The Alvord House at Sehr Park

The Alvord House at Sehr Park. . , HISTORY , The Alvord House is located in Fred Sehr Memorial Park at 399 Marsden Road, Syracuse, NY 13208 within the Lyncourt neighborhood on the east side of the Town of Salina. According to The Review (D) dated January 12, 1977 stated that the property was originally owned and built by Dioclesian Alvord, a prominent businessman involved in the area's salt industry. It identifies the field stone farmhouse [Alvord House] was built around the mid 1830s with relatedarm outbuildings. In 1976 the Alvord House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP Listing #76001257), identifying the building's historical significance as American rural agriculture that functioned as a domestic, single dwelling between 1825 and 1849. The 1974 pictures on the right (B and C) were included in the NRHP Application; B is of the facade and C is looking northwest with the bake oven visible on the eastside. The Application lists construction and materials consisting of fieldstone with brick lintels, a gable roof, wood cornice, two inside end chimneys on the east and west ends, and timber framing., Dioclesian Alvord (1776-1868) came to Salina from Farmington, Connecticut in 1798 to join his brother, Elisha. Salina was well-known for its salt-springs, and the Alvord brothers were among the pioneer salt-manufacturers and merchants. Elisha Alvord is said to have been responsible for the construction of the first permanent building for salt boiling. Although the Alvords continued to own the house until after Dioclesian's death, an effort was made to sell the property in 1855. The NRHP Application identified a newspaper advertisement that contained a detailed description of the premises at that time: , the house is of stone, two stories high, 30 x 52 feet in size, and has a cellar under the whole. The other buildings are a corn house, hog house, cider mill, ice house, milk house and two good barns, one 50 x 70, with stabling for 30 cows and four horses, and the other 35 x 50 in size. The improved part of the farm is separated from the woodland by a creek, and is admirably adapted to gardening, dairying, or any other farming purposes. The timber upon the wood lot, consisting of hemlock, white wood, beech, maple, white ash, white oak and cherry, valuable for sawing, will be sold separately fróm the land, if desired: There are two good springs of living water on this lot, and is easy of access, lying upon the Richmond Road, and within one mile of the city., Dioclesian Alvord died in March 1868, and in December the property was sold to John Hiller who owned and farmed the 50 acre property for the next eight years. In the winter of 1875-76 the property was bought by Brainard Brewster who owned it and farmed the land for over twenty years. Arthur Judson Brewster, Brainard's son, an advertising executive and Syracuse University professor, wrote vivid accounts of his childhood with his fundamentalist parents on the farm in Salina. In 1897, after years of assisting with farm chores - planting, haying, and milking thirty odd cows - Brewster graduated from college and lived in Syracuse. Brewster published several volumes of local reminiscences including It's Fun to Retire (1949), Memories of Clinton Square (1951) and Life Was Never Dull (1953), all of which refer to his childhood on the farm off the plank road in Salina. Leonard and Lewis Falkner bought the property from the Brewsters around 1898 and sold it to Onondaga Pottery Company (Syracuse China Corporation) in the 1920's. The china company plant was built on the adjacent land to the east and the Alvord House was rented to employees of the company for the next 40 years; however, in the 1960's the house was closed. In 1972 it became Town property and Sehr Park was created when it was purchased from the Syracuse China Corporation for $1. At the time the property consisted of the Alvord House and a drainage easement for Syracuse China (A), but over the years the park has developed into a multi-faceted recreational site. The name of the park honored Fred Sehr, a local Lyncourt resident and a 25 year Town Board of Appeals member. This became the first park in Salina's 4th Ward, in which "all wards had park land of no fewer than ten acres.", The neighboring residences that built up around the Alvord property date from 1910 to 1962. And as the quote in The Review article reads, "This farmhouse is one of the few links to the early nineteenth century surviving in the heavily developed suburban township of Salina,” still holds true today., The Town has completed interior and exterior improvements to maintain the integrity of the Alvord House throughout its ownership, as well as promote the development of Sehr Park. Today, both the Alvord House and Sehr Park are heavily utilized by the local community and the general public for gatherings, community functions, and private parties., REFERENCES , 1. National Register of Historical Places Website - NEW YORK (NY), Onondaga County, http://www.nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com/NY/Onondaga/state.html , 2. National Register of Historic Places Application - NRHP Listing #76001257 , 3. Town of Salina Parks Master Plan, 2001 , 4. Onondaga County, Deed of Record, Photo Cations: , A. Deed of Record Map, 1972 , B. Facade of Alvord House, 1974 , C. Northwest View of Alvord House, 1974 , D. The Review article, 1977