History of the CR

Sometimes the best stories are the ones that come from out of the blue. Such is the case with history of Central New York Services' Community Residence. It began with the following email:

Upon responding in the affirmative to Mr. Pepper's generous offer additional emails followed, each more fascinating than the one before. Bit by bit the history of this building, which now serves as a base for recovery, unfolded in Mr. Pepper's warm telling.

Perhaps the best way to present it is to let Mr. Pepper tell you the story himself.

Thank You so much for responding to my e-mail regarding the Community Residence. As you probably know, in this "helter skelter" world people are not fully aware of their surroundings or really care. In that regard I sincerely appreciate your interest in the history of the house and it pleases me to be able to furnish you with that information. I wish to thank those involved who have made the home into a very presentable and useful function and I know that my Grandfather and Grandmother would be pleased as well.

I am not certain as to the exact date of the construction of the house, but my best guess would be in the late 1920s. I do know that my Grandfather spared no expense in selecting the material for it's construction. I vividly recall him pointing out the roof which was covered with tile and his comment that it would last nearly the life of the house. This may have been bending the truth somewhat, but he was indeed proud of that roof. There was also a cedar room in the attic for storing clothes. The formal dining room with it's abundance of wrap around windows was a wonderful place during the holidays when the entire family would gather for some absolutely delicious meals prepared by my Grandmother. She was of German heritage and it's my belief that a better cook has never been or ever will exist. Christmas and Thanksgiving dinners were always served with three selections of meat - Roast Beef, Ham and Turkey. Home baked pies and cookies were of great abundance and filled the entire buffet. How she ever managed to do this with one stove and very little help is beyond me. I do know that the preparation took many days in advance. The upstairs of the home consisted of four bedrooms and the master bath, hallway and in the very front there was a screened-in summer sleeping porch which offered relief on hot summer nights. On the main floor underneath the sleeping porch and next to the living room was the sitting porch which also offered relief on those hot summer days.

The original property size was probably about two acres. As you face the house from the street, to the left of the house was a two car garage where each of my Grandparents had their own 1928 Buicks complete with jump seats and privacy curtains. To the left of the garage was a fish pond where my Grandfather kept his pet ducks ( "Dill and Dall") To the left of the driveway between the fish pond and the street was a fenced in and paved tennis court. The back yard and to the east of the house there were many series of grapevines that provided black grapes for canning.

My Grandfather and his Brother owned Pepper Brothers Construction Company which continued in operation until just before World War II. My Grandfather passed away in 1945 and my Grandmother continued living in the house until about 1960 at which time the property was sold. My Grandmother passed away in 1983.There is no doubt in my mind that at one time this was probably the best built and most beautiful house on the south side of the city. From the 1920s and continuing on until the 1960s other members of the Pepper family lived on the street The house across the street was owned by my Grandfathers Brother Robert Pepper. The small offset house to the east was owned by my Great Great Grandfather Samuel Pepper. The newer house to the east of that belonged to my Aunt and Uncle Robert and Dorothy McAllister. And to the east of that is an older house that was the original Pepper homestead and at one time was located where the "CR" is now located. In fact the stone front on the "CR" was at one time the front stone work of the old Pepper homestead.

I know that this is a lot for you to consume and comprehend and I apologize if it appears that I might have gotten caught up in a memory lane type of dissertation. After all, what else would you expect from a 74 year old senior citizen. (LOL)

As for myself, I left Syracuse in 1950 when I joined the Navy. After completing 12 years in Naval Intelligence I returned to find that there was not too many job opportunities and moved to the Philadelphia area. Only on occasion have I returned to Syracuse and each time saddened to find more deterioration each time. My last visit was in 1996 but hope to return for a short visit sometime this summer to visit with remaining family members and old friends.

In reviewing my e-mail of yesterday, I neglected to describe the rooms on the first floor. Along with the living room, the first floor had a formal dining room, kitchen, Lavatory, sewing room, music room and the aforementioned front sitting porch. The house had central heating via steam radiators in each room. Another unique feature that was built into the house was "on demand" hot water in the lavatory and upstairs bath. There were small white buttons on the wall which you pushed when you desired hot water. Keep in mind that this was in the days before hot water heaters. It would be amazing if these were still on the walls as described. And if so it might answer a question that has puzzled people for years.

The basement was the classic concrete block basement that contained the coal fired furnace that provided steam heat. In the area under the dining room was the clothes washing area. I recall my Grandmother had one of the very first wash machines that can only be described as a brass barrel that would rock back and forth. The wringing of clothes was entirely manual.

I remember the old "ice box" in the kitchen, and a few years later they might have had one of the very first refrigerators in the area. This was a General Electric, and if your old enough to remember, it had the condenser located on the top.

My best regards to all,

Victor R. Pepper

DeSoto, Missouri

Mr. Pepper created two photo montages which will be framed and displayed at the CR, showing the vintage shots along side the current view of the building.

Central New York Services is very grateful to Mr. Pepper for sharing this incredibly rich remembrance with us. It is so easy to ram through life without considering the people who came before and brought us to where we are now.

Update!

Mr. Pepper recently sent us a new photo. This was taken from a motion picture, filmed in the 1930's and recently transferred to DVD. The panoramic montage was constructed from screenshots captured from the DVD.