Amelia Bloomer Residence—Perhaps
53 East Bayard Street, Seneca Falls NY | Unmarked Location
Local tradition holds that this was the residence of Isaac Fuller, business partner of Dexter Bloomer—husband of dress reformer and suffragist Amelia Jenks Bloomer—for a few months when the Bloomers moved to Seneca Falls in April 1840. This tradition was vigorous enough to justify the structure's being added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. Later research has questioned whether this is indeed the house where the Bloomers briefly resided, or even whether a different structure occupied the site in 1840.
On the account accepted in 1980, the main dwelling was built in 1830. If this is true, the current house would be the same structure in which the Bloomers briefly resided. The account continues that the main building was significantly modified in the 1850s, then converted into a multiple unit dwelling in 1945. In addition to briefly housing the Bloomers, the house was said to have been a station on the Underground Railroad.
Whether or not the Bloomers actually lived on the site, its popular association with Amelia is ironic, as her prolific reform work began only after she left the Fuller residence.
Fuller House Today
The alleged Fuller House retains Italianate design details that might have characterized the original structure.
Alleged Fuller House, Other Side
This view, looking somewhat to the right of the previous image, features later additions that marred the style of the house. Whether or not Amelia Bloomer ever lived here, older guidebooks present her residence here as a fact.
