Cyrus Gates Farmstead

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Cyrus Gates Farmstead
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. Historic district
Cyrus Gates Farmstead, 1963
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Nearest city	Maine, New York
Coordinates	42°14′50″N 76°2′19″W / 42.24722°N 76.03861°W / 42.24722; -76.03861
Area	130 acres (53 ha)
Built	1848
Architectural style	Greek Revival
NRHP reference No.	98001549[1]
Added to NRHP	January 11, 1999

The Cyrus Gates Farmstead is located in Maine, New York. Cyrus Gates was a cartographer and map maker for New York State, as well as an abolitionist. The great granddaughter of Cyrus-Louise Gates-Gunsalus has stated that from 1848 until the end of slavery in the United States in 1865, the Cyrus Gates Farmstead was a station or stop on the Underground Railroad (Woodward 1973). Its owners, Cyrus and Arabella Gates, were outspoken abolitionists as well as active and vital members of their community. Historian Shirley L. Woodward states that through those years escaped slaves came through the Gates' station.

One runaway female slave, a 16-year-old girl named Margaret "Marge" Cruizer was so comfortable with the Gates family that she decided to stay at their station and live with them. Marge ended up spending the rest of her life with the Gates and is buried in the cemetery next to the house. (Woodward 1973 pp 52–53). Margaret was also known as the wife of Thomas "Old Bay Tom" Crocker. Mr. Crocker was famous for being the first African-American to be elected as mayor of Binghamton, New York, albeit a protest vote that was reversed in the election of 1872. (Smith 2014).