The William Smith Ingham House, Meridian, Cayuga County

The William Smith Ingham House, built in 1835, is a distinguished, Greek Revival style, temple-front building in the village of Meridian, Cayuga County. It was built by one of the village's earliest and most influential settlers and most generous benefactors. Once the community's premier historic landmark, the dwelling fell into disrepair during the late twentieth century. When the current owner applied for Community Development funding in 2003 through the Cayuga County Department of Planning, the building was determined eligible for listing in the National Register in consultation with the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO). Representatives of the SHPO and the local CD administrators were able to work closely with the owner to undertake a highly successful, $100,000+ renovation project in accordance with the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Rehabilitation.

At the same time as the rehabilitation project was underway, the owner wholeheartedly supported the nomination of his property to the National Register and diligently supplied all the information and material necessary for the listing process.

The CD-funded restoration project, with matching funds provided by the owner, began in the Spring of 2004 and was done by that Fall. The property was listed in the National Register of Historic Places on April 6, 2005.

The village of Meridian, first known as Cato Four Corners, was settled during the very early 1800s; by 1814, a store run by William and Samuel Ingham comprised the core of the tiny settlement. In 1806, Samuel Ingham, born in Connecticut in 1781 and raised in Massachusetts, had relocated to Skaneateles where he clerked for a local merchant. The following year he enticed his twin brother, William, to join him; William arrived with his wife (Betsey Smith) and one-year old son William Smith Ingham. Within a few years, the brothers launched three general stores: one in Skaneateles, one in Camillus and one in Cato Four Corners. When hard times hit in 1816, Samuel sold out his share in the chain of stores; William chose to hang onto the one in Cato Four Corners. William earned extra money serving as a land agent for a wealthy investor in far-away Columbia County who was making a fortune speculating in land within the Cato Military Township. In his role as land agent, William was able to relocate many of his old friends and neighbors from Massachusetts, thereby surrounding himself with like-minded New Englanders. William prospered and became a prominent local citizen; in 1819 he became the village's first postmaster.

In 1819 he opened a second store in nearby Hannibal; business boomed, and in 1821, his 14-year old son joined the venture. Soon a plank road was built connecting Cato Four Corner with Jordan to the east and Weedsport to the west, facilitating the transfer of goods, services and people in the region. The opening of the Erie Canal in 1825 further enhanced transportation options and this portion of Cayuga County flourished as farmers and local industrialists could more easily ship their products to distant markets. Commercial, civic, religious and professional services were concentrated in small urban concentrations such as Cato Four Corners, and astute businessmen like the Inghams prospered greatly. Befitting his status in the community, 28-year old William Smith Ingham built an imposing, temple-front mansion in the heart of downtown Cato Four Corners three years after his father died in 1832. Complete with pedimented front portico supported by massive Ionic columns, Ingham's house was a sophisticated show piece of the Greek Revival style popular in Central New York during the second quarter of the 19th century. At the same time, he remodeled and expanded his store next door, also an imposing Greek Revival style temple-front building.

Ingham and Cato Four Corners prospered greatly during the next two decades; he built fashionable houses for his children, served as deacon in a local church, opened branch stores in nearby Ira and Westbury, held numerous civic positions, and operated the local hotel as a temperance house. Ingham was also an ardent abolitionist. He is known to have assisted a fugitive slave (George Washington) who, in March of 1854, was to be released from the nearby Auburn Prison and turned over to his master. Ingham and a group of abolitionists from the Sterling-Cato Four Corners area helped Washington escape to Canada.

In 1853, Ingham's son, who was also his bookkeeper, died of a laudanum overdose; whether the books were faulty or Ingham Sr. had over-extended himself is not clear: when the Panic of 1857 hit, Ingham went bankrupt. He abandoned New York for Missouri, leaving Meridian in a state of economic shambles, as most of the citizens' livelihoods had depended upon him one way or another. Meridian floundered until well into the 1870s, and even though it eventually regained some of its financial stability, it never rose to the heights experienced during the Ingham-subsidized, ante-bellum era.

Ingham's holdings, including the mansion, were acquired by J. Sprague Morley, an attorney from Jamesville who relocated to Meridian in 1853. He renamed Ingham's store the "Morley Block," and remained a leading figure in village and town activities for much of the remainder of the century. In the 1940s, the parents of the current owner, David Dudley, acquired the house. For a few years, they ran the house as an inn, but for most of the century, it has remained a private dwelling in the Dudley family. Today, Meridian is a quiet little village; only a few grand houses recall the pre-Civil War heyday of the community. The Ingham house is the finest reminder of that heyday and remains Meridian's oldest, most prominent local landmark and is once again a focal point of the village.