Old Stuff from Cortland, New York

American small towns and cities are places of beauty. Recently I was in Cortland, New York, and got the chance to look at details around the downtown.

First, a fire station. This is a fire station. It's still used as a fire station:


It looks like they've replaced the big doors, but other than that... all original.

These fantastic sculptures flank the doors to a public gymnasium in the back of City Hall:


I'm not sure if the building used to be a high school or if it has always been a public gym provided by the city. But I love the heroic-sized girl figure. For the era it was built (1930s, based on the style), that's unusual.

The Cortland Standard newspaper was founded in 1867 and still publishes daily. Their building is beautiful (see more of it here), but here's a shot of the lettering over the door and some of the brick and stone:


Somewhere along Main Street, I saw this vintage (or possibly retro) State Farm graphic:


Cortland still has a video store, so it may not surprise you that it also still has an independently owned office supply store downtown, which may or may not still sell typewriters:


Note the Diehl fan hanging from the ceiling at left; there's one in the other window, too.

The bottom of this fire hydrant is an ad for another upstate New York city, Elmira:


This sign is not right in downtown, but I had to include it:


This antique fire box stands along Main Street. I don't remember having heard of the Gamewell fire box before:


I also don't know if it's still in use in Cortland, or just kept for historical purposes. Someone has been trying to maintain the paint job:


They're well intended, if not exactly skilled.