06/01/2026
Main Street Monday
91-93 Main Street
My original intention was to cover all of 91-101 Main Street in one go, but I should know by now that the most unassuming addresses are often more full of activity and history than I anticipate! Therefore, we will concentrate first on 91-93 Main Street, what is now the Armed Forces Career Center.
The lot on which the building making up 91-101 Main Street contained in early years “the cherished home of the Hon. William Mallery; and upon the same lot was a small wooden building kept as a clerk’s office as late as the summer of 1819.” Other resources clarify that Mallery served as the county clerk, a position to which he was appointed in 1815.
William Mallery (d.1837) came to Cortland from Columbia Co. in 1802, and was described as “Uniform, inflexible, incorruptible…eminent for integrity, sagacity and comprehension of mind, fortified by a huge corpulent body, he wielded a political influence second to none in the county. He held the office of sheriff, then was chosen County Clerk, and was also elected to the State Senate and in other positions of trust. In the latter years of his life he became a devout member of the Methodist church.”
The property changed hands three or four times until it came under the ownership of Joseph Reynolds (who will be covered in more detail in the next post covering nos. 97-101) in 1853, then sold to James S. Squires in 1861. At this particular time, the property was split with the northern portion of the lot sold separately to John Malmberg (modern-day nos. 91-93 Main Street). It seems likely that the building that remained on this part of the property was the “cherished home of the Hon. William Mallery,” renovated and converted for commercial purposes. John Malmberg (1802-1879) had come from Sweden, and his company dealt in groceries, oysters, & liquors. Offices and living quarters were located upstairs, accessed by an exterior stair on the right (south) side of the building.
By the 1870s, the grocery business appears to have exchanged hands, and continued to do so every six months or so; names associated with the business included Seacord, Woodward, Bates, Mahan, Corwin, Larrison, and Burt. In 1880, the Boston Clothing House opened under the ownership of Charles F. Rockwell & D.W. Ehresman. In 1886, Bernard Dowd purchased the property which then became known as the Dowd building. The “Boston” name, however, stuck with the place when it became Boston Variety Store in 1887, operated by Lewis & Kalvrisky.
The 1900s saw a new era for the building as a saloon/café called The Alhambra, which opened in 1902. The same name was also applied to a barber shop located upstairs. This also seemed to be the era of fire threats, as a number of small fires were reported over a period of time in the building, all fortunately caught and extinguished before they caused much damage.
As cars became more prevalent in the Cortland community, various garages and auto stores began to pop up. Along that line, Robert J. Ames leased the Dowd building in 1924 and opened up Ames Motor Co. Three years later he purchased the property, then just a few years after that it was leased to American Stores Co. who put up a new front and remodeled it as a grocery store in 1931. The building underwent yet another remodel in 1942 and reopened as the “up-to-date self-service” Acme Super Market. It’s possible that at this time the old structure (over one hundred years old if my hunch that it was the original Mallery home is correct) was in fact replaced with the block building that is still there now. Photos from the 1950s show that it was originally two stories with a brick front, the top floor removed sometime later in that same decade. It more often than not housed two storefronts; in 1948 this included The Meat Shop & Firestone auto store.
In 1951 Mathew’s clothing store went in, for a time sole tenant of the building, then replaced by Fabrizio’s Men’s Shop and Alita’s Vogue ladies’ clothing shop in 1959.
A sampling of the next few decades include, but are not limited to the following businesses:
1965- La Femme women’s clothing (91) & Fabrizio’s (93)
1970- Fabric Booth (91) & Fabrizio’s
1975- Patriarco’s Italian Imports (91) & Fabrizio’s
1980- Two Sisters Carousel of Fashion (91) & Harts & Flowers (93)
1985- Valley Crafts (91) & Harts & Flowers (93)
1991- The Herb Shoppe (91) Harts & Flowers (93)
After three decades on Main Street, and over twenty years at 93 Main Street, Harts & Flowers closed in 1998. Owner Diane Hart cited competition from Wal-Mart and Kmart as well as the one-way Main Street as major contributors: “People will be driving down Main Street, and if they can’t find a parking spot they turn the corner and go to the mall.” She was hopeful that the mayor’s proposal to go back to two-way would allow business to pick up for Main Street merchants. It would be over another twenty years for that change to happen.
In 2000, the two storefronts were occupied by Jackson Hewitt Tax Service and Autographics. Then I’m left with something of an information gap until the Armed Forces Career Center appears on Google Maps as early as 2009.
~Sophie, Collections & Research Assistant
