There’s not much to say. I’m a recent graduate of Cornell, class of 2010. My two big interests in the school are its history and the development of its facilities (and those of the surrounding area). As a result, the primary focus of my posts will be on those two subjects. I like to take my camera with me on campus and do photo tours when I have the time.
Although I try to keep the facts and history as accurate as possible, I make no claims to the validity of the information. In many cases, I have provided links to my sources, which are numbered and listed at the end of a post. Newer posts are linked to their sources.
I’m always open to suggestions for new topics to write about with regards to Cornell’s history and the physical development of Cornell and the local area. If you have an idea for an entry, feel free to leave a comment.
The Greystone house was built by Alice G. McCloskey (of the Nature Studies department and editor of the Rural School Leaflet) and another woman. By the time Alice died 19 Oct 1915 she was the owner of the house. She left the house to her assistant, Edward Mowbray Tuttle (my husband’s maternal grandfather). Edward married in October 1919 and sold the Greystone to the silent film start in 1919. So there is more history than you think.
Thanks for that extra information! Comments like yours help to fill in the grey areas of history and help to paint a broader picture of the local history. Much appreciated!
Hi there,
Came across your blog while trying to figure out if Cornell Heights would be a suitable place for our family to move to. Thanks for the interesting and informative tidbits about houses on campus that I’ve admired but never ventured to find out more about.
On another note, any insights you can offer on living in Cornell heights ? Noise levels, parking issues etc. for a family with kids?
Thanks.
I don’t feel fully qualified to answer that, since I’m a mere student. However, there’s a website called http://www.city-data.com that has a forum of posters dedicated to answering those types of questions and offering insight on places you’re looking to relocate. Best of luck!
I grew up in Cornell Heights on Dearborn Place but it was many years ago. There has been quite of development towards Triphammer Road but the Heights has many small side streets, without frats, that are quiet and residential. Many professors live there and walk to work. Student housing WAS at a minimum there so parking was not an issue but that may have changed over the years.
Thanks – I know of city-data.com but doubt if it’ll be that specific.
I just came across your blog. Always nice to see someone who has an interest in Ithaca and Cornell. I grew up in Collegetown (many years ago). Hope you don’t mind if I add some comments and info (and pics) from time to time.
Hi Ex! I have to be honest, this blog takes most of my free time, so this is why I don’t post so much to SSP anymore. Drop by anytime.
-Vis
I had a feeling this blog might be yours. Miss ya at SSP, but I’m glad you’re still around where I can see your pics and opinions.
Hey, I’m a current student and member of the Greek community. Just wanted to say keep up the good work with this blog; I read it often.
You have a wonderful site. Your photograph of my old fraternity, Chi Phi, is one of the best I have seen.
I was at Cornell earlier this month and saw something on the libe clock that I had never noticed before.
When it is four o’clock, the big hand is on the XII and the little hand is on the IV. OK… right dummy … but for nearly every other clock the IV is shown as IIII !
Google has numerous explanations for the IV vs IIII, but after all of these years it is the first time I had noticed it.
Just shows that we old frats still pay attention, and thanks for letting me post this meaningless piece of trivia!
I think that the clock isn’t that unusual! I am looking at two clocks with roman numerals. One an Eddie Bauer with IV and the other with IIII. Also Westminster in England has IV. ?
I found this blog today. Nice work.
This is an incredibly informative blog. Great work.
Any chance you could revisit Ithaca College for an update on what’s happening over on that hill?
Your blog is great. I especially like your info on Fraternities and on Cornell History!
Great site. I was wondering if you had any idea what the story was behind this (http://applesandvcrs.tumblr.com/post/289856748/near-fall-creek-gorge-cornell-university) style of graffiti that’s all over campus. I’m assuming they’re all from the same person/group. Anyway, keep up the good work.
Hi,
I am also a Cornell student blogger, and I would like to talk with you about posting some of your stuff on OneCornell.com. I would do this by including the title and first sentence in a post on OneCornell, and if you click on it, or you click [Read more], it will go to your site so the reader could see your whole blog. I would also be willing to display your site on my blogroll which could be found throughout. Please give me an email back if this sounds like a good deal.
My goal is to make OneCornell more holistic, and I am sure you want to get as many hits as possible. I think this could be mutually beneficial.
I’m following the Alpha Delta Phi story closely for personal reasons…
I would like to make you aware that the author of the leaked email is a pledge who was acting as spokesman for the pledges (note in the email he says “…each of us must have…”). If there is hazing going on you are publishing the name and email address of a potential victim. Please consider redacting his name and email address…it will continue to show up for years in websearches linking him to this epsiode.
While IvyGate is what it is, hopefully you have higher standards. Thank you.
All the “thank you’s” in the world are insufficient…
Great site; thanks for being there.
Thanks for your blog. Saw your posts on some of the fraternities and your query about 103 McGraw Place before Watermargin (pre-1947). In your 12/22/08 post, you list Sigma Phi Sigma as a previous fraternity at 103 McGraw Place. This seems to be backed up by the information you have from other web sites like the TKE web site (http://lgbtrc.cornell.edu//dos/greek/chapter_details.cfm?id=3272) and the link to a 1928 map labeling 103 McGraw Place as Sigma Phi Sigma (http://reading.cornell.edu/reading_project_06/gatsby/cpa1.htm).
In your 11/29/08 post, you also say that Watermargin (103 McGraw Place) is the former home of Phi Kappa Psi (which I had thought from your post became Rabco Apartments, but maybe they had multiple houses). Where did you get this information that Phi Kappa Psi resided at 103 McGraw Place? Was that a typo? If not, was that pre- or post-Sigma Phi Sigma? The reference I saw about Phi Kappa Psi on their web page (http://www.phikappapsi-cornell.org/141-tour-history.asp) said they built on McGraw (no address given) in 1895, which would match with Cornell’s 1890 date given for construction of the 103 McGraw Place house (http://www.fs.cornell.edu/fs/facinfo/fs_facilInfo.cfm?facil_cd=4758). If you could clear it up, I’m interested.
Also in this 11/29/08 post, you mention Watermargin in the list of former fraternity houses that became co-ops. In addition to being the former home of Sigma Phi Sigma, Watermargin actually started as a fraternity before it became a co-op, so it’s also the previous home of Watermargin fraternity.
The info for 103 McGraw Place came from an old Cornellian (1906), but it also matches with the chapter’s history webpage
http://www.phikappapsi-cornell.org/public2.asp.
Phi Kappa Psi lived in 312 Thurston (the old Wyckoff mansion) from 1915-1963, so I’m fairly sure that they lived in the Watermargin property from the 1890s to about 1915. I do not know if what the house was used for between 1890 and 1895, but an 1892 Cornell Daily Sun directory of fraternities found elsewhere on this blog suggests it was not used as a fraternity house during that time. Hope that helps!
We built the Piano Box, 1 McGraw Place, in either 1890 or 1895, moving to the Fraternity Reserve from 72 Huestis Avenue (former Dinos and Nines) in C-town; stayed at the Piano Box until 1915, selling to another fraternity; from 1915 to 1964, we were at 312 Thurston Avenue; then back to West Campus in 1964.
Does the name C.W. Mason ring any bells? I was exploring a friend’s attic in Upper Collegetown, and we found “This House Was Built by the Retired Reverend C.W. Mason” written in chalk on one of the rafters. Basic googling revealed this: http://www.marshallhistsoc.org/mason.html; I could guess that Clarence William Mason could have picked up carpentry skills in those lumber yards. I’d love to hear if you have any background on this guy. Thanks!
I have not come across any information about C.W. Mason apart from what you’ve posted, but time wise it makes sense. Upper Collegetown was built out from about 1900 to about the WWII era, giving way to the East Hill area for newer developments. It seems fitting that he would buy a lot and build a house after his retirement (persumably 1920s or early 1930s) in a neighborhood that was still expanding at the time.
Hello. I’m a former Cornell student. Have you ever come across what I call the ‘Secret Garden’ in Cayuga Heights? Not sure what it is, who owns it or its history but I’d be very interested in learning more about it. To find it walk on the left side of Stewart Ave heading North (heading away from the University into Cayuga Heights). Cross Fall Creek and Carl Sagan’s house. Continue until the ground falls away to the left of the sidewalk (concrete embankment raises the sidewalk up). I believe this is between Edgecliff Pl and Needham Pl. The ‘secret garden’ as I call it is right below the embankment. To get down you need to continue North until you get past the embankment, really close to the nearby house at the corner of Stewart and Needham. Head down and back south following the ground under the embankment (it may be trespassing at first because it seems like you need to walk on their property, not sure). You will find that, while very overgrown and neglected, the landscaping has been sculpted. There are small ponds, old concrete bridges over the stream, and the remains of concrete benches (no longer intact at all) and some kind of concrete alter.
I’ve always wondered about the history of the place. Who built it, for what purpose, and why did it fall into such disrepair? It is very beautiful and interesting. Well worth a visit. The only problem is to get down you have to briefly walk on the land of that nearby house (whose property may include the ‘garden’ for all I know) as I mentioned before so it might technically be trespassing. Nothing posted, however and I never ran into any trouble.
Promise me you will turn this into a treatise mapping the mind of Cornell University and its architectural and construction decision-making; there is something deep and existential in the warped manner in which all this is done — especially this Gates Hall thingy. Hey, and the discussion of where Engineering buildings end and begin had me in stitches; they are almost like competing tumors looking for more space. For Ellis Phillips, here is some background: http://www.ellislphillipsfndn.org/ellislphillips/history.html
Your article about the former “hat clubs” Majura Nolanda and Beth L’Amed says they were banished from campus to the dustbin of history in 1949 after a member almost died of alcohol poisoning. Not so. They existed during my years at Cornell (1955-60) and are listed with member lists in the 1960 Cornellian pages 138-139.
Really like your site, I am really into fraternal history and I enjoy your blog regularly. One bit of info that I think you may have missed in the “Fraternities You’ll Never (Probably) Visit” post. Phi Sigma Delta nationally merged with ZBT in 1969. The Cornell PSD chapter did not want to merge with the local ZBT chapter, they went local and petitioned AEPI whose chapter went inactive the year before. So one of AEPI’s multiple revivals stem from PSD.
Hey how do I follow this like with RSS or google reader?
looking for info on Ithaca College Circle Apartments.
found your blog very interesting.
have been a resident since 1986.
thanks for all the tidbits
This is a great site. Have you done presentations to the community? Are you planning any in the future? The information and insight you provide should be visible to the entire community. Do other local website intentionally link to yours? …links to your site from other sites related to Ithaca and Tompkins County? Have you written for any of the local papers such as Tompkins Weekly or Ithaca Times? You offer a much needed public service. Thanks.
Howdy – wasn’t sure of how else to get in touch with you but as you seem to be the premier blogger who’s still posting in Ithaca, I thought you might be interested in an issue of our travel magazine we just put out which is 100% all about Ithaca & Cayuga Lake.
Hi! To be honest, I no longer live in Ithaca, although I have friends that still do. My body resides in one place and my heart lies in the Finger Lakes. I followed the link back to your twitter account, and what I can see, it’s a nice piece of work. I’m sure the county visitors bureau will be tickled pink.
Hello – I like your blog. You do a nice job.
The Cornell Heights Neighborhood is going to have a relatively informal ‘meet and greet’ with our ward 5 Alderpersons on 9/11 at 7pm. You are welcome to come if you can. If interested email me.
Great job reporting on the blog, which I have been reading for years. I’d like to contact you offline by email, if possible.
Thanks! I can be contacted at ithacating*at*gmail.com.
I wonder if you can comment on the number of new apartments being built in Ithaca from a historical perspective? It seems like there are many coming online but I don’t have a long enough perspective.
Hello Branca,
I am a entering Grad Student at Cornell this fall and I am hoping to live near or around the commons area. I have had trouble finding places in the area and I was wondering if you knew any developments that were near completion for the upcoming fall semester, or of any places that caught your eye in the commons area. I would appreciate your help.
I don’t recommend specific places, and the housing under construction near the Commons is geared away from students. the largest student development underway is Collegetown Terrace.
You might take a look at the catch-all for apartment listings: http://ithacarents.com/
Craigslist is another good option.