About 1880 Dick Howell built a boat, the 'Clayton', with M.E. Sperry. They bought the complete set of patterns from a man in Geneva. "We just laid them on the timber and cut out the pieces", Dick explained. It took all winter to build it on the beach at Ladoga Park near Myers. Reynolds and Lang in Ithaca built the machinery for the 'Clayton' which Dick ran for about ten years.
Some of the boys who left Lansing to fight in World War II in 1941 are: Aub Cratsley,Jr., Don Wagner, Jim Hercinger, Mike Saleem, Jess Solomon, George Issac, Al Kastenboder, Bill Minturn, Bob Cratsley, Bud Holden, Ed Kowalski. They are pictured in front of The Corner Cupboard as they wait for the bus to take them to the camp where they would be given physicals and be inducted into service for their country.
Algerine Road was probably named for an Algerine, or one who acted 'like an Algerine pirate', referring to the Barbary pirates from Algiers on Africa's North Coast. The use of this term in Lansing surely implied that the people living on Algerine Road were thought to act illegally. Before the road took the name Algerine, it was known as Cooney.
The N.N.P. Lyceum, a study group in Lansing, presented a program January 6, 1869 on the resolution "That the right of suffrage should be extended to women." After an interesting debate, listened to by an appreciative audience, the judges decided that "woman now occupied her proper sphere." This decision brought a fiery criticism from Mary A. Wager, a newspaper writer from New York City. She described herself as being a "Tompkins County Child" as she had been born on Algerine Road. She said, "It is a pity that that humble village could not be scooped up out of the hollow in which it grovels and be set upon a hill where the sunlight of progress and common sense could vitalize it."
Through thick and thin, winter cold and summer heat, Everett V. Nobles for 42 years carried rural mail out of the Ludlowville Post Office until December 1, 1955, when he retired. He had seen his route grow from 20 miles in 1913 to 68 miles at his retirement. In 1953, when additions were added to his route, he covered more miles than any other carrier in the state. He estimated he traveled a total of some 650,000 miles, leaving mail at 350 roadside boxes. He started his rounds with horses and even after he got a car in 1914, he relied on his horses during the winter months.
Lansingville was first known as Teetertown, named after Conrad Teeter who came here around 1807 to join his brother, Peter Teeter, who came in 1795. Conrad had tavern there which made it a 'town center'. When the tavern was sold in 1828, the name was changed to Lansingville. The first Teeter to arrive here was Henry Teeter who came in 1791. He also built a tavern, but it burned in the spring of 1804. His wife was consumed in the flames and Henry died about six months later from injuries sustained in the fire.
In the early 1800's Daniel Buck traded a red shirt and a yoke of oxen to his brother-in-law, Rufus Herrick for Military Lot # 80 in the Town of Milton. A Military Lot was 600 acres of land, so that was a pretty good deal, I would say. Daniel helped to to build Dug Road down to Ludlowville which was the nearest market. Since Lot # 80 is over by the intersection of VanOstrand and Buck Road that would be a pretty long road to dig! But with this road they could draw four-foot lumber to Ludlowville and sell it for 50 cents a cord.
Tilman Bower and his wife came here in 1794 and settled on the Lansingville Road one quarter mile south of the Old German School, which was also used as church on Sundays. This was a common practice in pioneer days. The Old German Cemetery is behind this small original school/church building located very near the Groton town line. Of his sons, John and Honteeter settled near their father, but Samuel, Adam, and George made their homes across Salmon Creek near North Lansing.
In North Lansing the Methodist and Baptist churches united to build a church which was to be dedicated at a special meeting. Some of the Methodists had a meeting (unknown to the Baptists) and dedicated the church as a Methodist one. Things remained this way for a while, then the Baptists withdrew and built their own church. This split the congregation, even families, as each member attended his or her own church.
There is a house in North Lansing that once held the first telephone exchange. The telephone service was established in 1902 by Rudolphus Miller and was known as the Farmer and Village Telephone Company. It was discontinued when Bell Telephone bought Miller out. The telephone operators ran the exchange from the second floor of the house.
The Cayuga Lake Railroad was chartered in 1867. Contracts for construction were let in 1871. Building the track brought in many laborers, and the foreman of this section was Frank Gallagher. Gallagher's Pond, the marina in Myers Park, is dedicated to him. In 1872 the first train rocked its way from Athens, PA to Cayuga Village. Foreclosures in 1874 and again in 1877 caused the road to be sold to the Geneva, Ithaca, and Sayre RR, a part of the Lehigh Valley RR system.
In 1794 Samuel Baker brought his family from Peekskill to Lunenberg by sloop, and by bateau up the Mohawk River to Oneida Lake, thence up the Seneca River and Cayuga Lake to land at Heddens Point (Lake Ridge). From there they trudged up the hill to Teetertown (Lansingville) to the cabin which he had prepared for them in 1793.