Margaret Sanger's Birth Site
1 Bridge Street, Corning, New York | Unmarked Location
Margaret Sanger was born on September 14, 1879 in the River Flats district of Corning. In the late nineteenth century, this was a crowded tenement-style neighborhood occupied mostly by immigrants such as Margaret’s Irish parents, Michael and Anne Purcell Higgins. The exact address where the Higgins family then resided is not known.
The Chemung River winds past the district. Along the shoreline stubs of concrete protrude from the earth, presumably the remains of abandoned industrial buildings. But most of the former River Flats is now occupied by a Wegmans grocery superstore. The address shown for this site, One Bridge Street, is that of the Wegmans.
The Chemung River winds past the shoreline "flats" on which Margaret Sanger was born.
This Wegmans store occupies the site of the entire neighborhood in which Margaret Sanger was born.
Another view of the river flats. Protruding concrete objects may be fragments of the foundations of abandoned industrial buildings.
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Associated Historical Events
Birth and Early Life of Margaret Sanger
1879–1905