REMEMBERING YESTERYEAR: Benjamin Long Rand's home has lots of history

November 05, 2007 12:23 pm

— This is part two of a two-part story. While still in the banking business, BL was associated with his brother James in the Rand Ledger Company. He enjoyed the manufacturing business so well that he was soon working full time with the Rand Company. He was a member of the Board of Education and was actively identified with the development of local gas, telephone, water and transit companies. A very prominent citizen, he was made a life member of the Grand Army of the Republic. He was also one of the original Fort Niagara restoration sponsors.
Benjamin L. Rand had three sons; Benjamin Garfield, Charles F. “Ted” and Stanley. They all had interesting lives as well and were important in our city’s history. BL lived to be 96 years old and died in the house at 261 Goundry in 1952. Benjamin Garfield, also known as BG, among hundreds and hundreds of inventions, invented the three-ring binder. How many millions (billions?) have benefited from this Rand invention in North Tonawanda?
Another prominent North Tonawandan to live in this home was Ralph Taber, lead engineer, inventor and founder of Taber Instruments who lived here in the late 1930s and very early 1940s. He founded his business in 1941, and the business occupied the building at 111 Goundry Street which had been part of the original Rand Company operations. Taber Industries, the successor to the firm founded by Ralph Taber, is a manufacturer of materials testing instruments and their products continue to be the standard of comparison for such products in many industries today. Taber was a Rand cousin.
Today, the Queen Anne style home at 257 Goundry St. is dominated by its pink siding which is clearly not original. Older pictures show the home flanked with cedar shingle siding that is typical of the Queen Ann style. The home has an asymmetrical façade with a dominant gable that projects slightly from the exterior façade below. There is a projecting bay that interrupts the front façade and extends upward until it meets the gable. In the original photographs one can see that there was a second story transom window located in the middle portion of this bay. It appears that this window was glazed with ornate leaded glass. Today, there is no window in this location. Also typical of the Queen Anne style is the polygonal tower just behind the front corner that rises from the ground level.
The front of this home has a unique arched window in the cellar that may have been used to move coal or oil into the cellar for heating. There is an interesting folklore rumor surrounding this window. Allegedly there was a time in the Rand Co. history when their workers were attempting to unionize, which the Rands opposed as they did not want unions to be part of their business. It is said that someone, presumably an employee, fired a warning shot into this basement window in an attempt to pressure the Rand’s into unionizing.
One significant feature of the home that does not exist today is the front porch, which is a typical characteristic of the Queen Ann Style. It is not known when this porch was removed but the original entrance of the house remains. Another alteration to the home was the addition of what the current owners referred to as a “summer kitchen.” This was an addition that extended from the back of the original structure and was said to function as a kitchen area in the summer months. Also included in this addition was a summer porch located on the second floor. The grandson of Benjamin recalled his grandfather sleeping on this porch every night in the summer. When visiting the space, it is not hard to imagine how nice it would be to sit there and relax on a summer’s eve.
This home was a participating home in the 2007 Historic Treasures Tour. The architectural description was created by Paul Murawski and Kathryn Incarnato, University at Buffalo School of Architecture & Planning
“Remembering Yesteryear” is produced under the auspices of the North Tonawanda History Museum. We invite individuals with stories or news of local history to tell to write nthistorymuseum@aol.com or call 213-0554.

Photos

Contributed photo This photo of the Rand family in September 1911 shows, top row, form left, Bert Stevens, Kathleen Rand Stevens, Benjamin Garfield Rand, Stanley Rand, Winifred Fassett Vandervoort Rand (Mrs. Stanley), and Josephine Rand; middle row: Kate Stanley Rand (BL’s first wife), Jeanette Rand, Edith (Mrs. Benjamin Garfield Rand), and Charles “Ted”; Front row: Howard Stevens, grandmother Stanley (Kate’s mother), Helen Rand on Benjamin Long Rand’s lap.