Cortland County Historical Society Officially Opens New Hall With Ribbon Cutting

Wednesday night, September 17th, the Cortland County Historical Society was joined by the Cortland Area Chamber of Commerce, along with Mayor Scott Steve and Historic Society board members to officially cut the ribbon on the new space.

The space is just around the block from the Historical Society’s headquarters, the Suggett House Museum. The new facility is the former United Methodist Church at 9 Grace Street in the City of Cortland.

The Church sat unoccupied until a plan by the Historical Society to use it as a second space for events.

Tabitha Scoville, Director of the Historical Society says thanks to the hard work of our volunteers and their investment decisions we were able to purchase this space mortgage free.

After the ribbon cutting a reception was held where longtime volunteers, three generations of volunteers were honored with a plaque and a namesake for the former sanctuary, ‘Harris Hall.’ That volunteer Jaffery Harris and his father before him, R. Curtis Harris, were longtime volunteers. Jaffery’s siblings have also contributed their time and donations. As have their children.

A talk on Albert Haskell followed the reception with his grandson, former teacher and author, Tim Haskell, who spoke on his legacy in Cortland County. Albert Haskell was a longtime Cortland County DA, among many things. A Q&A followed with Tim and Local historian Martin Sweeney. Sweeney recently had published a book on Albert.

Correction: This article originally had Jaffery’s name spelled incorrectly with Jeffery.