Former Conkling home a treasure worth guarding
Originally published June 27, 2002

Observer-Dispatch

While it’s important to pay attention to all of the homes on the Landmark Society’s endangered list, this community must be especially vigilant in protecting the former Roscoe Conkling home at 3 Rutger Park.

The Greek Revival mansion, designed by Philip Hooker, was built in 1830 by Judge Morris Miller and was later owned by his son, Rutger B. Miller. It was purchased in 1863 by Roscoe Conkling.

Conkling, a Utica attorney who served as Utica’s mayor, two terms in the House of Representatives and as U.S. senator from 1867-81 was one of the most powerful, influential Republican leaders in the nation. Many important people stayed at his home in Utica, including President Ulysses S. Grant. Conkling owned the home until 1888.

The mansion is designated a National Historic Landmark by the National Park Service. It gives it some protection from destruction under the National Preservation Act of 1966 and also protects the home from destruction by federally funded projects.

Whether the home is occupied today is unclear. That home — and a neighboring mansion at 1 Rutger Park — are privately owned. The city assessor’s office lists both as being owned by “James Dowling and wife” of DeWitt.

The building at 1 Rutger Park was designed by world-famous architect Alexander Jackson Davis and was built around 1854 for Utica banker John Munn. Gunmaker Samuel Remington lived here during the Civil War, and it was eventually bequeathed to Grace Episcopal Church by the late Walter Jerome Green. Records show it was purchased for $27,000 in 1952 by Mr. and Mrs James Dowling of Utica to be used as a nursing home.

In 1995, a business permit for Rutger House at 1 Rutger Park, Utica, was granted to Anna Dowling, sole owner, James Dowling deceased. It remains a convalescent home today.

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