Bill Caloroso, Town of Nichols Historian
The Haner home was located at the intersection of E. River Road and Stanton Hill Road, just off exit 63 of Route 17 in the Town of Nichols. The home, property, and dairy barns were recently purchased by F. S. Lopke Company. Until then, Mr. and Mrs. William Haner operated a dairy farm at that location. Prior to that, William Haner's parents Mr. and Mrs. Cecil Haner, operated the dairy farm. The senior Mr. Haner told me several years ago that the farm was purchased by his in-laws in the 1914-18 time period. For an undetermined time period, the house was used for an area post office. My understanding is that some of the post office slots were still in the house foyer.
The bricks for the home, constructed in 1822, were fabricated on site. Bill Haner spoke of plowing up brick chips in a couple of fields that were plowed and planted annually. Discussions with the staff of the Tioga County Historical Society and the County Historian, Richard Quest, have not been able to determine if there were any brick homes built earlier than 1822 anywhere in Tioga County. Certainly it was the oldest brick structure in the Town of Nichols.
Numerous people have commented, none positively, about Mr. Lopke's choice to demolish this truly historic landmark. Both the Town of Nichols and Tioga County have lost a treasure.