FENNER — The Town of Fenner will mark its 200th anniversary with a community-wide celebration on Saturday, Aug. 12, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the town hall.
The family-friendly bicentennial event will include a food and ice cream truck; a petting zoo; a Civil War reenactment with two tents; and a display of town trucks, emergency management vehicles, and a SWAT truck for kids to get in and explore.
Parents can take advantage of the Operation Safe Child Card Program through the Madison County Sheriff’s Office. The program provides parents with an identification card for their child that includes up-to-date photographs, fingerprints, and detailed biographical information that can help law enforcement officials quickly respond in the event of the child’s disappearance.
Local businesses will have booths set up, and Wanderers Rest Humane Association representatives will be on hand to talk about the pets they have available for adoption and to begin the screening/adoption process.
Attendees can learn about local history during a presentation on the history of the town and by stopping by a Madison County Historical Society booth featuring Fenner timelines, photos, and maps.
Fenner merchandise will also be available for sale, with all proceeds benefiting the restoration of the Fenner Community Church.
The milestone event is being organized by a group of around 10 individuals dedicated to celebrating their town and its history.
Bicentennial Planning Committee member Katy Pushlar said she decided to join the organizing effort because she and her husband, Adam, try to be as involved in the town as possible.
Pushlar currently sits on the Town of Fenner Zoning Board of Appeals and represents Fenner on the Madison County Republican Committee, and Adam serves on the Fenner Town Board.
“My husband’s family farm is on the border of Caz and Fenner,” Pushlar said. “We wanted to be close [because] Adam and his dad farmed together, so in 2003, we bought our first home in upper Fenner. In 2010, Adam and I bought the neighboring farm, ‘The old Stearns Farm,’ to expand our business. In 2020, we sold our home and bought a house in lower Fenner to be close to both farms. We decided to call Fenner home due to our love of agriculture, the unbeatable landscape, and the Fenner community. We are both graduates of Cazenovia, and we knew that Fenner is where we wanted to raise our children. . . To be a part of our beautiful town’s bicentennial celebration was really important. I’m working alongside some pretty great people to make this a success.”
The planning committee continues to seek local vendors and donations to help support the event and funds to support the restoration of the Fenner Church.
The committee is also hoping to share historical photographs during the event. Individuals with photographs of community interest can contact Lisa Dolan at [email protected].
The Fenner Town Hall is located at 3151 Fenner East Rd.
The Madison County Sheriff’s Department will be controlling traffic and parking. Parking will be available on Fenner East Rd., and detours will be set up on Bingley Rd. and Shephards Rd.
Fenner Community Church history and restoration
Constructed in 1820 and modified in 1877, the Fenner Baptist Church — also known as the Fenner Community Church — is a prominent feature of the local landscape and one of the earliest links to Fenner’s nineteenth-century heritage.
The church is located at 3122 Bingley Rd.
According to the Town of Fenner website, the building satisfies the National Register Criteria for qualifying as an intact, representative example of vernacular nineteenth-century ecclesiastical architecture. The church was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2002.
“The church retains a relatively high degree of integrity and enjoys a highly evocative rural setting,” the website states. “Constructed as a traditional New England meetinghouse in the Federal style, the church was enlarged in the 1870s in response to the sudden growth of the congregation, at which time it received an overlay of Second Empire-inspired decorative elements. The church is the finest example from a small number of extant architectural resources that chronicles the settlement and growth of this small Central New York agrarian crossroads during the nineteenth century.”
Throughout its history, the church has served a valuable role as a community meeting space for special events and ceremonies.
During the 1934 “Old Home Day” observance, many former members of the church joined in a parade of horse-drawn vehicles and early automobiles. On Memorial Day 1948, veterans from Fenner were honored with the placement of a memorial plaque on a boulder on the east side of the church. Maple trees were also planted in an alignment signifying the four branches of the armed services.
Currently, the Fenner Community Church holds seasonal services, hosts weddings, and brings members of the community together through chicken dinners and election luncheons.
According to Town of Fenner Supervisor Dave Jones, the Fenner Community Church trustees are turning the historic building over to the town.
“The church needs repairs and there are more grant opportunities if the town owns it since it is on the National and State Historical Register,” Jones said. “Along with grants, we are also hoping for donations for repairs. Our vision is to have it [serve] as a community center/church.”
History of Fenner
Madison County Historian Matthew Urtz stated that the history of Fenner, like much of Madison County, is tied to its agriculture and sense of community.
“The Haudenosaunee, specifically the Oneida Indian Nation, made this area their homeland hundreds of years ago, as shown by the archeological digs around what we know today as Nichols Pond,” Urtz said. “Many early settlers arrived from Rhode Island, and the name Fenner comes from former Rhode Island Governor James Fenner. The Town of Fenner was one of the places where sheep farming became prevalent, hence the name of Mutton Hill Road within the town. As the shift to dairy farming took hold, the hills of Fenner became home to many dairy farms; some of the farms that still exist today can trace their history to the nineteenth century.”
According to Urtz, the town’s highest population of just over 2,000 was recorded in the 1830 census, the first census after the town was formed in 1823. Between World War I and World War II, the population dropped to a low point of just under 800, as industrialization, urbanization, and the Great Depression pushed people to search for jobs elsewhere. In the last 70 years, the population has seen a small, steady growth, reaching over 1,600 in the 2020 census.
“The community has seen changes with the development of the windmills and modern farming, but it remains a place where agriculture is still important and the community is strong,” said Urtz.
Jones described serving as the supervisor of Fenner during its 200th year as a true honor.
Born and raised in Fenner, Jones worked as a dairy farmer until 2013, and with help from his wife, Lynne, he continues to sell hay and have a small roadside stand.
“Contrary to popular belief, I was not around for the 100th-year celebration!” Jones said. “. . . I was appointed to the town board in 1988 and was elected town supervisor in 2014. My vision for the town in the coming years is for it to [remain] a strong agricultural community, [a] caring community where neighbors look out for each other, and a great place to raise a family.”
For updates on the Town of Fenner Bicentennial Celebration, visit townoffenner.com.
