(Longtime Elmira Star-Gazette history columnist Jim Hare died in March at age 79. We are publishing his final history columns in tribute to his contributions and at the request of his family.)
Recently a representative of the “Haunted History Trail of New York State” website visited Elmira. The website features “spooky locations, including historic sites, haunted inns … restaurants to cemeteries and abandoned spots.”
While here they visited the city’s Woodlawn Cemetery and the Ill Eagle Taphouse located in the historic Federal Building on the corner of E. Church St. and the Clemens Center Parkway. The Federal Building was built in 1902 as a U.S. Post Office and Courthouse. Apparently, because the building was once used as a police evidence holding area, storing crucial evidence from some of the county’s most notorious unsolved murder cases, there are reports that it is “haunted.”
The cornerstone of the Federal Building was laid on Thursday, April 3, 1902 “with most solemn and impressive ceremonies, founded upon the historic building of King Solomon’s Temple.” (Elmira Daily Advertiser April 4, 1902). Upon completion the building was “pronounced by those who have inspected it to be the most complete in every detail of any building of its kind in the United States. Certain it is that it would be hard to conceive of a building whose purpose it is to minister to business needs of men more beautiful in detail and more grand in its entirety.
“The death of what is called by architects ‘The architectural spirit’ is being mourned throughout the country. It may be that the spirit is dying but if the new federal building is this city is not a sign of breath upon the mirror of time, one does not care if it dies or not.” (Elmira Daily Gazette and Free Press, Sept. 2, 1903)
Elmira’s first post office was opened in 1801 for what was then the Village of Newtown. It was a houselike structure located on the riverbank near Fox Street. “The post office followed a zig-zag pattern in its migration from the river bank to its present location (703 E. Water St.) When carrier service was established … during President Grant’s administration, the post office was in the Rathbun House on Baldwin St. It was moved to the Masonic Temple (current county office building at the corner of Lake and Market Streets) in 1880 and to the Federal Building in 1903 (Elmira Star Gazette, June 11, 1950). The original building was demolished in June of 1950.
The laying of the cornerstone for the Federal Building was a major event. The newspaper noted that “what will probably be one of the most important and interesting ceremonies that the public of this city has been permitted to witness in years … will be the official laying of the cornerstone … and the interesting ceremony will be carried out with elaborate detail by the united Masonic bodies of the city under the direction of an emergent grand lodge especially convened for the occasion. (Elmira Daily Gazette and Free Press, April 2, 1902)
“The members of the craft gathered at the temple corner of Lake and East Market streets (the Masonic Temple was the current county office building) and marched to the scene of the ceremonies … After donning the regalia and fraternity symbols, the masons headed by Mulcare’s Elmira band, escorted the Emergent Grand Lodge to the scene … The procession was an imposing one although there was a total absence of pretentious display. The character of the membership, the officers, the dignity of the presence of the Grand Lodge representative and the solemn nature of the important business at hand gave the beholders an impression which was evidenced in their respectful interest and conduct.” (Elmira Daily Advertiser, April 4, 1902)
It was estimated that 300-350 participated in the procession.
A “handsome sterling silver trowel” was presented to the Frank Hurd Robinson, the senior grand warden. The presentation was a necessary part of the ceremonies as it would be used to spread the mortar. (Elmira Daily Gazette and Free Press, April 4, 1902)
The post office would occupy all of the ground floor and part of the basement. The United States court room and the offices of the United States marshal, United States commissioner and various government officials of the district would be located on the second and third floors. The last office to be occupied would be the office of the collector of internal revenue.
“On the thirteenth hour of the thirteenth day of the month the local government officials formally established the Elmira post office in the new federal building … Postmaster D. M. Pratt personally raising the American flag over the government building at 1 o’clock Sunday afternoon signifying that the post office had been transferred to that place.” (Elmira Daily Gazette and Free Press, Sept. 14, 1903)
In 1983 the building was acquired by Mark Twain Properties, the real estate branch of Streeter Associates. Peg Gallagher of the Star Gazette wrote in an article in May of 1984, “If the secret passageways and spiral staircases from your childhood literature still fascinates you, the old Elmira Post Office currently being renovated for office space, would be the playhouse of your dreams … The new owners are finding that the building is a preservationist’s delight, honeycombed with hidden corridors, and filled with such turn-of-the-century niceties as marble walls and columns, terrazzo floors and elaborate carved oak trimming … The hidden passageways, with one-way mirrors that look out on the workers, have captured the imagination of the workmen as well as the owners.” The workmen hoped to “preserve some of the architectural gems. For example, the Italian renaissance style courtroom on the second floor, reached by climbing the massive marble staircase with its carved marble rail …” (Elmira Star Gazette, May 28, 1984)
According to the “Daily Gazette and Free Press” in an article dated April 4, 1902, the approximate value of the Federal Building was $231,000 (which would be about $8,700,000 in 2026 dollars). The paper also noted that Elmira City Hall, built in 1895, had an approximate cost of $150,000 ($5,800,000 in 2026 dollars.)
This article originally appeared on Elmira Star-Gazette: The interesting, some say haunted history of Elmira’s Federal Building
Reporting by Jim Hare, Special to the Star-Gazette / Elmira Star-Gazette
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