De Witt Park Historic District

DeWitt Park Historic District occupies the city block around DeWitt Park in downtown Ithaca, plus parts of surrounding blocks along North Cayuga, North Tioga, Court and Buffalo Streets. The park began as the town's Public Square, and the area was laid out by Ithaca's founder, Simeon DeWitt, in the early 1800s. Today the district mixes government, educational, professional, religious and residential uses, with mostly 19th and early 20th century eclectic architecture. Notable buildings include the Old Tompkins County Court House, described as the oldest surviving Gothic Revival courthouse in New York State, the 1820s Bank of Newburgh, the Williams-Fisher House, the Romanesque First Presbyterian and First Baptist churches, and the 1912 DeWitt Junior High School by William Henry Miller. Two modern buildings, the public library and a savings and loan office, were designed to suit their surroundings. Many houses became offices with little exterior change. The district covers roughly 18 acres.