{"id":28055,"date":"2021-09-20T14:57:38","date_gmt":"2021-09-20T18:57:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/videonewsservice.net\/?p=28055"},"modified":"2021-09-20T14:57:38","modified_gmt":"2021-09-20T18:57:38","slug":"batavia-atwater-grandchildren-say-theyre-delighted-over-preservation-of-historic-homes-integrity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/videonewsservice.net\/index.php\/2021\/09\/20\/batavia-atwater-grandchildren-say-theyre-delighted-over-preservation-of-historic-homes-integrity\/","title":{"rendered":"BATAVIA\/Atwater \u2018grandchildren\u2019 say they\u2019re delighted over preservation of historic homes\u2019 integrity"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
Stephen Atwater and Sarah Atwater Mayer with\u00a0John Bennett, GCASA executive director, in front of the home at\u00a0424 East Main St.(Submitted photo)

<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

By Mike Pettinella
GCASA Publicist<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n


Two members of a prominent family with deep ties to Batavia \u2013 including a pair of the stately homes that now are part of the Genesee\/Orleans Council on Alcoholism and Substance Abuse campus \u2013 paid a visit last week to the community that has provided them with many fond memories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stephen Atwater of Walnut Creek, Calif., and his sister, Sarah Atwater Mayer, of Scarborough (Westchester County), are the grandchildren of Edward Perrin and Rowena Washburn Atwater, who purchased the historic house at 424 East Main St. in 1937.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Edward P. Atwater was president of Batavia National Bank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Built in the 1830s, the Greek Revival and Italianate-style structure has for the past 23 years served as GCASA\u2019s Atwater Community Residence, a place where up to 17 adult male and female clients can live while receiving professional services to help in their recovery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The Atwater grandchildren in 1964. Front from left, David, Connie, Ned; middle, Rebecca, Sarah and baby\u00a0Martha; top, John, James, Stephen. Andrew, the 10th\u00a0grandchild of Edward Perrin and Rowena Washburn Atwater, wasn\u2019t born yet. Andrew passed away\u00a0in 2013, three days before his cousin, Martha.\u00a0Submitted photos.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Furthermore, Stephen and Sarah are the great-grandchildren of Judge Edward A. Washburn, who owned what is known as the Washburn house at 430 East Main St., which now is GCASA\u2019s primary substance use disorder treatment facility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And their mother, the late Patricia Carr Atwater, was the granddaughter of C.L Carr, who founded the Carr\u2019s department store in downtown Batavia. It was later taken over by her father, Robert Carr, and then her brother, (the late) Steve Carr.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stephen and Sarah\u2019s aunt, Beth Carr, who resides in Stafford, was closely involved with managing Carr\u2019s store with her husband, Steve, prior to its closing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was known as Batavia\u2019s Finest,\u201d Stephen said of the store, \u201cand it still is.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMoreover, we\u2019re proud to be a part of Batavia and to have a strong attachment to the city based on our family history as it relates to the Atwater, Washburn, and Carr families,\u201d he said. \u201cWe hold the city near and dear to our hearts.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stephen and his twin brother, John, and sisters, Sarah and Martha, were born at Genesee Memorial Hospital in Batavia and, although they grew up in Rochester, spent much time during their childhood years in the 1960s at their grandparents\u2019 home at 424 East Main St.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sarah and Stephen said they are pleased over the way GCASA has maintained the architectural heritage of all of the houses on its East Main Street campus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe think it\u2019s wonderful,\u201d they said, with Stephen adding, \u201cWe\u2019re happy to see it is being used and that they have maintained the appearance and integrity of the houses. The fact that they maintained the character of the house is priceless.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A special feature of the interior is the Mexican mahogany paneling in the library, which was one of the last jobs completed by the Batavia Woodworking Company before it ceased operations in 1939.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stephen said he and Sarah were in the area to take care of things at the Rochester home of their father, Julian \u201cJoe\u201d Washburn Atwater, who passed away on July 30 at the age of 90. They also went to Le Roy to check on the headstone of their father, who will be buried at Mount Hope Cemetery in Rochester, where his brother, Edward, and his wife, Patricia Carr Atwater, are buried.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Julian Atwater received the nickname Joe while he worked at the former Massey-Ferguson plant in Batavia back in the \u201850s, Stephen recalled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSomeone asked him what his name was and he said, \u2018Just call me Joe.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their father, who went on to become a corporate lawyer in Rochester, had two older brothers — the late Edward, and James, now 93. They were the sixth generation of their family to live in Western New York.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sarah said the many days in Batavia with her grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles and cousins contributed to a special childhood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe had a very, very gifted childhood by being able to spend so much time in Batavia in the sixties,\u201d she said, noting that the four Atwater children would take the Trailways bus from their Rochester home to Batavia to stay at their grandfather\u2019s house.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stephen said he remembers sliding on the bannister and playing billiards on the pool table that was \u201cright at the bottom of the staircase.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd they had a cat named Walter Mitty,\u201d he said. \u201cOne of the things we did when we got to the house would be to try to find the cat, but often times we couldn\u2019t find him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said he recalls going to the Treadway Inn with his grandmother to have roast beef au jus, dining at Mancuso\u2019s Italian Restaurant and attending St. James Episcopal Church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sarah said she enjoyed the walks down Main Street and having lunch at the counter at JJ Newberry or going to see their maternal grandfather at Carr\u2019s store.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI love Batavia but when I come here, I try to imagine it the way it used to be,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s getting better, though. My brother and I went to Eli Fish and the brewery \u2013 because GCASA has one of Eli Fish\u2019s old houses, too. We noticed the old JJ Newberry sign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCarr\u2019s Department Store (being gone) makes us really sad because we loved that. I still talk to people who say their parents went there for everything. They bought their furniture there, their makeup, their jewelry, their baby clothes. We rode the elevator; I remember the gumball machine on the third floor.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stephen, a veterinarian specializing in treating animals with cancer, and Sarah, who is retired, were joined by their brother, John, on the phone call with The Batavian. <\/em>Martha passed away in 2013.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

John, a chemist from Potomac, Md.,called the house at 424 East Main St. \u201ciconic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt represents the wonderful times that I spent there as a kid in Batavia, which was such a fun town to be in,\u201d he said, with Sarah adding, \u201cA charming, small town.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the long row of storefronts on the north side of Main Street gave way to Urban Renewal in the early 1970s, Sarah remarked that the city still has \u201ca lot of potential.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe still love it,\u201d she said, asking about the Greet yogurt plant (which now is HP Hood in the Genesee Valley Agri-Business Park), O-At-Ka Milk Products and other places of employment to attract young people to Batavia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ultimately, Stephen said they consider it an honor that the Atwater and Washburn family name continues to hold a special place in the community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think the fact that we are able to give something back to the community that maintains the name of the Atwater family is an honor,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd to have that history entrenched in the City of Batavia as it was, obviously, is such a large part of our heritage.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Atwater\u00a0<\/em>family\u00a0photo from 1964 in the Atwater House living room — sitting on floor, from left, children Connie, John, James and Stephen; seated from left, James and his wife, Joan, holding son, David; Rowena Washburn Atwater and her husband, Edward Perrin Atwater,\u00a0holding grandchildren Rebecca and Sarah;\u00a0young Ned, with\u00a0his father, Edward C. Atwater, and his mother,\u00a0Ruth Prole Atwater; standing, Patricia Carr Atwater,\u00a0holding daughter Martha, and her husband, Julian Washburn\u00a0Atwater. Julian and Patricia are the parents of Stephen, John, Sarah and Martha<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Mike PettinellaGCASA Publicist Two members of a prominent family with deep ties to Batavia \u2013 including a pair of the stately homes that now are part of the Genesee\/Orleans Council on Alcoholism and Substance Abuse campus \u2013 paid a visit last week to the community that has provided them \u2026<\/p>\n

Continue reading<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28056,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28055","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8eTP4-7iv","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":10799,"url":"https:\/\/videonewsservice.net\/index.php\/2019\/08\/26\/batavia-sentencing-delayed-again-for-man-who-pleaded-guilty-to-menacing-a-police-officer\/","url_meta":{"origin":28055,"position":0},"title":"BATAVIA\/Sentencing delayed again for man who pleaded guilty to menacing a police officer","author":"aka","date":"August 26, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Fogg leaving Genesee County Court on Monday morning Brandon R. 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