Handbill promoting C. B. Reynolds lecture

Handbill promoting C. B. Reynolds lecture

Handbill promoting March 20–21 freethought lectures by Charles B. Reynolds and wife at Hornellsville's Metropolitan Hall. From the collection of the Robert Green Ingersoll Birthplace Museum.

Metropolitan Hall formed part of this store

Metropolitan Hall formed part of this store

This image from April 1903 shows T. G. Wooster & Brother department store. One of the storefronts comprising this property was the former Metropolitan Hall; it is possible, though not certain, that the former meeting hall occupied the second floor of the section with the hall windows visible immediately above the street car. Note streetcar service, which at that time ran down the center of Main Street.

No images of Metropolitan Hall are known from its years of independent operation. Image courtesy Southern Tier Library System.

Metropolitan Hall site today

Metropolitan Hall site today

The Metropolitan Hall site as it looks today. Perspective is similar to the Wooster and Brother store image. The Steuben Trust Company building (left) and the three-story Holland's Building (center) now comprise Hornell's City Hall complex. The beige structure with four columns of windows immediately to the right of the Holland's Building may be the same structure seen at the right-hand edge of the Wooster and Brother store image.

Detail of Steuben Trust Company building

Detail of Steuben Trust Company building

The building now occupying the northeast corner of Main and Seneca Streets, now part of Hornell City Hall, housed a bank from 1914 until 1999, when the Steuben Trust Company moved to new quarters in downtown Hornell. The bank continues to operate today.

City Hall Complex

City Hall Complex

This reverse view of the Hornell City Hall complex favors the former Holland's Building. As noted, the beige structure at far right may date back to the Wooster and Brother complex that included the old Metropolitan Hall.

Holland's Building detail

Holland's Building detail

The main structure of Hornell City Hall was once the Holland's Building. Who Holland was, and what manner of business he conducted here, are currently unknown.

Hornellsville, 1880s

Hornellsville, 1880s

Erie Railroad promotional art depicts Hornellsville in the 1880s.

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