Though the old building at 27 Market St., Oneonta is gone, it apparently hasn’t been forgotten.
John Halberian of Delhi recently asked about what the former 2023 eyesore was like back in its prime. While it now may be a municipal parking lot, the property is currently being eyed for development. The same was true more than 100 years ago.
While it is now a parking lot, the property has a history of parked cars within, whether mostly new or in for maintenance and repairs, as it is remembered by many as the Oneonta Sales Building, placed on the site by businessman Riley J. Warren.
Warren was a native of Pleasant Brook, in the town of Roseboom. After a short time away following graduation from Albany Business College, Warren returned to Pleasant Brook and had opened a general store. He was elected first as Roseboom town clerk, and then county treasurer. Just before completing his term on the latter job, he entered a partnership to form Fitch and Warren, a gasoline engine and farm machinery business. Mr. Fitch died in 1912, and Warren decided to move the business to Oneonta. The first location was at 53 Market St., which at the time was near the corner of Broad Street, in the area where the Marx Hotel stands today. Broad Street was demolished and Market Street was realigned during the 1970s as part of Oneonta’s urban renewal program.
The actual move from 53 Market St. to the new site at No. 27 apparently faced delays, as The Star reported on Monday, Aug. 30, 1920, “The Ford agency in this city, the Oneonta Sales company … took possession of its new home Saturday and while moving is not a pleasing experience … the new home is new and modern throughout and equipped with all the newest devices to make it attractive and convenient.” The showroom was on the Market Street level, and the second floor had access by a driveway from Chestnut Street, a machine and repair shop. There was a gasoline and service station in the back.
Business was good during the early 1920s as Warren announced in December 1924 that a second-story addition would be added on the Chestnut Street side of the structure.
“These additions were necessary to keep pace with the expanding volume of business which Mr. Warren built,” The Star said in 1941. “His service and parts business, a steadily growing Firestone tire distributorship which finally included accessories and a wide line of appliances, sporting goods, and other departments, and other divisions of the agency keep pace with new car sales.
“His daughter,” Beatrice Blanding, “had been associated with her father in the business for nearly 25 years, and as a Christmas gift from her parents in 1925 she received a substantial partnership.”
Having been an active member in many organizations in the Oneonta area, the community was saddened by Riley Warren’s death in June 1941.
In 1934 Warren had hired a new employee who was working in promotions and managing what was then the Schine’s Palace Theater, once found at the corner of Ford Avenue and Main Street, where Community Bank is today. Sidney Levine was a mainstay at the business for decades to come. While in 1975 Oneonta Sales lost its Ford franchise in the city, the company continued to sell and repair automobiles at the downtown dealership.
When Beatrice Blanding died in 1993, Levine became president of the company. After 63 years in the business, Levine retired, and the last day of business at the dealership was July 2, 1997.
The building saw little use since, under different ownerships and rapid deterioration.