WEST CHURCH STREET
Also once called Railroad Street

1864:

1888:

Opera House now where South Jeff Vet Clinic is located

1980, below:

looking out West Church Street towards Henderson & Belleville.

The right side of the Dwight Block (Rings)
The Adams Hotel

1980, below:

looking out West Church Street towards Henderson & Belleville. On the right is the old Freeway store and just beyond the store
is Littlefield's home where he sold flowers and lawn ornaments.

There is a short street called Park Row which goes directly parallel with the Agway sign. About 150 feet down further is
another short street called Elmwood Avenue. At its end is the entrance to Elmwood Cemetery.

F. L. Webster’s canning factory, in Adams village, on Railroad street - now West Church Street - was established in July, 1889,

and has a capacity of turning out 250,000 cans of goods annually. Mr. Webster makes a specialty of canning dandelion and spinach, and employs 60 hands.

This was located where McDonald's is now

Below 1980:

looking out West Church street and out still further is a Mobil gas station owner by Mr Berry. Out behind there are the
foundations of the old Webster Canning Factory which burnt. The canning factory was established July 1889 and specialized in
canning dandelions and spinach.(Note: 2017 this is where Dunkin Donuts and the Liquor Store are now).

.

Below in 1980:

Old Building used by Belloff's department Store for storage

1980, below:

looking out West Church Street towards Henderson & Belleville.

The red building on the left, the Dwight Block, is where the Cooper House Block once stood and
originally extended back further including where the Adams Hotel is. It was this part that burned when the
Adams Collegiate Institute occupied it.

looking out West Church Street towards Henderson & Belleville and Main Street

On the corner of Main and West Church Street once stood the Cooper House Block later replaced with the
Dwight Block and now is a grassy public park.

The Cooper House Block is shown BELOW as it appeared prior to the disastrous fire in August 1884
The large structure, which at one time housed classes for the Adams Collegiate Institute encompassed the
site of the present Dwight Block and the Hotel Adams

1980, Below:

Looking out West Church Street..Clay Street turns off West Church St on the right and connects with both Phelps and High Sts

.

Below in 1980

Freeway Store on the right.

.

Below in 1980

Antique store house that is rented by Mrs Ellie Illingsworth

Below 1980

Snyder's Guest Home

At that time it was for sale like many buildings in Adams.

Below 1980

An old foundation of the Northern Evaporated Milk Company, which in 1980 belonged to Gordon Dobbins who ran a used car
lot on Route 11 on North Main Street. Wells Benton farm was located at the Dobbins car lot. Wells Benton was a sheriff at one time
and one of the first trustees of the village.

July 20 1966:
Opened for business on November 1 1927, the Borden Milk Plant in Adams will close July 31 and all operations of the local plant
will be transferred to Watertown

.

BELOW: Adams NY looking from Liberty Street towards West Church

AFTER THE FIRE:

Below in 1980:

Municiple Building. Small grassy area with a couple of monument stones and benches. Behind this area is the Firemen's Park
where Field Days and fairground activities are held. Used to have nice fireworks every July 4th.

Below in 1980

The Municipal Building which houses the Library, Police and Fire and the clerk. This site was once the Whitney Hotel in the mid 1860's
with W H Whitney, Proprietor. It is on the corners on Main and West Church Streets.

This is also where the Masonic Opera House was located. On the second floor movies were shown.
This town was visited by John Philip Sousa.
The site where the Municiple Building is was where the National Hotel was. It was a three-story brick building around 1915.

BACK TO TOP

Below, 1980:

probably at one time this building was a livery of sorts..it is seen from the tracks

BACK TO TOP

ROSEMARY CREAMERY - GREAT LAKES CHEESE - DAIRYLEA

Probably an original part of the Rosemary Creamery which eventually
became Dairylea, and now Great Lakes Cheese.

BELOW: Image from the 1909 Firemens' Souvenier Book:

BELOW: Image from the 2005 Jefferson Co Journal Commemorative Publication:

Below 1980:

The Adams Agway

located just off West Church Street ,once called Railroad Street, and was once the R P White Malt House. R P White sold
his malt house in 1876 to W A and E J White who established their own Malting businesses.

The Agway was once level with the railroad tracks - now an underpass exists - and this explained the existence of the use of the front (which in 1980) became the side
door. Phelps Street, now a dead-end, at one thime crossed these tracks.

Below 1980:

The Adams Agway

Below 1980:

The Adams Agway

BELOW 1980,

View of the Agway as seen from the Railroad Depot which burned

Below:

The Hotel Adams

From article in the Journal:

Many articles which daqted back nearly a century - possibly even more - sold at an auction Saturday at Hotel Adams.
The auction was conducted by Hobart and Robert Hutchinson and was held to settle the estate of the late Martin and
Virginia Sullivan who had operated the Adams landmark for more than 20 years.

Restaurant and bar equipment was not sold, since the hotel will remain open and efforts are currently underway to
find a buyer for the property

The present Hotel Adams Building is believed to have been built in 1893 or 1894 approximately a decade after a
disastrous fire destroyed much of the West side of Main Streetand the block which extended from Main Street
over the site of the present Hotel.

Early records show that William Doxtater had owned a large parcel of property along main and West Church Streets
in 1837. It was later deeded to Solon D Hungerford in 1861. General Hungerford, a prominent citizen and banker in Adams,
and founder of Hungerford Collegiate Institute, sold the property to Thomas P Saunders in 1864. A portion of the
property apparently was sold to George Cooper in 1868 and some time after that the large brick building which housed
the Cooper House was constructed. The Cooper House was situated on the site if the Dwight Block where Ring's
Variety Store was was and extended along West Church Street also encompassing the adjacent Hotel property.
In addition to housing several shops and stores, the Adams Collegiate Institute also was housed in the massive building
for two yeard from 1882 -1884. The disastrous fire on Thursday August 28 1884 not only sent the Institute looking for
another home but also burned 10 other buildings whci housed a total of 30 businesses. Ironically the $104,795 fire sparked
interest in better fire-fighting equipment and since that time devastating fires have been less common int the vilage.

In the 1870's and 1880's portions of the property passed through approximately ten different owners but records
show that Catherine X Dwight sold property to Herbert and Henry Pierce in 1894. Approximately the same time that the
Hotel was constructed. Henry Pierce sold the property to Edward J Wait in December 1899 and Roberta Raymond
apparenty took possession of the hotel in 1907

It is not known what the name of the name of the hotel was when it was first opened but in 1909 James B Worthen
was the proprietor under the name of Continental Hotel.

In a 'Souvenir of Adams' booklet, which was published by the Fire Department in 1909, the Continental was touted
as the recently refurbished and refitted to provide first class accommodations for only $2 per day. At that time they
were in competition with the Hotel Gardner, a large brick hotel across the street which was later razed to make
room for the Adams Municiple Building,

During the next decade the hotel changed ownership approximately five times with the longest period of ownership
being Fred and Sarah Smith nearly five years

Clarence and Pearl Hitton owned the hotel from 1922 to 1926 and it was sold to Charles and Bernadette Ziegler
in 1927; proprietors may have encountered financial difficulty during the Depression years when it was
deeded to bank ownership

The past two owners, however, have operated the hotel for a nearly 40 year span. The Hotel was purchased by
James A Ireland in April 1941 and operated by him until it was sold to Mr and Mrs Sullivan in January 1958

The old Hotel clock is now on display at the South Jefferson Historical Society. The tags were used to show whicvh rooms were occupied

Below

Hotel Adams in 1966

1980, below:

looking out West Church Street towards Belleville. The Hotel Adams orgiginally operated under the name Continental
during the early 1900's. When James B Worthen was proprietor in 1090, the Hotel boasted modern,
refurnished accommodations at rates of only $2 per day. The Hotel is beieved to have been constructed in 1893 or 1894

BELOW: Adams NY, Hotel