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The Development of Route 20 as Deduced from its Architecture

Monday, September 10, 2012

I believe that Route 20 is the result of an incredible, and understudied, interplay between agriculture and industry in early upstate New York. Route 20 connects many of the primary upstate New York communities within the Syracuse vicinity. Not surprisingly, many of these were founded circa 1800.

The history of the route has become apparent through the architectural landmarks which dot its sides. Among these are the William H. Seward House and Lorenzo, as well as several early mills. My intrigue piqued when one day on a bike ride south of Syracuse, I noticed a sign on the side of the road declaring Lafayette the Crossroads of New York State.

Right now the forces are complex and disparate, necessitating a much further investigation which can hopefully order and make sense of the corridor’s development. I will begin to do this with studies of several different segments of Route 20.

The first segment of interest is the five mile portion between Auburn and Skaneateles. Both towns have industrial roots, establishing their centers around early sawmills. It is my suspicion that these towns, however, were not linked via roadway solely by these industrial activities for many reasons. Meyer notes in The New Industrial Order that transportation via wagon remained very expensive through the 1830s making it a prohibitive cost to small time industries. Furthermore, a series of north-south ridges and valleys make overland east-west travel very difficult. However, it has been noted that roads and turnpike systems often supplemented navigable waterways. Perhaps a road which connected the northern ends of each finger lake would serve as a spine of transportation for the Finger Lakes region. Meyer also outlines how major railways and canals led to the development of outlying villages. Perhaps these towns were part ways the byproduct of the extension of the Erie Canal and a much broader regional industrialization.

A second segment of fascination is that portion which connects Lafayette to Pompey and then continues out to Cazenovia. Each of these towns rests atop a ridge and between each lay an unoccupied valley. Because of the terrain, farming was probably not a priority to settlers in this area. Furthermore, these towns made either no attempt, or only small attempts, at industrialization. These settlers and settlements seemed to follow in the guise of Thomas Jefferson at Monticello, picking sites which offered panoramas of the land below. We know Lorenzo was built on the southern tip of Cazenovia Lake because of its elevation. The Reuel E. Smith House, though in Skaneateles, has a similar sighting except for the reason that its architect, Andrew Jackson Downing, sought to bring man closer to nature. It too offers lengthwise views of its adjacent lake.

Lakes of the Syracuse region, acrylic on canvas, by the author

Farms of the Syracuse region, acrylic on canvas, by the author

Forests of the Syracuse region, acrylic on canvas, by the author

Furthermore there is important legislation to consider such as that which founded the Central New York Military Tract as well as business endeavors like the Holland Land Company, which attempted to attract people to the region with the lure of the Erie Canal.

It is important however to remember that what began this study of Route 20 is the diverse architecture along its path. I intend to continue my research into how these pieces can inform the greater whole, for they have already begun to do so on a small scale. If possible, I would also like to explore how more specific features of design have resulted from these sitings as well as determined them.

[more images to come]

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Hanford Mills: choreography of light

Monday, September 10, 2012

An 1859 lithograph depicted work with sewing machine

[Rodney P.Carlisle, Handbook to Life in America, Volume 2; New York, Infobase publishing, 2009, 129]

  Before the invention of gas light, the location of working space is usually dominated by surrounded natural environment. Like 1859 lithograph, natural light was most important element of work environment. Because of insufficient artificial lights, tables or desks for working always are located next to the window which can provide abundant sunlights and ventilation. Not only house where woman enjoy sewing, but also most factories or mills got the same situation.

  After the industrialization, however, this common sense got a big change. Work flow which had affected by nature in the form of the season and sunlight was regulated by shifts, schedule, and bells.1  On the other hand, mills has a little bit different story. Even though mills also was regulated by the location of machinery and work flow, natural landscape still dominated work environment because of its water-powered system. Along with its systems, windows and openings were made for providing natural light and ventilation.

skylight in Hanford mills pictures by wpkeem

  Hanford mills in NY is the great example of choreography of light, machinary, structure and landscape. To improve work environment, machine tables are usually engaged in openings. Mostly its openings exist to get an abundant sunlight though, some of openings are also engaged in ventilation and movement of workers. Even though most of openings and window was planned at the mills as a rationalized way of efficiency, It surprisingly created various light spectrum.

the location of Hanford Mills from Bing Maps with sun direction : edited by wpkeem

  The location of buildings was planned followed by the stream which can make waterpowered machinary works. Because of that, building was set the axis from North east to south west. For these reasons, windows always get a plenty of sunlight which can provide a comfortable work environment. The size of windows or openings and its location was dominated by setting of machinary and automatically created unique pattern of windows. If we can explore more deeply about the openings such as height, location, and shape, perhaps we can find unique pattern of light along with its mechanical system. If we are able to reach that far, we can create a kind of chreography of light made by machinary in the mills and possibly create domestic light pattern of barns or mills which can transplant to the modern building.

[ 1      Rodney P.Carlisle, Handbook to Life in America, Volume 2; New York, Infobase publishing, 2009, 129]

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Hanford Mills: The Power

Sunday, September 9, 2012

“Factories making uniform products increasingly used power- driven machinery in the production processes (“The Factory” 297)”.


   What were the producers of power for Hanford Mills , when were they implemented, and how did they evolve over time?


   Hanford Mills is an example of the combination of “ water power, entrepreneurial capitol, and artisanal skill,” referred to by Robert Gordon and Patrick Malone in “The Factory “. The primary power mechanisms before the twentieth century, for factories, were turbines, waterwheels, or steam engines coupled with gears, shafts, pulleys, belts, or ropes, extending the generated power to the production machines. The Hanfords, through the years, operated a sawmill, a gristmill, and a hardware store. The products produced at the sawmill include: lumber, milk crates, butter tub covers, broom and tool handles, shingles, molding, and saw dust. The gristmill produced grain and livestock feed: buckwheat flour, cornmeal, oats, and grain mixtures.

http://millpictures.com/mills.php?millid=1557


  

   Location, location, location…water is power!!!

 

 

 

 

Photo: Robert T. Kinsey

   In the 1846, after purchasing the property that would become the location of Hanford Mills, Jonathan B. Parris created the mill pond and built a seasonal up-and down sawmill. The proximity to The Kortright Creek allowed for the creation of a water-power system utilizing a headrace to feed water to the pond and a tailrace to return the water to the creek after it cycles around a turbine or over a waterwheel. The first machine installed by Parris was a simple wooden undershot waterwheel, which was replaced by a series of horizontal turbines. Horizontal Turbines replaced vertical wheels, as explained in the “The Factory”, because they were “smaller, faster, more efficient (75 to 85 percent was common), and more durable…(312)”.
   The implementation of a new method of power generation did not render the previous method obsolete. During the demonstrations at Hanford Mills it is explained that quite often the machines of power were used in tandem. From the 1880’s to the 1930’s steam was the primary power source for Hanford Mill. David Josiah (D.J.) Hanford, in 1881 installed the mills first vertical steam engine and then a large horizontal engine with a boiler that reached 100 psi in 1895. However, the turbines were still in use. The large Fitz overshot waterwheel was added in 1926. Gordon and Malone explain how the overshot wheel rotates, “…because of the weight of water in its buckets,…it turned in the opposite direction, toward incoming water (309)”.


  Picture: Tiesha McNeal at Hanford Mills, The Millwright

  

   Gears, Shafts and Belts…OH MY!!!

 

 

 

Photo: Tiesha McNeal

   The evolution of gear, shaft and belt technology was essential to  the creation and diversion of power in early Mills and Factories. The transition from wood to cast iron for gears and shafts for toughness, the invention of power transmission for higher speed, and the use of multiple horizontal line shafts with large, sometimes twisting, leather belts for undisrupted flow are all evidence of the graduated process of the movement of power to production machines. All of which are visible in the Millwright at Hanford.
   The gas engine was the last stage of power added, under Hanford ownership, for production at the mill. Horace Hanford installed a gas-powered dynamo (generator) in the 1930’s before selling the mill to the Pizza brothers in 1945. The gas-powered dynamo not only powered the mill but also, in the early twentieth century, became the main source of power for the town of East Meredith.

A timeline of power for Hanford Mills:http://tsmcneal.tumblr.com/

Robert B. Gordon and Patrick M. Malone, The Texture of Industry: An Archaeological View of the Industrialization of North America (New York and Oxford: Oxford UP, 1994): Ch. 8, “The Factory,” 297-346.

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Hanford Mills: A Costly Campus

Saturday, September 8, 2012


Photo Credit: Robert T. Kinsey and Lauren Long Photography 

College is expensive. Not only is the cost of attendance and tuition pricey but the cost to maintain and operate the campus is as well.  Believe it or not, college and university campuses are actually not that much different than the social world of the mill, which became the campus in town during the colonial and early republican United States.

     As David Meyer notes in his article “The New Industrial Order,” American industrialization produced a landscape of mechanical and spatial integration.  Production was organized around power.  Like Hanford Mills, water powered mills built and framed their landscape around water supply and in turn communities formed around the mills.   The mill became a nucleus around which communities developed and their size was a factor of the water supply present. 

     Like Syracuse, many college campuses are built around and linked by a quad.  Syracuse’s main quadrangle is its organizing feature around which academic buildings surround and continue its east-west and north-south axis. So what was the spatial organization of a mill campus like?
 
     As diagramed in this Popplet posting, Hanford Mills Landscape, labor was organized around the topography of mill sites and a landscape was built that concentrated on the most effective use of water power.  The landscape was altered in order to bring water to the mill, creating a cohesive system between landscape and power.  Hanford Mills was built around the millpond for supply and situated strategically so that Kortright Creek was parallel to the road.  This industry was linked by transportation and access to roads and railroads was essential. 

    While it appears that the placement of a water powered mill in close proximity to its millpond would allow for the free access of water supply the system was much more complicated and expensive.  After buying lumber, building the waterwheel and excavating the ground, the water had to be manipulated so that it was directed to the mill.  After the water went over the wheel, it then had to be diverted away from the buildings and back to Kortright Creek.   This assembled sequence included a headrace from Kortright Creek to the millpond which supplied the waterwheel as well as a tailrace that brought the water from the wheel back to Kortright Creek. 

     The Handfords built a dam to hold the water supply of the millpond and a wooden headgate that controlled water flow into the pond.  Additionally, a low dam in Kortright Creek directed water to the headgate.  While these structures regulated water supply, they were not cheap investments and did not account for having to dredge the pond and additional maintenance and repairs. 

    While technology has advanced, it is still expensive to power the mill today with water-power.  At our site visit, the waterwheel, gristmill, sawmill etc. could only be demonstrated for short segments of time due to the high cost of waterpower to run the machines.  While waterpower was and is an effective power source it just proves that campuses have been and will continue to be expensive.  Lucky for us college students.

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Sample blog posts

Friday, September 7, 2012

There's no single template for the posts through which students in the class should develop your ideas about the architecture of mills and plantations. I'm very much counting on you to try different approaches, some taking a traditional text-driven format, others building on the diagrams or videos or image sets that you have created in social media platforms.

Here are links to a couple of blog posts that might serve as useful–though very limited–models:

– My fall 2010 post on the Bike Brooklyn Beer Blitz

– A post by Geoff Manaugh, chosen almost at random from Bldgblog

One attribute that both posts share is that they draw on experience or another text to open up lines of inquiry that aren't yet resolved. That's probably where you are now in your work. So jump in! Take a chance. Post something.

 

 

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Media and methods

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

This website is an initial framework for some of the work we do in ARC337/637, but much of what we make will require the use of social media sites and apps along with other sites. Individual students and groups will likely want to build their own blog sites to pull together work from multiple locations and media, as well as to control its visual presentation. We will experiment, falling back on some easy and straightforward solutions as needed.

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