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From: "prytherch" <>
Subject: [NCMARTIN] Fw: Roberson Museum
Date: Tue, 1 Jan 2002 14:45:51 -0500


Is this Alonzo Roberson related to the several Alonza/Alonzo
Robason/Robersons that lived in Martin County during the past couple of
centuries?

Jo ROBERSON Prytherch
----- Original Message -----
From: "Brenda Lewis" <>
To: "Jo" <>
Sent: Monday, December 31, 2001 11:58 PM
Subject: Roberson Museum


How It All Began

Alonzo Roberson Jr., the son of Alonzo Roberson Sr. and Lydia Titus
Roberson, was born in Binghamton, NY on November 16, 1861. His father, a
carpenter, had moved to Binghamton about 1852. An astute businessman as
well as a craftsman, Alonzo Sr. purchased the Marsh and Gilbert Lumber
Company and renamed it the Alonzo Roberson Company. Alonzo Jr. married
Margaret Hays, a Binghamton school teacher, on December 21, 1887. In
1904 they decided to move from their Main Street home to the prestigious
Front Street/ Riverside Drive area of Binghamton. They hired C. Edward
Vosbury, a prominent Binghamton architect, to design the house. Vosbury
designed an Italian Renaissance Revival style house with all of the
modern conveniences. The plan included an elevator, central heat,
combination gas and electric lighting fixtures, a dumb waiter, and our
intercom system, and a private bath for each bedroom. As in most large
homes in the area, there was a billiard room and a ballroom on the third
floor. The design also incorporated a three-story servants' wing in the
back of the house.

Mr. Roberson chose the New York City firm of Pottier & Stymus to design
the interior of the house. The final design called for silk damask
stretched on the walls of the reception room and the library-living
room. The Main Hall was painted, stippled and glazed before being
decorated with Dutch metal, stenciling, and hand-painted decorations.
Each room on the first floor has a different type of woodwork.

The Buffalo firm of Townsend & Fleming was hired to landscape the
grounds. A tall wrought-iron fence, designed by the architect and
manufactured by Titchener Iron Works, enclosed the property. The home
was completed in May of 1907 at an estimated cost of $107,500 for the
house, stable, fence, and landscaping.

Alonzo died May 16, 1934. At the time of his death, he was President of
the Roberson & Son Lumber Co. and Chairman of the Board of Marine
Midland Bank. His will provided for the establishment of "an education
center" in the Front St home after its use by his widow. The Roberson
Memorial Center opened to the public in 1954.


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