Wayne County Life

An automobile passenger of mine recently presented an interesting observation while passing through downtown Newark on Main Street. My observer noticed that the current En Vogue Salon storefront occupies the self-identified "Pollock Building" and consequently posed the following question out-loud: "I wonder what this used to be?". What is the history of the Pollock Building?

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The new Chimney Bluffs State Park picnic area seemed to pop up out of nowhere just a few years ago--was anything there previously?

An apple orchard. It must have been Freer's. Of course, I wish it still was an apple orchard!

Freer? Was his a familiar name in Huron prior to today's "big dairies"?

There was more than one Freer doing farming in the area. I think there was a brother on East Bay Road between Slaght and Lummisville. The Freer on Garner Rd. had cattle which UT & I  observed on our annual walk to the Chimneys and, being the closest farm, I always just assumed they owned the orchard. Their house (quite nice) and farm buildings were burned down by the DEC (probably a Wolcott FD controlled burn). They had a scarecrow carbide cannon on a wagon in the field at the right angle turn on Garner Rd. which went off periodically and we could hear it at the Bluff. A lot of memories. So, I'll never be able to completely accept the paved parking lot with the invasion of "outsiders!"---At least Gustav Pankratz' house still looks about the same. The "corduroy" road comes out just about directly in back of it as you know.---Now I'm thinking of the time UT & I found cow skulls in the woods near the curve about where we were skiing last winter!

So that--where you found the cow skulls--was near the current "Garner Point" trail at the Chimney Bluffs State Park, then? I think you mentioned that point on Lake Ontario by some other name...

The skulls were in the woods west of the right-angle turn on Garner Road. The little bluff was most recently known as Chase's Bluff, but, going back, it was known as Cosad's Bluff. (Why? Because Cosads owned the farm---I don't know who the Chases were.)

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What is the story behind the naming of "Blue Cut" Nature Center on Rt. 31, east of Newark?

From Sheldon King:

When the New York Central went through this area, (1853) in order to avoid the drumlins, but still enter Lyons north of the Erie, a substantial cut was made in the drumlin that exists by Fink Rd. The soil was heavy in a bluish clay, hence the name "The Blue Cut".

In 1906-1907 the trolley bridge over the New York Central was dubbed the "blue cut" bridge. Blue Cut Road runs from Rt. 31 west into Newark. Later the blue cut bridge was converted from trolley traffic to accommodate the new state route 20, now Rt. 31.

From Fred Rollins:

The name "Blue Cut" dates back to the year 1853 when they were building what was known for many years as the New York Central Railroad between Syracuse and Rochester.  In the section between Newark and Lyons, a cut had to be made through a drumlin to give the railroad an even grade.

The Vernon Shale (dates to the Late Silurian geological period) in this drumlin had a bluish cast when exposed, hence it was a "Blue Cut" made for the railroad.  I have seen a postcard that shows this area and calls it the "New Cut"--obviously somebody was hard of hearing or the name got lost in the translation... 

By the way, the Blue Cut Rochester, Syracuse & Eastern bridge was in the same location as the new Route 31 bridge in that area.  Next time you drive from Newark to Lyons on Route 31, you can imagine that you are in a trolley car - it is virtually the same route.

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When driving through the west end of Newark on Route 31, there is a sign marking the plaza behind McDonald's, Mark's Pizzeria, and Tom Wahl's. The name of that plaza is Cannery Row. What is the origin of that name? Is the Erie Canal significant in the history of those buildings?

Newark Firm Lasts 100 Years. 

"Without a doubt, the most illustrious of all New York State cannery firms," was the way Edgett-Burnham Co. was described in a 1960 anniversary booklet published by the New York State Canner's and Freezers Assoc. 

Newark's Edgett-Burnham canning company was founded in 1863 as the Wayne County Preserving Co. by Ezra Edgett of Camden, New York. 

Everything was local then and crops were grown mostly on the factory farm, now site of the Newark Plaza, or purchased from area farmers. Featured were fruits, vegetables, and--it is said--even canned turkey and geese for civil war troops.   

The factory was located at what was then the western edge of the village of Newark and employed many seasonal workers.   

By 1889 Ezra Edgett had passed away and E.K. Burnham, local attorney joined the firm, helping Edgett's widow Harriett run the company. In 1908, the firm was incorporated as the Edgett-Burnham Company and E.K. Burnham's son had joined the firm. 

Edgett-Burnham was located first on the Erie Canal and later the enlarged Barge Canal. The waterway served the firm for shipping and receiving as did the West Shore Railroad that followed the route of the canal through Newark. Business was prosperous through two world wars and the early 1950's, with the company producing canned goods under their labels Faultless, Wayne, Winsom, West Shore, as well as Burnham and Newark brands. By the middle 50's only contract canning was done, packing corn, peas, beans and beets for large supermarkets and putting the customer's labels on the product.

By the 1960's, any company doing business on or using the canal for dumping of waste water, found that times were changing. Regulations by New York State would require the building of expensive pre-treatment facilities. Edgett-Burnham Co. was sold to Perfection Foods who operated the firm until 1973. The entire parcel and buildings then passed to Rodney Graybill who developed the property, selling off parcels for a McDonalds, and other stores and developed the plant into Cannery Row Plaza.

  

Photo: "Gene" Flynn, grandfather of John Zornow, is shown at his roll top desk in about 1915 at the entrance to the Edgett Burnham plant. The desk still exists, owned by John Murphy of Grant Street in Newark.

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Are there any known buildings or routes in Newark that were associated with the Underground Railroad?

I have an idea in the back of my mind that I've heard something about the former Blue Brick Inn on Miller St., next to old Middle School having some relevant history...I think it was a Kelley property.

The only mention of an "underground railroad" stop that I ever heard of was the Bartle cobblestone mansion on West Miller St., torn down to build what is now Kelley School. Stories had slaves hidden in attic where secret Masonic meetings had been held before that. There was even talk of records of such events being hidden in the pillars of the mansion.

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