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304 Highgate Road
Year Built: ca. 1846; moved ca. 1934 Style: Greek Revival The majestic Greek Revival farmhouse now at 304 Highgate Road was originally located south of the hamlet of Caroline Center (in the Town of Caroline). According to research by local historian Charles F. Mulks (1837-1907), Henry K. Morrell built the home on his family's 500-acre sheep farm in 1846.[1]
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A government relief program during the Great Depression influenced the fate of the Morrell mansion. During the Depression, New York state and later the federal government bought "marginal" farmlands and planted trees on the land. These reforested areas helped to prevent soil erosion, and many were later used as recreation areas.
Under the marginal farmlands program, Franklin Cuthbert Cornell Jr. (1866-1934), who owned the Morrell homestead, sold the property to New York state.[2] The June 1934 deed allowed the executors of Cornell's estate "for a period of eighteen months from the date of this deed the right to remove all buildings now standing on the said premises."[3]
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Brooktondale residents Martin and Louise Catherwood bought the Morrell mansion and had it taken apart, moved, and rebuilt on a large lot at the end of Highgate Road that they had purchased from Jared T. Newman and Jane E.W. Newman in 1933.
A Cornell business management professor, Martin Catherwood (1904-1978) influenced state economic policy in the 1930s and '40s. He chaired the New York state Planning Board and led the state's commerce division as its first commissioner. He then played a key role in the founding and administration of the New York State School of Industrial and Labor Relations (ILR). Catherwood's ILR deanship extended through the school's critical formative years, from 1947 to 1958. "Minor difficulties are no obstacle to Dean Catherwood," noted a 1948 tribute to the dean from his colleagues in the ILR school. "It is typical of [Catherwood] that in building his present home, he moved a house eight miles and had it reconstructed at Highgate Road."[4] In 1953, the Highgate Section became a part of the Village of Cayuga Heights. Not long afterwards, Louise Millhouse Catherwood (1903-1988), who had taught in Cornell's School of Home Economics, was elected trustee on the village board. The first woman to hold elected office in Cayuga Heights, she served from 1956 to 1959. |
The Catherwoods purchased several lots in the "Highgate Section," shown here on Carl Crandall's 1941 "Map of Cayuga Hts. Region, Tompkins Co., N.Y." According to historian Carol Sisler, developer Jared Newman sited this section on what had been known as the Troy Farm. It was named Highgate for the Highgate suburb in north London, where Newman visited the family of lawyer Douglass Boardman Lee. According to Lee, "the conversation turned to the naming of a new section . . . which [Newman] was then opening up. My father suggested, 'Why not Highgate?' And so it was." (Dewitt Historical Society of Tompkins County Bulletin, Vol. 20, No. 2, December 1971, p. 32.)
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Catherwood took a break from academia once again in 1959, when he was appointed New York's industrial commissioner by Governor Nelson Rockefeller. His agency notably helped end labor disputes involving Manhattan and Bronx plumbers, grave diggers from metropolitan New York, and Long Island railroad workers.
Although much of his public service and academic work was oriented to urban workers, Catherwood retained a love for the land fostered during his Indiana youth. The Catherwoods owned acreage north of their home, where they planted hay and raised Thoroughbred racing horses. "I put up the hay, haul the manure, pull out the weeds, and fix the fences," he explained to a reporter about his "relaxation" time on the farm.[5]
The Catherwood Farm, as neighbors referred to it, just north of the village line in Lansing, became the Highgate Subdivision in the late 1960s. Catherwood Road, now an entrance to The Shops at Ithaca Mall, runs to what was once land owned by the family.[6]
The Catherwood Farm, as neighbors referred to it, just north of the village line in Lansing, became the Highgate Subdivision in the late 1960s. Catherwood Road, now an entrance to The Shops at Ithaca Mall, runs to what was once land owned by the family.[6]
The Catherwood name is known well beyond a place name in Tompkins County. In 1970, Cornell's ILR school named its library--considered the "most comprehensive collection" of labor and employment materials in North America--for Martin P. Catherwood to honor his "lifetime of public service." At the library's dedication, ILR dean David G. Moore noted that it was a fitting honor for Catherwood, who "contributed more to building the ILR School than any other single person."[7]
Sources:
[1] Molly Adams, "Town of Caroline," in Jane Marsh Dieckmann (ed.), The Towns of Tompkins County; From Podunk to the Magnetic Springs, DeWitt Historical Society of Tompkins County, Ithaca, New York, 1998; pp. 64-65; John H. Selkreg, Landmarks of Tompkins County, New York, D. Mason & Co., 1894, Chapter 15.
[2] Franklin Cuthbert Cornell Jr. died on May 24, 1934. Source: Carol U. Sisler, Enterprising Families, Ithaca, New York; Their Houses and Businesses, Enterprise Publishing, Ithaca, New York, p. 67.
[3] Tompkins County Clerk's Office Deed Book No. 235, Page 57, Ithaca Trust Company as Executor to The People of the Sate of New York, June 15, 1934.
[4] "For Our Information," Vol. I, no. 9-10, New York State School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Cornell University, November 1948.
[5] Joseph Wershba, "Daily Closeup: Martin P. Catherwood, Rockefeller's Industrial Commissioner," New York Post, August 28, 1959.
[6] Carl Crandall, "Stage 1 Plans for Lansing-Highgate Sub-Division," September 15, 1966, Tompkins County Clerk's Office; T.G. Miller, P.C., "Lands to be Acquired from Butler and Catherwood by Pyramid Structures Company, Inc., Located North of N.Y.S. Route 13 and West of North Triphammer Road," November 19, 1975, Tompkins County Clerk's Office.
[7] "ILR Celebrates 25th Anniversary," Cornell Chronicle, Vol. 2, Issue 11, November 12, 1970, p. 1, 11.
[1] Molly Adams, "Town of Caroline," in Jane Marsh Dieckmann (ed.), The Towns of Tompkins County; From Podunk to the Magnetic Springs, DeWitt Historical Society of Tompkins County, Ithaca, New York, 1998; pp. 64-65; John H. Selkreg, Landmarks of Tompkins County, New York, D. Mason & Co., 1894, Chapter 15.
[2] Franklin Cuthbert Cornell Jr. died on May 24, 1934. Source: Carol U. Sisler, Enterprising Families, Ithaca, New York; Their Houses and Businesses, Enterprise Publishing, Ithaca, New York, p. 67.
[3] Tompkins County Clerk's Office Deed Book No. 235, Page 57, Ithaca Trust Company as Executor to The People of the Sate of New York, June 15, 1934.
[4] "For Our Information," Vol. I, no. 9-10, New York State School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Cornell University, November 1948.
[5] Joseph Wershba, "Daily Closeup: Martin P. Catherwood, Rockefeller's Industrial Commissioner," New York Post, August 28, 1959.
[6] Carl Crandall, "Stage 1 Plans for Lansing-Highgate Sub-Division," September 15, 1966, Tompkins County Clerk's Office; T.G. Miller, P.C., "Lands to be Acquired from Butler and Catherwood by Pyramid Structures Company, Inc., Located North of N.Y.S. Route 13 and West of North Triphammer Road," November 19, 1975, Tompkins County Clerk's Office.
[7] "ILR Celebrates 25th Anniversary," Cornell Chronicle, Vol. 2, Issue 11, November 12, 1970, p. 1, 11.
Patricia Longoria, Deputy Historian
Village of Cayuga Heights, 2016
Village of Cayuga Heights, 2016
