Elmira Civic Historic District

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. 11 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1895.

From the record

“The Elmira Civic Historic District is the area of downtown Elmira, New York where the governmental center developed in the town's early history. It includes the Chemung County Courthouse Complex, John Hazlett Office Building and the Arnot Art Museum/Icehouse, all on Lake Street.”
Wikipedia article Elmira Civic Historic District, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 47 National Register listings published here for Chemung County · listed in 1980 · category: District.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

Address. Portions of Lake, East Church, East Water, Clemens Ctr. Pkwy., East Market, Baldwin, William, & Carroll Sts., Elmira, 14901
When was it listed? July 1980
Category. district
City. Elmira city
National Register reference number. 80002596 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Then and now

1895 to 1992

The ground this property stands on, surveyed 97 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet covering Elmira Civic Historic District, surveyed 1992

Topographic sheet covering Elmira Civic Historic District, surveyed 1895

Fires near this property

451 since 1993

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 451 fires within 5 miles of Elmira Civic Historic District between 1993 and 2020, burning about 420 acres in total. 32 started naturally. 72 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause	Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	212
Arson/incendiarism	72
Smoking	68
Natural	32
Debris and open burning	30
Equipment and vehicle use	18
Misuse of fire by a minor	12
Recreation and ceremony	5
Power generation/transmission/distribution	2

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

Date	Cause	Size	Reported by	Name on the report
9 September 2015	Natural	under an acre	Fire Department of New York	NA
9 September 2002	Arson/incendiarism	2.0 acres	Fire Department of New York	not named
8 September 2014	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Fire Department of New York	not named
7 September 2020	Equipment and vehicle use	1.2 acres	Fire Department of New York	NA
7 September 2002	Arson/incendiarism	under an acre	Fire Department of New York	not named
7 September 2002	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Fire Department of New York	not named
6 September 2002	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Fire Department of New York	not named
5 September 2016	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	2.3 acres	Fire Department of New York	N/A

Every fire recorded in Chemung County

Mines and quarries near this property

7 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 7 workings within 5 miles of Elmira Civic Historic District: 5 past producers, 2 producers. 2 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Salt. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Site	Commodity	Status	Recorded
J.Murphy No.1 Well	Salt	Past Producer
Chemung Plant	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer	Sedimentary
Chemung Plant	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Horseheads Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Horsheads Plant	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer	Sedimentary
Maple Avenue Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer	Sedimentary
Maple Avenue Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer

Every working recorded in Chemung County

Storms near this property

55 since 1993

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Elmira, the town this property stands in, in 55 storm reports between 1993 and 2024: 36 thunderstorm wind, 11 hail, 7 flash flood, 1 flood. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

When	Event	Place named	Harm	What the report says
July 2015	Flash Flood	Elmira	$100,000	Numerous underpasses in the City of Elmira were flooded by standing water up to 5 feet deep. Several cars were stranded which required the occupants to be rescued by emergency personnel.
July 2018	Flash Flood	West Elmira	$50,000	Stationary thunderstorms created severe flooding of roads and properties along Hendy Creek into the village of West Elmira.
August 1993	Thunderstorm Wind	Elmira	$50,000	Severe thunderstorms developed across the area. The thunderstorm winds downed trees and power lines. Some structural damage was also reported. In Parish, Oswego County, a lightning strike killed 11 cows and injured three. Numerous power outages were reported -- some due to the downed lines, others from lightning strikes. In Syracuse, a tornado touched down and uprooted trees. The tornado caused damage to a fire department building. A large truck bay door was ripped off as were the ceiling tiles from inside the building. Minor structural damage also occurred to nearby buildings.
August 1993	Thunderstorm Wind	Elmira	$50,000	no account filed
August 2018	Flash Flood	West Elmira	$25,000	Flash flooding led to evacuations and swift water rescues near Southport.
June 2006	Thunderstorm Wind	Elmira	$25,000	Trees and wires blown down by strong thunderstorm winds.
May 1996	Thunderstorm Wind	Elmira	$25,000	no account filed
May 2011	Thunderstorm Wind	Elmira	$20,000	Numerous mobile homes were damaged.
September 2018	Flash Flood	Elmira	$15,000	Flooding occurred along Route 427 near Maple Avenue. All lanes were closed in the area of the Berwick Turnpike.
July 2020	Thunderstorm Wind	Elmira	$10,000	Strong thunderstorm winds brought down numerous trees.
July 2019	Thunderstorm Wind	Elmira	$10,000	Strong thunderstorm winds brought down a tree on a house on West 4th Street.
August 2019	Thunderstorm Wind	Elmira	$10,000	Strong thunderstorm winds brought down trees and wires.
July 2018	Thunderstorm Wind	Elmira	$10,000	Strong thunderstorm winds knocked down trees and wires.
July 2018	Thunderstorm Wind	Elmira	$10,000	Strong thunderstorm winds knocked down trees and wires.
September 2018	Flash Flood	West Elmira	$10,000	Road flooded and partially washed out at West Church and Coleman.
August 2018	Flash Flood	Elmira	$10,000	Numerous roads were flooded with several wash outs in West Elmira.
May 2017	Thunderstorm Wind	Elmira	$10,000	A thunderstorm moved across the region and became severe. This thunderstorm produced severe winds and knocked over a tree on a house and produced structural damage.
May 2017	Thunderstorm Wind	Elmira	$10,000	A thunderstorm moved across the region and became severe. This thunderstorm produced severe winds and knocked over multiple trees and power lines which blocked roadways.
September 2012	Hail	Elmira	$10,000	High winds also occurred. A trampoline was blown one-half mile and destroyed.
May 2011	Thunderstorm Wind	Elmira	$10,000	Numerous tree limbs were blown down.
July 2019	Thunderstorm Wind	Elmira	$5,000	Strong thunderstorm winds brought down a tree on wires near 824 Lincoln Street.
August 2019	Thunderstorm Wind	Elmira	$5,000	Strong thunderstorm winds blew off shingles off of a house.
August 2019	Thunderstorm Wind	Elmira	$5,000	Strong thunderstorm winds brought down wires and blew away tents near Wisner Park near the corner of Gray and Main Street.
August 2019	Thunderstorm Wind	West Elmira	$5,000	Strong thunderstorm winds brought down a tree and wires on Curren Road.
July 2013	Thunderstorm Wind	Elmira	$5,000	Trees and power lines were blown down on Horseheads Boulevard.
July 2012	Thunderstorm Wind	Elmira	$5,000	Trees and power lines were blown down.
May 2011	Thunderstorm Wind	Elmira	$5,000	Trees and wires were blown down.
May 2011	Thunderstorm Wind	Elmira	$5,000	Several large trees were blown down in Brand Park and on Spalding Street in Elmira.
March 2007	Flood	Elmira	$5,000	Minor flooding occurred on the Chemung River at Elmira from the morning hours of March 15th to the evening of the 15th. The river at Elmira crested at 13.1 feet which is 1.1 feet over the flood stage of 12 feet. Over an inch of rain combining with snowmelt caused the minor flooding.
June 2005	Thunderstorm Wind	Elmira	$5,000	Thunderstorm winds downed trees on the south side of Elmira.
August 2004	Flash Flood	Elmira	$5,000	Heavy rain caused several underpasses to flood.
July 1994	Thunderstorm Wind	Elmira	$5,000	no account filed
July 1995	Thunderstorm Wind	Elmira	$4,000	no account filed
June 2024	Thunderstorm Wind	Elmira	$3,000	Strong thunderstorm winds knocked down trees and wires.
July 2016	Thunderstorm Wind	Elmira	$3,000	A thunderstorm moved into the area Monday afternoon and quickly became severe. The thunderstorm knocked trees over which took down electric wires.
June 2015	Hail	Elmira	$3,000	A severe thunderstorm developed over the area and produced one inch sized hail.
July 2005	Thunderstorm Wind	Elmira	$2,000	Thunderstorm winds downed electric wires onto several roadways.
July 2024	Thunderstorm Wind	Elmira	$1,000	Strong thunderstorm winds knocked down a tree on Lina Place.
June 2024	Thunderstorm Wind	West Elmira	$1,000	Strong thunderstorm winds knocked down a tree on wires on York Avenue.
August 2023	Thunderstorm Wind	Elmira	$1,000	Strong thunderstorm winds knocked down wires onto Broadway Street.
April 2017	Thunderstorm Wind	West Elmira	$1,000	A thunderstorm moved across the region and became severe. This thunderstorm resulted in a tree being knocked over.
June 2017	Hail	Elmira	$1,000	A thunderstorm developed over the area and produced quarter and penny sized hail.
September 2012	Thunderstorm Wind	Elmira	$1,000	Several trees were blown down. Nickel size hail also fell.
September 2007	Thunderstorm Wind	Elmira	$1,000	Trees and wires were blown down by thunderstorm winds. Trees were blocking some roadways in Elmira.
August 2006	Thunderstorm Wind	Elmira	$1,000	Trees down on Center Street
June 2014	Thunderstorm Wind	Elmira	-	A few trees were blown down.
June 2000	Hail	Elmira	-	A storm spotter reported 1 inch diameter hail in southeast Elmira.
June 2020	Thunderstorm Wind	Elmira	-	no account filed
June 2013	Hail	Elmira	-	no account filed
June 2013	Hail	Elmira	-	no account filed
May 2011	Hail	Elmira	-	no account filed
May 2011	Hail	Elmira	-	no account filed
September 2007	Hail	Elmira	-	no account filed
September 2007	Hail	Elmira	-	no account filed
June 2006	Hail	Elmira	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Chemung County

Maps showing this location

11 surveys

United States Geological Survey topographic sheets whose coverage includes this point. Matched by taking the middle of the area the National Park Service maps for this listing, then testing that coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet.

1895 USGS Elmira quadrangle1:62500 - 10 printings
1905 USGS Watkins Glen quadrangle1:125000 - 4 printings
1950 USGS Elmira quadrangle1:250000 - 2 printings
1953 USGS Elmira quadrangle1:24000 - 2 printings
1953 USGS Elmira quadrangle1:62500 - 2 printings
1958 USGS Elmira quadrangle1:250000 - 2 printings
1962 USGS Elmira quadrangle1:250000 - 4 printings
1965 USGS Elmira quadrangle1:250000
1969 USGS Elmira quadrangle1:24000 - 3 printings
1986 USGS Elmira quadrangle1:100000
1992 USGS Elmira quadrangle1:100000

Listed places nearby

6 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Property	Distance	Listed
Chemung County Courthouse Complex	under 500 feet	1971
Goff, Way and Brand Leaf Tobacco Warehouse	0.1 miles	2022
Buildings at 104-116 West Water St.	0.1 miles	2008
Stowell House	0.2 miles	2022
Chemung Canal Bank Building	0.2 miles	1978
William S. Gerity House	0.2 miles	2010

Sources for this property

National Archives record	The nomination case file for reference 80002596 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia article	Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Chemung County	All 47 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.