Images of WinfieldHerkimer County, N.YSource of Excerpts: Booklet, "The Cherry Valley Turnpike," dated 1930, by Will C. Waldron, printed by Osborn Mayer of Waterville, New York. This booklet was put out by the Cherry Valley Turnpike Association. This turnpike was part of the old U.S. Route 20.
West Winfield Picnic Park WEST WINFIELD"On the Unadilla River" West Winfield is situated on the Cherry Valley Turnpike about 56 miles from Syracuse, 79 miles from Albany and 16 miles south of Utica and on the east branch of the Unadilla River. It is a beautiful little village of 800 inhabitants, boasting a High School on Academy Street, a new bank, the Congregational Church, Baptist Church and Catholic Church on Main Street, and the Methodist Church on North Street, a Town Hall and a Fireman's Hall. It has good hotels, restaurants, garages, filling stations, several stores, etc. The principal occupation is furnished by the Tannery operated by the Hiteman Leather Company. West Winfield has a wonderful Memorial Park with a beautiful little stream flowing through it and a spring that furnishes fine drinking water. It is equipped with swings, slides, a swimming pool, etc., for the children and makes a fine camping ground for tourists, who are always welcome. The village of West Winfield, like the town in which it is located, was named in honor of General Winfield Scott, although there is no record that this distinguished soldier ever visited this region. The earliest settlers came here from Connecticut and Massachusetts about 1793. Among the oldest buildings now standing are the stone blacksmith shop located between the new bank and the West Winfield Garage, and the house now owned by General Winfield Scott Chapter, D.A.R., and used as a chapter house and located at the west entrance to Memorial Park. EAST WINFIELD"An Old Trading Post" The village of East Winfield was founded early in the eighteenth century and was considered one of the leading trading centers on the Cherry Valley Turnpike at that time as it contained a store, blacksmith shop and saw mill. In the town still stands the former home of Benjamin Carver, who conducted a very successful mercantile business. Mr. Carver's daughter married Joseph Leiter of Chicago and Washington, and their daughter married Lord Curzon of England, who was at one time Vice Emperor of India. The Carver home, which is now owned by Mr. and Mrs. Francis Kelly, is a true type of old Colonial architecture.
D.A.R. Chapter House at West Winfield WEST WINFIELD, the next town on our route, was one of the early manufacturing centers in this State, and the tanning business, still in operation, was started over a hundred years ago. Its well kept houses, attractive park, and quaint hom eof the local D.A.R. Chapter give us a pleasant impression of its prosperity and well being. A short distance beyond West Winfield, we pass through the hamlet of EAST WINFIELD, in a fine section of farm lands, from which the dairy products are largely shipped to New York City. |
