HORACE BURCH – FORD TRASK HOME

48 North Ann Street, Little Falls, New York
Federal–Greek Revival Home of Commerce, Preservation, and Community Service

By Elizabeth Spraker

ARCHITECTURAL OVERVIEW

Imagine walking along North Ann Street during the first half of the nineteenth century, when Little Falls was growing beyond its earlier canal settlement and substantial brick residences were beginning to appear along the village streets. The Horace Burch–Ford Trask Home would have stood out immediately—not because of elaborate decoration, but because of its broad proportions, balanced façade, and strong classical presence.

At its core, the house reflects the calm symmetry associated with Federal architecture. The entrance sits at the center of the façade, while tall windows are arranged in an orderly pattern across both stories. Their careful placement gives the brick exterior a steady rhythm and a sense of quiet dignity.

The most commanding feature is the two-story portico stretching across the front of the house. Tall, slender columns rise from the ground to support the broad horizontal entablature above. This feature introduces the stronger classical character of the Greek Revival style, which became increasingly popular during the nineteenth century as Americans looked to the architecture of ancient Greece for inspiration.

Even with the addition of the portico, the earlier Federal character remains easy to see. The original symmetry of the façade is still visible behind the columns, allowing the two architectural traditions to work together rather than compete. The result is a house that reflects change over time—Federal in its underlying form, but given a more monumental appearance through later Greek Revival influence.

The central doorway brings a lighter, more delicate touch to the façade. A semicircular fanlight rises above the entrance, while narrow sidelights frame the door and allow daylight into the interior hall. These graceful details soften the stronger vertical lines of the columns and preserve the refinement associated with the Federal style.

Above the second story, a raised attic level is marked by a row of small arched windows. Their repeated shape creates a distinctive pattern beneath the roofline and gives the upper portion of the house an architectural character all its own. Though modest in size, these windows add visual interest and help draw the eye upward across the façade.

The red brick walls provide warmth beneath the white columns, trim, and shutters. That contrast makes the structure of the house especially easy to read: the strong vertical columns, evenly spaced windows, central doorway, and attic openings all work together within one carefully balanced composition.

Standing before the house today, we can still see the story of its architectural evolution. Its Federal symmetry remains the foundation, while the later Greek Revival portico gives the residence greater scale and presence. Rather than hiding those changes, the house allows us to see how one historic home adapted with changing tastes while preserving the character of its earlier design.

LIFE WITHIN THESE WALLS
1834–Present
Commerce, Preservation, Care, and Public Service

For nearly two centuries, this North Ann Street home has reflected more than changing architectural tastes. It has also reflected the lives of the people who passed through its doors and the different ways they became part of the story of Little Falls.

Its earliest chapter is tied to Horace Manley Burch, a merchant whose career grew alongside the expanding commerce of the nineteenth-century village. Generations later, Ford Trask became part of the home’s history, helping preserve its character during a very different era. Still later, Catherine Van Allen gave the house yet another purpose, transforming it into a place of care for elderly residents. In more recent decades, the Rose family connected the residence to another enduring Little Falls tradition—law, civic responsibility, and public service.

Their lives were separated by time and circumstance, yet each left a distinct imprint here. Commerce, preservation, compassionate care, family life, and public service all became part of the story held within these walls.

That story begins with Horace Manley Burch.

HORACE MANLEY BURCH (1811–1895)
Merchant, Real Estate Investor, and Community Builder

Horace Manley Burch came to Little Falls in 1834, when the village was entering an important period of growth. The Erie Canal had brought new movement, trade, and opportunity to the Mohawk Valley, and Little Falls was becoming a place where an ambitious young man could build both a business and a future.

Born in the Town of Schuyler on September 30, 1811, Burch arrived in Little Falls in his early twenties. Together with his brother Thomas, he established Burch & Company, a dry goods business that served the needs of a growing community. Its shelves would have carried the practical goods families depended upon—fabrics, clothing, household items, and other everyday necessities.

A nineteenth-century merchant was often woven deeply into community life. Business was personal. Customers were neighbors, credit was built on trust, and the local store was a familiar place where purchases were made, news was exchanged, and relationships were formed.

As Burch prospered, his interests expanded into real estate. Little Falls was spreading beyond its earlier settlement, and the demand for homes, businesses, and developable property continued to grow. His investments connected him not only to the commercial life of the village, but also to its physical expansion.

The 1850 United States Census gives us a glimpse into Burch’s family life. It records Horace M. Burch as a merchant living in Little Falls with his wife, Frances, their children, and other members of the household. Rather than seeing him only through business records, the census allows us to picture the family behind the public figure—a household shaped by the ordinary routines and relationships of nineteenth-century life.

Burch’s involvement in Little Falls extended beyond his own business interests. As the community grew through the middle decades of the century, men in his position often found themselves participating in the civic life around them as well as in commerce. His career unfolded during years when Little Falls was changing from a canal village into a more established center of trade and industry.

The world Horace Burch knew would have been filled with movement: canal boats passing through the valley, merchants opening their doors each morning, wagons traveling the streets, and new buildings appearing as the village expanded. His own life became part of that transformation.

Through commerce, property investment, family life, and community involvement, Horace Manley Burch belonged to the generation that helped give nineteenth-century Little Falls deeper and more permanent roots.

FORD TRASK (1909–1987)
Businessman, Civic Leader, and Steward of the Home

By the time Ford W. Trask became associated with the North Ann Street residence, Little Falls had entered a very different chapter. The canal village known to Horace Burch had grown into a modern city shaped by industry, automobiles, established neighborhoods, and a busy downtown. Yet the values of enterprise, civic pride, and community involvement remained familiar.

Born in Little Falls in 1909, Ford came from a family already connected to the city’s commercial and industrial life. His grandfather, Ira Ford Trask, had been associated with axe manufacturing at the Cheney Hammer Mill on West Mill Street, linking the family to an earlier generation of local industry.

Ford carried that connection into the twentieth century. He became an owner and officer of the Little Falls Wholesale Company on South Second Street, serving businesses throughout the region. The Trask name was also familiar through the family’s cigar store in the former Skinner Building on East Main Street, a downtown place where business and conversation naturally came together.

His ties to community life began early. As a young man, Ford served as manager of the 1929–1930 Little Falls High School basketball team, remembered for its New York State championship season. That achievement became one of the proud athletic moments in the city’s history and reflected the close connection between school life and community identity.

Ford remained active in local organizations throughout adulthood. He devoted many years to the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, serving three terms as Exalted Ruler and later as a state vice president. He was also active in the Masonic fraternity, joining other local businessmen and civic leaders in organizations centered on fellowship and service.

In January 1945, Ford Trask became the owner of the historic home at 48 North Ann Street. His years there marked an important chapter in the building’s preservation. Local historical accounts associate Trask with restoration work that revealed evidence of an earlier stepped roofline within the masonry, a reminder that the house had already undergone changes long before he became its caretaker.

Rather than erasing those traces of the past, Trask helped preserve the character that had accumulated over generations. The residence remained a family home, but it was also treated as something worth protecting—an architectural survivor whose earlier history could still be read in its walls.

Ford Trask’s connection to the house therefore reaches beyond ownership alone. Through his business life, civic involvement, and stewardship of the property, he became part of the long bridge between the home’s nineteenth-century beginnings and its modern survival.

Under his care, the house continued to live, change, and endure.

CATHERINE VAN ALLEN (1916–2009)
A Home Reimagined Through Compassion

When Catherine K. Van Allen became connected to the North Ann Street home, its story took another turn. The house that had once reflected commerce, family life, and preservation was given a new purpose—one centered on care.

A registered nurse, Catherine began caring for elderly residents in 1948, when she opened a small nursing home in her own residence at 617 Albany Street. There, she cared for five people in a setting that was personal and familiar, combining professional nursing with the comforts of home.

As the need for elder care increased, Catherine expanded later that same year into the former Titus Sheard Mansion at 29 Jackson Street. The larger residence allowed her to welcome more people while continuing the close, attentive style of care that had shaped her earliest work.

In 1965, Catherine acquired the Horace Burch–Ford Trask Home and transformed it into St. Joseph’s Home for the Aged. Once again, the rooms of the old house adapted to a new generation. Bedrooms, parlors, and gathering spaces became part of the daily lives of elderly residents who now called the house home.

Here, care was not limited to medical needs alone. Meals were shared, conversations filled the rooms, and familiar routines helped create a sense of comfort and belonging. Catherine understood that growing older did not lessen a person’s need for dignity, companionship, and the feeling of being at home.

As the organization continued to grow, the Van Allen family later developed a larger and more modern nursing facility on upper East Monroe Street. Catherine’s son, William “Bill” Van Allen, and his wife, Theresa, became longtime proprietors of Van Allen and Alpine, continuing the family’s involvement in elder care in Little Falls.

The North Ann Street chapter eventually came to an end as services moved elsewhere, but Catherine Van Allen had added something lasting to the history of the house. She had shown that an old home could serve a new purpose without losing the warmth that had always made it a place of human connection.

Through her care, the residence became part of the larger story of elder care in Little Falls—and another generation found life within these walls.

EDWARD J. ROSE (1939–2025)
Attorney, City Court Judge, and a Life of Public Service

A later chapter in the history of the Horace Burch–Ford Trask Home connects the residence to Edward J. and Gail Rose, whose family became closely associated with the legal and civic life of Little Falls.

Born in Syracuse in 1939, Edward Rose attended Nottingham High School, Le Moyne College, and Syracuse University School of Law. After completing law school, he and Gail moved to Little Falls, where Edward began working with respected trial attorney George Fiesinger. What followed was a legal career lasting more than sixty years.

In 1970, Rose was appointed Little Falls City Court Judge. With the exception of a period away from the bench while his children were in high school, he continued serving as judge until 2006. In 1980, he established the Rose Law Office, where he and Gail worked side by side for more than forty years. Their son Mark later joined them, extending the family’s connection to the legal profession into another generation.

Judge Rose’s long service became closely identified with Little Falls. In 2004, the new Little Falls City Court facility was dedicated and named in his honor, recognizing decades spent serving the community from the bench.

His family’s connection to public service soon added another chapter.

In 2007, Edward Rose had the privilege of administering the oath of office to his son, Mark R. Rose, when Mark became Little Falls City Court Judge. Fifteen years later, father and son stood together once again—this time as Edward swore Mark in as a Justice of the New York State Supreme Court.

Edward J. Rose died on October 28, 2025, at the age of eighty-six. By then, his name had become woven into the civic history of the community he and Gail had made their home for more than six decades.

MARK R. ROSE
Continuing a Family Tradition of Law and Judicial Service

Mark R. Rose followed his father into both the legal profession and public service, carrying the Rose family’s connection to the courts into another generation.

After joining the Rose Law Office, Mark built his own legal career while remaining closely connected to Little Falls and the surrounding region. His work included service to municipalities, schools, families, and individuals throughout the area, continuing a tradition of law and community involvement that had long been associated with his father.

In 2007, Mark became Little Falls City Court Judge. The occasion held particular meaning for the Rose family: his father, Judge Edward J. Rose, who had served the city from the bench for many years, administered his oath of office.

Mark’s judicial career entered a new chapter in 2022, when he was elected a Justice of the New York State Supreme Court in the Fifth Judicial District. The district encompasses Herkimer, Jefferson, Lewis, Oneida, Onondaga, and Oswego counties, extending his judicial responsibilities far beyond Little Falls while keeping his professional roots firmly connected to the Mohawk Valley.

Once again, a significant family moment accompanied the transition. When Mark took the oath as a Supreme Court Justice, his father administered it—fifteen years after having sworn him in as Little Falls City Court Judge.

Today, the New York State Unified Court System lists Hon. Mark Rose as a Supreme Court Justice serving from the Herkimer County Office & Court Facility. His career represents a remarkable continuation of the Rose family’s long association with law and public service in Little Falls and Herkimer County.

Through Edward and Mark Rose, the later history of the Horace Burch–Ford Trask Home became connected to another important chapter in the civic life of Little Falls—one shaped by family, law, continuity, and generations of public service.

LEGACY
The Horace Burch–Ford Trask Home has carried many lives within its walls.

Horace Burch’s years connect the house to the commercial growth of nineteenth-century Little Falls. Ford Trask helped carry it into a new era while preserving the character that generations before him had left behind. Catherine Van Allen then gave the home another purpose, opening its doors to elderly residents in need of care, comfort, and companionship. In later years, Edward, Gail, and Mark Rose added another chapter, linking the residence to generations of legal and judicial service in the community.

Each chapter was different, yet all became part of the same continuing story—commerce, stewardship, care, family, and public service unfolding beneath one roof.

The house endured because it was never frozen in time. It changed as Little Falls changed, adapting to new families, new needs, and new generations while still holding on to the character that made it distinctive.

Standing along North Ann Street today, it remains a reminder that preservation is not only about saving walls and windows. It is also about remembering the lives that gave a building meaning.

And here, those lives left a lasting legacy.

SOURCES

• Little Falls Historic District, National Register of Historic Places Registration Form.
• Benton, Nathaniel Soley. A History of Herkimer County, Including the Upper Mohawk Valley. 1856.
• Hardin, George A., ed. History of Herkimer County, New York. 1893.
• Little Falls Historical Society Museum and Cooney Archives.
• Herkimer County deed, census, map, property, and city-directory records.
• Louis Baum, Little Falls Historical Society Museum editing team, correspondence regarding William “Bill” Van Allen and Theresa Van Allen, 2026.
• “Edward J. Rose January 1, 1939—October 28, 2025.” My Little Falls.
• Warner, Dave. “Rose Sworn in as State Supreme Court Justice.” My Little Falls, 2022.
• Warner, Dave. “Rose Wins State Supreme Court Race.” My Little Falls, 2022.
• New York State Unified Court System. “Herkimer Supreme & County Courts,” Fifth Judicial District.
• Architectural observation and photography by Elizabeth Spraker.