The Southside's African-American Heritage Walking Tour (Historic Brochure Edition 2003) Preview

1

St. James A.M.E. Zion Church, 116 Wheat St. (116 Cleveland Ave.)

The St. James African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church was chartered in 1833 by a group of 18 African-Americans who withdrew from the Methodist Episcopal Church in protest. Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass are known to have visited St. James, which was an Underground Railroad station. Designated a national historic landmark in 1982, St. James is Ithaca's oldest remaining church structure. **This tour is from the 2003 printed "The Southside's African-American Heritage Walking Tour" brochure prepared by the Cornell-Ithaca Partnership with research by Leslyn McBean & Ingrid Bauer; modified for PocketSights by The History Center in Tompkins County in 2022. Text is unchanged from the original printing.**

2

Home of Thomas Jackson, 11 Wheat St. (111 Cleveland Ave.)

Born a slave 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. By 1860 he married Mary Ann, an escaped slave from Maryland who worked as a laundress. **This tour is from the 2003 printed "The Southside's African-American Heritage Walking Tour" brochure prepared by the Cornell-Ithaca Partnership with research by Leslyn McBean & Ingrid Bauer; modified for PocketSights by The History Center in Tompkins County in 2022. Text is unchanged from the original printing.**

3

Home of Zachariah Tyler, 1 Wheat St. (109 Cleveland Ave.)

Zachariah Tyler served the 26th U.S. Colored Infantry during the Civil War. After the war he worked as a whitewasher and was pastor at the Wesleyan Methodist (Colored) Church, which was later renamed Calvary Baptist Church. **This tour is from the 2003 printed "The Southside's African-American Heritage Walking Tour" brochure prepared by the Cornell-Ithaca Partnership with research by Leslyn McBean & Ingrid Bauer; modified for PocketSights by The History Center in Tompkins County in 2022. Text is unchanged from the original printing.****PLEASE NOTE**New 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.

4

Southside Community Center, 305 South Plain St.

From the 1920s through the Depression, members of the Frances Harper Women's Club ran the South Side House, which was destroyed in the flood of 1935. Community members, local business leaders, and the Federal Work Progress Administration (WPA) collaborated to build the new Southside Community Center in 1938, which was dedicated by First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. The Center offered after-school programs, sports, and employment services, making Southside "the place to be." Today, the Center continues to serve Southside residents. **This tour is from the 2003 printed "The Southside's African-American Heritage Walking Tour" brochure prepared by the Cornell-Ithaca Partnership with research by Leslyn McBean & Ingrid Bauer; modified for PocketSights by The History Center in Tompkins County in 2022. Text is unchanged from the original printing.**

5

Home of Levi and Ora Spaulding, 501 West Green St.

Levi Spaulding was Ithaca's first African-American policeman. He served from 1919 until 1930, when he died in the line of duty after apprehending a murder suspect. Levi also operated a barbershop and Ora had a hair salon at the Cayuga House located at 501 West State St. **This tour is from the 2003 printed "The Southside's African-American Heritage Walking Tour" brochure prepared by the Cornell-Ithaca Partnership with research by Leslyn McBean & Ingrid Bauer; modified for PocketSights by The History Center in Tompkins County in 2022. Text is unchanged from the original printing.**

6

Cooke Family Home, 515 West Green St.

The Cooke family came to Ithaca from Virginia in the 1890s. The home has passed from mother to daughter ever since. The house was a stop on the Underground Railroad. African-American men who helped build the Ithaca to Owego railroad in the 1860s also boarded here. **This tour is from the 2003 printed "The Southside's African-American Heritage Walking Tour" brochure prepared by the Cornell-Ithaca Partnership with research by Leslyn McBean & Ingrid Bauer; modified for PocketSights by The History Center in Tompkins County in 2022. Text is unchanged from the original printing.**

7

Forest City Lodge 180 (Black Elks Club), 536 W. Green St.

First located at 119 Tioga St., the Black Elks Club relocated to 536 West Green St. at the corner of South Corn St. in the 1950s. **This tour is from the 2003 printed "The Southside's African-American Heritage Walking Tour" brochure prepared by the Cornell-Ithaca Partnership with research by Leslyn McBean & Ingrid Bauer; modified for PocketSights by The History Center in Tompkins County in 2022. Text is unchanged from the original printing.**

8

Cayuga House, 501 West State St.

The "Leading Colored Hotel in the City" was 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 hair salon in the 1920s. UPDATE: The Cayuga House was demolished in September 1967 to make way for a Sunoco service station. Ithaca Journal, Saturday, September 2, 1967**This tour is from the 2003 printed "The Southside's African-American Heritage Walking Tour" brochure prepared by the Cornell-Ithaca Partnership with research by Leslyn McBean & Ingrid Bauer; modified for PocketSights by The History Center in Tompkins County in 2022. Text is unchanged from the original printing.**

9

Home and office of the Drs. Galvin, 401 West State St.

Mr. and Mrs. Galvin came to Ithaca in the 1940s. They were both doctors. He was a general practitioner. She was one of the first African-American women to earn a Ph.D. at Cornell in 1943 in English. **This tour is from the 2003 printed "The Southside's African-American Heritage Walking Tour" brochure prepared by the Cornell-Ithaca Partnership with research by Leslyn McBean & Ingrid Bauer; modified for PocketSights by The History Center in Tompkins County in 2022. Text is unchanged from the original printing.**

10

Macera Family Home, 125 West Green St.

The Macera family purchased this home in the 1930's at the height of the Great Depression. The original was noted abolitionist and Quaker, Benjamin Halsey, who never turned away a runaway slave. As a result, today the home is said to provide a sense of security and safety to those who enter it. **This tour is from the 2003 printed "The Southside's African-American Heritage Walking Tour" brochure prepared by the Cornell-Ithaca Partnership with research by Leslyn McBean & Ingrid Bauer; modified for PocketSights by The History Center in Tompkins County in 2022. Text is unchanged from the original printing.**

11

Site of Brum/Johnson Home (Demolished), 326 S Cayuga St.

This site was home to a long line of Underground Railroad agents, starting with Titus Brum, who lived here in 1824. George A. Johnson, who married Brum's daughter, was a baber, a community leader, and was said to have helped 114 slaves escape to freedom. The Johnsons had two children: Bert, also a barber, and Jessie, the first Black graduate of Ithaca High School, who gave piano lessons. A number of secret rooms where slaves were said to have taken refuge were discovered when the house was demolished in 1927.IMAGE: Map detail of 326 S. Cayuga Street from tompkins.historyforge.net - sourced November 19th 2022.**This tour is from the 2003 printed "The Southside's African-American Heritage Walking Tour" brochure prepared by the Cornell-Ithaca Partnership with research by Leslyn McBean & Ingrid Bauer; modified for PocketSights by The History Center in Tompkins County in 2022. Text is unchanged from the original printing.**

12

Ten Commandments Houses (demolished), 200 block of Meadow St.

Nine identical houses, known by neighborhood residents as the "Ten Commandments," housed Irish, Italian, and Black immigrants. These small houses contained no more than a few rooms and an attic. They were town down in the early 1990s. IMAGE: HistoryForge.net Ithaca Sanborn Fire Insurance Atlas, 1919-20; F.W. Beers Map of Ithaca, 1889

13

Site of Aunt Elsie Brooks' Home (24 Wheat St/130 Cleveland ave)

Aunt Elsie Brooks, born a slave 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. When she died in 1875, more than 800 people attended her funeral at St. James AME Zion Church.**This tour is from the 2003 printed "The Southside's African-American Heritage Walking Tour" brochure prepared by the Cornell-Ithaca Partnership with research by Leslyn McBean & Ingrid Bauer; modified for PocketSights by The History Center in Tompkins County in 2022. Text is unchanged from the original printing.**