News Clips 2000 thru today
2002, Golden Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II
2005 - around 2012, at 337 Broad Street, Phoenix Kid's Cafe of Cornell Cooperative Extension
February 1, 2010 We, Amy and Brad Zehr, take over the 208 Chemung st. property (including 208 1/2 Chemung st. and 9 Athens st.), per verbal agreement with Richard H. Morris, while waiting for the official signing.
March 17, 2010, The Closing! We officially own 208 and 208 1/2 Chemung St. with 9 Athens St. all in Waverly, NY. We name it the "Zehr Estate"
Brad was born and raised on the edge of the Adirondack's in Lowville, NY. He grew up on a dairy farm. Brad worked for a carpentry crew during his school years and also had a great uncle who taught him fine woodworking skills. Amy and Brad met during their college years at Alfred, NY. Brad built a home in Athens, PA where he and Amy raised their two children. In the past, Brad has worked as a research lab technician for the Guthrie Foundation of Research in Sayre, PA, as an analytical chemist at Osram Sylvania in Towanda, PA, and in marketing at Guthrie in Sayre, PA. He was employed at the Guthrie for about 27 years, when he was "let go" in June of 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic, along with 199 others who were let go. He is currently (as of the time of this updating in Oct. 2023) employed at Granite Works in Waverly, NY. Brad is also self-employed, zehr.net, website related services. Amy was employed in the past as a registered nurse on a medical/surgical floor for the Robert Packer Hospital in Sayre, PA and also as a Charge Nurse for the Sayre House, in Sayre, PA. Amy later chose to be a "stay at home Mom" and also to homeschool their children. Amy is spending her time working on this property's revitalization and research along with doing the same with their Lewistown, PA property. Brad and Amy are also among the founding members of the Waverly Historical Society . Amy remains on the board of the Waverly Historical Society, while Brad has resigned from the board.
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November 16, 2010 posted on internet site by Patti Martin. Her mother-in-law collected old Bibles and had this one: "Looking for descendants of a Catheline Middagh who was born 25 April/6 May 1734. I have a Dutch New Testament & Psalms in which she wrote her name, Catheline Middagh Her Book, and the above birthday as hers. Several other names mentioned in notes in the Bible are George W. Albertson of Rochester MI and Mr. A. J. Van Atta of Waverly NY as well as a label from his son John C. Van Atta a druggist in Waverly NY. In pencil inside the back cover is written in cursive William Smith (looks as though it was a child practicing)." Patti Martin is looking for any living family members to get it back to them. Ofcourse, we too, are looking for any living descendants of any of the people involved with the history of 208 Chemung Street, Waverly, NY. Azariah J. VanAtta was the designer and builder of 208 Chemung st. Waverly, NY.
August 14, 2011 The Daily Review, BY JAMES LOEWENSTEIN (STAFF WRITER): Hundreds attend Bears on Broad Street festival in Waverly. WAVERLY, N.Y. -...
And two homes with historical interest in Waverly were opened up to the public for tours.
It was all part of a two-day festival in Waverly called Bears on Broad Street.
...
The additional activities include hayrides, a dunking booth, tours of Don Merrill's extensive collection of Waverly memorabilia, a dance performance by the Studio J school, a block party and youth dance at the Waverly Methodist Church, and tours of the Palmer House and Zehr Estate, both of which are of historical interest, Twigg said.
...
November 8, 2011 Morning Times Serving the Twin Tiers since 1891: "Rebuilding History" By Kristy Westbrook Staff Writer. Waverly -...Over 150 years later, Amy and Brad Zehr are taking a step back in time as they re-build the Victorian; Eastlake and Gothic-style estate ...Present Day. Amy and Brad Zehr bought the home in 2010 from Amy's father and have been restoring the estate ever since....
February 29, 2012 The Daily Review, Towanda, PA: Code Officers Welcomed {by Amanda Renko (Staff Writer)}Waverly village trustees Tuesday welcomed two recently hired members of its code enforcement team. Code enforcement officer Mike LeRose and assistant code enforcement officer Bob Chisari gave a presentation to trustees Tuesday at their workshop meeting on their new roles. ...During the meeting, McDuffee commended the work of village residents Brad and Amy Zehr, who continue to work on restoring the Chemung Street house they purchased in 2010. The property consists of a large main house, a stable and a carriage house on Athens Street. Brad Zehr told trustees that they have had "lots of good comments" on the restoration, with many residents following the house's progress. The Zehrs eventually plan on hosting bed-and-breakfast-style accommodations at the house.
June 3, 2012 The New York Times by John F. Burns: LONDON - Braving a day of bone-chilling, rain-dampened weather, a crowd estimated by the police at more than a million people lined the banks of the Thames on Sunday to acclaim Queen Elizabeth II as she marked 60 years on the throne with a royal river pageant of a kind last seen 350 years ago. The stirring flotilla of a thousand boats, the highlight of a four-day holiday to celebrate the monarch's diamond jubilee, combined with the familiar miseries of the British climate to produce a vignette that some embraced as a demonstration in minor key of the character of Elizabeth's reign: unflappable steadiness.... Britain's only other diamond jubilee for a monarch was relatively recent. In 1897, Elizabeth's great-great-grandmother, Queen Victoria, then 78, achieved the landmark. But Victoria was frail and reclusive then, and sent her son, the future Edward VII, to represent her at a review of a fleet of British warships at Spithead on the English Channel coast. The differing style of the two jubilees reflected the changes in Britain itself, from a global empire in Victoria's time to a medium-sized power now, struggling to find a comfortable role for itself between its ties with the Continent and its alliance with the United States....
February 2013, 337 Broad Street - the former "Corner Drug Store" from Samuel Slaughter's life time, now has a "for rent" sign
February 2015, 337 Broad Street is for sale. The former "Corner Drug Store" from Samuel Slaughter's life time
2015 The Waverly Historical Society has formed
We purchased 7 Athens street on January 17, 2017 from John O'Hara living in Farmingdale, NJ and his mother Isabelle O'Hara living in Sun City, AZ., Co-Executors of the Last Will and Testament of Elizabeth Alamo, a/k/a M. Elizabeth Alamo, late of 7 Athens street, Waverly, NY. With the purchase of this property, 67 years later, Amy and Brad Zehr have put back together the original Samuel Wickham Slaughter and Charlotte Wells Slaughter estate, and will keep the history of this former "Alamo" home at 7 Athens street alive.
In 2023, we still have painting on the exterior of the main house, Enchanting East Empress, to do. In previous summers, we worked on restoration of windows, rotted wood, ornamentation, porch work, and painting ...
Nov. 2023 Summary Update - Revitalization In Progress Of One Of Waverly's Victorian Homes.
Amy and Brad Zehr, proud owners of a Victorian Eastlake and Gothic looking style estate at 208 Chemung St. Waverly, NY, are continuing their revitalization of "Zehr Estate." The Zehr's purchased the 208 Chemung street property, which includes 208 1/2 Chemung street and 9 Athens street, in March of 2010, and in January of 2017, purchased the 7 Athens street property . Their purchase of 7 Athens street re-joined the original Samuel Slaughter's estate.
Zehr Estate consists of: the "mansion" at 208 Chemung street, the former home of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Wickham Slaughter of 1873, which had been rebuilt at that time for them as a wedding gift from Dewitt Slaughter, Samuel's father; the former outbuilding, with its circa 1945 attached garages, at 208 1/2 Chemung street; the former carriage house at 9 Athens street, which was converted into two apartments circa 1947; and the ranch style home, which was built in 1950, at 7 Athens street. This estate, in the later half of the 1800's, was once home to one of Waverly's successful businessmen and "leader in the commercial life of Waverly", Samuel Wickham Slaughter. Prior to the Slaughter family owning the property, there was a blacksmith shop (pre-1833) owned by Elder Aaron Jackson, on the current site of the main house. Also pre-1853 to 1877, there was an octagon home just to the west of the main house. The octagon home was purchased by Samuel Slaughter in 1877 and in 1879 he had the octagon home moved down, just around the corner from his home, to 7 Athens street, where the octagon home was used as rental income. Sometime around 1933-1945, the octagon house was no longer standing. In 1950, Mary Fralick, who purchased the estate from Samuel's daughter, Mrs. Gertrude Slaughter Knapp, sold off part of the property, a building lot at 7 Athens street, to Mary Alamo, who had the current home at 7 Athens street built.
Samuel Slaughter came to Waverly in 1857 with his father's family. They purchased just the portion of the property where the main house stands and at that time, the home was rectangular in shape, which was sold to them by Thomas J. Brooks. When the Slaughter family came to Waverly, Dewitt Slaughter and his wife, Caroline, along with their children, Samuel and Antonette all lived in the former Brooks' rectangular shaped home. Antonette "Nettie" and Samuel "Wickham" Slaughter were on the first roll call of the newly opened Waverly Institute, which was on the site of today's Muldoon Gardens. Dewitt Slaughter was a retired farmer from Orange county, NY. Dewitt served Waverly as a trustee in 1864.
Dewitt built onto the former Brooks' home and by 1869 the home had the foundation layout as it does today.
Samuel Slaughter married Charlotte Wells in 1873. Samuel was a druggist and owned and operated the "Corner Drug Store", at 337 Broad street Waverly, NY, for more than 30 years. Samuel and Charlotte had one child, a daughter, Mary Gertrude Slaughter, born in 1890. Mary later went by her middle name, Gertrude. In 1915, Gertrude married George Brinker Knapp, son of Joseph Warren Knapp and Frances E. Durkee Knapp, proprietors at that time of J. W. Knapp & Son on the corner of Broad and Fulton streets in Waverly. George and Gertrude had one child, a daughter, Charlotte Slaughter Knapp born in 1916. The home had been occupied by four generations of this Slaughter/Knapp family for about 88 years. After Gertrude's husband died in 1927, Gertrude or "Gertie" began to rent out parts of her home to family and or friends, turning parts of her home into two separate apartments besides her own living space. We have learned that the third floor of the home was originally a ball room for dancing and that it was after 1945 that the ball room was converted into two apartments. We have come to a conclusion that the parts of the home that Mrs. Gertrude Knapp converted into apartments must have been what was later known as 1 West and even later as apartment two and 2 West which later was known as apartment 4. It's very possible those are the two apartments that she rented out to friends and family while she lived in what was later known as apartments 1 East and later known as apartment 1 and 2 East which later was known as apartment 3, leaving her with half of the home. Then in 1945, Mrs. Gertrude Slaughter Knapp sold her family estate to Mary I. Fralick who turned all of the estate into an apartment complex. Mary Fralick and her first husband, Loren Pierce, had operated the Marilorn Motel in Waverly for several years. Mary Fralick later moved to Florida with her second husband, Ralph Fralick.
Mary Fralick lived in her apartment complex and owned the property from 1945 to 1958, when she sold the apartment complex to Robert and Vera Callison. The Callison's owned the property from 1958 to 1970 when they sold the property to Richard and Ruth Morris, Amy's parents.
The estate had been an apartment complex for 65 years, until Amy and Brad Zehr purchased it from Amy's father, Richard Morris, in 2010. The Zehr's have been working on the revitalization process since they took ownership. The former carriage house at 9 Athens street, "Whimsical Haven" of Zehr Estate, is now painted in regal plum, by Amy and Brad. The former stables or possibly a blacksmith's quarters at 208 1/2 Chemung street, with the circa 1945 addition of garages which the Zehr's turned into storage space, "the cottage" named "Alluring Artiste" of Zehr Estate is now painted in crabapple wine by Amy and Brad. The home at 7 Athens street, "the bungalow" named "Blissful Haven" of Zehr Estate is finished in the court slate.The main house at 208 Chemung street, "Enchanting East Empress" of Zehr Estate is still in the process of being painted by Amy and Brad with 3 main colors being regal plum, crabapple wine and slate court with several accent colors making the main house with 10 colors in all. They are considering numerous possibilities for the future of Zehr Estate such as guided tours, rental space for small-scale special events, gatherings and meetings, special theme educational/hobby getaways, and teas. At this point in time, the future of Zehr Estate's possibilities are endless. For now and the next several years, they will continue with the restoration / revitalization process.
