Introduction - The Southside Loop
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The Southside Community Center
Located at 305 South Plain Street. The Southside Community Center was founded on the values and ideals of the Frances Harper Women's Club, a group of African American women who were concerned about the unmet needs of their neighborhood community. In its early years, the club operated out of a rented home, located at 221 South Plain Street. They eventually purchased the house that formerly stood at 305 South Plain Street, known as the Southside House. In 1927 the Frances Harper Women's Club reorganized as the Serv-Us League, headed by Mrs. Vera Irvin (1890-1942) and Mrs. Jessie Cooper.The Southside House was destroyed by the flood of 1935. Community members, local business leaders, and the Federal Work Progress Administration collaborated to build the new Southside Community Center in 1938, which was dedicated by First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962). The center offered after-school programs, sports, and employment services, making Southside “the place to be.” Today, the Center continues to serve Southside residents.LISTEN HERE
Cleveland Avenue
Cleveland Avenue was formerly called Wheat Street. Wheat Street became the center of activity for the earliest African American community in Ithaca. The Ithaca Journal described Wheat Street in 1886 as “one of the shortest streets in Ithaca, yet it contains 15 families of colored people, one grocery, two ice cream saloons, one barber shop, one ladies’ hair dressing establishment, and last but not least, one church.” The name of the street changed in 1908 to Cleveland Avenue.Check out the mapping tool developed by HistoryForge to see where African American families resided according to U.S. census data from 1880 to 1940.LISTEN HERE
Home of Zachariah Tyler
(ORIGINAL TOUR TEXT)This house at 109 Cleveland Avenue (formerly 1 Wheat Street) was the home of Reverend Zachariah Tyler's (1819-1896) son John Henry Tyler. Tyler's son, John Henry Tyler (1845-1909), became known as the "ice cream man." In December 1863 John enlisted in the U.S. Colored Troop's 26th Regiment, and in January Zachariah, joined him. They served together throughout the war, along with others from the neighborhood, and returned to Ithaca in August 1865. After the war Zachariah worked as a whitewasher and was pastor at the Wesleyan Methodist (Colored) Church, which was later renamed Calvary Baptist Church.LISTEN HERENew research in 2024 has determined that 109 Cleveland Avenue (Formerly 1 Wheat St) was likely the home of Reverend Zachariah Tyler's son John Henry Tyler who enlisted with his father in the Civil War. Julia Ann and Zachariah Tyler's original house was demolished by 1904, and at the time of Reverend Zachariah Tyler's death in 1896 his address was listed as 38 S. Plain St (later renumbered at 302 S. Plain St). There are no known surviving photographs of the Tylers original home.
Home of Thomas Jackson
Born enslaved in 1820, Thomas Jackson escaped from Virginia in 1842 and finally reached Ithaca in 1850. Soon thereafter, the Fugitive Slave Law was passed and he moved to Toronto for a brief time. Upon returning to Ithaca, Jackson worked as a gardener, farm hand, saw-miller, and general laborer while living at 11 Wheat Street, now 111 Cleveland Ave. In 1860 he married Mary Ann, who escaped slavery from Maryland. She found employment in Ithaca as a laundress.LISTEN HERE
Monument of the 26th Regiment United States Colored Infantry
In this pocket garden, located adjacent to the St. James AME Zion Church, is a stone placed in memory of the African American men who enlisted in 1863-64 to join the 26th Regiment United States Colored Infantry. Among the names are several groups of cousins, two fathers and sons, and one man shot while on picket duty in South Carolina.In 2014, Ithaca film company PhotoSynthesis Productions released Civil Warriors, a film depicting the 26 African American men from Ithaca who enlisted in the USCT during the Civil War. It was inspired by the play, I am a Man, Too by local historian and author, Carol Kammen.LISTEN HERE
St. James AME Zion Church
Located at 116 Cleveland Avenue (formerly 116 Wheat St.)The St. James American Methodist Episcopal (AME) Zion Church was chartered in 1833 by a group of 18 African Americans. The AME Zion denomination's roots began in 1796, when some members withdrew from New York City’s John Street Methodist Episcopal Church in protest of discriminatory practices. Pastors such as Henry Johnson, Thomas James (1804-1891), and Jermain Loguen (1813-1872) preached and Harriet Tubman (?-1913) and Frederick Douglass (?-1895) visited Ithaca's St. James Church. The church was the center of the historic Southside area's cultural life. It was also an Underground Railroad station. Because of its importance, the church was designated a local historic landmark in 1974 and received national historic landmark status in 1982. It has been expanded and rebuilt but remains the oldest religious structure in the city.LISTEN HERE
Sylvester Suzy Home
This is the home of Sylvester Suzy, located at 119 Cleveland Avenue. Sylvester was born in 1839 in Ontario County, New York. He joined the 8th U.S. Colored Troops in 1863 and, at the end of the war, came to live in Ithaca where he married and bought a home. For many years, Suzy headed local veterans parades as the eldest living veteran of the Civil War. Nearby, there were a number of other African American men who had served in the war. He found work in Ithaca as a hotel porter and a barber, while his wife, Lucy, worked as a hair dresser.LISTEN HERE
Site of Aunt Elsie Brooks' House
Aunt Elsie Brooks, born enslaved in Maryland, came to Dryden in 1812. After New York abolished slavery in 1827, she lived with her husband at 24 Wheat Street and worked as an herbalist and washerwoman. She was important to the African American community with contacts in the white community as well. When she died in 1875, more than 800 people attended her funeral at St. James AME Zion Church. It was so well attended that additional supports were needed to repair the floor following her funeral.LISTEN HERE
The Monitor
On the 100th Block of Cleveland Avenue, the Monitor newspaper was developed in 1923. The editors were C. O. Wilson and Eliot Douglas. During its short, three-year run, it reported on social and cultural activities of the African American community in Ithaca. It linked residents of Wheat Street with African American students attending Cornell University. In 1990 Gregory Rolle revived the Wheat Street Monitor for a short run of issues following the production of Counting Wheat Street, a play produced at the First Street Theater.LISTEN HERE
Site of the Ellis-Hailstork House
The grand brick house that formerly stood at 301 Corn Street was built in the nineteenth century and was first occupied by the Ellis family. It later belonged to Adolphus C. Hailstork Sr., a cook at a Cornell fraternity house and proprietor of the Hailstork Laundromat. It was later home to his daughter, Lyria, a teacher at Henry St. John Elementary School.In 2005 Tompkins County Community Action took possession of the building. Shortly thereafter, the building was demolished and the current residence was erected in its place. LISTEN HERE
Forest City Lodge
First located at 119 Tioga Street, the Forest City Lodge at 536 West Green Street was the location of the Black Elks Club. They relocated to 536 West Green Street at the corner of South Corn Street in the 1960s.LISTEN HERE
Site of the Cayuga House
Located at 501 West State Street was the leading African American hotel in the city, first owned by Thomas Russell, and later by Jim Miller. It was also home to Harry B. Parker’s Equal Rights Barber Shop and Ora Spaulding’s (1862-1944) hair salon in the 1930s.LISTEN HERE
Home and Office of Dr. G. Alx Galvin and Dr. Emma Corrine Galvin
Located at 401 West State Street , Dr. Emma Corinne Galvin (1909-1988) G. Alx Galvin (1905-1989).Dr. Emma Galvin was an accomplished academic and teacher from Richmond, Virginia. She received her Bachelor of Arts from Shaw University in North Carolina and her Masters of Arts from University of Pennsylvania in 1931. She taught in Virginia, North Carolina, and Florida before moving to Ithaca to pursue her PhD in teaching at Cornell University. Dr. Galvin began teaching at Ithaca College and was also an active member of the National Committee of the American Association of University Women. She was also on the board of trustees of the Southside Community Center.Dr. G. Alx Galvin was from Newport News, Virginia. He graduated from Howard University Pharmaceutical School and went on to obtain his medical degree from Meharry Medical College in the 1930s. He was president of the Academy of Family Physicians in 1958 and 1959 and was the first African American president of the New York State Academy of General Practice. He was also the first African American medical doctor to open an office in Ithaca.LISTEN HERE
Macera Family Home
The Macera family purchased this home at 125 West Green Street in the 1930s at the height of the Great Depression. The original owner was noted abolitionist and Quaker, Benjamin Halsey, who reportedly never turned away those seeking self-liberation through the Underground Railroad. As a result, the home is said to provide a sense of security and safety to those who enter it.LISTEN HERE
Home of Levi and Ora Spaulding
This home located at 501 West Green Street was the residence of Levi Spaulding (1872-1930), Ithaca’s first African American policeman. He served from 1919 until 1930. He died in the line of duty in 1930 after apprehending a murder suspect near the former location of the Ithaca Police Station. Officer Spaulding also operated a barbershop while his wife, Ora (1862-1944), operated a hair salon at the Cayuga House. Spaulding also managed the Arion Orchestra on State Street. He and Ora originally bought a home on Cleveland Avenue and later moved to the current location; a home Ora Spaulding referred to as "the homestead."In November 2016, the Ithaca Police Department and the Badge of Honor Association commemorated Officer Spaulding's service and life with the dedication of a plaque in his honor. It was placed where he passed away, near the East Seneca Street parking garage. For more information about Officer Spaulding and the context of African American life in Ithaca during his lifetime, click here.LISTEN HERE
Cooke Family Home
This house, located at 515 West Green Street, was a stop on the Underground Railroad. The Cooke family came to Ithaca from Virginia in the 1890s and lived here. The home has passed from mother to daughter ever since. African American men who helped build the Ithaca to Owego railroad in the 1960s boarded here.LISTEN HERE
