Home > History > House MuseumsHouse Museums in Cortland County
Suggett House Museum25 Homer Ave. Cortland, NY 13045 607-756-6071 Period: 1850-1899 Focus: Home of the Cortland County Historical Society, the 1882 Italianate former residence of James Suggett, inventor and real estate developer, houses a wide variety of collections documenting the county's 200-year history, including textiles, military memorabilia, toys, and business and industry artifacts. The house is decorated in the style typical of the 19th century, including a late-1800s kitchen.
Suggett is best known for a U.S. Supreme Court case in which he was indirectly involved. To condense a 30-page decision, Suggett held a patent for boring (water) wells dated March 29, 1864. Nelson W. Green of Massachusetts devised another way of boring wells and wanted to patent it. The majority of justices ruled that boring is boring no matter how it was done and refused to allow him a patent. (The Driven Wells Cases, 122 U.S. 40 (1887))
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