13 Ward Place

In 1835, the Village of Geneseo purchased this lot upon which they soon erected an engine house for one of Geneseo’s first fire engines. When the Geneseo Building was erected in 1908 by the town and village to accommodate, among other things, fire engines and their equipment, the village sold this Ward Place property to Matthew Murphy. He sold it to Dr. Edward Southall in 1915, and it was he who converted it to a residence. Dr. Southall was a physician who lived on the corner of Main and Ward in the building now occupied by the Jones and Skivington law office. In 1923 he sold11 and the house to Katherine O’Neil and she sold it to Alice Austin in 1956. Miss Austin was a prominent member of the Drama Department at SUNY for a number of years. It is she for whom the Austin Theater is named. Upon her retirement, she sold it to Mr. and Mrs. David Souser.