Hello!

This is the first post in my new blog about Rochester, NY history.  The “little” history.  The history of buildings and houses that disappeared long ago, the people that worked and lived in them, waterways and springs that are now buried below the ground, trolley loops and unrealized street extensions, things of that sort.  The smaller, the better.  Why is there a weird jog on Melville Street?  What was that old house by the highway on Goodman Street?  What did that boarded-up shop front used to be?  

Once a week I’ll be posting another one of my probings into a person, place, or thing in Rochester’s past that intrigues me and you’ll get to see what I unearth using my inexpert methods.  Keep in mind, I’m not an historian by any metric: I simply enjoy availing myself of the resources put forward by the Monroe County Library, Library of Congress, the George Eastman House, the RMSC and countless other educational services that work tirelessly to present future generations with these tidbits of history.  

I hope you enjoy it!

Without further ado, let us look into… The Burkhard Place Schism.

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One Street, Two Families

Two households, both alike in dignity,
In fair Rochester, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.

Shakespeare, “Romeo and Juliet”, Prologue. Scene 1. [Paraphrased]

This is the tale of how a simple dead-end street in Rochester over a century ago became embroiled in a petty conflict which literally split one street into two. 

In a pleasant neighborhood just east of South Avenue, two neighboring families–the Burkards and the Draudes–lived together in apparent peace and harmony for many decades.

The above is a cropped section of a map from 1875, before Burkard Place was cut. Burkard Place does not appear in the directory until 1886; however, John M. Burkard had land here through which the future Burkard Place would be cut. Also on this land were two houses facing Mt. Vernon.

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The Burkards

Burkard’s home and business at No. 103 South Avenue [later Nos. 206-208 South Ave, still later Nos. 684-686 South Ave] can be seen at the corner of South and Grand (now Gregory) Avenues, top left corner above.  The building was known in the papers as “Burkard’s Hall”. Or “Burkhard’s Hall”. Or “Burkhardt’s Hall”.

A German immigrant, Burkard was a man of considerable means. He had several holdings of land and properties in the South Avenue and Grand Avenue [Gregory Street] area, such as the four houses at Nos. 376-390 Gregory, at the foot of Cayuga Street.

Burkard’s Hall was a popular meeting place for many 12th Ward social organizations, from music and dance to labor meetings and religious groups.

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The Draudes

The Draude family was also present in the area in 1875, residing at No. 107 South Avenue, which would later become No. 226 South Avenue.

Augustine Draude, also a German immigrant, worked as a cabinet maker at No. 123 Mill Street.

Augustine Draude’s furniture-making shop was on the upper floor of the building owned by Martin Briggs, as evidenced by the 1875 article below:

In 1875, Augustine Draude’s daughter Elizabeth Draude ran a grocery on the corner of Orange and Grape Streets, a corner we shall be returning to in a future blog post:

“Eliz^th Drande” is meant to be Elizabeth Draude.

Let’s get back to the Burkhard Place area, shall we?

“C. Drande” on No. 226 South Avenue is supposed to be Catherine Draude. 

They sure don’t make this easy for historians.

Above one can see the handsome brick structure at No. 9 Burkhard Place, former home of J. M. Burkard, still standing resolutely in its place.

However, No. 226 South Avenue, the first Draude home, is gone, replaced by a low brick building attached to a house on the neighboring lot:

In 1900, the street numbers changed on South Avenue once again.  Theodore Draude’s address changed from No. 226 to No. 710 South Avenue.

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The Draudes’ New Digs

With an ever-growing family, it seemed that the time was ripe for the Draudes to build a new home. This new home would face Burkard Place instead of South Avenue, making the Draudes across-the-street neighbors to the Burkards rather than kitty-corner neighbors.

In 1907 Theodore and Elizabeth Draude moved into the new No. 6 Burkard Place–or rather, Draude Place:

It seems in 1907, shortly after the Draudes moved onto the street, things went terribly wrong.  Burkard Place experienced a schism; Draude Place split off from Burkard for unknown reasons.  A literal dividing fence was erected between the two Places; consequently, an already-narrow road was now two ridiculously narrow roads:

1910 Plat Map
Draude and Burkard Places, divided by fencing.
[http://photo.libraryweb.org/rochimag/rpm/rpm00/rpm00309.jpg] 
[http://photo.libraryweb.org/rochimag/rpm/rpm00/rpm00291.jpg]

At first, the only houses on Draude Place were those of Charles Hoehn, a clerk in the Wilder Arcade downtown, and Theodore Draude and his sister, Catherine Schenkel (née Draude).

John M. Burkard died in 1910. Though his will was hotly contested between his sons and in-laws for various reasons–such as a purported lack of witnesses to the signing of the will, and questions as to Burkard’s mental faculties during the drafting of the will in 1907–eventually his sizable estate was legally divided among his children and their spouses.

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A Good De-Fence

At last, news of the Burkard Place conflict reached the paper–due to its resolution. Whatever inciting incident had caused the split street had passed into obolescence, and two became one again.

Small details emerge: a spite fence had been thrown up by John M. Burkard in 1907 after his neighbors, the Draudes, angered him.  Who knows what the disagreement was; that fence stayed up for three years because of the angry old grocer’s say-so, and didn’t come down until five years after his death. 

Eight years. That was enough time to get this separated street onto a plat map, a Sanborn map, several directories, and–of course–the newspaper. 

That’s the power… of spite!

It is odd that the article notes that both belligerents in the feud, Burkard and Draude alike, had died; who was the angry holdout on the Draude side? Augustine Draude died in 1877, whereas this fence did not go up until 1907.  If John M. Burkard’s disagreement was in fact with Theodore Draude, then Theodore did not die until 1941:

So that’s just a discrepancy that’s nagging at me. I hope to someday find more information, but I won’t hold my breath.

By 1918 we can see the results of the Burkard Wall falling three years prior; a once-divided street has again become one.  Also, it gained an H, becoming Burkhard Place.

Looking closely at the eastern end of Burkhard Place, we can see it’s grown a little diagonal tail leading southeast to the Burkhard Estate Subdivision houses on Mt. Vernon, Nos. 93 and 97, thus giving Burkhard Place some street access to Mt. Vernon.

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Time Moves On…

The Draude name is but a distant memory by 1935, tucked neatly into the parentheses of history. The street has officially become Burkhard Place.

1950’s Sanborn map demonstrates that they still hadn’t quite figured out how one spells Burkard/Burkhard/Burkhardt. 

(I picked Burkard, personally.)

For more than a century, peace has reigned on Burkhard Place.  But history teaches us peace is hard-won, and the grudges of the past must be set aside for a brighter tomorrow.

See you next week!

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