Octagon Cabins, Part Two

Way back in 2014, I wrote a short post about the Octagon Cabins. These were small waiting rooms that were built for flag stops along the Rochester, Syracuse and Eastern. The "bible" of all study on the RS&E, written by Gordon and McFarlane, describes the stops as such; "The standard shelter was a work of art, very possibly unequaled on any other electric line outside of the Beebe Syndicate (the owners of the line). They were built in a true octagon shape, every joint being a miter. They were 10 feet square and 14 feet high with 8 foot ceilings inside. Each building was erected on one corner of a 16 by 20 foot yellow pine platform. The framing of the shelter was hemlock and the finish both inside and out was chestnut. Each shelter had a hardwood floor and oak seats with a capacity of 8 to 10 people. All buildings were electrically lighted and under the seats three electric car heaters were provided to keep the passengers comfortable even in the most strenuous winter weather. Each shelter cost $400 (about $7600 in 2015 money)" He also wrote (in 1961) that many of the shelters could still be seen west of Port Byron.

Because of the post, I was contacted by someone in Harrisburg, PA who said he had purchased photos of the cabins at a house sale. The collection has 29 images of various quality covering the cabins, the store, and family members. As a collection on a single subject, it is one of the most complete I have seen for a local topic and gives us a fairly complete look at the cabins and the business.

The signs show that this business was owned by FD Thrush, and wife Zella. Is this a photo of the two of them?

We also have many of showing the woman with a dog that appears in many other photos. Is this Mrs. Zella Thrush?

As I wrote in 2014, Thrush sold the business sometime in the 1940's (see below for update). He worked at the Smith-Corona factory in Cortland, starting there around 1943. Maybe Zella ran the cabin business while he worked elsewhere.

Sometime in the 1960's the cabins were removed. So far, I have not been able to find any record of them in that time period.

These cabins tell a story about a period of time, after the rise of the automobile and the demise of the trolley. They show what life was like before the building of the Interstate Highway system that would take people away from the small villages and rural roads. Route 31, Route 20, Route 5; all had small motels and hotels that served the traveling public. But with the building of the Thruway in the 1950's, this period came to an end

And an update- After writing the above post, I spent the better part of the next day searching for more info. I kept running up against the name of Samuel Harnden. I had through that Sam purchased the cabins later, but than Clara McIver wrote and said that the cabins were always owned by Harnden. And then I rediscovered this article that Cheryl Longyear had given me.

Although there is no paper noted, and I cannot find this on Fulton History, it does say April 1936. So it appears that Harnden owned the business, and Thrush ran it. His name is on the signs. I did find an advertisement from 1937 saying that the Harnden Store and Cabins were under new management. Maybe this is when Thrush came into the story.

Octagon Cabins

 These photos have been kicking around for a long time, but I never tire of looking at them. Thanks go to Bill Hecht for cleaning them up.

In case you don't recognize these, they are the waiting rooms from the old Rochester, Syracuse and Eastern Interurban trolley line.  You can see the location of the stops still attached to the two that are being moved. The top cabin, Stop 2, was from the Auburn and Northern line. From the look of the area, it looks like the pull off area about half way between Port Byron and Throop. Off in the bushes, you can see an old trolley car being used as a house. The second photo was taken on West Brutus. (It is a bit blurry) You can see the downtown area of Weedsport in the background.

 This set of two photos show the stops in place as cabins. Remember that Route 31 was the main drag before the Thruway, so these were right on the main highway. Looking at the photos, it does appear that the cabins were right on the highway. There isn't much room between the road and the buildings. And where did people park their cars? The upper photo shows the office and store.

After I wrote a short piece on these cabins back in 2009, Mrs. Hitchcock said that the cabins were located right where her house was today; at 105 Rochester.

 The Auburn paper carried a 1940 story about seven of the old stops being purchased at auction and being reused. It appears that the first owner was Fred Thrush. Later papers called these the Octagon Cabins, ice cream stand and gas station. The owner was Sam Harnden. In the late 1950’s Mr. Harnden runs ads selling the business. So what happened to them?