Block Schoolhouse at 4426 N. Main St. in Hemlock NY

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The Block #4 Schoolhouse

at 4426 N. Main Street in Hemlock NY.

Photo by unknown photographer circa 1876

courtesy of Tom Westbrook.

While Livonia was still part of Richmond and long before the township was annexed to Livingston County, Stephen Tinker, an early settler of Lima, bought several hundred acres of wilderness land. One square plot measuring a hundred acres was situated on the west side of present-day Route 15A, south of Big Tree Road. On this property were situated the first Hemlock Lake Post Office, a few log houses, a couple of workman’s sheds, and a tavern. These structures were arranged around a large rectangle of open meadow, which was called “The Block” — as in “The Town Square.”

In the summer of 1825 Mr. Tinker sold a one-quarter-acre lot to the Trustees of Livonia School District Number Two. A log schoolhouse was built on this lot, on the north side of an oak and hickory grove. Oscar A. Archer, whose father Benjamin was a leather worker in Hemlock, was born in 1829. He attended school here in the mid-1830s. In his later years he lived in Massachusetts when he wrote a letter to the folks back home, in which he remembered, “For nearby preaching we had some occasions at the school house on the Block.”

“The Block school,” named for its location, was to bear this nickname long after it was forgotten where the name had originated. The little one-room log school served the families of Hemlock Lake for a quarter of a century before it burned down in 1841.

The second schoolhouse on the Block was built just a few rods south of the old log school, on the south side of the oak and hickory grove.One of the first teachers was Frederic P. Hardy, who taught for two winter terms: 1847 and 1848. It was remembered that Mr. Hardy “had a keen eye” for miscreants. Remembrance of Mr. Hardy remained with his pupils long years afterward, on account of his eccentric teaching style: Mr. Hardy believed in “individual instruction.” He seldom called classes as a group to his desk, rather giving attention to each pupil in turn. His “irascible temper” was memorable, for he “brooked no laziness or inattention.”

Some of the pupils who attended here during its three decades of service included the children of George Thayer — Elizabeth, Abigail, and George; the McMaster children — Sarah, Emma, and George; Riley Cook, son of the local shoemaker; Phebe Austin and Hugh Gragg, who grew up and married one another; the older children of Moses Fellows — Elizabeth, Henry, and Emma; the Thurston children — all five offspring of Silas and Nancy, and the three eldest children of George and Abigail.

The school districts of Livonia Township were reorganized about 1858. The Hemlock Lake District, Number Two, was changed to Number Four at that time, and so it remained for another fifty-four years.

In the autumn of 1863 the school children were saddened to learn of the deaths of two of their fellow mates. Twelve-year-old Mary Hoppough and her eight-year-old sister Fannie passed away in the same October week. Newspaper accounts of the latter half of the nineteenth century were replete with incidences of three dreaded diseases which struck children and closed schools: measles, diphtheria, and scarlet fever.

It was about this time that Myron Blackmer bought the Thayer farm on the north side of the school. He sold a quarter-acre lot at the rear of the schoolhouse to the trustees. For several years the school had been leasing this bit of land, and used it as a playground. Mr. Blackmer’s terms of sale included the stipulation that the seven-foot high playground fence be maintained.

In the early 1870s the community was considering whether to build a new schoolhouse. By the middle of the decade that decision had been made. The last teacher at this building was Mr. J. H. Bishop, who taught the spring term of 1876. An article in the Livonia Gazette in July that year made note that, “The people of Hemlock will do well to give Mr. Bishop a situation in the contemplated new school building when it is ready for use.” The old school was later bought by Nelson Jennings and moved to his property on Hemlock’s Main Street (4626) to be used as a barn.

A new schoolhouse was built on the site of the old frame school, on the west side of Route 15A, about two-tenths of a mile south of Big Tree Road; today this is the home at 4426 Main Street. This was a large building, with a central gable front and a wing both north and south. At the dedication of the building on November 17, 1876,it was noted that the new school had “two large rooms which at pleasure can be thrown into one, affording all the room necessary for the children of this district. The walls are high and the seats are comfortable; we think it is a gem of a house.”

The school, although sometimes still referred to as the Block school, was officially known as the Hemlock Union School, not because it had joined with another school, but, with the Civil War a fresh memory, the name was chosen to honor “The Union.” The first term was held here in the fall of 1876 into January of 1877; Mr. F. Hudson was the teacher. The names of the students who participated in the closing exercises were noted in the newspaper: Elmer Bullock, Henry Short, Edward Austin, Fannie Hoppough, John Adams, Arthur Norton, and Emma Wemett.

The May 22, 1880, edition of the Democrat and Chronicle carried a notice of an unusual incident at the Hemlock Lake School. “The death of a school teacher at Hemlock lake last week, develops a history of romantic elements. She was left an orphan at an early age, but had the good fortune to be adopted by a family who gave her an excellent education. Last fall she came to Hemlock lake and was known by her maiden name, Hattie Bush, but when her sickness became alarming, a student from a prominent college hastened to her bedside, and the two made known the fact that months before they had assumed the relationship of Mr. and Mrs. Gulick. The husband was to complete his studies and the wife was to teach. No teacher ever gained a stronger hold on the regard and love of an entire community, than did Mrs. Gulick. The student husband was almost broken hearted. His wife overworked and brain inflammation was the result. In addition to her daily work she was pursuing the Chautauqua course of study.”

Early in the 1880s Mrs. Marietta (“Mettie”) Fister taught here for a number of years. She was well-beloved and fondly remembered by her students. Married when she was barely out of her teens, Mettie spent her early married life in Michigan, where her two sons were born: William and Fred. Things, however, did not work out well for the Fisters, husband and wife, and Mettie returned to her parents’ home in Groveland. She and Daniel later divorced, though Mettie described herself as a “widow.”

In the spring of 1917 Mrs. Fister died; a tribute to her life and work was printed in the Livonia Gazette on May 18: “Since she left [Hemlock Mrs. Fister] has been teaching under the Presbyterian Board of Missions in several southern states ... She died [while] teaching at Scotia Seminary in Concord, North Carolina [where she] has been for a number of years ... Mrs. Fister was a woman of broad culture and spent her life in genuine service.”

Another teacher, later in the 1880s, was Henry J. Wemett, the son of Joseph and Elizabeth (Welch) Wemett. Born on the family homestead in Canadice in 1841, Henry attended Genesee Wesleyan Seminary in Lima and, after service in the Union Army during the Civil War, taught at several local schools. A family history mentioned that, “Being of a jovial disposition and always joking, he was sought for near and far to complete the term of some unfortunate teacher who had been thrown out of a school house window.”

Moving on from his short-lived teaching career, Henry married Mary Knapp, settled down to farming on his father’s property on Bald Hill, and fathered seven children. In later years he owned and piloted the Hemlock Lake steamer Seth Green and was instrumental in developing Hemlock Lake as a resort area. He died in 1922 in the house in which he was born. His obituary noted that, “Mr. Wemett was a well-known public speaker, prominent in the affairs of his community, a natural story-teller with a strong personality, and he was fond of relating to his friends and acquaintances reminiscences of early days.”

Miss Jessie Shepard was the Block School teacher in 1889. Then in 1905 Miss Myra Sawdey was principal. Although she had an offer of three positions elsewhere, a newspaper brief stated that she was “unable to accept any of them because owing to the scarcity of teachers, she cannot get anyone to take her place.”

By the autumn of 1906 a new teacher had been found: Mr. Ivan Agard. He came to Hemlock from the school at Webster’s Crossing where he was “well-liked.” While living in Hemlock he became acquainted with Miss Lindsay Hoppough, whom he married in 1911. The young couple settled in Little Valley (Cattaraugus County), where Ivan was principal of the high school. They had a baby daughter, Fay, in 1915. She was barely a year old when her father died from complications of diabetes.

The last teacher at the old Block school was Grover Woodard of Naples in 1910. The next year it was decided to build a new school downtown and the Block school was closed, then sold in the autumn of 1912.

The half-acre lot of playground and schoolhouse was sold to Wells Purcell on October 30, 1912, for $675. He and his wife Edna converted the school into a double-house, and rented it to different tenants. At times the house was let as a single dwelling; at other times eachside was rented as a separate apartment.

In 1920 Anna (Henry) Bush and her daughter Phebe Gibbs rented one side of the house. Anna, in her mid-fifties, was a widow; Phebe was separated from her husband; both women were teachers. On the other side of the house lived William and Loma Mills, an elderly couple, and their doctor son Raymond. An ad appeared in the Livonia Gazette in the spring of 1920 in which Dr. Mills advertised his rates: “Office calls — $1.50; House calls (within one mile) — $2.00; If Called In while passing — $1.75; Country calls — 60¢ a mile (one way, after the first mile) plus the $2.00 of a House call; Normal confinement [maternity care] — $17.50.”

Dr. Mills was remembered as quite a handsome man who had a way with the ladies. At thirty-five, he was only recently released from his military duty, having served for some years as a First Lieutenant in the Army Medical Corps in Buffalo. He was a bachelor who developed a congenial friendship with Lin (Hoppough) Agard, a young Hemlock widow.Lin was the mother of a five-year-old daughter, Fay. Sometimes Dr. Mills took Lin and Fay along on his house calls, trips which Fay remembered fondly in later years.

For some months Ray and Lin dated exclusively; their romance was the talk of the town. On the evening of Tuesday, October 11, 1921, Dr. Mills and Lin were driving in his car on the road from Hemlock to Honeoye, when an accident occurred and Lin was tumbled from the vehicle. She died of her injuries in the early morning hours of Wednesday.Not long afterward the Mills family moved away from Hemlock, settling in Onondaga County. Dr. Mills died there in 1931. Little Fay Agard was raised by her Hemlock grandmother, Margaret Hoppough.

A New York State Education Pamphlet of 1920, under the heading “Livingston County,” carried this announcement: “Lisle D. Wood of Homer has been engaged as principal of the Hemlock Union School for next year. Mr. Wood is a graduate of Syracuse University and served for one year at the Byron Union School before entering war service, from which he was released late last year.” Professor Wood and his family came to Hemlock in the fall of 1921 and rented the old schoolhouse. He was a young man, not yet thirty, married to a lovely wife, Edith, and the father of two infant daughters: Virginia and Faythe.

When Mr. Wood moved away from Hemlock in June of 1926, he went to Pembroke School in Genesee County and Professor Clyde E. Chauncey, who took the principal’s position in the fall of 1927, moved into the old Block schoolhouse. With him were his wife Grace and daughter Lois, almost two. One of the first things Mr. Chauncey did at school was to organize a boys’ basketball team.And one of the first things he did at home was to become a father for the second time: baby Dorothy was born before the year was out.

In the second year of Mr. Chauncey’s principal-ship, Hemlock Union School burned down. It was a devastating blow. Around 2:00 a.m., Thursday, July 19, 1928, fire was discovered in the basement. The blaze spread quickly. Fire companies from Hemlock, Lima, Lakeville, and Honeoye Falls responded but to no avail; by five a.m. only the north wall was left standing.

All was ruin and destruction — all but the records from the principal’s office. While the fire raged on the north side of the building Hugh Drain brought a ladder and climbed to the second floor on the south side. Entering through a window, he made his way through thick smoke to the principal’s room where he found cupboards and cabinets of school records. He proceeded to toss these documents out the window to other firefighters gathered below. Not a single record was lost thanks to his quick action.

Two months later, in the first week of September, the new school year commenced. All Hemlock’s children attended school that year in the I.O.O.F. meeting hall. An entertainment festival in October helped raise funds for building a new school. Construction was begun as soon as the rubble could be cleared from the site. The cornerstone of the new building was laid March 12, 1928, amid much celebration. All the students and faculty marched up Main Street from their temporary headquarters to the school grounds where they stood witness to the ceremony of the day. It was a moving and memorable occasion. By the fall of 1929 the new school building was open for business.

Professor Chauncey left for another post the following June and Mr. Ralph Martin was hired for the 1930/31 term. He moved into the old Block schoolhouse in the late summer with his bride, Amy. They were blessed with the arrival of a baby boy five years later. The Martins remained in Hemlock until the close of the school year in 1935, when Mr. Martin was hired by the Victor school system.

Mrs. Grace Welch bought the house early in 1935 and rented it as two apartments: the family of Cecil Harvey (wife Feronia and daughter Marion) lived in one side and in the other side were newlywed couple Ray and Anna Connor.

The June 12, 1936, edition of the Livonia Gazette noted that “Dr. J. Foster Hamilton has bought the medical practice of Dr. Trott and also the Grace Welch property on north Main, formerly occupied by Dr. Ray Mills.” For two years Dr. Hamilton, a native of Canada, had been working with Dr. Trott in Hemlock. He married in October and brought Christina to his new home. They set up housekeeping in one side of the house and the doctor’s office occupied the other wing. The Hamiltons welcomed a baby daughter, Rosemary, in 1938 and a son, Peter, in 1941.

Both husband and wife were active in the social and civic life of the community. Dr. Hamilton was instrumental in organizing the Hemlock Civic Association in the summer of 1939 and served as its first president. He was a member of the local Rotary and was frequently called upon as speaker for public events and to superintend local health clinics. An avid tennis and badminton player, he founded the Hemlock Badminton Club within a few months of his marriage. He and Christina hosted tennis competitions on their “splendid court.” Both were committed members of Hemlock Methodist Church. Dr. Hamilton was one of five concerned citizens who personally appeared before the Livonia Town Board in November 1940 to present a petition signed by nearly “every taxpayer in District 4” to protest the closing of the road to Dixon Hollow. They were unsuccessful in preventing the road closure.

In February 1938 Dr. Harold Paul, of Richmond Mills, came to Hemlock, working alongside Dr. Hamilton for a year or two. The practice thrived. For fifteen years Dr. Hamilton treated the families of Hemlock and the surrounding area.At Dr. Matson’s hospital in Honeoye Falls, he delivered many Hemlock babies.

In the spring of 1951 Dr. Hamilton entered into negotiation with a Mississippi physician, Dr. Morris Isaacson. The two men worked together for a few weeks before Foster and Christina and the children left on a European tour in the summer, leaving Dr. Isaacson in charge. When the Hamilton family returned in the fall, the final arrangements were made with Dr. Isaacson in possession of the house and the medical practice. Dr. Hamilton returned to Canada, where he served as Superintendent of the Ontario Hospital School in Orillia, Ontario, an institution for mentally disabled patients.

The new doctor did not stay long in Hemlock. He lived in one side of the house and rented the other side to Miss Norma Vescovi, the music teacher at Hemlock School. Before mid-decade he’d sold the house and moved away.