The new owner of the historic Susan B. Anthony birthplace has big plans in mind for the 189-year-old home. "We have a number of feasibility studies we are currently involved in to determine the future use of the house," said owner Carol Crossed.
The former owners of the house, James and Linda McConchie, had hoped to turn the building into a museum dedicated to the women's rights activist when they bought the property in 1998 but failed to secure funding for the project.
Crossed bought the property at auction on Aug. 5 last year. She is a member of the board of directors for the New York chapter of Feminists For Life (FFL). According to its Web site, Feminists For Life is a pro-life, pro-woman, nonsectarian organization dedicated to finding solutions to the challenges faced by women. Crossed said she owns the building but FFL will manage it.
The organization has a handful of ideas for use of the building that relate to Anthony's legacy. One is to turn the house into a textile museum. Crossed said the museum would be fitting since the area was known for its mills in the 1800s and Anthony's father was a mill owner and operator. She said the museum could be tied into women's labor issues of the past and present.
Another idea is to turn the house into a home for pregnant students who need support and resources to continue their education. Crossed said this option could include a partnership with a local college and social service organization. With the help of local social services it could also cater to the needs of expecting single mothers in the community who needed help. FFL believes that the reason some women choose abortion is because they do not have the resources available to continue a pregnancy and make ends meet. The home could give such women another option.
"Susan B. Anthony was very concerned that women have all of their needs met when they were pregnant," Crossed said. "This option could help facilitate those needs."
A third idea is to make the home into a woman's retreat center that could double as a bed and breakfast. An earlier suggestion that has caused concern amongst local officials involves moving the house out of Adams to the campus of a college or university, either locally or possibly in New York state, for use as a women's studies center.
Crossed wished to stress that the exploration of that option is "minimal at this time" because FFL wants to focus on the other three alternatives, which would keep the house in its current location on East Road.
"Certainly we don't think moving the house is the best idea, I don't think anybody would disagree with that," she said. "But we do think it would be a better idea to move the house and utilize it than to let it sit there and have it not get any funds or grants that would promote the use of it as a museum."
Crossed said FFL will be incorporating its own ideals into the use of the house, adding that many of its views are based off of Susan B. Anthony's own legacy. FFL particularly wants to stress Anthony's pro-life views which Crossed said have been left out of many studies on the woman's suffrage leader because they do not gel with the common feminist idea of a woman's right to chose.
"There's definitely going to be a pro-life aspect to this house," Crossed said. "It will be a minor part, a small part but it will not be excluded from what this house becomes."
Crossed said for the time being, FFL is focusing on some maintenance emergencies at house, including the collapse of the roof in the second week of November. She said the roof was repaired the week before Christmas but there are still drainage issues that need to be dealt with before a determination is made on its future. Crossed said the house is a remarkable legacy for the town of Adams and it needs to be "valued and cherished and appreciated."
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