McKownville
Improvement Association
McKownville - Country Club Highlands Historic
District
The nomination and review process
for the proposal that McKownville - Country Club Highlands
be placed on the NY State Register of Historic Places was
completed by a unanimous vote of approval at the meeting on 9th
December 2021 of the NY State Board for Historic Preservation.
The nomination
was accepted by the National Park Service and the McKownville -
Country Club Highlands Historic District became listed in the
National Register of Historic Places on 2nd June 2022. [notification letter from
the State Historic Preservation Office]
The McKownville Improvement
Association has always attempted to preserve the residential
character of our neighborhood. Inclusion on these Registers will
provide a new and significant measure of protection for our unique
neighborhood.
The Historic District includes Waverly Place, the older,
southerly portions of Norwood, Glenwood, Parkwood and Elmwood
Streets, and the houses on the north side of Western Avenue from
number 1421 west to number 1461 at the corner of Elmwood Street.
[maps showing house numbers,
or date of building for
each house].
4 Norwood Street, built in 1911
When the Historic District became listed on the National Register,
an application was made to the William
G Pomeroy Foundation for a grant to obtain a Historic District
roadside marker, under the
sponsorship and with the assistance of the Guilderland Historical
Society. This application was successful, and the marker is now
installed near the eastern corner of Glenwood Street and Western
Avenue on the property of 1443 Western Avenue. This house was
originally owned by Benjamin F and Caroline Witbeck, who were first
part and later full owners of the Country Club Highlands
development; Caroline Witbeck lived here from 1914 to 1960.
(click on the image for enlarged view)
Design sponsorship of Historic District
house plaques has been completed, and homeowners wishing to
obtain one for their property at a modest discount should contact
the Association through the link given on that website page.
More Information about the McKownville - Country Club Highlands
Historic District
There was a public meeting held
online on 14 September 2021 , for presentation of the proposal
and to answer questions on it, to which all property owners in the
proposed historic district were invited - the presentation slides shown
by the SHPO representatives at this meeting.
We have some information about the builders
and architects of the houses in the proposed historic district;
a few appear likely to be Sears kit houses.
Our website History section contains detailed
information derived from old deeds, census returns and city
directory listings on the houses in and adjacent to the
historic district. Compilations from this information for the
interval 1910-1961:
- the successive
owners and occupants of each house within the district, with
employment descriptions from the federal and state censuses
- for each street, a table of names
of the first owners, building dates, date ranges of occupation,
and subsequent long-term owners names and occupation dates
- a table containing for each house the lot numbers,
deed book/page numbers, dates and original purchasers names
The formal
Historic District nomination document [4.5MB pdf] as sent to
the National Park Service provides detailed description of all the
properties included.
Comparable neighborhoods previously established as Historic
Districts on the National Register are found in many places.
For example, the Berkeley
Park Subdivision Historic District in Syracuse [another
description of Berkeley Park],
and the Inman
Park-Moreland Historic District in Atlanta are similar in
age and kind of development to the McKownville - Country Club
Highlands Historic District. We hope that in the future additional
portions of McKownville will be included in an enlarged Historic
District.
return to history page