A Brief History of the Story Block and O’Malley’s
The 21 East Main Street building was built in 1876 by George Eldridge as the middle section of a three-building “block” called the Story Block. The Cuba Village Hall occupies one of the two smaller sections of the block buildings at 17 East Main Street. All three of the block buildings had matching Italianate architecture.
The building is 31 feet wide and 80 feet deep. It has a retail level with 1 recessed entry. It has one upper floor accessible through a front-side door. The first and second floors have 14-foot ceilings.
A fire in the 1930s gutted the second floor of any historical features destroying the original roof truss system that eliminated the need for interior support walls and the beautiful matching cornice. The replacement roof is constructed using iron I-beams spanned by wooden ceiling joists. There are iron rods across the width keeping the walls from bowing.
Michael (Mack) Joseph O’Malley Born Oct 15, 1890, opened a hardware and variety store at 21 East Main called O’Malley’s on March 19, 1937. The hardware store was successful and was in business until the 1970s. Many people still remember the O’Malley’s hardware store and have fond memories. Mack O’Malley died on 7/6/1967 (76 years) and is buried at Our Lady of the Angels Cemetery, Cuba, NY, just a couple of blocks away from the store. The hardware store was sold after his death in the 1970s.
Mr. O’Malley’s niece, Mary Nease, works at the Cuba Historical Society.
O’Malley’s building was occupied by an appliance store owned by Wayne “Bud” Blackeslee and his wife Audrey for about 20 years before the first floor was completely renovated to become the medical office of Dr. Tom Lawrence. This office was open very shortly before a local lawyer Joe Miller made it his law practice in 2013.
In 2021, The building welcomed 2 families in its 2 loft apartments and the O’Malley’s business opened in 2022.