Walking Tour West

Walking Tour Map west side, Oxford NY
Walking tours courtesy of The Oxford Historical Society

1. The Bank Building was built for the First National Bank of Oxford in 1894 from a Richardson Romanesque Isaac Perry design with facings of bluestone from the Oxford quarries. The faces on either side of the balcony demonstrate the stone cutter's art. The face with the wart on its nose was carved by Theodore Wands, the other by a Mr. Conroy.

2. LaFayette Park. Half of the land for the park was presented to the Village of Oxford by Jonathan Baldwin. The Cole Memorial Fountain was given to the Village in 1884 by the sons of Calvin and Fayette Cole in memory of their parents. The Greek revival band stand was built in 1917 by Fred Tracy from plans of a Mr. Westerviet to replace a pagoda built in 1875.

3. The A. H. Brill House was built in 1878 in Queen Anne style with carved bargeboards.

4. For more than 100 years this house has been occupied successively by doctors: Dr. S. F. McFarland; Dr. Frank McFarland; Dr. Eneas Ensign; Dr. Linn Emerson; Dr. M. G. Boname.

5. & 6. The S. H. Reid and A. D. Wands Houses were built in Queen Anne style with towers, palladian and stained glass windows and fishscale shingles.

7. The W. P. Boname House is another Queen Anne House with curved bay window and shingled turret.

8. The Judge Ransom Balcom House, built in 1836 in Greek revival style, had a veranda added in 1903.

9. The Thomas G. Newkirk House is a federal style home remodeled with Victorian additions. The flush siding for a stairwell between the front and side porches is an interesting feature.

10. The Dr. Charles Eccleston House is of board and batten construction built for Dr. Eccleston's bride in 1853 on the site of the Oxford House, a hotel which had burned when Dr. and Mrs. Eccleston were spending their honeymoon there. The plans for the house came from Godey's Ladies Book.

13. The Lewis House has elaborately carved pillars and gables. These embellishments were added in the 1870's. The name of the carver is unknown.

11, 12, 14. The houses of Mrs. J. Locke, C. F. T. Locke and Rufus Baldwin were all built prior to 1855 in federal style and were remodeled extensively during the 1860's and 1870's in gothic revival style with elaborate carvings.

15. The Post Office, built in 1939-40 on the site of the Jonathan Baldwin house, has a WPA mural by Mordi Gaffner depicting the "Family Reunion on Clarke's Island, Spring 1791." (Probably refers to Cork or Packer Island.)

16. The Jonathan Baldwin House (1794), one of the oldest houses in the village, was moved from its original site in 1939 to make way for the Post Office. A wing on the right side was removed earlier to become a double house on Scott Street.

17. The L. G. Lindsley House was built in 1886 on the site of a lime kiln. The octagon fad of the 1850's reached Oxford earlier with the construction of a octagon house on Mechanic Street. "Mr. Lindsley used grout to build the walls and pitched the roof toward the center of the house to catch the rainwater and drain it through to a cistern in the basement. The grout walls were covered with a coat of plaster marked off with a tool to imitate stone jointing. It is a two-story house and each of the eight sides is twelve feet eight inches long."

18. The James Warn House was built in 1882 in Queen Anne style on the site of the Chenango House, a hotel which burned in February 1871. The builder was David Sherwood, well-known local architect and builder.

19. The Dr. S. R. Clarke House belonged to Dr. Samuel Clarke who practiced medicine in Oxford until his death in 1860. This federal style house circa 1824 was remodeled with Italianate features.

20. The Wilmot Roberts House belonged to a blacksmith of that name living in this house in 1855. The house was purchased by Glenn Roberts, no relation to the original owner.

21, 22, 23. The P. J. Wood, B. F. McNeil and Hull Houses were all constructed about the same time in the classic revival style and perhaps by the same builder.

24. A stone wall remains from the Universalist Church which was razed in 1919. The Church was built in 1836 at a cost of $3,000.00.

25. & 26. The Westover and Bennett homesteads were both built in federal style before 1824.

27. & 28. The Alamanzer Watson and Dr. Miller Houses both have Second Empire Mansard roofs which were added in 1870 and 1874 respectively.

29. 30. & 31. The L. H. Knapp, E. Hall and S. H. Coville Houses were built before 1855 in classic revival style. Note the similarities of design.

32. The J. Addison Coville House was built by Nelson Purdy for himself before 1851. This is one of two dwellings in Oxford where the main entrance is on the side. This entrance faced on a lane leading from the Chenango Canal to Washington Street. (Now North Washington.)

33. The H. O. Daniels Blacksmith shop was built in 1886 and is now a private residence.

34. The P. L. Moore House had Charles M. Dodge's carriage shop to the rear in the 1880's.

35. The S. H. Millard House was at one time a cooperage, a tavern, and a bakery. Arthur Harrison, descendant of the Millards, said this was the first framed dwelling in Oxford where whites and Indians met to barter.

36. The Clarke Blocke was one of the few secular buildings designed by Henry Dudley, eminent church architect and designer of St. Paul's. It was situated on the Chenango Canal and was the headquarters of the Clarke family's various business enterprises.

37. Ethan Clarke's Warehouse was the center of his canal forwarding business. A hoist is still visible in the south gable.

38. Here was located one of the turning basins on the Chenango Canal which ran from Binghamton to Utica, presently Route 12, through Oxford. There was room for canal boats to tie up during the night and to turn around if they were only coming as far as Oxford.

39. The Tuttle Block was built in 1844 for Cyrus Tuttle from stone brought on the Chenango Canal from the South Oxford quarries.