The history of a city is foremost the history of people. It is people that make the buildings, people that pave the streets, and people whose daily lives make use of them both. The things they do, the things they make, the styles they wear… these are the deciding factors of generations.

And yet, we share our streets with quite a different lifeform, one which given the resources and left alone to do so would happily live for several times longer than a brief human life. Trees! Trees stood here before the settlers came, and trees will reclaim the land should they ever be left unused. In the meantime, they stand between our houses and streets, choking down the fumes of our daily doings and returning fresh air to us. They spread their branches and cool our hot pavement with shade. They live on despite us and alongside us, and almost always to our benefit. (Except for whatever tree sheds those tiny yellow flowers all over the place, they can Go To Hell.)

Of course, there are times when human purposes and the well-being of the trees clash. Usually, due to the shortsighted manner of people, it is the long-lived long-limbed denizens of the soil who bear the brunt of the consequences.

This entry tells the tale of one such event. An event, sparked by a convent.

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A Convent’s Construction

It was the year 1905. After many years of parochial school teachers being stuffed into undersized apartments, a site along Greig Street was selected for a new convent house.

In order to construct this new convent building, two houses on the lot would have to be removed. One stone structure would be demolished; the other, No. 53 Greig Street, a frame house, would be moved to a new position on Glasgow Street.

In the above map one can see the stone house to be demolished, and the frame house, marked red, to be moved to Glasgow Street.

No-one could foresee the series of events this would kick off.

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The Foleys

The house to be moved belonged to the Foley family, particularly to Caroline Foley, wife of John H. Foley and mother of Frank F. Foley, who was among the original men contracted to move the house.

John H. Foley was a dealer in lumber and coal. His son, Frank F. Foley, would follow him into the career, operating the lumber and coal business at the same site until his death in 1934.

John H. Foley’s home was at No. 66 Glasgow Street, across the street from where the house was to be moved.

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July 22nd, 1905

According to testimony later given by Elmer A. Taft–the professional house mover who worked this job–the frame house at No. 53 Greig Street was lifted up on rollers and brought out onto Greig Street on July 22nd, 1905.

The route was to be a simple one; north along Greig Street to Plymouth Park [present day Lunsford Circle Park], there to turn west onto Glasgow Street and on to its destination on the south side of Glasgow. All told, a voyage of a little over 1,300 feet, give or take. And at first, things went smoothly–if slowly.

What does moving a house look like, especially in 1905 when horses were more at hand than any other convenient mechanical engine? I happened upon this website which contains numerous photographs showing the process: [https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/vintage-photographs-move-house-horses/]

As the site explains:

First of all, the house was jacked up off its foundation and was placed on heavy wooden beams. The ends of these beams were pointed and tended to act as runners similar to those on a sleigh.

A temporary wooden track was put down in the street and the greased runners slid along it. The track consisted of flat planks, supported by cross ties, similar to those used on railroad tracks.

As the house inched along the street, the planks and ties left behind it were picked up and manually carried to the front of the house and laid down ahead of it.

Obviously, you couldn’t hitch a team directly to the front of a house, crack the whip, yell giddeeyapp and expect anything to happen. Horses just weren’t that strong. Instead, it was necessary to mount a capstan in the middle of the street.

This capstan was anchored to some very strong objects well ahead of the house.

A pulley was fastened securely to the front of the house, probably to a cross beam between the wooden runners. One end of a very strong rope, or steel cable ran from this pulley to a tree trunk or other highly immovable object. It then went through the pulley and was wrapped around the capstan.

The capstan was then turned by the horses which walked in a circle and tugged on a pole connected to the capstan. As they walked, the cable would slowly wind up on the capstan and pull the house forward. And yes, the horses had to step over the cable each time they encountered it.

https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/vintage-photographs-move-house-horses/

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August 9th, 1905

At last, after seventeen days and one extension to the moving permit, the Foley house was nearly at its destination. Foley’s house had hanged a left at Plymouth Park, passing south of the parochial residence.

But just west of there, proceedings hit a snag.

William H. Marson owned a property on the north side of Glasgow Street. In front of this property, three mature and handsome maple trees, estimated 50-75 years old at the time, whose branches reached out into the middle of the road. A treasure for any property, and William H. Marson was loathe to see anything happen to his beloved trees.

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William H. Marson

William H. Marson was a builder. His primary address was at No. 463 Exchange Street, and his place of business was at No. 17 Spring Street.

Marson’s handsome maple trees on Glasgow were being threatened by Foley’s ever-approaching house. Undoubtedly aware of the direction events were headed, Marson obtained an injunction against the removal of limbs from his maple trees.

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August 12th, 1905

Faced as the Foleys were with what seemed to be a choice between a segment of the house and Marson’s magnificent maples, the house’s movement west was effectively arrested.

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August 13th, 1905

The prescient wisdom of Marson’s injunction was proven in the wee hours of the morning of the 13th, as someone took it upon themselves to partially solve the puzzle by means of hacking off a large limb from one of Marson’s daunting maple trees.

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August 16th, 1905

The tension was rising. Though some floated the idea of Frank Foley riding the roof of his house and carefully guiding the branches past, overall it seemed like the choice was between cutting the house or cutting the trees.

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August 17th, 1905

In the deep of the night between the 16th and 17th of August, the trees were assaulted once again, this time by a gang of city workers.

 Thursday, August 17, 1905
https://www.newspapers.com/article/democrat-and-chronicle-court-order-disre/135048962/

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August 18th, 1905

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August 19th, 1905

By now, the house was at last edging onto the destination lot on the south side of Glasgow Street. Though this sounds promising, one last obstacle would remain in getting the house situated on its foundation.

Saturday, August 19, 1905
https://www.newspapers.com/article/democrat-and-chronicle-to-be-on-cellar-w/135271764/

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August 20th, 1905

After the arduous task of pivoting the house ninety degrees so the narrow frontage could slot into its lot, the Foley house now sat as an impassable wall across Glasgow Street. Though ready at that point to be hoisted into place, the house could not be maneuvered over a slight incline in the lot. It would have to be levelled.

Sunday, August 20, 1905
https://www.newspapers.com/article/democrat-and-chronicle-house-blocks-road/135274941/

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August 25th, 1905

Elmer A. Taft–the house-mover in charge of the Foley house moving operation–and Frank Foley had “rented” the equipment and a horse to saloonkeeper John D. McGuire of No. 80 Glasgow with explicit understanding that McGuire would use them to move the house. McGuire testified that the Commissioner of Public Works, William Schlenker, had promised him protection from the city against any fallout if he took on the job.

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No. 73 Glasgow Street

Eventually, despite all the travail, Foley’s wandering house was at last able to rest upon its foundation at No. 73 Glasgow Street–nearly a month after it had set out from Greig Street.

Oddly, the 1910 Plat map above fails to show any change in the property at No. 73 from when the small rectangular structure was there, which was also present in the 1900 Plat map. The 1912 Sanborn map, however, shows No. 73 as having a larger structure–which happens to be of almost exactly the same dimensions as the one at the old No. 53 Greig Street address, albeit with minor alterations to the porches.

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Legal Aftermath

As long as this incident may have taken, its ramifications in court played out for even longer afterwards; several hearings were had to determine which parties W. H. Marson could pursue damages against. Marson would even go on to press a claim against the city of Rochester.

Wednesday, November 15, 1905
https://www.newspapers.com/article/democrat-and-chronicle-shorn-tree/135298273/

The city demurred, arguing that “as a municipal corporation operating for the common good it could not be punished for contempt if its officers did not obey the law.”

John McGuire was at last acquitted for his part in moving the house and cutting the trees, as he was found to be working on behalf of the city to remove a nuisance, and not on behalf of Foley and Taft, from whom he’d hired the moving equipment. Commissioner Schlenker was similarly acquitted.

Tuesday, October 06, 1908
https://www.newspapers.com/article/democrat-and-chronicle-tree-cutting-case/135028909/

A full three years after the incident of August, 1905, the courtroom shenanigans surrounding the shorn shrubs finally reached a conclusion.

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Marson’s Maples… Gone?

Whatever the results of this brief altercation, nearly twenty years time would render them moot as it does all things. In 1924, the Church of the Immaculate Conception broke ground on a new, larger parochial school on the north side of Glasgow Street.

The sound of the spade was a death knell for William H. Marson’s old Glasgow Street properties and, with it, most likely the maple trees…

…unless the tree pictured in the above 1926 photo happens to be one of Marson’s maples.

Even if it was, it too is gone, its former rooting spot now a parking lot driveway; the only tree left is a beleaguered-looking flowering dogwood.

Alas, it seems every tree leaves eventually.

(Tree-hee.)

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