Gateway Museum hosts talk on vintage stone houses

   When Chris Coffin began his research on stone houses in the Town of Morristown, the Gateway Museum board member didn’t have to look far for inspiration.

   He examined the stone house on the Red Barn Preserve, on the road between village and Jacques Cartier State Park, that was bequeathed to the museum by Lorraine and Al Bogardus.

   He also reviewed Lorraine’s local history book, River Reflections: A Short History of Morristown, and was hooked.

   “It includes a chapter on stone buildings and I followed that list,’’ Coffin said. “Many of the surviving buildings from Morristown’s early history are stone.’’

   Coffin will deliver a free presentation at 6:30 p.m. Monday, July 1, at the Gateway Museum, Main Street, Morristown. He profiles 15 buildings, including landmark houses and smaller ones, plus several public or commercial buildings. He’ll touch on the stone schoolhouse, the library that began as a land office, the stone building that houses Wright’s Marina, and the windmill built by Hugh McConnell, a miller from Scotland.

   “I did not analyze the houses as much as I expected to, recognizing my limited knowledge of architectural styles,’’ Coffin said. “I report much more about the economic, social and political circumstances as Morristown was settled.’’

   “One name kept popping up as I looked into stone buildings:  Daniel Whipple Church.  I knew that he was a leader of Ogdensburg’s U. S. forces during the War of 1812.’’

   Church was a prolific builder around the North Country and supervised a crew of French Canadian masons who built the U.S. Customs House at Ogdensburg between 1809-10. Today, the limestone structure is named the Robert C. McEwen U.S. Customs House, the oldest building in Ogdensburg and the oldest federal government building in use today.

   “Then I discovered that he built one of the stone houses in Morristown and worked on another.  It turned out that he was a master builder. He supervised construction of a number of other important buildings in St. Lawrence County.’’

   Coffin described Church, a former Morristown resident who was buried in the local cemetery, as “a citizen of the North Country as it was being settled and formed, builder, soldier, politician.  I suspect this is only the beginning of research I’ll do on this interesting man.’’

    Coffin said he also learned about land sales after the American Revolution.

   “Developer-speculators bought large tracts such as the Macomb Purchase, often at ridiculously low prices (12 cents per acre), then sold in smaller parcels for big profits ($1 per acre 10 years later),’’ he said. “While some made fortunes, the times were volatile and many of the same people ended up in bankruptcy.’’

   In his heyday, Coffin and his wife Pat owned and managed a small network of radio stations:

* WSLB (1400 AM), Ogdensburg, still WSLB.

* WPAC (92.7 FM), Ogdensburg, now WQTK.

* WGIX (95.3 FM), Gouverneur, now WLFK.

* Also stations in Liberty and Oneonta.

   “We bought WSLB in 1972, when AM radio was still king in northern New York,’’ Coffin recalled. “We started or bought other stations through the years, selling the last ones in Ogdensburg in 2003.’’

   “I got into broadcasting when local DJs picked their own music, radio stations promoted  blood drives, and announced lost dogs.  We were integrated in our communities with just a few stations serving a broad range of people.  Now there are many more stations, each one “super serving” a small slice of the listeners.’’

   The exhibit on stone buildings will be at the Gateway Museum throughout the summer.

   “I think the stone buildings are striking, lovely … and they’ll be well presented with large, full-color panels on exhibit this summer,’’ Coffin said. “But the economic and social content is the meat of my presentation on July 1st and I’m not satisfied that I put that in the permanent exhibit.  So I hope there’s a good turnout for my presentation.’’

       Morristown native Jim Holleran is a retired teacher and sports editor from Rochester. Reach him at jimholleran29@gmail.com or view past columns under “Reflections of River Rat’’ at https://hollerangetsitwrite.com/blog/