ALFRED - The Alfred township has had an association with discipline since its 1807 inception.

“The Seventh Day Baptist church was the founding thing, and they came from Rhode Island,” said former town historian Harold Snyder. “A lot of them walked in, a lot of them drove in, in stage coaches.”

The “History of the Genesee Country” claims, “The town of Alfred first constituted the four southern townships of Steuben county, and was established in 1806.”

However, the “History of Allegany County New York: 1806-1879” lists the initial settlement of the town as happening in 1807.

Both accounts list Clark Crandall and Nathan and Edward Green as some of the original founders. These three were Seventh Day Baptists, as Mr. Snyder had described.

The “History of Allegany County” claims Alfred was first formed from the town of Angelica on March 11, 1808. A month later, in April 1808, the first town meeting was held.

Alfred’s founding fathers met in the house of Benjamin Van Campen. Joseph Karr was elected town supervisor. At that time, the “History of the Genesee Country” claims, the township was 6 miles wide and 27 miles long.

By 1812 the first Seventh Day Baptist Church in the town had been established. The denomination was strict, and throughout its history has distinguished Alfred from other places in several regards.

For example, Mr. Snyder said, Alfred was a dry town until about 1960. And, he said, at one time Alfred was the only town in the United States that had its banks and post office open on Sundays.

The Seventh Day Baptists hold their Sabbath from sun-down Friday until sun-down Saturday, Mr. Snyder said.

Religion wasn’t the founders’ only fervor, however. According to the “History of the Genesee Country,” “Higher education may be said to have had its start in Alfred when, in 1834, Maxson Stillman established an evening school for the teaching of vocal music.”

However, “Too poor to send their children away to school, and equally determined to give them advantages to obtain a higher education,” the “History of Allegany County” reads, “a number of citizens banded together, in the summer of 1836, to establish a select school.”

Mrs. Henry Sheldon offered the north chamber of her home for the school’s use, if carpenters would finish it off in return. They did so, and Rev. Bethuel Church organized a select school there.

In the summer of 1837, funds were subscribed, and the school’s first building was constructed in the center of the village. The structure measured 28 feet by 34 feet. Including furniture, it cost $700.

Rev. James R. Irish, then a student at Union College, came to run the school. On Dec. 2, 1837, he opened the second term of the school as its principal. At that time, “History of Allegany County” reads, about 40 students attended.

In addition to his efforts in pedagogy, however, Mr. Irish also led a large religious revival, such that around 200 members were added to the first Sabbatarian Baptist Church in Alfred.

He took over as its pastor in the spring of 1839. Another Union College student, William Kenyon, took charge of the school. A junior at the college, Mr. Kenyon only intended to run the school for two or three years at most.

Mr. Kenyon was gearing up for the ministry as a missionary abroad, according to “History of Allegany County.”

“But here, in a field comparatively unoccupied by institutions of learning,” “History of Allegany County” reads, “he saw a mission worthy of his efforts.” Mr. Kenyon devoted his life to the institution from that point forward.

By 1841, attendance reached 100 students. That year, a large, two-storied front was added to the academic building to the tune of $2,500.

Tuition then was between $2.50 and $3.50 for a 13-week term. Board ran between $1 and $1.50 per week, which included “fuel, light and washing,” according to the “History of Allegany County.”

The school kept growing from there. A chapel was built in 1852. In 1857 the university charter was granted. On April 14, 1858, “History of the Genesee Country” records, Alfred University was officially organized. Mr. Kenyon was the first president.

Other aspects of the village were thriving at that point as well. The first post office had been established in 1848; David C. Greene was the postmaster.

And, Mr. Snyder said, the mid-1800s through about 1900 was the Seventh Day Baptist church’s prime.

“It was so active back then,” he said. “And they had up to 600 members in that church.”

First known as Alfred Center, the village was incorporated in 1881. In 1883, F.A. Crumb first published the Alfred Sun newspaper.

Then, around 1879 a fire consumed large parts of the Alfred campus, Mr. Snyder said. “It burned 11 buildings.”

That wasn’t the last time Alfred would burn, either. In 1907, New York state created an agricultural college on Main Street. It is known today as Alfred State College. Then it was the Alfred State Agricultural and Technical Institute, or more commonly, Ag Tech.

According to “Allegany County In the 20th Century: Stories of Change,” a large barn was built on North Main Street. “Almost finished,” the book reads, “with the builder’s tools still inside, the barn burned on Dec. 31 1910.”

A second barn was built in its place; it burned down in 1960.

Fires aren’t the only disasters the town has endured, either. “The tornado of 1920 was a disaster,” Mr. Snyder said. “That was the only tornado that ever touched this area en masse.”

He said the cyclone leveled a number of houses on farms around Alfred. “20th Century” dates the storm as touching down at 10 p.m. July 23. “For those affected,” the book claims, “it was the defining moment of a generation.”

Life went on, though, and so did Alfred’s farms. Dairy farming was integral to the area in the 20th century, Mr. Snyder said. “Initially it was all farming. Cheese, dairies, eggs went to New York City on the railroad,” he said, adding there was sheep farming in the area.

“When I was a kid,” Mr. Snyder said. “There were more than 50 dairy farmers in the Alfred local,” who were members of the Dairy Farmers’ League.

Mr. Snyder said that at the time, the league’s members numbered around 90,000. But, in the 1940s, he said, the contingent dropped down to just one producing farm in the Alfred township.

Some things held strong, though, including the Seventh Day Baptist discipline. Mr. Snyder said in the first half of the century, the Saturday Sabbath was held communitywide. The college football games were even held off until after sunset on Saturdays, he said.

When the sun went down, the stadium lights went on, kickoff came, and “People loved it,” Mr. Snyder said, “it was the heyday of football.”

Eventually, the religious rigor began to die out. Mr. Snyder said the Seventh Day Baptist church continued to lose numbers as 1960 approached.

“They just diluted out. The church became older and older, as far as clientele,” he said. Younger members grew up and left the town, he said. “They’re getting old, they die and there’s not enough new members in the churches.

And, Mr. Snyder said, “It was too hard to go against the Sunday national pastime, unless you were strong. And I mean, born into it strong.”

(Contact reporter John Loyd at jloyd@oleantimesherald.com)

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