The Vedder Research Library

The massing of logs on both sides of Red Mill attests to the activity of Vern Smith’s sawmill which stood only yards north of the Red Mill. The house beyond the logs is the Evans Griffin house which burned in the 1980’s.

The construction of the central school in 1931 necessitated the moving of the Ford Rundell house (today owned by son David) across the street to its present location on North Street (Rt. 32). Moving was suspended one moving day with the house partially on Rt. 32. To allow the house to sit where it does today, Ford shot off an offending locust branch. The house sits one-quarter turn clockwise from its original orientation.

State mandates (yes, even back in the 1930’s!) merged a number of one-room schoolhouses into the newly formed Greenville Rural School District. Dated February 13, 1932, this photo shows mid-construction of the new school, occupying a site that was the site of the Ford Rundell house (see August 1993 calendar). The school district would add on to this structure in the 1950’s and the build a high school in the late 1960’s.

Anchoring west Main Street, Greenville, Cunningham’s Funeral Home of the mid-1930’s stand slightly changed from today. Built in 1898 by A.J. Cunningham, this structure has served as furniture store, feed and machinery store, and funeral home, and has kept the Cunningham name with the next two generations - Lee and Curt. Before the Cunningham’s, the funeral business was handled by Elmer Hunt.

Long a fixture on Main Street, O.G. Hallenbeck’s drugstore served Greenville in the 1920s and 1930s. Previous owners included McCabe and Avery; after Hallenbeck came Ales and Quackenbush. When the pharmacy moved to Bryant’s Country Square, the building was used as a church, among other uses. Most recently, At The Crossroads, an ice cream and gift shop, has occupied this structure.

A custom that was celebrated at the Greenville Free Academy in the late 1920s and early 1930s, May Day (the one shown above took place May 20, 1932) meant streamers around the May Pole, a few social activities, and the crowning of the King and Queen, A year earlier, King and Queen were Lee Cunningham and Clarice Palmer.

Long a fixture on Greenville’s southeast corner, this building often served as a store - to Alexander Bentley in the mid-late 1800s and as an IGA store in the mid-twentieth century. It even served as a classroom in the late 1920s when space was tight at the Academy. Notoriety came when the butcher’s son murdered the minister’s daughter in 1935 in a sensational case that headlined regional newspapers. The building was razed in the early 1960s as part of the project that widened Route 81 from Greenville to Coxsackie. The small shop on the right still stands, today as Lafferty’s Realty. The building barely visible to the left and behind, showing much more prominently in the inset, is the Baumann apartments.

Snow removal was no easier in 1914 than it is today, even if much of the snow then was eventually packed on the roadway. This scene of east Main Street, the south side, starts on the left with Neil W. Avery’s pharmacy and continues to today’s Baumann apartment building, with remarkably little change in architecture.

Celebrating their centennial this year, the Cunningham family has been a mainstay of Greenville’s West Road, today’s Route 81, a hundred yards from the four corners. A.J. Cunningham bought the business from Elmer Hunt when it was mostly a feed store and furniture business. As the feed and furniture gradually waned, and as the custom of having funerals at home declined, the Cunningham business focused on the funeral part. AJ’s nephew Leland learned the trade as a teenager and obtained his license in the mid-1930s. Noted for his years of service, Lee was County Coroner for twenty years, and is/was a member of the Methodist Church, Masonic Lodge, Knights of Pythias, Greenville Volunteer Fire Company, as well as having volunteered in other community activities. Lee’s son Curt, a current County Coroner, graduated from GCS, from Alfred State Technical in 1961 and the Simmons School of Embalming in 1963, and eventually took over the business in 1985. Curt is a past Town Councilman and Supervisor. Todd Valenti (who has been employed since 1995) and Curt continue to maintain the service and dignity that has long been established by A.J. Cunningham and Leland A. Cunningham

This February 1940 scene of Greenville’s four corners evokes the reality of an eastern New York winter. This photo was probably taken from the upper floor of the Pioneer building and looks down east Main Street. A road sign on the telephone pole indicates Route 32 is the crossroad while the solidary person seems to have no reason to fear any traffic. The building on the right is the corner restaurant building (see Nov ‘97) that was razed in the early 1960s. On the left is a family residence, surrounded by a picket fence, which was torn down in the mid-1940s to make way for the gas station. Beyond the home is the Baumann building and the Steven store, on which one can make out the figures of two snow shovelers.

This fishing derby around the Greenville pond captures the feeling of the late 1950s and early 1960s Greenville. The Vanderbilt Theater, torn down in the early 1980s, and shown in the center of the picture, provided entertainment for the community all summer long. Elm trees ring the pond but would soon succumb to an elm blight.

This busy thoroughfare, North Street in Greenville, today’s Rt 32, is frozen in time with Addison Hickok driving his oxen to town, near today’s north driveway of the elementary school. Believed to be taken in the early 1900s, this picture shows not only the dirt roads and less speedy form of transportation, but also the houses on the east side of the road – the Vaughn house, the Powell house, and so on up the street. Addison lived in the Wickes house (located across the road from Bryant’s Country Square), the red house that was demolished in 1998.

Main Street, Greenville faces a February 15, 1926 snow storm. The age of automobile meant roads needed to be cleared, and giant snow banks needed to be cleared. This photo shows the range of buildings from the northeast corner, starting with the house on the corner (site of today’s Mobil station), the Baumann site (with the tower), Stevens store (site of 2001 NAPA), and Baker’s (site of 2001 True Value). The person remains unidentified.

May Day was an important school event in the late 1920s and early 1930s, according to photographic history. A king and queen were selected, and ceremonies were held, with all the students clustered in the front yard inside the outer circle of dozens of adults. This view, taken across from the cemetery entrance, with students on their way to the event, shows the corner of the new Pioneer building, the amusement hall, the fire truck house, and the Vanderbilt Theater. On the right edge is the Roe house (the 2001 site of the National Bank of Coxsackie).

A familiar sight in Greenville’s boarding house heyday, Jesse’s Elm Shade stood on the property near the intersection of Irving Road and Route 32, today the site of Greenwood Apartments. City guests would stay for a week, or weeks, at a farmhouse operated by John and Vida Lowe, which in turn was operated by Warren Jesse. The main house was torn down in the 1980s, and the guest room cabins were renovated into today’s apartments. The incline in the inset marks the spot of the main house. A nearby historic marker notes that this location was first settled by the Spees family.

A late-January thaw in 1938 makes for a sloppy Greenville pond surrounded by cathedral-like elms. This photo, probably taken from the Pioneer, shows Rt. 32 along the right side, and taking center stage is the Academy/Library building. Note the presence of the Academy annex even though the central school building was completed in 1932.

West Street (today’s Rt 81) curves over the horizon on its way to West Greenville and Norton Hill. On the right is today’s Cunningham Funeral Home, the Avery/Schwartz/Nobis residence/office building, and the Botsford/Clark/Angle house in the distance. On the left is the home of Dr. Charles McCabe, now the Lee Cunningham residence. This photo comes from a color postcard, the type that often derives from the 1910-1925 era.

Welcoming travelers to Greenville, the Hallenbeck’s Drugstore sign stood atop the hill we locally know as Carelas’s Hill (or Budd, or Fish), about one-half mile south on Rt. 32. The structures seen under the sign still stand. The lot on the right was bulldozed in the 1960s to become what many people know as Carelas Lake (or more recently named Lake Barbara by the current owners).

The Greenville Hotel had just been razed, and a new Pioneer building was under construction in 1928. This building is now the Town of Greenville office building. On the right, through the metal girders, one can see the ghostly figure of the Vanderbilt Theater (see November).

A February 1942 snow scene captures the essence of winter on east Main Street, Greenville. This photo looks east from the four corners, with a view in the distance up the hill we know today as Rt. 26 (Stevens Hill).

Halloween pranks were much in fashion, even in 1921, as unidentified (or, unconfessed) fun-makers block the school’s entry way. Superseded by centralization in 1930, the Greenville Free Academy today serves as the Greenville Memorial Library.