PERRYSBURG, NY, HISTORICAL MUSEUM: Window Into the Past

Perrysburg, NY, Historical Museum. Holy Family painting by Mercy Ann Lockridge

A year ago, on this blog, I wrote about my great-great-grandmother’s painting, a family treasure that had been passed down through the generations to me. It is a copy of a famous Renaissance painting by Raphael called The Madonna of Divine Love. We called it The Holy Family. My great-great-grandmother, Mercy Ann Lockridge, painted The Holy Family in about 1865 while living in Western New York near the small town of Perrysburg in Cattaraugus County. I wanted to find a permanent home for the painting and the Perrysburg Historical Museum seemed like the perfect place. So, I donated it to the museum, shipping it from my home in California to Perrysburg. 

Perrysburg Historical Museum.

In July of this year I had a chance to visit Perrysburg and see The Holy Family in its new home, and to meet Steve Stockwell, the Perrysburg Town Historian. When we arrived, he greeted us at the door and gave us a personal tour.

Perrysburg, NY, Town Hall. 

The Perrysburg Historical Museum is housed in the Perrysburg Town Hall, a building that previously was the town school. The museum is open one Saturday a month, or by arrangement. The Holy Family is displayed in a former classroom, surrounded by other historical pieces--artwork, maps, photos and documents. 

The room is packed with books, furniture and cabinets filled with mementos, all tied to the people connected with Perrysburg’s past. I was pleased to see my father’s book, Lutie and Mercy Ann, about the Lockridge family, on display for interested visitors.

Steve Stockwell with antique firefighting equipment. Steve is a volunteer fireman.

Handmade wooden plank toboggan.

Two more rooms of the museum are on the ground floor level of the building and used for the display of larger items. In the room that was once the school gymnasium, antique firefighting equipment and a homemade toboggan are among the items on view.  

Scale model of the J.N. Adam Memorial Hospital.

Close-up of one of the main buildings of the sanitarium.

The other ground floor room is devoted to a huge 3-D scale model of the J.N. Adam Memorial Hospital, once the primary treatment site for tuberculosis patients in New York State. It is located just outside Perrysburg. The hospital operated as a tuberculosis treatment center from 1912 to 1960 and then was used as a mental health hospital until it closed in 1993. I recently read Light and Air, by Mindy Nichols Wendell, a historical novel set in 1935, at a time before antibiotics were widely used to treat tuberculosis. Although the book is written for children, adults can enjoy it too. It provides a sensitive look into life at the J.N. Adam hospital at the time. The author was inspired to write the book after a visit to Perrysburg.

Historical photos of the J.N. Adam Memorial Hospital.

Once an architectural showplace, the buildings of the J.N. Adam hospital have since fallen into ruin. Photos on the wall of the Perrysburg Historical Museum and the detailed model help preserve the memory of its grandeur and bring it back to life.

The wealth of local history in the Perrysburg Historical Museum is astounding. Although my ancestors only lived in Perrysburg for about a decade (in the 1870s and 1880s) I felt a real connection to the town. Mercy Ann’s daughter, my great-grandmother, was married in the Lockridge home in Perrysburg in 1875. (I have a copy of the invitation in our family mementos.) 

The former Chapman estate in Versailles, NY.

Among the guests at the wedding were Hiram and Maria Chapman from the nearby small town of Versailles. (Pronounced ver-sales.) Hiram Chapman was a well-known ship captain who sailed on Lake Erie and was a family friend.  It was the Chapman family who loaned Mercy Ann Lockridge their copy of The Holy Family so that she could make her own copy. (See my post of Sept 15, 2025 for the full story.) So, after leaving the museum, we did a short drive from Perrysburg to Versailles to see the Chapman home and the unusual grave marker for Hiram and Maria Chapman in the Versailles cemetery.

Grave marker for Hiram and Maria Chapman, Versailles, NY.

Western New York State is packed with history. Even if you don’t have a personal connection like I do, the Perrysburg Historical Museum is worth a visit if you are in the area and a fascinating window on an earlier time in American life.

The Chapman gravestone is in the shape of a tree trunk.

A PEEK AT THE GILDED AGE: History Museum in Saratoga Springs, NY

Inside the Saratoga Springs History Museum. 

In the 1870s and 1880s, people came to Saratoga Springs in upstate New York for the sparkling water that gives the city its name, and for the horse races, gambling, and thriving social life in the elegant hotels that lined the main street. Today the grand hotels of Saratoga Springs' Gilded Age are gone, but the city is still a popular vacation center known for its racetrack and beautiful surrounding countryside. 

John Morrisey built the racetrack that made the area famous.

Depictions of horses and horse racing can be seen throughout the town.

Entrance to the Saratoga Springs History Museum.

What was once a gambling casino for the rich and famous now houses the Saratoga Springs History Museum where you can see mementos from the past and learn more about some of the people who are part of the city’s history.

Skidmore College building in downtown Saratoga Springs. (The main campus is just outside of town.)

In mid-May when we were in Saratoga Springs for our grandson’s graduation from Skidmore College, we visited the History Museum, located in Congress Park near the center of town.

Our tour of the ballroom, bar, and reception areas of the Casino.

At the entrance to the museum we purchased tickets to see the exhibits. As it happened, we were just in time for a tour of the ballroom area adjacent to the casino. Our guide was an extremely knowledgeable museum volunteer.

Stained glass decorations in the ballroom.

Ballroom ceiling.

The ballroom is not always open for public view because it is a popular wedding and party venue. We were lucky that we happened to be there between events. The rooms are truly impressive and it is easy to imagine ladies in long elegant dresses and gentlemen in formal suits dancing and conversing with one another.

Exhibits on the main floor of the museum.

When the tour of the ballroom ended we were free to visit the rest of the museum on our own. This included a room on the main floor next to the gift shop, plus two floors of exhibits upstairs. Here are a just few of the items I found most intriguing.

Bicycles like this one were popular in the 1890s.

An elegant way to travel was in a personal hand carried sedan chair like this one.

Roulette wheel in the card room. At the Casino, men came to make business deals, gamble, and socialize with their peers.

Hand-cut silhouette artwork was popular in the 19th century.

Steep stairs lead to the upper floors of the museum.

When we finished our visit to the history museum, we went for a walk in Congress Park on our way to lunch at one of the many local restaurants. A few weeks later, when the summer racing season began, crowds of horse enthusiasts would pour into town, just as they did every summer more than one hundred years ago. Our visit to the museum helped us imagine what it might have been like back then.

Models like these display the elegant clothing of the Gilded Age.