Curtis & Clark Plots: 1833-35
iles Benham very evidently acquired his 14 acres to sell it as quickly and profitably as possible. In 1833 he sold a lot on the corner of what was then a new street called "Center Street" to Samuel F. Curtis, who was looking for a less cramped location for his chair factory. This was Curtis' third location in Penn Yan, and the one he used the longest. The lot was only 35 feet wide on Main Street, but extended back a long way and then joined another of Curtis' lots, making nearly an acre in all.
He built a five-story wooden building there, on the southeast corner of what is now Clinton and Main Streets, within sight of the property farther down the hill where he built his own elegant dwelling, which is still standing. He built furniture, primarily chairs, in the factory, and apparently not only made a very good living, but was one of the village's most popular and influential citizens.
Only two years after he sold Curtis his lot, Benham sold the plot immediately to the south of the chair factory lot to John Clark. It had a much wider frontage on Main Street - 158 feet. A cluster of industrial buildings went up, at least two blacksmith's shops, a wagon factory and a facility to repair the vehicles.
On the night of July 3, 1867, all these and Curtis' factory went up in flames. The fire was said to have started in the blacksmith shop owned by George W. Johnson, but whatever the cause the destruction was complete. Clark's plot was divided into three residential dwelling lots, and Curtis' stood empty for several years until the Episcopal Church was built there.
The area colored yellow in the above shows the Curtis chair factory lot on the corner, and the three lots south of it that are now residential, but for much of the mid-19th century were industrial.
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This group of lots became an industrial center, with Samuel F. Curtis' chair factory on the corner, and three other lots full of iron-forging, wagon building and repair.
