Pulteney Park

  History

Pulteney Park

            Pulteney Park is the original village green at the center of Geneva, as surveyed and laid out in 1794. By the year 1800, the Geneva Hotel, the post office, a grocery store, and the Geneva Academy stood around the village green overlooking the lake. About 50 students may have attended school, and on alternate Sundays people gathered in the schoolhouse to listen to the Reverend Mr. Chapman preach.

            In the 1820s the row houses were built with shops in many of tem. The public square, as it became known, was used as a place for horses, wagons, and stagecoaches to “park” when people were in Geneva transacting business. In 1825 the square was conveyed to the village of Geneva and the trustees encircled it with a “quaint ornamental wooden fence.” In June of that year, the square was the scene of the official welcome of General La Fayette. A reviewing stand, supported by columns and decorated with flowers, was built. Speeches were read, songs were sung, and ladies leaned out of the windows waving white handkerchiefs.

            During the 1820s, as the last row houses were being built, businesses began shifting to the waterfront and the public square suffered from lack of maintenance. “Cows, dogs, horses, and the family wash line were frequent occurrences.” In 1874, a group of ladies formed the Village Improvement Association, directed construction, and installed a fountain in the square. In 1879, when the ladies work was completed, the public square was officially named Pulteney Park by the village officials.

            The 20th Century has brought war memorials to the park like the pool and statue, Peace, in the center, and the granite WWII memorial on the south side.

  Velocipedes in Pulteney Park, 1879

  Additional Photo's

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Tour Directory:

Start Tour

380 South Main Street

388 Ludlow House

394 & 398, 400 & 402

Pulteney Park

2-4,6,8 & 10 Park Place

First Presbyterian Church

Pulteney Apartments

46, 48 & 50 Park Place

52 Park Place

56 & 58 Park Place

484 South Main Street

490,494 & 496

498 Scott-Reed House

512 Dove House

Trinity Church

528 Trinity Church Rectory

562 Chapman House

574 Webster House

584 Schermerhorn House

600 Watson-Chew House

606 Rumney-Stoddard House

616 Schermerhorn-De Lancey

St. John's Chapel

Geneva Hall

690 Presidents' House

731 Irving House

775 Kendall-Webster House

789 Cutbush House

803 Adams House

815 Campbell-Swift House

839 Clark-Schieffelin House

859 Clark House

The Garden Lots

639 Durfee House

629 Bradford House

583 Balmano Cottage

561 Italian Villa

549 Woods Cottage

543 Prouty-Chew House

533 Whiting House

Row Houses

485-487 Wilson-White House

483 Yeomans House

477-479 South Main Street

475,473, & 471

469 South Main Street

459 Collins Music Hall

437 & 435

399 Holt and Chidsey Store

387, 391 & 395

365 & 369

361 First Methodist Church

 

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Written by: Corrine Stoewsand Carey,  Historic Photo's Provided by: Geneva Historical Society