by Sept. 5 (Labor Day). You can just drive by the barn and leave your donations inside. The museum welcomes household goods, tools, toys, pottery, collections, books, music, games, etc. Think small and easy to lift. Please DO NOT leave large furniture, clothing, shoes, computers, exercise equipment or skis.
The sale itself will take place at the barn on Phillips Rd. from Sept. 15-17. More details to come about that.
I feature the people and places and events that make Webster the wonderful community it is — and throw in some totally-not-Webster-related personal ramblings every once in a while as well.
I love it when readers send me news about the great things happening in their schools or the community, so please email me anytime at missyblog@gmail.com
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