Matching Past and Present

Local historians and historical societies are often asked to identify buildings that appear in old photographs to help property owners research the history of their property. While records pertaining to 19th century buildings exist in several repositories throughout the county, we now have an additional resource to help find answers to these questions.

The Historic Structure Database Team, a volunteer group dedicated to documenting all structures appearing on the 1854, 1867, and 1881 county maps and atlases, compiled historical and contemporary photographs of each site, and adding information from published and public records, as well as submissions of photos and documentation from the public.

The database is arranged by town and street address and is available on the ChautauquaCounty historian’s webpage.

Michelle Henry, Chautauqua County historian, and Pam Brown, Town of Harmony and Village of Panama historian, processed a collection of photographs from the CCHS so that they can be included in the Historic Structure Database (HSD). The collection includes over 800 snapshots of one-room schoolhouses, granges, and churches taken by Mertie Akin in the 1940s and ‘50s. The snapshots have been digitized and matched to locations in the HSD using early maps, land records, and published histories.

Akin was an amateur photographer who traveled around the county with her nephew, Claybourne B. Sampson, taking snapshots of buildings, many of which are now gone or have been substantially renovated. Her photographs provide great visual documentation of a time in the county’s history when rural children attended one room schools, and the Grange was a central part of our agricultural heritage.