Matilda and Henry Hill Gage moved with their family to Fayetteville in 1854, where Henry established a dry goods store. Their home, a stately Greek revival on the corner of Walnut and Genesee, was Gage’s base of operations during her career as an activist, author and newspaper publisher until her death in 1898. As much woman’s rights history was made in this house as in any other historic home in the country.

The house is currently being renovated.  Visit the Gage Dig Blog for a glimpse into the process.

Family tradition says that Susan B. Anthony, on one of her many visits to the house, scratched her name in the upstairs library window. The name is still on the window today.

The Gage home was the site of regular anti-slavery activity and, according to her children and grandchildren, was a station on the Underground Railroad during the years before the Civil War. When the Gage Foundation purchases it, the Gage house will be one of the few anti-slavery homes open to the public in Central New York.

L. Frank Baum, the author of the great American fairy tale, the Wonderful Wizard of Oz, married Gage’s youngest daughter, Maud, in the house in 1882. Encouraging her son-in-law to write his children’s stories, Gage was his intellectual mentor. Frank and Maud spent a great deal of time at the Gage house, and restoration of the house will be based on rare photos taken by Baum. The Gage house will be the only Baum interpretive site in the country where L. Frank Baum actually spent time.

Friends from the Onondaga Nation spent time at the Gage home, and she visited their nation, as well, writing with respect about the superior position held by Haudenosaunee women.

The Gage House is among three women’s history sites open to the public in central New York, and is the eastern terminal of the National Women’s Rights History Trail proposed by the National Park Service. It figures notably as part of our woman’s rights history, along with the Harriet Tubman House in Auburn and the Elizabeth Cady Stanton House in Seneca Falls. The Gage House will be an anchor for proposed initiatives by both the Governor’s office (Women’s Rights and Underground Railroad trails through Heritage New York) and the National Park Service “Votes for Women” trail. Senator Clinton and Congresswoman Slaughter have recently introduced legislation to fund development of this proposed trail, which runs from the Susan B. Anthony house in Rochester to the Gage House in Fayetteville. As the Eastern terminal, the Gage House will be the first stop for visitors to the trail from New York City.

The National Park Service also has asked the Gage Foundation to nominate the Gage House as a National Historic Landmark. Of the current 2,500 NHL designations, only 5% of the sites are related to women.

Dr. Sally Roesch Wagner, Executive Director of the Gage Foundation, serves on the steering committee of the National Collaborative for Women’s History Sites, and sees great potential in the development of heritage tourism in this area, drawing upon the rich history in the Gage House and the national recognition of its importance.

Audiences who have visited the house include students, seniors, tourists, women’s groups and educational organizations. A Smithsonian study tour will visit the house in September 2003. The Foundation has held two national conferences in Fayetteville, and conducts educational programs around the country, encouraging people to visit. The Gage House will also be a featured site in the new Underground Railroad tour brochure, currently being developed by the Syracuse Convention and Visitors Bureau. The Gage Foundation, the Fayetteville Free Library and Manlius town historian Barbara Rivette are creating a Gage walking tour of Fayetteville, that will be published this year.

The Gage Foundation purchased the house on April 22, 2002. We have raised $325,000 from grants and government funds to begin restoration. Please join us in this exciting venture as we restore the home and legacy of Matilda Joslyn Gage.

Funding for this first stage of house restoration will come from four sources: Congressman James Walsh generated $223,538 in the VA/HUD and Independent Agencies House Appropriations bill. Senator Nancy Larraine Hoffmann secured a $75,000 member item from the Community Capital Assistance Program. The Central New York Community Foundation will provide $20,000 from the John F. Marsellus Fund. An additional $7,000 was received from the Preserve New York Grant Program of the Preservation League of NY State and the New York State Council on the Arts.

Read more on the historical and architectural significance of the house.