Ghosts and Hauntings of the Finger Lakes by Patti Unvericht

Author:Patti Unvericht
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing Inc.
Published: 2012-02-23T16:00:00+00:00

OLD FOWLER FUNERAL HOME

BROCKPORT

The old Fowler Funeral Home on State Street was built by Ansel Chappell in 1855. The two-story brick home was one of the finer houses in the village that had only been founded thirty years earlier. Chappell was a businessman, partnering with William Seymour and Dayton Manning, manufacturing farm implements for McCormick. Some of the original features of the house still remain after 156 years, like the rooftop cupola and the elegant curved staircase. In the basement, built into the brick/stone foundation, are the remnants of the family kitchen. The Dutch oven, along with the flame-kissed walls, is evidence of the past. Even though the Chappell family was well respected, they were not above scandal. Before Ansel died in 1873, his son Thomas was arrested in connection with one of the biggest banking fraud cases of the time. In 1866, Thomas Chappell sold bogus checks on his father’s account for thousands of dollars in what became known as the Canton Bank Scandal.

The next owner on record appeared on an 1872 map of the village of Brockport. George R. Ward was a grocer on Main Street who was married to a local girl named Marion Root. No scandals or mysteries followed Ward; he was a respected, hardworking citizen. In 1871, he became the proud owner of the opera house, which he completely renovated after it was destroyed by fire. When it was finished it was renamed, for obvious reasons, the Ward Opera Block. George Ward passed away on February 8, 1889.

After Ward’s death, his widow remarried. Her second husband was Henry Dewey. Dewey was, among other things, a justice of the peace. Imagine how many couples in love knocked on the front door asking for the rites of marriage in the dark of night, or the shotgun weddings that took place in the front parlor. Happy moments may have taken place there before the more tragic ones that would be associated with the next owner. Henry Dewey passed into peace in 1917; Marion Root Ward Dewey followed him in 1921.

In the 1940s, Alfonso Fowler purchased the property that would be used as the Fowler Funeral Home, the name by which it was most famously known. It remained a funeral home until 1996, when it moved to its present location at 340 West Avenue. The kitchen in the basement was replaced by morgue and laboratory space. The parlor where secret elopements took place became viewing rooms filled with sadness. Still, the elegant staircase and rooftop cupola remained.

The Fowler family was the most notable owners of 52 State Street, although they didn’t live there. Arthur and Adele were the first Fowlers in Brockport, with Arthur appearing in the 1880 census as a hardware merchant. He was a partner in the Hinman-Fowler Hardware Store on the corner of King and Main Streets in the Ward Opera Block. If you remember, George Ward and Arthur Fowler have another connection—this very address.

Alonso Fowler was the son of Arthur and Adele, as well as the husband of Olive Daily.

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