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Exploring Tompkins County

So what did happen here?

 Built as a grand hotel in 1828-29, The Clinton House was recognized as the best hostelry between New York City and Buffalo, and the place to stop before a visit to the Auburn Prison where for 25 cents, visitors could view the prisoners.

The original register for the hotel can still be consulted, and there are stories told about it, too. Before his Missouri execution, James Seward, a Black man told of an 1832 secret love affair conducted with a white woman in the Clinton House. Four U.S. presidents stayed in the Clinton House, as did stars of movies made in Ithaca, and it was the site of community meetings and festivities.

Many suffrage events in the 1890s were conducted in the Clinton House and business deals were made there in the tap room. Close to demolition, in 1866 Historic Ithaca formed to save it and other downtown treasures.

While the roof line has been altered, why,  if you look at the building’s façade, just below the pediment, is there a period following the buildings name: CLINTON HOUSE? 

©2025 by Tompkins County Historical Commission

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