Reviving the Starrucca house

09/10/2026

The tracks are being removed today, September 10th, for the Borough’s park crossing project. We filed paperwork asking the court for an emergency injunction to temporarily stop this part of the project until our concerns could be heard. The hearing was originally scheduled for September 8th, two days ago. It was rescheduled to October 20th. We don't know why, and now the tracks are being ripped out before that hearing takes place.

The timing makes me question why this work is going ahead before the hearing. By October 20th, the tracks we are asking the court to preserve will already be gone, leaving us to argue over damage that has already been done.

What about the historic significance of these tracks and their connection to the Starrucca House and the remaining rail setup?

What about our property's rail access?

We bought a property with a rail connection, and we planned on using it. Who is going to pay to restore that connection?

Is the Borough prepared to cover that expense? What happens to the value and future use of our property?

These are lasting consequences for us and our property. We wanted the court to hear our concerns BEFORE this work took place.

I understand some people may see this as a private property dispute, but how the Borough handles concerns from property owners is a public issue. They are moving ahead with work that will permanently change the situation before the court can hear our request to preserve the tracks. I think residents deserve to know why it couldn’t wait.

All this... for a drain ditch...

I’m considering making the public court documents and supporting records available so people in town can read what we requested, see the Borough’s response, and form their own opinions.

07/23/2026

https://youtu.be/GnoCQn3JEnM?is=Os560l0h_a_oqh4-

In this video I talk a little bit about the problems that a grant funded project is causing. Problems for us, here at the Starrucca House as well as issues that the town will suffer from, Historically and tax/financially.

I go over some issues that this grant funded project is causing the...

12/11/2025

I just bought this invitation to a Soiree (a formal evening party) that was held by Professor W. H. Schenck at the Starrucca House in 1878!

Very little information survives about Professor Schenck, but the name matches a reference from the December 5, 2001 edition of the Susquehanna County Transcript, in the “100 Years Ago” column. That piece reprinted news from 1901, stating:

“Prof. Schenck and daughter, of Binghamton, will be here this (Friday) evening to organize a dancing class at Village Hall.”

It makes sense that this could be the same Professor Schenck, or at least the same family, still active more than twenty years later. The correlation between these findings strongly suggests he was a dance instructor, and a “Final Soiree” was exactly the kind of event dancing masters held as an end-of-season ball for their students. By 1901, his daughter was likely assisting in teaching or helping run the classes.

I also found clues about the orchestra listed on the invitation. It appears that Beman had a “full orchestra” based in Binghamton, and that he joined with White to perform together for this Soiree. Since both Beman’s orchestra and Professor Schenck seem to have been active around Binghamton, it’s likely that all three, Schenck, White, and Beman, were connected through the regional dance and music circuit of that era.

One detail I love is that the event ran from 8:30 PM to 2:00 AM. In 1878, the Starrucca House ballroom would have been lit by gaslight, since electric lighting was still experimental and the practical incandescent bulb wasn’t introduced until 1879. That means the dancers that night would have been moving under warm, flickering gas lamps (and possibly some oil lamps), giving the entire scene a glow we can only imagine today.

Another small piece of the Starrucca House’s story recovered!

12/07/2025

Today the Toy Train passed by the station!

https://www.operationtoytrain.org/

10/27/2025

We’re juggling several urgent projects right now, one of which is a brick support repair for a steel lintel between the Ballroom and Stairwell. The lintel which is made of two steel beams resting on bluestone bases, was hidden behind sheetrock, where years of moisture caused the brick and mortar to deteriorate badly. By the time we uncovered it (the sheetrock was pushed off the wall by falling bricks), the bricks were loose and only held in place by surrounding 2x4s.

After cleaning and forming the new concrete section, we installed temporary shoring to safely support the beams and began extending the foundation, since parts had been removed years ago for crawlspace access. We removed the plywood covering the beams and reinforced the area.

Next, we’ll remove the damaged brick and replace it with concrete block for strength. The original bricks will be salvaged and reused elsewhere where they’ll remain visible. While I’d love to rebuild this area with lime mortar, it’s expensive and hard to source locally; so in hidden areas, we’re opting for modern materials that won’t harm the surrounding structure.

The ballroom floor hasn’t escaped the moisture issues either. What we thought would be a 50% repair turned out to be far worse. Rot has affected much of the joists, subfloor, and finished flooring, along with sections of the wainscoting. Our plan is to remove and rebuild the floor in halves, allowing us to reinforce the structure and upgrade the crawlspace below for long-term moisture protection. We’ll be adding proper drainage, capillary breaks, and other proven waterproofing methods. No “miracle” coatings that cause more harm later. The biggest challenge right now is external drainage. Water runoff from the road continues to complicate the problem, so that’ll need to be addressed before we can truly repair the floor and walls.

On the smaller side, I’ve been working on the security cameras, fixing the boiler, rehanging doors, and making electrical upgrades for building automation. At night, I’ve been developing a custom control system for the building using Home Assistant—it’s capable of much more, but right now I’m focusing on having it manage HVAC, security, and preventive maintenance. With the right sensors, psychrometric data, and fuel cost inputs, it should optimize comfort and efficiency throughout the building.

Lastly another bit of bad news, our rail track was disconnected without notice or approval from us. This is part of the parking lot project the boro is doing to connect the park and make a rail crossing. Hopefully they will reconnect our tracks to the mainline... we'll see how that turns out...

07/31/2025

Quick update!
After the July 3rd storm, I’m happy to report that no trees fell on the building—just one branch, and thankfully it caused no damage. We only had minor shingle damage in one area from the wind.

In other news, I’ve been in contact with the Smithsonian about their ERIE Railroad collection, and I’ve found something exciting: an original architectural drawing of the Starrucca House by E.J.M. Derrick! In the drawing, the Ballroom—labeled by the architect as the “Saloon”—shows fretwork above the arches on the left and right. There’s no evidence it was ever built, but it's a fascinating glimpse into what might have been. I also noticed a few other minor differences, specifically the door design and height, gutter type, crown molding choice in the ballroom and some trefoil scribbles, possibly a design idea he was trying out.

I’ll be receiving more information from the Smithsonian soon, and I’m hopeful we’ll uncover even more new discoveries.

08/07/2024

We've been keeping busy with lots of random small projects here and there, and here I'll be posting some of them. As some of you may already know, a major setback on the project has been an ongoing issue with the guy who owns the parking lot. However, that issue might resolve itself in the foreseeable future. I will go into more detail about that in a future post and that will also explain why progress has been so slow.

In the mean time I have been planning things for the restaurant. I don't want to spoil it yet... But I can assure you what we want to do is not something you'd find around here, the aim is to offer variety to the area and encourage folks to visit our town.

I'll be adding small descriptions to the pictures, so keep an eye out for those! If you have any questions, comment or send me a message! I try my best to reach out everyone!