Stories – Fair Haven History

Timco Dog and Cat Food

Listen to these two Timco Radio Commercials from October 1, 1959

Timco Commercial 1 – Conversation between Fido and Tabby

Timco Commercial 2 – Cat and Dog Food

Timco History from the Red Creek Herald 1947

“Yum, yum, ain’t this the eats that tastes so good and makes your coat sleek and shiny and, better’n all else, you feel so wonderful that you can run all day and never feel tired.”

“You know that is just the way I feel about it, too. Mistress just looks and looks at me a dozen times a day and I hear her say repeatedly, ‘You’ve got the most beautiful coat I have ever seen.’ And she doesn’t have any trouble any more making me eat. This is great and I feel so peppy that I can play all day without feeling the least bit tired. It sure is easy eating.”

This conversation took place between Fido and Tabby in most any household in eastern United States. They had been puppy and kitten together, pals right up through the growing stage until now in adulthood they were still the firmest friends.

They were standing opposite each other before a dish that held the world famous “Timco,” the dog and cat food that is manufactured in the Raymond Timerson plant at Fair Haven. “Let’s fall to,” said Tabby. “It’s a go,” replied Fido. And thus they were off on their evening meal which they downed with extreme relish.

This “Timco,” ladies and gentlemen, is something comparatively new as food for pet animals and the way it is selling is evidence enough that Timerson has something that is tops in its field.

He developed the formula and started production in a small way. Due to the scarcity of tin all pet foods through 1946 were packed in glass jars. Many of the large meat packers who had dominated the dog food market refused to pack in glass, thus the demand for the product “Timco” was more than Timerson could supply. The buildings between North Victory and Martville were enlarged and equipment was added thereby increasing the output to 2,000 dozen jars per day. Eighty-five employees were given steady employment and still the demand far exceeded the amount produced. On Feb. 13, 1947 a fire that was started by an acetlyne torch swept the plant completely destroying it.

That was something of a jolt to Mr. Timerson but far from a defeat. He lost no time in renting a canning plant at Pennellville and he whipped it into shape so that in about six weeks it was producing “Timco.”

Immediately he set about making plans for a new modern plant that would produce this high quality product in increased quantity. He chose a site at Fair Haven along the Lehigh Valley sidings where he has access to the one water supply that the village boasts. Construction was pushed ahead rapidly and the new plant went into production Aug. 11 last. According to canning perts the new plant is a model of ingenuity, exploiting every opportunity for efficient operation and mass production. This plant is now producing some 40,000 cans per day with ample space for increasing production to 100,000 cans per day.

The building is of cement block construction and stands parallel to the railroad and 10 feet from it. It has a floor space of 10,000 square feet and adjacent cooling tanks, disposal plant, fuel supply tanks, etc. It is complete in every detail. The surrounding terrain has been neatly graded, a welcome change from the swamp hole and wooded patch which was anything but attractive.

During the past three months production and sales have doubled any previous like period. Now with some 400 wholesale distributors, 100,000 retail outlets and quite possibly many millions of satisfied individual purchasers, this North Country can look forward to a successful manufacturing enterprise that will endure for many, many years.

Fourth of July Parade

The following information on 19th Century Fourth of July celebrations in Fair Haven was provided by John Duda.

The parade goes back at least into the 1880’s, when it was known as the “fusileer’s parade.”

A description of the celebrations from the 1880’s relates that, in addition to the fusileer’s parade, they also had a yacht race, a reading of the Declaration of Independence, baseball games, and bicycle races, horse races, and of course fireworks, during which a band concert was held on the hotel lawn. It was known as the “fusileer’s parade” until at least 1911. Continue reading “Fourth of July Parade”

The Imperial Grounds at Harrison Point

This jog in the bay’s shoreline became known as Harrison Point when Hannah and Henry Harrison purchase the Octagon House farm from the estate of Samuel Wells in 1878.

Continue reading “The Imperial Grounds at Harrison Point”

An Autumn Day on Chrysler’s Bluff

by Reverend George Lansing Taylor
This article from the Auburn Daily Bulletin, December 16, 1873
was contributed by John Duda.

In a recent issue of the New York Christian Advocate, the Rev. Geo. Lansing Taylor gives a charming description of a day spent on Chrysler’s Bluffs, in the vicinity of Little Sodus Bay, on Lake Ontario.

Mr. Taylor, who is a graceful poet and prose writer, as well as preacher, grew up from boyhood to manhood in the town of Sterling, in this county. Last October he spent several days amid the old scenes, giving one whole day to a ramble on the lake shore, among haunts of his boyhood. His description of the visit is a beautiful word-picture, and moreover possesses local interest, though we presume few of our readers were even aware so charming a locality lay within the borders of our county.

Mr. Taylor describes his adventures as follows :

On the morning of the 18th of October [1873], Jacob Chrysler, Esq., of Fair Haven, drove me in his buggy from Fair Haven, some five miles, by roads familiar to my memory, past well-known farms and old houses, past “M.Knight’s red school house,” whence several of my schoolmates Continue reading “An Autumn Day on Chrysler’s Bluff”

Central Hall

Contributed by John Duda

Here, you are sitting on the porch of the Maplewood Inn, which was located where the village park is located nowadays. Across the street you can see the building known as Central Hall, which was located on the corner of Main and Richmond, where the parking lot for the grocery store and the ice cream stand are now located.
Continue reading “Central Hall”

Zip Northrup in Fair Haven

The subject of the 2013 Academy Award winning Best Picture is the kidnapping of Solomon Northup (also spelled Northrup and Northrop by some family members). Northup had been born a “free man of color” in upstate New York. He was a well educated, talented violinist who was abducted in 1841, transported to Louisiana and sold into slavery. The film is based on his 1853 autobiographical book titled Twelve Years A Slave. In January 1853 friends in Saratoga, New York received intelligence regarding Solomon’s whereabouts and, with the help of New York Governor Washington Hunt, arranged for his freedom. The story of his ordeal and survival fascinated readers at the time as well as preserving a firsthand account of the slaveholder practices in that era of America’s history. Continue reading “Zip Northrup in Fair Haven”

1908 Grant Block Fire

On Valentines Day, 1900 Frank and Jenny Longley purchased lots 39 and 40 at the northwest corner of Main and Lake Streets. Longley’s Market opened there a short time later. In the building immediately adjacent to it Herb and Minnie Grant opened a soda fountain, confectionery, and pool hall. The families lived in the apartments above their stores.

circa 1904 – Floyd Clark erected the tall flagpole in front of his hardware store in honor Theodore Roosevelt’s 1904 campaign for president. On the left is Longley’s Market. The Grant store and apartment are immediately adjacent to the Longelys.

Leon Lindsley was a meat cutter in Frank Longley‘s meat market. On October 8, 1904 Leon married Frank’s daughter, Maud.

Herbert Lindsley, Leon’s brother, was the manager of the Hotel Dietel, until he served two undercover excise agents whiskey Continue reading “1908 Grant Block Fire”

1955 Fire

Just before midnight on Saint Patrick’s Day, March 17, 1955 Harold Wallace smelled smoke. He and his family were living above the store he owned on Main Street at the corner of Fancher Avenue. Today this is the location of new store he built after the fire.

Continue reading “1955 Fire”

1918 Spanish Flu Pandemic

Documentary on the 1918 Influenza Pandemic

Current events seem to bring history closer to home, as does walking through one month in Fair Haven during the 1918 influenza pandemic.

Would we now be better prepared had we been more aware of our grandparents’ personal experiences one hundred years ago?

My grandfather’s first cousin, Libby Hills, grew up in North Fair Haven. She died from influenza at age 24, leaving her husband with two small children to raise. The names below are those I found today. In addition, Continue reading “1918 Spanish Flu Pandemic”

Loyal Order of Liars and Loafers

Story telling is as old as language. And with each telling, over days or generations, the details are inevitably, inadvertently (or advertently) more vividly recalled. The fish that got away became larger and larger in the retelling of the tale.

In Fair Haven, George Adams and Alex Campbell were among the many veterans of the Grand Army of the Republic with Civil War tales to tell around the potbelly stove at Ben Hill’s barbershop or Mendel’s shoe store.

W. Roy Maynard’s **Fair Haven Garage**, infamous hangout of the LOOLAL gang.

As a boy born in 1900, Ray Sant greatly enjoyed listening to these storytellers. He also enjoyed sharing what he’d heard with others, as he did in his books, Fair Haven Folks and Folklore and Trails, Sails and Rails where he tells us, “The veterans were in time succeeded about the stove by George Chappel, Bill Corkery and Ed Mendel.”

The Fair Haven Garage on Main Street was purchased by W. Roy Maynard in 1927. Over the following years the bench in front of the garage became a favorite place where one might pass away an afternoon listening to a colorful yarn or the recounting of a true story. This became known as the Liars and Loafers Bench. Continue reading “Loyal Order of Liars and Loafers”