1855 Masonic Hall

This page is a study of this picture - research on who the people might have been and who the people were and what was going on here at the time....

1855 Masonic Hall - E. Miner's Block - etching by E.K Hough Daguerrean Artist over B Hodskin's Store

(The FIRST or SECOND Miner Block)

CW (or GW) Goodrich Dry Goods - WC Cooke's Law Office - Cadwell & Goodno - Tinware (Miners Block is where Pearls Store was on the corner of Main and Court St.)

St. Lawrence Plaindealer 1860 - Cook offices at Miner's Block - corner of Main & Court St

History of Miner Block

Before Miner Block was here, this was the site of the first school in Canton started in 1804. Read more here: http://history.rays-place.com/ny/canton-3-ny.htm "The first school was taught in a small house situated on the site of the present Miner block"

From an article dated 1928 by Richard C Ellsworth "The Village of Canton as it Appeared a Century Ago"....recollections of Canton in 1828....regarding this site where Miner Block was "All of the stores were on the north side of main street, and there was a two-story wooden building across from the new Hotel" (The American Hotel). So it appears that before the 3 story building depicted below, there was a previous 2 story wooden building which may have been the school, or the first version of Miner Block or both.....

Plaindealer:

Canton Commercial Advertiser 1835:

Canton Plaindealer 1939:

According to "History of St Lawrence Co. NY" LH Everts, Philadelphia 1878 - pg 218-219

"Before 1858, Ebenezer Miner put up a small hall, which was destroyed by fire that year and rebuilt by Mr. Miner, and again destroyed. (Based on the dates, this would be the building in the etching above) In 1871, Mr. Miner erected the present Miner block, corner of Court and Main streets, a brick building 58 by 80 feet, 3 stories height. The upper floor furnishes a hall fitted up with a stage with a seating capacity of 500 persons - cost $20,000." (Photo at bottom of page)

Click here to see a list of major fires in Canton's history.

Gouverneur Press 1882:

Articles from the Canton Commercial Advertiser:

Canton Commercial Advertiser 1935:

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Names Depicted in this Print

CW Goodrich may be Collins W Goodrich from Gouverneur b 1801 in Swanton Vt. Rootsweb has him married to Mary Van Duzee. Family search has him married to Mary Sackrider. Birth date is 1797. There are many Goodrichs from Gouverneur with Allen (sp?) Goodrich appearing as early as the 1810 census. Also click here:

http://www.fcpfc.com/NYVictorian/van_duzee_history.htm

Charles W Goodrich also from Gouverneur b 1797 d 1857

click here for Riverside cemetery:

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~stlawgen/CEMETERY/GRiverside/GRiversideE.HTM

(note there is a G.W.T gravestone in the Goodrich plot at Riverside Cemetery)

Go back to the Home page, click on Gouverneur Photos. You will find the location of CW Goodrich's home on the 1858 map.

William Bingham Goodrich

Click here to read about this Civil War Hero. He was a Canton attorney who was part owner of the Plaindealer with Seth Remington and he organized the 60th New York Regiment to fight in the Civil War. He took a bullet in the heart at the Battle of Antietam in the bloody corn field. Goodrich Street is named after him. He is buried in Green Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn and has the Masonic emblem engraved on his tomb. I have placed more Goodrich family members on this page as well:

John T Goodrich was the Universalist Church minister 1849-1854 in Canton. One article I read said he was rumored to have perished in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.

1858 Map show WB Goodrich residence on Court Street, another on Judson Street (next to the jail) where he lives, Reverend JT Goodrich on Court Street and a GW Goodrich on State Street. GW Goodrich is listed on this map under Reference as "Dry Goods". This would be the GW Dry Goods store we see in the picture at the top of this page.

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WC Cooke - William C - listed on the 1873/4 Child's Gazeteer Individual directory as Attorney also listed in 1860 Canton Census

From a 1921 Plaindealer article - "Days when Oil was Milled in Canton - Story of another Stillman Foote Industry" - a story about a Linseed Oil factory in 1823 on a site later occupied by Storrs foundry -later bought by Harry Smith. "William C Cooke, then a boy in his teens, lost his right arm in an accident. His right hand got caught into the gears and by the time Smith could get to the controls, his arms had been caught to the shoulder joint and was starting to take hold of his head. His arm hung like a ribbon when released and was amputated at the shoulder joint and in a few months....bright and cheerful as he had been before his frightful accident. He learned to write a beautiful hand with his left hand, and after completing a thorough academic course, studied law, and became of of the brightest lawyers in the county dying about forty years ago. Mr. Cooke was in the late years of his life the senior member of the firm of Cooke, Chamberlain & Keeler with offices in Miner Block now occupied by Lawrence Russell"...."

From Canton Commercial Advertiser 1939:

(....and that's how THAT Canton Tradition got started!)

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1860 Canton Census pg 0218 - lists LS Goodno, 49 yrs old, Merchant from Vt. - lives at the SP Jackman Hotel across the street.

1880 Canton Census - LS Goodno 69 yrs old b 1811 born in Vt - Fire & Life Insurance Agent, (father from NH, mother from Mass) & Maria Goodno 64 from Vt live at a hotel. Hotel Keeper is Orson O Wheeler.

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1850 Canton Census pg 301a has Theodore Caldwell, age 48 from Mass as a Merchant, wife Harriett 46, children Charles 6, Theodore 2, Moody Ames 21 Laborer and Maria Billings 20. They live next to Ebenezer Miner.

1860 Canton Census pg 0222 lists Theo. Caldwell, as a farmer

1880 Canton Census - lists Theodore Caldwell in Canton with wife Harriett - Grocer age 78.

Theodore Caldwell - Rootsweb link: http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=dubam&id=I4980 (also listed in www.familysearch.com) Born March 23, 1802 in Colrain, Franklin Ma, dies March 1, 1882 buried in Evergreen Cemetery, Canton, NJ. First wife Perlina Davis married Oct 1, 1833 in Whiringham Vt ........ second wife Harriet Hawly b 1804 Canton, NY - children Harry, Charles & Theodore born in Canton NY.

Old Plaindealer Articles : Theodore Caldwell born in 1802 in Colrain Mass. Father & Grandfather fought in the Revolutionary War - moved to Heuvelton and then to Canton in 1837. Established a Foundry on Water Street (Riverside Drive) - Was in the Grocery business - occupied the building that is the First National Bank - was instrumental in the founding of SLU - sons had a grocery business on corner of Hodskins and Main St.

E.K. Hough This may possibly be Eugene K. Hough son of Erastus A Hough who died in Potsdam July 11, 1860. Erastus & wife Susan Pierce had 4 children - Eugene K., Sylvester E., Lydia C., Mary B. By 1880 E.K. is in Trinidad West Indies with his wife. The Rootsweb link on EK Hough & family is: http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=craigsharrow&id=I466291

Canton Commercial Advertiser 1921:

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Canton - Mason Information

According to "Our County & It's People" by D Mason, edited by Gates Curtis, The masons were very prominent in SLC. They mentioned Canton's first lodge no 325 warranted in 1819. The St Lawrence Lodge 111 was granted a warrant in 1846 and then The Royal Arc or Ancient Craft Masonry chapter opened in 1848 with Dr. Elijah Baker, High Priest, Daniel Mack as King and Paul Boynton as scribe. The Independent Order of Odd Fellows was also established in 1848.The Knights Templars of St Lawrence Commandery KT no 28 was organized under dispensation in Canton July 1858. According to this book" The dispensation was granted to Darius Clark EC; William H Sawyer G; Amasa O Brown CG,. The dispensation was continued the 2nd year when at the annual meeting of the Grand Encampment in Sept 1859 a warrant was granted them. On the 11th of Feb 1860 the records were destroyed by fire. Again on Aug 5,1870 the asylum was destroyed by fire including the Charter. A second warrant was granted Oct 1872..."

According to Carl M. Witherbee's Reminiscences of the Village of Canton, (1980, pp.86-90.):

"The clothing store, as well as the dry goods store adjoining, comprised the Miner Block. It, no doubt, was built by Ebenezer Miner, from whom Miner Street got its name. There were offices in front of the second floor and a large stage and dance floor on the third floor. The Miner Block became the property of the Masonic Temple Building Association. The Masons, Eastern Star and Amaranth used as much of the dance floor on the third floor as they needed for a lodge room, and the balance for a reception room and storage. On the second floor, they had a large kitchen and dining room. They also had club rooms equipped with card tables and billiard and pool tables. They leased the stores on the first floor for income. After many years the membership thought it best to dispose of so large a building, and the fine new Masonic Temple was built on the Ogdensburg Road and first occupied in 1959. Before the block was taken over by the Masons, the second floor was occupied by several lawyers." The Storr's Clothing Store rented the first floor for several years.

"The Masons disposed of the block to a small department store chain called Pearl's. "The various Masonic bodies occupied the third floor for probably more than 50 years."

"On the walls of the Masonic lodge room, are murals in nearly life size. There are many depictions that emphasize the ritualistic teachings of Masonry. It is regrettable that Masons and others cannot view it."

(Dr. James Milford Payson's The Story of a North Country Town 1931 Chapter XVIII)

"...a history of the Miner Hall, with its accessory rooms, occupied the entire upper floor, and was by far the largest hall in Canton. When the hall was finished in 1871; its opening was celebrated with a grand ball..."

"Well, Miner Hall has gone, never to return. When a few years ago the Masons bought the old block and spent thousands of dollars upon it, they completely destroyed the identity of the second and third stories, but with the result that it is one of the most finely equipped Masonic temples in the state."

St. Lawrence Plaindealer Feb 24, 1892:

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Ebenezer Miner came from Addison Vt. He passed through Massena first. His wife was Eliza T Campbell.

Ebenezer Miner built the Miner Block THREE times after it burned twice...

New (Third) Miner Block 1905

Article from 1921 - from Canton Free Library web site - Scrapbook link - includes the history of Miner Hall and history about the stores in Miner Block: