Home of Effie Dallas Morse
Located at 512 Edgewood PlaceEffie 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 CountyLISTEN HERE
Home and Office of Dr. Emma Corinne Galvin
401 West State Street is the residence and office of Dr. Emma Corinne Galvin and Dr. G. Alex Galvin.Dr. Emma Corinne Brown Galvin (1909-1988) 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 the 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, completing the degree in 1943. 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 and served as president of the Tompkins County Community Chest (now the United Way), Ithaca Business and Professional Women's Club, and the Ithaca PTA. Her husband, Dr. G. Alx Galvin (1905-1989), was the first black doctor to set up practice in Ithaca.Source: History Center in Tompkins CountyLISTEN HERE
Agda Teoline Swenson Osborn Home
Located at 303 North Aurora Street; former residence of Agda OsbornKnown as the Grande Dame of Ithaca and a pillar of the community, Agda Osborn (1897-1996), a 1920 Cornell graduate, helped found five different local organizations that continue to enrich Ithaca today: The Hangar Theatre, Family and Children’s Service, the Cornell Women’s Club, the City Federation of Women’s Organizations, and Historic Ithaca. The Agda Osborn Award is presented by Ithaca's Family & Children's Services each year for outstanding contributions by a community volunteer. Osborn also served on the Tompkins County Comprehensive Health Council and as a City Alderperson. In 1922, she married Robert Curtis Osborn (1860-1954).The Osborn home, built in 1880, was originally the Stowell home. The Stowell family commissioned architect William Henry Miller to design and build the house, which is now the William Henry Miller Inn.Source: History Center in Tompkins CountyLISTEN HERE
Grave of Sophronia Bucklin in Lake View Cemetery
Sophronia E. Bucklin (1828-1902) served as a nurse for the Union Army during the Civil War. She cared for the wounded after the battle of Gettysburg, demonstrating her dedication, compassion, and selflessness in a time of need. Many patients she treated remained in correspondence with her after the war ended. Her accounts during those months as a Civil War nurse were published in her memoir, In Hospital and Camp: A Woman's Record of Thrilling Incidents Among the Wounded in the Civil War. Her stories are regarded as a vivid account of life during the Civil War.Bucklin came to settle in Ithaca for a brief period after her service. However, little is known of her whereabouts or activities during that time. She was buried in Ithaca's Lake View Cemetery in 1902. Source: History Center in Tompkins CountyLISTEN HERE
Home of Anna Botsford Comstock
Entomologist, conservationist, publisher, and one of the first female professors at Cornell, Anna Botsford Comstock (1854-1930) is regarded, even during her lifetime, as one of the most influential women of the twentieth century. She helped develop the Nature Study Movement through her book, Handbook of Nature Study. She and her husband, Professor John Comstock (1849-1931), founded the Comstock Publishing Company, which circulated many of their pioneering ideas on the study of nature.The publishing company operated in 124 Roberts Place. It was the only commercial-use building erected when Cornell Heights was established. Their former residence is located across the street at 123 Roberts Place. Many sites and buildings on Cornell’s campus bear the namesake "Comstock" for the couple’s contributions to the institution’s environmental studies.Source: Historic Ithaca & History Center in Tompkins CountyLISTEN HERE
Samantha Nivison's Vision: Cascadilla Hall
Dr. Samantha Nivison (1833-1906) came to Tompkins County after graduating from the Female Medical College in Pennsylvania in 1855. She was a staunch advocate for training young women in the medical profession and providing health care to historically marginalized populations. As the first woman to practice medicine in Tompkins County, Dr. Nivison led pioneering efforts to promote preventative health and the advancement of opportunities for women that were ahead of the social and medical practices of her time.In 1862, she established a water-cure sanitarium in Dryden that was so successful that she attempted to open a larger institution in Ithaca. Originally supported by Ezra Cornell, her plan for a new water-cure sanitarium and school for women doctors collapsed due to lack of funding as he redirected his efforts to the founding of Cornell University. She later established another sanitarium in Hammonton, New Jersey.The building originally planned to house Nivison’s medical facility in Ithaca was constructed in 1866 and became absorbed into the newly chartered Cornell University as its first multipurpose building and dormitory. Cascadilla Hall, as it was named for its proximity to the Cascadilla Gorge, continues to stand as a testament of Dr. Nivison’s ambition and vision to improve society. It was constructed with locally quarried stone in the French Second Empire style. In 1981, it underwent a dramatic renovation which added a floor to its mansard roof and demolished the original chimneys.Source: History Center in Tompkins County & Cornell UniversityLISTEN HERE
Belle Sherman Elementary School
Located at 501 Mitchell Street, Belle Sherman Elementary School was named after the influential educator, Mary Isabella "Belle" Sherman (1852-1929). Sherman taught science and history in Ithaca schools for 33 years until her retirement in 1908. She was also an accomplished artist.Sherman received her Bachelor of Science from Lombard University in 1874, a unique accomplishment for a woman in that era. She was well-known throughout the Ithaca community as a devoted and compassionate educator, thus the new elementary school that opened in 1926 became her namesake.Source: The History Center in Tompkins CountyLISTEN HERE
Martha Van Rensselaer Hall
Located off Reservoir Avenue on Cornell's North Central campus.A pioneer educator of women, Martha Van Rensselaer (1864-1932) joined the faculty of Cornell University in 1900 to give extension courses in home economics with the vision of advancing opportunities for women from rural communities. In 1908, she, along with her colleague Flora Rose, became the first full-time women professors at Cornell. She was instrumental in the establishment of Cornell’s School of Home Economics in 1919, of which she was a director. It later became the New York State College of Home Economics and is now Cornell’s College of Human Ecology.Martha Van Rensselaer Hall was built between 1931 and 1933 and was designed by William Haugaard of the New York State Dormitory Authority. The Hall has since gone through three major additions to the north, east, and west. The north addition was demolished in 2006 due to structural issues. Martha Van Rennsselaer Hall is listed on the New York State and National Register of Historic Places.Source: History Center in Tompkins County & Cornell UniversityLISTEN HERE
817 Triphammer Road
Erma Cicchetti (1903-1961) was an accomplished amateur designer and project manager who oversaw the construction of approximately thirty-five Cayuga Heights homes over a period of twenty years, beginning in 1940.The residence at 817 Triphammer Road is one of the first homes designed by Cicchetti, dating to 1940. It’s an eclectic style with a generous floor plan. Many of her homes are characterized as “elegant and solidly constructed.” Several other examples of her design prowess can be seen at 819, 902, 903, 904, and 905 Triphammer Road.Cicchetti had a natural ability despite not having formal training. During her time, this was a remarkable accomplishment in what is still considered a male-dominated profession. She oversaw the work of contractors, masons, plumbers, and general laborers. She was regarded as a generous but demanding supervisor.Cicchetti’s family emigrated from Terracina, Italy near the turn of the nineteenth century. Her family members found work in major companies in Ithaca, such as Ithaca Gun Company and Morse Chain Factory.For more information about Erma Cicchetti and Cayuga Heights, please visit the Cayuga Heights History Project.Source: Historic Ithaca & Cayuga Heights History ProjectLISTEN HERE
Flora Rose House / Mennen Hall
Located at 300 West AvenueFlora Rose (1874-1959) graduated with a Bachelor of Science from Kansas State University in 1904 and received her Master's Degree in Food and Nutrition from Columbia University by 1907. She came to Cornell shortly thereafter as a visiting lecturer, advocating for the establishment of a Home Economics program. Following her visit, she was offered a full-time position in the department of agriculture with the expectation that she would begin the process of establishing the department of Home Economics, now the College of Human Ecology, along with her colleague, Martha Van Rensselaer.Her research advanced the knowledge of nutrition and fortified foods. She also served as the deputy director of the New York State division of U.S. Food Administration during the first world war.This West Campus residence hall was named after Rose in 2008. The Collegiate Gothic-style house includes a crest with Rose’s name.Source: History Center in Tompkins County & Flora Rose HouseLISTEN HERE
Risley Hall
Margaret Bourke-White (1904-1971) was one of the preeminent American photographers of the twentieth century. Born in the Bronx, Bourke-White came to Ithaca to finish her education at Cornell University. She became a protégé of Ithaca photographer Henry Head and developed a portfolio of remarkable architectural photographs of the Cornell Campus. She later worked for Henry Luce’s Life magazine, with her photograph on its first cover, and produced dramatic industrial photographs for his newly founded Fortune magazine in the 1930s. She was also the first American female war photojournalist, traveling to combat zones during World War II.Bourke-White lived in Risley Hall, built as a women's dormitory, on Cornell's North Campus as a student.Source: History Center in Tompkins County & Cornell Chronicle LISTEN HERE
