In honor of the self-selected birthday of Frederick Douglass, I spent an agonizing amount of time digging into the history of his briefly-held home on Alexander Street. Long now lying as a parking lot, this unremarkable site on the west side of Alexander Street had a long history–much of which is quite difficult to piece together!

So below, I shall follow along with the residents of this whilom house, this erstwhile homestead, starting with the earliest I have record of, and the probable builders of the house:

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John & Lemira Kedzie

In 1847, the home belonged to jeweler John Kedzie. Kedzie and his wife, Lemira M. Morgan, were fierce anti-slavery activists.

Kedzie was a jeweler, at No. 5 State Street. That was most likely in the Burns Block.

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Frederick & Anna Douglass

John Kedzie sold the house directly to Frederick Douglass;

During this period of time, Douglass had his study in a second floor room, where much of his preliminary work for the North Star newspaper was conducted. From this study, a trap-door led to a secret staircase on a blind, windowless south wall. This went down to a basement space that was used to hide people escaping slavery–a stop in the Underground Railroad.

The family would live there but three years, moving to the former home of his friend Isaac Post on South Avenue in 1851. Douglass’s story would obviously go on, with much life thereafter (that would be a heck of a lot for one post) but here we take leave of him and remain, ghost-like, trapped within the walls of this house. Where is Jennifer Love Hewitt to help us go into the light?

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A Period of Uncertainty

After the Douglasses moved to South Avenue, it is difficult to tell who moved into the Alexander Street house. Between 1852 and 1868, I can’t point to any sources. This is a failure that haunts me. Around 1868, this would become the home of two associated businessmen, James Sargent and Halbert S. Greenleaf.

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Halbert S. & Jean Greenleaf

Halbert Stevens Greenleaf was a partner of Sargent & Greenleaf alongside James Sargent; the company manufactured locking mechanisms for bank safes, vaults, and other security applications.

Greenleaf came to Rochester in 1867, and became junior partner of James Sargent‘s lock works company. Sargent had previously worked as a travelling salesman for Greenleaf when the latter was part of Yale & Greenleaf, a partnership with Linus Yale Jr. in Massachusetts.

During the year 1868, Greenleaf boarded at No. 157 Alexander Street with James Sargent.

Greenleaf would board with James Sargent at No. 157 Alexander Street until 1871, at which point Greenleaf would move into a house on the east side of North Goodman Street, between Anderson and University Avenues.

The house, now No. 196 North Goodman Street is still there, but it’s blurred out on Google Maps, so I guess you’ll have to go look at it in person if you want to see the former home of H. S. Greenleaf. Which I’m sure you do.

Greenleaf died August 25th, 1906:

Greenleaf was survived by his wife Jean Brooks, who was an old-school suffragist.

She had the singular privilege of experiencing the fruits of her labors within her lifetime, as New York State granted voting rights to women in 1917.

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James & Angelina Sargent

After the Greenleaves’ move to Goodman Street in 1871, No. 297 Alexander Street would end up in the sole hands of Greenleaf’s business partner James Sargent.

James Sargent was a partner of Sargent & Greenleaf alongside Halbert S. Greenleaf; the company manufactured locking mechanisms for bank safes, vaults, and other security applications. He was noteworthy for inventing an early form of time-lock, or a lock which would open at a predetermined time.

Fascinatingly, one can see the above 1869 factory in the below photo from c.1914-1919. The original three-story factory with its mansard roof was added to with an expansion to the west and a fourth story atop:

While living in the house at Alexander Street, James Sargent and his wife Angelina Morse celebrated the 25th anniversary of their marriage.

In 1876, the Sargents moved from Alexander Street to a new address, No. 60 East Avenue; this house’s address would change to No. 98 East Avenue, which it remained for the rest of the couple’s lives.

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Artemas H. & Isabelle Wheeler

The next residents of No. 157 Alexander would be the Wheelers:

Wheeler was a partner in the shoe company of Cowles, Curtis & Co. In 1880, the shoe company would restyle as Curtis & Wheeler.

In 1884, Wheeler moved to No. 207 East Avenue, the address of which had recently changed from No. 123 East Avenue.

Wheeler died April 20th, 1897.

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Another Period of Uncertainty

For me, that is; I was unable to tell with any solid proof who lived in the house between 1884 and 1887. I know that’s only three years; perhaps I’m being dramatic.

One interesting event does occur during this period: the house is visited by “Mrs. H. W. Conklin”, a water color artist from Syracuse. There, she gave a lesson on Kensington Painting and Water Colors.

Kensington painting was a form of artwork made with pens instead of brushes.

The 1888 Plat map shows No. 297 Alexander with the name Hosea Rogers on it; this house and many other properties were in the hold of the Hosea Rogers estate, as realty interests. It is logical to presume that the house was for sale or rent during this period.

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Anson C. & Abba M. Allen

Anson Cornell Allen moved into the house as of the 1888 directory, having previously resided at No. 35 Stillson Street. Allen was a partner in Allen, Straus & Co., a clothing business.

The clothiers, known throughout the city, operated out of the Reynolds Arcade.

The Allens celebrated their twentieth anniversary shortly after moving into No. 297 Alexander:

Abba May Alcott Allen would pass October 18th, 1906:

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Amos Hedley

Left in the home was Allen’s niece, Sarah E. Hedley, and spouse, Amos Hedley. Also, the business started by Allen, Radicuro Medicine Co., which doesn’t have any hits when I search for it but was presumably a radiation therapy of some sort.

The photo below was originally published in a 1924 issue of the Times-Union, which suggests it was from that year.

Amos Hedley would return to his native home of Tynemouth, in England.

Sarah E. Hedley’s son, George A. Hedley, would enlist in the U. S. Army in 1929 upon graduating from East High School, with aims towards attending West Point:

Amos Hedley would die in 1943, in Tynesmouth:

Sarah E. Hedley would remain at No. 297 Alexander Street up through the 1931 Directory. The address was listed as vacant in 1932 and 1933,

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The Helping Hand Mission

For a short period of time, this would be the Helping Hand Mission, where men who were out of work and down on their luck could find a meal and a place to sleep.

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Clarence Johns

The 1937 directory has No. 297 Alexander Street as the address of Clarence Johns, furniture repair.

It’s presumable that Clarence’s furniture repair business was the source of the signs all over the house:

However, oddly enough, there is no mention of the “Vogue Furniture Shop” oh-so-prominently displayed on the signage. Neither does the name turn up under listings for furniture dealers, furniture manufacturers, furniture repair, or furniture storage. A search for “Vogue Furniture Shop” in newspaper archives yields nothing.

Clarence Johns seems to have moved out of Rochester; he is not in the directory any year after 1937. It actually doesn’t look like he was in any before that, either. What’s your deal, Johns?

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John T. & Catherine A. Collins

The last family to live in the house before its demise seems to have been John T. Collins and wife Catherine A. Mahoney. They moved there in 1939 from their former home just nearby, No. 20½ Anson Place.

Collins is listed in the directory up until 1935 as being a “body builder”. I somehow doubt that refers to those flexing, oiled monsters of muscle we’re familiar with today, but rather a vehicle body builder, someone who specializes in the fabrication of the main body of a vehicle, also known as a coachbuilder. As the directory entries lack a place of work, I cannot say for sure.

Catherine Collins would move out, presumably not long after, and go on to live until 1980:

The house was apparently empty at this point, and the gazes of capitalist interests were drawn to the ground beneath it as an ever-scarce resource: parking.

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Razed by the Valley

The property owner, Hosea Rogers, was already eyeing the demolition of No. 297 Alexander as of 1941.

This would go through in 1949, with the construction of the huge new Valley-Cadillac building on East Avenue between Ryan and Anson Alleys. Requirements for additional parking renewed offers to raze the house for a lot, which would happen sometime in 1949:

As one can see looking at the 1950 Sanborn map shared below, the house has been torn down, replaced by a lot indicated by the red dot. A green dot points out the Valley-Cadillac Building that spelled the homestead’s doom.

Despite the absence of the house itself, history-minded individuals carried on pointing out the storied location on tours of early civil rights advocates.

Oddly, the above article claims that the Warner Castle at No. 5 Castle Park was a place “where lived a strong abolitionist”, but from my research, Horatio Gates Warner was actually a proponent of slavery and strongly disfavored Frederick Douglass, going so far as to object when Douglass’s daughter Rosetta attended the same seminary as his own daughter. His objection caused Rosetta to be ejected from the school, an act which Douglass excoriated in correspondence with Warner.

It’s worth noting, however, that directly across South Avenue from Warner lived another publisher, David Stanley, whose newspaper indeed took a strongly abolitionist standpoint. In fact, Highland Avenue once was called Stanley Street due to passing his home, which was where St. John’s Home stands today.

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Still a Lot

77 years have passed but this empty lot is still an empty lot. The business that caused the house to be pulled down and the parcel paved is long in the past.

2018 witnessed a historical marker placed at the site in memory of Douglass’ tenure there:

And that is all that remains of No. 297 Alexander Street, where one great warrior for Black rights first settled as a citizen of Rochester, and numerous other prominent (and not-so-prominent) names made home afterwards.

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