Wilbur House

Wilbur House

1874 – The Wilbur House was built in 1893, on the property owned by J. H. Chesbro in 1874. It was located approximately where the building labeled "2" is seen.

Clark Wilbur - The Early Years

The Wilbur family was living in Galen, Wayne County in western NY at the time of the 1880 census. Clark’s wife Charlotte (age 22) was living with the family and was listed as “Insane.” The children were Edith (7), Eva (5) and George (3). Clark was 27 and listed his occupation as that of “Laborer.” The youngest child, William, born the previous September, was living up the road with the John C. Robinson family.

Around 1881 or 1882 Charlotte Wilbur, Clark's wife, was sent to an asylum in Lyons, NY. She was later transferred to Utica State Hospital. According to the Wilburs' daughter Eva, "After my mother was sent to the asylum, my father put my youngest brother, Will, in an orphan asylum, and my sister Edith was taken by old friends of my parents. My brother George and I lived at home where my father kept a hotel." [1916-07-30a], [1916-07-30b]

This would seem to imply that Clark Wilbur went into the hotel business shortly after his wife went into the asylum.

Based on his daughter Eva’s newspaper interview, given in 1916, at the time of her mother’s legal battle to obtain her share of the Wilbur House, and the other events found in the newspaper articles of the time, it appears that Clark Wilbur was in the hotel business, in Centerville, starting in about 1884. The first Wilbur Hotel was located on the west side of Cicero Plank Road, across the road from his later, and better known, Wilbur House. The former establishment later became the Simmon’s Hotel.

In about 1888, Mrs. Laura L. Campbell came to work for Clark Wilbur at his hotel. She also took care of the children. According to Wilbur’s daughter Eva, the women that her father had employed before Mrs. Campbell used to beat them and treat them badly. The hotel was also pretty run down when Mrs. Campbell started work. This was 5 years before Wilbur started to build the Wilbur House hotel in Centerville.

The following newspaper article supports the run down condition of the place and marks a time after Mrs. Campbell's arrival. “The repainting of the Wilbur house has greatly improved its appearance.” [1888-05-24]

The Amateur Athletic Club planned a run on the plank road to Centerville. After the run a supper was to be served at Wilbur’s Hotel. [1890-07-28]

The Syracuse Cycling Club held a 15 miles racing starting at the Wilbur Hotel and running south to the Watering Trough, just north of the railroad overpass, and then back to the Wilbur Hotel. There was a bike craze sweeping the country in the 1890s and the plank road furnished a nice racing track.[1891-09-23], [1891-09-24]

The Beginning of the Wilbur House

“A short time ago Clark Wilbur, the proprietor of the Wilbur hotel, bought the Frasier home intending to convert it into a hotel. He has traded the property for Ambrose Sadler’s house and lot and will make a hotel of the Sadler house which is situated directly opposite the other hotel.” [1893-10-27]

Clark Wilbur was building his new hotel, on land purchased from Mr. Sadler. Located on east side of Plank Road, south of Foster and north of the church property. [1893-12-07]

The Daily Standard Carriers' Sleigh Ride

A favorite winter treat was a sleigh ride into the country. The owners of the Syracuse Standard newspaper decided to reward the young boys who sold their papers on the streets of Syracuse with just such an adventure. On a late Saturday afternoon two large sleighs pulled up in front of the Standard building and thirty some newsboys piled in and made themselves comfortable under the buffalo skin blankets. The horse drawn sleighs made their way out of the city and onto the Cicero Plank Road, headed for the Wilbur House in Centerville.

"The Wilbur house was at last reached, and as the sleighs drove up to the front door Proprietor Clark Wilbur stood on the broad porch to greet the lads as they jumped from their snug nests. The supper was in readiness, and such a supper it was: Hot oyster soup, hot biscuit, coffee, several varieties of meats, cake and a quantity of other things, and as the boys' seated themselves at the long table in the dining room their mouths fairly watered."

After the dinner the boys were provided with an item that must have been acceptable in those days. "Cigars were also available for such of the boys as used the weed, but the majority decided they would much more enjoy their ride home without them." [1895-02-03]

Syracuse & South Bay Railroad Purchased the Wilbur Hotel

"North Syracuse is to be the terminal of our main line, the site of our car barn and substation, our men will largely live there and the place will have considerable growth. It is the intention to improve the hotel property by adding a story or two to the building and to make a first-class suburban hotel, where, especially in the winter time, parties may go for dances and dinners." [1905-05-20]

Henry J. Moses and his brother were the proprietors, they leased the hotel from the South Bay Road (Company). [1905-11-14] Philip Schneider was awarded the contract for remodeling and repairing the Wilbur House. [1905-12-08]

E. F. Webber

The Syracuse &South Bay Rail Road Company went through bankruptcy in 1906 and when the dust settled Mr. E. F. Webber was the owner of the hotel. Webber was quick to lease the property. “Noble & Kingston (real estate agents) have leased the North Syracuse House from E. T. Webber (retained ownership) to R. C. Gardner and F. M. Evans of Manlius.” [1909-08-16]

James J. Enright

In 1910 James J. Enright purchased the “hostelry” formerly owned by E. F. Webber. "Mr. Enright has had plans made for improving the property. The interior will be remodeled. The large back parlors will be converted into public and private dining rooms and the new owner will cater especially to automobile parties, as well as to the general public. He is having the house wired for electric lights and will install all of the latest improvements. There is a large barn on the property and the garden includes about two acres of garden land.” [1910-07-08] Enright renamed the hotel The Stacie.

Sometime in 1911 Mrs. Enright leased Wilbur House to John Hart and he ran the hotel as The Stacie and later as Hart's Hotel until late 1916. By July 1917 Hart was no longer running the hotel but the papers still referred to it as “Hart’s Hotel.”

Clark Wilbur's Insane First Wife

Clark Wilbur had died in October 1914, nine years after having sold his hotel. In the summer of 1916, Charlotte Wilbur Farris, Wilbur's first wife, who had spent 20 years in an insane asylum, started a legal action to claim her portion of the old hotel that she felt was her due. Mrs. Farris sued Mrs. Enright and the then current proprietor, John Hart. The lawsuit probably got tossed by the first judge who got the case. However, it probably contributed to John Hart's decision to move on. It also got Mrs. Enright to transfer ownership to her husband James J. Enright. [1916-08-01] Back in 1910 when James Enright had originally purchased the hotel he had put the property in his wife's name, probably thinking that if he got in financial trouble the property would be safe. It turned out that she was the one that got sued so she transferred the place to him.  

Grace Dewey and Ethel Sprague

In late 1916, or more probably early 1917, James J. Enright sold the hotel property to Ethel Sprague. [1919-08-25]. The name was changed to The Great Northern Hotel and the proprietor was Grace Dewey, Ethel's younger sister. This began a long run of almost thirty years. Grace Dewey was still running the hotel in 1943.

Sheriff Schlosser ordered the raid at the former Hart’s Hotel. Five couples found in rooms, all were married, no one arrested. This was one of a series of raids ordered by the sheriff “to clean up road houses.” [1917-07-29]

The Prohibition Years

In February 1922, The Federal dry agents raided Grace Dewey's Great Northern Hotel. A North Syracuse minister had made a complaint and "a bottle containing about a half pint of alleged hootch was found in a locker in the basement." Dewey was arrested for for violating the Volstead act. [1922-02-23]

Two intoxicated young men entered the Great Northern Hotel on a summer evening in June 1922. They solicited orders from the local patrons for narcotics and whiskey. According to what the men told those present, they had $6000 worth of narcotics in their car and they were on their way to Watertown to sell it. Unfortunately for the two buzzed young business men, two of their potential customers were State Troopers who had stopped in for a meal. The owner of the hotel managed to pushed the young men out of the hotel and the troopers followed them out and placed them under arrest.[1922-06-13]

The Feds had a program whereby they would padlock buildings where repeated violations of the prohibitions laws had occurred. By May 1930, there were 350 buildings locked down in the Northern New York District as a result of this program and they had been closed since January 1, 1929. The North Syracuse Hotel of Dewey and Sprague got caught up in this net and were fighting the indictment for a while. It would appear that prohibition was repealed before this court action was resolved.[1930-05-13], [1932-11-10]

This was the earliest mention of Irish's Hotel found so far.

Irish's Hotel

The old Wilbur House eventually became Irish’s Hotel. The small ad above shows that the change in ownership occurred in 1946 or perhaps a little earlier. A mention of Irish’s Hotel at 114 N. Main St. was found in the Herald Journal, Saturday, April 4, 1953.

On September 23, 1996 there was an announcement of a Complete Liquidation Auction for Irish’s Hotel & Tavern [1996-09-18]. Today (2014) there is a Rite-Aid Drug store on the location and Chestnut Street was continued on through as Centerville Place.

This is the intersection of Brewerton Road (the old Cicero Plank Road) and Chestnut Street (entering from the right [west]), looking southeast. The extension of Chestnut on the east side of Brewerton was named Centerville Place. The Rite-Aid Drug store now occupies the spot where the old Wilbur House, later known as Irish's Hotel, was located.

NOTES:

[1888-05-24] – “North Syracuse,” The Daily Journal, Syracuse, NY, May 24, 1888.

[1890-07-28] – “To Run To Centerville,” The Syracuse Courier, Syracuse, NY, Monday, July 28, 1890.

[1891-09-23] - "The Big Road Race," The Daily Courier, Syracuse, NY, Wednesday, September 23, 1891.

[1891-09-24] - "Fifteen Mile Race," The Daily Courier, Syracuse, NY, Thursday, September24, 1891.

[1893-10-27] – “North Syracuse,” The Evening Herald, Syracuse, NY, Friday, October 27, 1893.

[1893-12-07] - The Syracuse Daily Journal, Syracuse, NY, Thursday, December 7, 1893.

[1895-02-03] - "The Carriers' Ride, A Jolly Outing in Recognition of Faithful Service," The Syracuse Standard, Syracuse, NY, Sunday, February, 3, 1895.

[1905-05-20] - "Buys The Wilbur," The Syracuse Herald, Syracuse, NY, Saturday, May 20, 1905.

[1905-11-14] - "South Bay Road To Open Soon," The Syracuse Journal, Syracuse, NY, Tuesday, November 14, 1905.

[1905-12-08] - "Contract Awarded," The Syracuse Journal, Syracuse, NY, Friday, December 8, 1905.

[1909-08-16] - “Real Estate Notes,” The Post Standard, Syracuse, NY, Wednesday, August 16, 1909.

[1910-07-08] - "New York Man Buys North Syracuse Hotel," The Post Standard, Syracuse, NY, Friday, July 8, 1910.

[1916-07-30a] -"Wife Who Left Husband Is Now Claiming Dower," The Syracuse Herald, Syracuse, NY, Sunday, July 30, 1916. Part 1.

[1916-07-30b] -"Wife Who Left Husband Is Now Claiming Dower," The Syracuse Herald, Syracuse, NY, Sunday, July 30, 1916. Part 2.

[1917-07-29] - "Large Squad Makes Raid On Hart's Hotel," The Syracuse Herald, Syracuse, NY, Sunday, July 29, 1917. Hart protested that he had nothing more to do with the hotel and that it was no longer his hotel.

[1919-08-25] - "Onondaga County Tax Sale," The Post Standard, Syracuse, NY, Monday, August 25, 1919.

[1922-02-23] - "Federal Dry Agents Raid Great Northern Hotel in N. Syracuse," The Syracuse Journal, Syracuse, NY, Thursday, February 23, 1922.

[1922-06-13] - "Pair Arrested Taking Orders For 'Whiskey'," The Syracuse Journal, Syracuse, NY, Tuesday, June 13, 1922.

[1930-05-13] - "Seeks Padlocks For Wood's, Others," The Syracuse Journal, Syracuse, NY, Tuesday, May 13, 1930

[1932-11-10] - "Removal of Club's Furnishings Kills Nuisance Charge, Claim," The Syracuse Journal, Syracuse, NY, Thursday, November 10, 1932.

[1996-09-18] - "Complete Liquidation Auction - Irish's Hotel & Tavern," The Messenger, Baldwinsville, NY, Wednesday, September 18, 1996.