Market Street Historic District

Market Street in Palmyra, New York, is a single sloping block linking Main Street to the former Erie Canal. It was laid out in 1828, soon after the canal opened, and shops such as a variety store, tailor, tin shop, marble factory and saloons filled it, mixed with homes often occupied by the shopkeepers. Most buildings date from the 1830s to the 1880s, ranging from two-story frame dwellings with Federal details to attached brick commercial blocks with cast iron storefronts. Several south-end buildings replaced wooden ones lost to fire in the 1870s. As the canal declined, traffic bypassed the street, which helped spare its buildings from heavy modernization, though some lots are now empty. Four buildings are singled out: the Cole-Johncox House, a small Federal period house; the Sybil Phelps House, with its cast iron storefront and iron balcony; the Ritter Variety Store, with a cut sandstone ground floor; and a cobblestone shop, a rare commercial use of that material.