Exterior view from South Main Street
All images except the modern photo from the WNY Heritage Press Sunday Times collection, issue date c. 1923.
Exterior view from South Main Street
The house at 167 South Main Street in Albion was constructed as a 2-story house in 1870. A third floor was later added, as
shown above.
Caption: "The Roomy LIving Room"
All the photos in this pictorial were taken during the time that Charles Royce Sawyer and his family resided there. Mr. Sawyer grew up in Albion and began working at the Citizens Bank of Albion at age 19. He worked there until his death in 1924 at age 53, achieving the position of Cashier. Along the way he served in World War I after attending Officer Training Camp. He did not see action overseas but employed his financial skills and at the end of the war left service as a Major. Following the war, he served in the U.S. Army Reserve (98th Division) and was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel. |
Detail of the sitting area around the fireplace.
In Albion he was known as a banker, but also as a 30-year member of the Dye Hose Company (now the Albion Fire Department), serving as chief for the last 13 years of his life. During that time, he worked to have the entire company motorized (which included a 1913 Thomas Flyer Fire Truck, the first fire truck outside New York City according to the Fire Department history). |
The living room
Charles Royce Sawyer married Fannie Moore in 1903. They had three children: Charles Royce Jr (1909), Elizabeth (1913), and John M (1915). |
The library
In September, 1924, about a year after these pictures were published in the Buffalo Sunday Times, Charle Royce Sawyer died suddenly at his home. He was 53 and his doctors attributed his death to a previously known heart condition. |
The dining room
Because Mr. Sawyer was so well known in Albion and had been involved in so much of Orleans and Western New York governance, his death was regarded as a major local event. The county judge ordered flags in Courthouse Square to fly at half-mast until the funeral, and the Village Hall and Swan Library flags also flew at half-mast. The mayor of the village of Albion asked all places of business to close from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. during the funeral services. |
 |
 Elizabeth Sawyer around age 10 at the pump. |
His widow, Fannie Moore Royce, died in 1963 at age 83. Their oldest son, Charles Royce Sawyer, Jr., pictured above, died in 1967 at age 58. Daughter Elizabeth lived until 1990. Younger son John M. died in 1995. His descendents live in Geneseo today and bear his name. |
After the family moved out of the big house at 167 South Main, it eventually became a boarding house and at one time was called Maple Manor. In the early 1970's, the property was sold to Carroll's, which demolished the house and built a fast food restaurant. In 2008, a Burger King restaurant stands in on the site of the Sawyer home. |
Special thanks to Albion Village Historian Neil Johnson for his kind assistance with information about the Sawyer family.