Streets Of Old Utica COMMENTARY

[ladyoracle]

Dave -- I am really enjoying these old pictures. Thanks so much for sharing them.

[fiona]

This a seperate comment thread for "Streets" and also, if anyone wants to post unrealted historical material, they can put it up here. While I am working on the project, I like to keep the project cohesive and comment free. This helps me to focus. Thanks.

[fiona]

Dave: please lock the thread for "Streets".

[fiona]

Dave: can you move Fiskie's last comments to this thread, please?

[keith]

Very nice start. I look forward to the journey.

[Dave]

And may I add a note of explanation to our newer members: we realized some time ago that when a thread is to become an opus, it is best to lock that thread for the author's use and create a parallel commentary thread. You may have seen threads on other Forums degenerate when a series of comments went wildly off topic and, for example, the topic of 18th Century Summer Resorts became instead a thread about baby strollers.

That's OK in most instances ... what can you expect from us who love to comment? .... but we had occasion to be embarrassed when referring someone from outside our group to an historical thread and among the gems they found silly comments, sexual innuendo and the like.

We will also lock a thread on the request of an author in the Creative section of this forum. He or she may not want comments on their story or poem, or they may not want them in the same thread. Of course, anyone can always start a new thread of commentary about a piece. I don't think we've ever had anyone post a story or essay and ask me to lock it, but I would if asked.

[Dave]

Again, if anyone is having a problem posting, see the thread I began regarding first things you should check and you're welcome to email me or PM me.
Dave

[fiona]

While dave and I are working to build up "Streets" may I suggest you peruse "Sketch?"

[Dave]

I highly recommend A New Sketch of Old Utica. It's amazing how Fiona keeps digging up more post card views of Utica's streets. Equally amazing are the many "ordinary scenes" such as the corner of Genesee and Jewett Place, for example, that form the basis of a post card one would buy and send home or to a friend implying, "I was here!" Genesee Hill is or was a pretty location, but it's not Niagara Falls.
But there is something comforting about it, that a person would appreciate an ordinary street corner (albeit with lovely homes) enough to write home to Mom about it.

[Dave]

Here's a portion of Genesee Hill from the 1883 Utica Map.

[Dave]

Sorry, I should have noted above that the Olbiston would first be built as the Genesee Flats, which of course burned down on March 3, 1896 and was quickly rebuilt as the Olbiston.

[fiona]

Thanks for the great map. I printed it out to use in my next lecture.

[fiona]

Right you are about the post cards, Dave. I just love them. One thing we must keep reminding ourselves of is that, in 1907, when the hey day of post cards hit, the country was still basically rural and people didn't travel very far. So coming to town was really " something" and coming to Utica, why, it was a trip to the big city...! And people were also basically poor ( by our standards) and so to go for a walk on "Genesee Hill" and look at the lovley homes, and the nannies wheeling the well dressed babies in wicker carriages, and the well dressed ladies and gents strolling in the evening, well that was something... part of the American experience... that this type of life style was open to anyone, if you just worked hard enough...and thus something to write home about... just to say "I was there on the boulevard, oh, Holy Cow, you wouldn't believe it if my freinds could see me now.!"

[Dave]

If you want, I can probably copy from the 1883 map in pieces large enough for one to see more area, but I usually prefer to zoom in so the detail can be seen. That unfortunately often leaves out street names printed on the map, so I apply notes.

Also, between Jon an myself, we've probably put zillion views of this map up in these threads so many might be useful. I should check and see how many I have left up in webspace.
I think Jon's are on photobucket, but I've forgotten how to see them or get to them.

[fiona]

I printed it out, so that's all I need. We will be needing maps for Streets tour very soon. I will be posting Miss Miller's conversation as we go along, and that will be the cue for a map. The first one we will need will be the Steuben Park, Rutger St area. I also want to make a further comment about post cards: Speaking strictly about Utica, these postcards are living breathing documents of what once was and how those who viewed a place felt about it, they are the context of the fabric of the city we once and our grandparents, once knew. Let's look at it this way: Broad Street is gone: All the mansions, gone. Whitesboro Street, the residential section downtown, gone, all the homes and mansions GONE, Rutger Street, a shadow of what it once was, large swaths of our city GONE, what is left decayed and going... Oneida Square... a sow's ear, Down Street: pretty much gone, South Street: Gone. CornHill: decayed and dying, what is really left? About 3 blocks of upper Genesee Street, in a section once affectionataly called "The Hill." And large patches of these homes and buildings are gone. This and Rutger Street, is basically is All we have and we must act to preserve and celebrate it. Am I being preachy? You bet I am.