Opendore: The Isabel Howland House

Starting in 1851 this was the home of William and Hannah Howland, called Shady Lawn. Isabel Howland was born here in 1859 and owned the home until her death in 1942, renaming the estate Opendore. Isabel Howland was involved in the women's suffrage movement, serving as an officer for the Association for the Advancement of Women and the New York State Woman Suffrage Association. Howland was the niece of Emily Howland, a prominent leaders in the women's suffrage movement. Opendore is now owned and is being restored by the Howland Stone Store Museum.

The house now called Opendore was originally a smaller structure constructed in 1837 by James Davis, a Blacksmith who owned nine acres here. The house was purchased in 1851 by William Howland. William Howland was the son of Slocum and Hannah Howland whose home and store was just down the street. Howland expanded the house and renamed the growing estate Shade Lawn. William Howard was a businessman, reformer, and state assemblyman, but the most famous resident of the home was his daughter, Isabel Howland.

Isabel Howland was born in the house on May 21, 1859. Howland attended Cornell University, graduating in 1881. She met Harriet May Mills there and the two women worked together in many suffrage and reform projects during their lives. She was an officer for the Association for the Advancement of Women and New York State Woman Suffrage Association and appeared at several NYSWSA conventions. In her hometown of Sherwood, NY she and her parents helped establish the town’s library and museum in the 1880s and founded the Sherwood Equal Rights Association in 1891 (a chapter of the American Equal Rights Association). Isabel Howland also helped found the Sherwood Political Equality Club which held their meetings at Shade Lawn.

In 1905, Isabel and her brother Herbert inherited Shade Lawn. Isabel again expanded the home in the 1910s into a small mansion and renamed it Opendore. For several years Opendore remained a center of community and reform activities until the 1930s when Isabel moved to Paris to care for her brother who was in ill health. She died of a heart attack on December 4, 1942 at which time Opendore was repurposed into apartments for local teachers. Unfortunately, in the 1970s the house went into absentee ownership and was abandoned. The Howland Stone Store Museum acquired Opendore in 2008 from Cayuga County. The house had been neglected for a significant period of time and was deteriorating. Restoration began in 2013. Due to the condition of the home, the southern half of the building was dismantled and the restoration efforts focused on the northern part of the house. 

Greene, Donna. “Biography of Isabel Howland, 1859-1942.” Accessed July 8, 2021. https://documents.alexanderstreet.com/d/1010113841.

“Howland, Isabel.” Freethought Trail. Accessed July 8, 2021. https://freethought-trail.org/profiles/profile:howland-isabel/.

“Isabel Howland House.” Freethought Trail. Accessed July 8, 2021. https://freethought-trail.org/trail-map/location:isabel-howland-house/.

“The Isabel Howland House (Opendore).” Howland Stone Store Museum. Accessed July 8, 2021. https://www.howlandstonestore.org/the-isabel-howland-house.