 Bill Hecht relaxes at his home on Cayuga Lake. From Post Standard Dec. 24, 2002 -- Chien Yi Hung/ Contributing photographer | of Auburn Images A treasure trove of Auburn historical images assembled by Bill Hecht and accessible at |
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Bill Hecht relaxes at his home on Cayuga Lake. From Post Standard Dec. 24, 2002 -- Chien Yi Hung/ Contributing photographer | of Auburn Images A treasure trove of Auburn historical images assembled by Bill Hecht and accessible at |
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| While very much into historical and environmental activities, Hecht is not much into self-promotion. Anyone visiting his home page soon realizes that.
The Hecht home page also contain a list of links to still other materials of historical and environmental interest. Clearly his focus is on spotlighting those interests and concerns. Nevertheless, we persuaded him to provide us with some background on his work. He obliged with a 2002 newspaper clipping from which we excerpted the above image and some text below. When told the NYCHS web site wanted to feature his on-line treasury of Cayuga images, Bill responded: "I do not need any recognition. My enjoyment is from hearing from people like yourself that can use this STUFF. . . . "A link to the listing would suit me. . . .If anyone should be focused on, it should be Bernie Corcoran who runs the Cayuga County GenWeb page. Bernie has helped organize many of the maps and newspaper scans that I and countless others have done. Just leave a link to me and do a focus on Bernie instead. . . . For maps go to Bernie's site where they are all organized. . . ." So, yes, our next project to promote appreciation of Auburn's role in correction history will be to follow Hecht's suggestion and spotlight Bernie Corcoran and his colleagues who run the Cayuga County GenWeb site. But that doesn't change the fact that the dedicated effort involved in Bill's scanning and placing on the web several thousand images of New York historical interest rates recognition. Webmaster, NYCHSExcerpts from POST STANDARD December 24, 2002:
Bill Hecht . . . serves as a citizen watchdog over environmental issues in the Finger Lakes. . .
Who is this Hecht . . .?
The environment and local history are Hecht's passions, and provide clues as to where he will turn up next. . . .
He has had an extended, eclectic education; in college he studied anthropology, art, sculpture, architecture, geology, agriculture and environmental management
He has had an eclectic assortment of work experiences: farming; helping to run a small natural gas company; serving as executive director of the Cazenovia Preservation Foundation.
In 1932, Hecht's Hungarian immigrant grandfather, Alexander Hecht, co-founded General Products Corp. in Union Springs. . . . sold to Gulf & Western Industries in 1962. . . .
Bill Hecht spent 12 years in Union Springs schools. His mother, Lydia, worked at the local library, where Bill says he passed a lot of time reading and “copying down every footnote and reference that I thought was interesting," a habit he still has.
Frequently, he'd write to the state archives in Albany requesting source documents he had footnoted.
"They (Albany) would copy everything I asked and send it," he said. "I still have file cabinets full of the geology and history of Cayuga County."
College began at Beloit College in Wisconsin, where he studied anthropology. Then Hecht attended Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, where he studied art, sculpture and architecture.
He left college to work on his mother's family farm -- the Patterson Farm, which had been in the family since 1820. While working on the farm he took courses at Cornell University in agriculture science. . .
In the mid-1980a, he enrolled in the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, and obtained a master's degree in environmental management in 1988.
. . . He served on the board of the Skaneateles Festival . . . He also served as president of the Skaneateles Lake Pure Water Association; president of the Skaneateles chapter of the Finger Lakes Land Trust Water Association; a board member of the Tri-County Skaneateles Association and Treasurer of Citizens to Save Sandy Beach.
He also was a board member of the Finger Lakes Land Trust, working to preserve 24 acres along Bear Swamp Creek which has waterfront access to Skaneateles Lake.
After a decade or so of intense focus on Skimeateles-relared issues, Hecht extended his attention outward, serving for three years as the first executive director of the Cazenovia Preservation Foundation.
He now serves on the board of New York River United, based in Rome, a nonprofit watchdog agency particularly concerned with the health of streams and rivers in the state.
He continues to hold a position on the board of the Cayuga County Environmental Management Council, a board he has served on since the 1970s.
Hundreds of trumpeter swans float in the Cayuga Lake water just offshore of Hecht's home, north of Union Springs. . . .Binoculars and bird guides sit on end tables, along with things like New York State's 2002 Open Space Committee Plan.
It's from here that Hecht does much of his work: telephoning and firing off e-mails to his various networks of environmental committee and board members, and writing elected officials.
He also scans into a computer old photographs, maps, old newspapers and things that feed his voracious interest in historical documents. Hecht puts the materials on various Web sites, among them,
http//freepages. genealogy. rootsweb. com/ ~springport/
. . . .Alan Kozlowski, director of Cayuga County's Real Property Tax Services, who also oversees the county historian’s office, said Hecht has single-handedly made available maps and images that would otherwise not be viewable on the Internet.
"He knows enough about the technology and has enough patience to put this together," said Kozlowsld.
"He really is selfless to a great degree. . . . . If it wasn't for Bill, a lot of stuff wouldn't be happening. He is always hovering around the wings, on environmental and planning issues. He is an example of what one guy can do to make a difference."
Walt Aikman, a chairman of the Cayuga County Environment Management Council, also recognized Hecht's passion and persistence, and appointed him chairman of the council's impact review committee, which alerts council members to proposals or actions that could adversely affect the ecology. . . .
Hecht continues to push for better planning in Cayuga County and the Finger Lakes region. He is passionate about his love of the Finger Lakes countryside, and he wants to preserve it for a long while.
"One of our big assets here is the open space and vistas, and we're paving them over," Hecht said.
"It's not an either-or. I'm not saying preserve all this at the sacrifice of jobs, or pave it all at the sacrifice of aesthetic beauty. You can have both. But unless you are proactive in your plans, it's not going to happen. " 
Sketch of 1800s Auburn Prison (below). Larger version via Hecht list.
1895, 1906 newspaper special issues (below). Larger versions via Hecht list.
 
Postcard of Auburn Courthouse (below). Larger version via Hecht list.
Postcard of Auburn Seminary (below). Larger version via Hecht list.
1852 town map showing Auburn (below). Larger version via Hecht list.
Auburn seminary illustrations (above, below). Larger version via Hecht list.
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