The New Year

Our website has had a slight change but our mission remains steadfast in promoting and preserving the rich history of the Port Byron, NY area.  In reviewing the stats over the past year, our website has had regular visits from the following locations:

Australia
Canada
Germany
India
Japan
Latvia
Moldova
Netherlands
Romania
Russia
Singapore
Sweden
Ukraine
United Kingdom
United States

Therefore, it seemed appropriate to change our website from Port Byron Historian to Port Byron History, to better reflect our content.  The change went very smoothly.  Our new website is http://www.portbyronhistory.com/ with no loss in content, all of your favorite features and articles are here for your enjoyment.

With this change, we also updated our Facebook group to Port Byron History.  Many of the original posts can still be found in the note section.  Thank you for your participation on Facebook, where posts averaged about 1,000 viewings each.  That is amazing!

It's the start of a bright New Year with a fresh start for Port Byron History.  We look forward to seeing you in our fan club on Facebook.  Thank you for your loyal support and we shall enjoy the upcoming year as we celebrate a wonderful place called Port Byron, NY.

Port Byron High School 1899-1935

The Port Byron High School was dedicated on Tuesday, January 16, 1900.  It replaced the Port Byron Free Academy that was lost to fire in November 1898 at this same location.  The architect was C. E. Crandall of Rochester, NY.  The building was heated and ventilated with a Smeed-Norcot heating system and had running water on both floors.  The Smeed Heating System was widely used in schools and other public buildings, its furnace generated heat by heating air.  The building cost "nearly $16,500.00" (equivalent to "nearly" $440,000.00 based on 2009 CPI).  The structure was described as housing 450 pupils, consisting of two floors with basement, six large study rooms, a laboratory, library and multiple recitation rooms. 

Many will be surprised to learn that some pupils from Brutus attended our school here.  In our early history, we were a progressive place.  Woman started to serve on our Board of Education in the year 1890, before woman even had the right to vote.  Helen Hadger Root was a teacher and among the first woman to serve on the school board.  Her husband William H. Root a past Board of Education Member was present when both the Free Academy as well as the High School was dedicated.  

Meet The Press

Many can recall The Port Byron Chronicle but did you know there were other newspapers produced at Port Byron?

The Port Byron Herald was started in 1844 by Frederick Prince.  (He already owned another paper called The Weedsport Advertiser, later known as the Northern Phoenix which was produced at Weedsport.)

The Port Byron Gazette was founded in 1849 by Charles T. White which was continued with the help of his brother until the year 1860.  The paper was then sold to B. W. Thompson who in turn sold out to William Hosford in 1861.  Hosford then sold to Cyrus Marsh in 1862 who then changed the name of the paper to the Northern Cayuga Times.

Note: Some sources indicate the Port Byron Gazette was founded in 1851 by Oliver T. Beard.

The Port Byron Times was published by C. Marsh 186_-1870.

There is one additional paper that appears in the business directory on the 1859 village map of Port Byron, being the Citizen operated by N. Marble.  It is interesting that this paper is not listed in the article by the Auburn Morning News on Dec. 15, 1877, which was in tribute to the history of the press in Cayuga County from 1798-1877.  Perhaps this paper was produced elsewhere and simply sold here and did not make the list because it was not produced here.  I will make mention, as this paper was available.  

The paper with the most interesting history is the Port Byron Chronicle.  That is partly due to it being the longest surviving paper associated with our community, but also due to the folklore attached to it.  The Weedsport Cayuga Chief - Port Byron Chronicle issued on Dec. 10, 1964 had an article honoring the 90th anniversary of our paper.  It stated that L. H. King established the paper on January 1, 1875.  After Editor King's death, his son Richard T. King is listed as continuing the paper who later sold the paper to Mr. G. Welton Fickeisen.