Star-Gazette from Elmira, New York • 3

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Hardinge Bros. Store in 1883 and same building today. 1 THE ElMIRA TELEGRAM Sunday, July 33, 1965 Peace and Quiet Breesport' Residents Love It By AL WILSON Reed, a garage and filling sta it that way. They commute to their jobs in Horseheads or El- tion recently purchased by Don The most striking asset of Breesport today is its peace- mira, but their return home is ing which, following its construction in 1948, was termed by postal inspectors as "the nicest fourth class post office in the area." It was in 194ft. also, that the blness.

to a quiet surrounding unlike those realized by city dwellers. ald Butcher of Horseheads and two sand and gravel banks. Reed's store is operated un On a summer'a afternoon Rich virgin timber abounded around Breesport. The first to tap this resource were three brothers, Dr. Israel, David and Joel Heller who arrived in the area in 1828 and with a tract of land opened a saw mill.

in the 1904 Chemung County atlas, covers only about 17VSs acres of land. Today its boundaries are marked roughly by the Breesport Fire District which, according to Thomas J. Kiernan, town assessor, is about a mile in any direction from the fire house. Its population on this basis is This community lies in a val to a time when man is on a ley at the juncture of Jackson BreesDort Volunteer Fire De headUng thrust into a space or a capacity of million board feet of lumber per year. This venture was followed by construction of a grist miH three years later which would produce an annual product of 3,000 barrels and 50,000 bushels.

Besides the general store, he operated the Rodbourn House which stood at the site of the present Masonic Temple. A ballroom on the third floor was designed with a two-inch spring in it so the floor would give Joseph Rodburn, who had owned a general store as one of his interests. This was about 1870. Butcher's garage was formerly operated by George Rod-bourn of Breesport who opened the community's first garage in 1922. If this is the business In Breesport today, it was not always thus, for Breesport was a booming community for the greater portion of 100 years.

Lumber was the work word. partment was organized. It was der the contemporary name of Breesport Superette, but its walls have become an integral and Newtown Creeks. It is just north of center of the extreme eaught In the whirl of business the bird's song becomes clear, (be distant barking of a dog blends into a quiet community. fire and lacK of protection over, the years that added greatly to the community's business de But it was left to Joseph Rod- part of the community his tory.

bourn to turn the timber into easterly boundary in the Town of Horseheads. Breesport, having no govern estimated at about 500 persons. Kiernan said there are about 325 homes. cline. This was the former Harding Progress In Breesport is wealth.

In 1857, he constructed the first steam saw mill with Bros. Store. George and Lor marked by a single carpenter Breeesport's business community todav consists of a groc enzo Harding were the chief mental boundaries, has no vil pounding a nail in a new board These are serviced by a post office housed in its own build ery store operated by Richard lage board and only the town competitors of lumber mongul in the renovation of the Methodist Church. Only four new houses one a mobile home have been erected in the ham government to watch over its affairs. Its school became a part of the Horseheads Central School System in 1950 when the central district was organized.

The community, as outlined let this year. Breesport is not a booming tommuniity and its people like 0 Or It's Busy, Small Town (Mri. Swartz hat lived most of her life in Breesport and tervtt at clerk in charge of the Breesport Post Office. She graduated from Breesport High School in 1933 and three yean later received her diploma from the Elmira Business Institute. She it a member of the Breesport Methodist Church and past president of itt Women's Society of Christian SerV' ice.

She is a member of the Southern Light Chapter, Order of Eastern Star, and the Breesport Fire Department Auxiliary.) Xi -mm- JL' PS The hamlet of Breesport a pleasant place to live. I am proud and happy to be able to say I have been a life-long resident here in this quiet and peaceful "smalltown." This is a friendly community. It lies in a rather narrow valley between lovely wooded hills. while people were dancing. The most intriguing of Rod-bourn's enterprises, however, was the Utka, Ithaca and Elmira Railroad.

Rodbourn had entered into the railroad business as a means of moving his lumber. The road was completed in 1871 and through Rodbourn's assist ance the railroad shops were moved from Ithaca to Brees port I In 1883 the shops burned. They were reconstructed at Cortland. The cost of building put the railroad in trouble and in 1884 the road was purchased by Austin Corbin. It became the Elmira, Cortland and Northern.

In 1905, the was taken over by the Lehigh Valley Railroad. Operation was continued until 1938 when the train made its last run to Van Etten. The Rodbourn Enterprises started to decline in the 1880s after an investment in Kentucky timber country fell through. Joseph Rodbourn died in 1894. His interests were taken over by his brother, James H.

Rodbourn, but the empire continued to decline. In the meantime, Adam Kin-ley moved to Breesport in 1871 as an agent for a tanning company. The company burned ia 1884 and was rebuilt. In 1890, Kinley purchased the firm and operated it as Adam Kinley it Sons. The tannery worked closely with the Rodbourn mill having, to purchase tanning baric.

Timber continued ot make its mark on Breesport. But the tanning industry un- der Kinley was short-lived. In 1911, two fires, one in February and the second in May, destroyed the works. Other businesses flourished and then faded into history. Among them besides the Rodbourn House, were: the Breese Hotel and Harding Hotel, the Oxygenated Mineral Springs Co.

and Deep Rock both sold mineral water from Breesport Springs. At least one spring still runs water. Mills and stores, blacksmiths and druggists, wagon shops and a telephone exchange among other businesses had a part ia this community's livelihood. The turn of the century, however, marked the decline of the busy little hamlet and with the discontinuation of the railroad fa 1938, the decline was nearly complete. In 1836, the Chemung County poor house was established on 180 acres of land and it has been located at the site since Swimming hole in Newtown Creek at its confluen ce with Jackson Creek where Breesport began Joseph Rodbourn marker in Breesport Cemetery.

lftJ AT In its hey-day, Breesport was a busy town, deriving its livelihood from the lumbering business and there were several hotels, lumber mills and tanneries here. It was a town able to support two doctors Dr. LaVern Colegrove and Dr. Otis Jake-way. From the beginning we have had a school here.

Today we are proud to be a part of the Horseheads Central School District, an affiliation that has brought us closer to the new concept in education and advancement for our young people. The "old school house" has given way to a newer building complete with cafeteria, gymnasium and all the accoutrements of modern education. This buildine houses MRS. DORIS SWARTZ i Pii flJll Jn 1 i mm, Chemung County Home in Breesport plans are to move. Breesport's modern school part of the Horseheads system.

8 grades and the remainder of the grades and high school students ride the buses to Horseheads Central. Now, with the trend to suburban living, Breesport has become a residential community. We are fortunate to be located within commuting distance of Horseheads and Elmira, where many of our residents are employed and where most of our material needs are met. In spite of our love for suburban living, we do depend on the advantages of our nearby village and cities. These places also furnish us with many of our educational and cultural needs.

We are also in the center of a fine recreational area with lakes, parks and hunting and fishing grounds. There are also fine golf courses practically next door. Breesport has many community organizations. There is a firemen's auxiliary, a Boy Scout troop, a Home Demonstration Unit, a Home Bureau club, hooked rug clubs and craft clubs, Cub Scouts Packs, an active Parent-Teacher organization, 4-H clubs, women's society and missionary groups in both churches and active youth groups in these churches also. The fire department has excellent equipment, having recently purchased a new fire truck.

They own an emergency truck, a tank truck, resuscitator and along with this they have a fine bunch of dedicated volunteer firemen. Needless to say, Breesport was the birthplace of the Chemung County Home and Infirmary and these buildings have stood on the hill overlooking the village for these many, many years. This institution is about the only source of livelihood left in the community and many people in and around Breesport work here as nurses, nurses aids, domestics, maintenance men, etc. We also have a resident osteopath here, Dr. C.

K. Smith, who practices not only in Breesport, but has a large following from the surrounding towns and villages. We are proud to say, too, that Breesport was the birthplace of the late Frank E. Tripp, whose name is synono-mous with The Elmira Star-Gazette. Many descendants of the older settlers and residents still call Breesport their home.

The names Heller, Harding, Hall, Breese and Rodbourne are still heard here. I don't know that anything spectacular has ever happened here; I don't believe we have produced any great world personage neither have we had to my knowledge, any great criminal malefactor or the like. We are simply a small town, but a busy one. This is a place where the young people and the old mix; where family life and traditions are paramount and where good neighbors abound. I am proud to be a part of it And I might add, a town is what you make it that time.

Rodbourn served as superintendent of the poor for 18 years and under his tenure the county home, as it is called today, expanded. Soon, if plans materialize, the county home and infirmary will be located in a bright new building in Heritage Park on Elmira Eastside. The community argued the case for keeping the home when the question arose. Besides the economy provided Breesport area residents who are employed at the home, it was said that the aged and infirm shouldn't be taken from their peaceful surroundings and placed in the middle of the city with its smog and polluted air. But Breesport residents now have resigned themselves to the attitude that their county home will be taken from them in time, perhaps soon.

But they know and will argue that the move is wrong because they are a part of that peaceful II I Nv EC Railroad depot in 1900 (left) ow occupied as a home by Struble family..