James Pontillo is doing some restoration work on one of properties, in this case, on Swan Street, and he dug up this slab of stamped concrete inscribed for J. McBride.
Pontillo thinks this was a marker for John McBride, a contractor or engineer in the area in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and that the house on South Swan was once his residence.
The house was built in the 1880s or 1890s, Pontillo thinks.
There was a John McBride from Batavia born in 1862 who died in 1937. Online records indicate, though not conclusively, his sons were John McBride, born in 1892, and a Robert McBride, born in 1882. This McBride family does not appear to be related to the family that ran McBride Steel Plate Construction Company in Batavia for many decades, and whose patriarch was an immigrant from Ireland.
Pontillo also uncovered the remains of a granite hitching post.
He isn't quite sure what to do with this piece.He isn't sure if one of the historical agencies would be interested in it.
So he must actually own this
So he must actually own this property?
Place it near the Sundial in
Place it near the Sundial in front of City Hall.
The Hitching post ... place it near Save-A-Lot so Batavians who cycle can stop having to lock their bikes up to shopping carts.