Sold – Under $100K Sunday ~ c.1890 Handyman Special FSBO In Elmira NY $69K
1064 College Ave, Elmira, NY 14901 $69,000 Sold
Handyman Special
OHU50K NOTES
What a grand old house this was! The c.1890 handyman special needs some TLC, but has the potential to be a real beauty. It is just down the street from the historic Elmira College. OHU50K featured this home back in July 2020 when it was on MLS for $74,999. It is now a FSBO for $69,000.
This home features much of the original woodwork and charming details. Original copper ceiling tiles in the dining room, 5 fireplaces throughout, and many windows updated. Potential to turn into a multi-family home. Built in 1890, this historic property has tons of potential. School size boiler (2000) and new roof in 2007. Sold as is.
Some Ghostly Elmira History
Folklorist, Elizabeth Tucker, relates that an Elmira College dorm is haunted by a ghost named Mary who had a tragic accident in the building. Mary is said to appear in mirrors.
My family also has a thin (and ghostly) connection to Elmira. My husband’s great-great grandfather was a laborer on the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge. He was pushing a wheelbarrow on a rickety board at the end of a workday when he lost his balance and fell to his death on the pavement below. He left behind a wife and three children. The Bridge Commission felt sorry for the family and gave the widow $25 and the youngest son John, age 15, a job as a messenger.
John was a ne’er-do-well who absconded with the $25 for a weekend tryst with a girl in Coney Island, who later discovered she was pregnant.
Scene two: That same girl, a servant in an upper middle class home, was found some weeks later by her employer, slumped over the kitchen sink dead. The police found an empty bottle of Rough on Rats rat poison in the girl’s pocket and deemed the case a suicide.
Scene three: John, in a drunken state, entered a Brooklyn police precinct and confessed that he poisoned his girlfriend who is now haunting him incessantly. The captain sent John home, telling him if he still wants to confess the next day to come back sober. Unbelievably, he returns.
It is a very long story that made headlines in the New York Times for weeks in the 1880s. Long story short, John is convicted, and as a minor is sent to the Elmira Reformatory, where he writes letters to the governor complaining about the conditions.
I guess almost every family has a bad apple.
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- 8bed
- 2bath
- 4,616sqft
- 0.24acres lot
- Build date 1890
- Google Map
- Property Listing
- Contact: James via Facebook Marketplace
SELLER COMMENTS
Huge home, needs some work but not too bad. All new windows 1 year ago, new roof 2 years ago.
4 Comments
Logan Dean Simmons
Did this place ever sell?
[email protected]
I don’t see a sale listed on the county GIS page. https://chemung.sdgnys.com/propdetail.aspx?swis=070400&Printkey=08900600070060000000
Logan Dean Simmons
I’m sorry, I am ignorant on this topic. That indicates that it most likely was not sold, correct?
[email protected]
It could be that it has not sold, or that the sale has not been recorded yet.