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LE ROY PENNYSAVER & NEWS - JANUARY 8, 2017
1925 LeRoy Directory
It's Good to be Alive in LeRoy
A couple of weeks
ago, I purchased a colorful Le-
Roy advertising fan on Ebay
with a charming little girl and a
kitten on the front. On the back
was this notice: “Compliments
Thos. M. Philibin Meat Market
and Real Estate Phone 56.“ So
you could stop by Mr. Philibin’s
and buy a pot roast and chicken
thighs, and take a look at hous-
es or farms for sale. (I can only
imagine the meat market on one
side and an office in the back
for his real estate business.) We
did a little sleuthing to find out
more about Thomas Philibin
and found his 1946 obituary in
the LeRoy Gazette. He was born
in 1892 and attended St. Peter’s
Church. In 1914 he opened a
grocery store at 47 Main Street
but he left his business and en-
listed when the war broke out.
When he returned home, he
went into the retail meat busi-
ness at 72 Main Street across
the street. In 1924, he combined
his meat business with the real
estate business and relocated
once again to 47 Main Street.
(Street numbers changed, so it’s
not certain that Philibin’s store
at 47 Main is 47 Main today –
which is where the hardware
store is now.) But the 1924 date
gave us a clue to the possible
date of the fan. So we went to
the 1925 LeRoy Directory and
sure enough, there was an ad-
vertisement for Philibin’s Meat
Market and Real Estate busi-
ness.
A few days ago, Steve
Barbeau gave us a metal shoe-
horn for Daggs shoes. A quick
search in the clipping files in-
dicates that Charles Daggs was
born in 1889 and died in 1945.
He worked as a clerk in a cou-
ple of the shoe stores in town,
and once again, the 1925 LeRoy
Directory has an advertisement
for “Reliable Footware Charles
D. Daggs Main Street.”
The 1925 Directory
was published by Joseph C.
Barone. According to the front
page, he “was born of Italian
parentage in LeRoy in 1897. He
attended LeRoy public schools
and reached his third year in
high school in 1917, when he
left school and went to Gene-
va to become a foreman in the
plant of the Geneva Preserving
Company, where he remained
for four years. Returning to
LeRoy in 1921, he engaged in
the manufacture of cheese un-
til 1924, when he established
the advertising distributing and
posting business, in which he is
now engaged. He presents this
directory in the hope that it will
serve as a public convenience
and a record of the people living
in LeRoy in 1925.”
While looking through
the Directory I discovered an
advertisement for the “Parkside
Home Mrs. Martha E Tillou
Proprietress LeRoy’s Boarding
and Rooming House 15 East
Main Street.” I was pretty sure
this was the house just east of
LeRoy House, but I needed to
check the address, because it is
now 27 East Main Street. (Just
an update on 27 East Main. As
some of you know, the house
was put up for auction on No-
vember 18. The Historical So-
ciety was prepared to bid on
the house but the bank, HSBC,
offered over $100,000 for the
property, which was much more
than we felt it was worth, and
the bank now owns it. Since
that time, we have been trying
to make sure it was secured,
since the front door and a base-
ment window were often wide
open. Although the doors are
now locked, a large basement
window is wide open, and we
have learned that there is a lot of
water damage because the pipes
froze and burst. The Historical
Society has registered the house
with New York State as a Zom-
bie House and we will continue
to make sure the bank is main-
taining the house as outlined by
the new state law that went into
effect on December 20.) Again,
I looked through the Directory
for some clues. I was pretty
sure that the house that John Al-
len lives in today (formerly Gar-
denview B&B) was the home of
the Townsend family, and in-
deed it was and in 1925 it was
11 East Main Street. The house
between LeRoy House and the
Townsend house didn’t exist in
1926, so I wanted to confirm the
address of LeRoy House. I was
certain that the Superintendent
of LeRoy Schools lived in Le-
Roy House. The Directory listed
Mr. Earl B. Taylor as the super-
intendent and sure enough, he
and his family lived at 13 East
Main Street - - LeRoy House.
(The LeRoy House today is 23
East Main Street.) So, this indi-
cates that what is 27 East Main
Street now - - the house just east
of LeRoy House - - now owned
by HSBC - - -was the former
Parkside Home.
Joseph Barone wrote
in the Directory “Days come
and go in LeRoy as in every
other community. The whole at-
mosphere breathes the thought
‘It is good to be alive; indeed it
is good to be alive in LeRoy.’ ”