Mexico, New York

The Timothy Skinner House

Three Generations of Public Service in Mexico, New York

Circa 1869 | Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, 1991

Interpretive historic-style rendering of the Timothy Skinner House — Interpretive historic-style rendering based on a contemporary photograph of the Timothy Skinner House.

Built in the years following the Civil War, this brick Italianate residence was created for Timothy Warner Skinner and his family. Its broad porches, bracketed cornices, tall windows and surviving interior craftsmanship reflect both nineteenth-century architecture and the standing of a family whose public service reached from Mexico and Oswego County across New York State.

In earlier records, the house stood on Center Street, later Railroad Street, before the roadway became Scenic Avenue. The National Register nomination identified it as 5355 Scenic Avenue; after later renumbering, the residence is now addressed as 5707 Scenic Avenue.

Hon. Avery Skinner

Public Official, Community Founder and Institutional Builder

Avery Skinner (1796-1876), son of Timothy Skinner and Ruth Warner Skinner, was born in Westmoreland, New Hampshire, and settled at Union Square, now Maple View, in 1823. There he gave the settlement its name, erected its first tavern, established a mail route and served as its first postmaster.

Avery served as Oswego County Treasurer from 1826 to 1837, associate judge of the Oswego County Court from 1828 to 1839, member of the New York State Assembly in 1832 and 1833, and member of the New York State Senate from 1838 to 1841. He was an original trustee and secretary of the academy later known as Mexico Academy, an original promoter and director of the Syracuse Northern Railroad, High Priest of Mexico Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, and an original trustee of the Universalist Society of Mexico.

Avery's family continued this tradition of service. His brother Alanson Skinner also served in the State Senate. His son Timothy Warner Skinner, from his marriage to Elizabeth Lathrop Huntington, built this home; his son Charles Rufus Skinner, from his later marriage to Charlotte Prior Stebbins, served in Congress and as New York State Superintendent of Public Instruction. His grandson, Dr. Avery Warner Skinner, became a statewide education leader. Avery died at Maple View in 1876 and is buried in Maple View Cemetery.

Hon. Timothy Warner Skinner

Lawyer, Banker, County Surrogate and Village President

Timothy Warner Skinner (1827-1915), son of Avery and Elizabeth Lathrop Huntington Skinner, was born in Mexico and settled in the village in 1853. Admitted to the bar in 1857, he joined Judge Cyrus Whitney in the law and banking firm of Whitney & Skinner.

Timothy served three terms as Surrogate of Oswego County, during much of the period from 1863 through 1883. He was also President of the Village of Mexico in 1890, a trustee of Mexico Academy, and, beginning in 1871, a leader of Mexico Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, in a role once held by his father. At his eightieth birthday gathering in this family home in 1907, the Mexico Independent described him as prominently identified with Mexico's history for more than fifty years.

Timothy's family life spans the years before this residence was built and the household later associated with it. In 1856 he married Sarah Elizabeth Calkins Skinner (1833-1861). Their daughters were Elizabeth Viola "Lizzie" Skinner Stone (1857-1943) and Hattie Rose Skinner (1860-1861).

In 1862 he married Sarah L. Rose Skinner (1833-1910), a former preceptress at Mexico Academy. Their children were Mary Eliza Skinner (1863-1864), Anna Grace Skinner (1868-1894) and Dr. Avery Warner Skinner (1870-1937). This house was built as a family home during the height of Timothy's legal, banking and public career. Dr. Avery is specifically documented as having been born here, and the house also preserves the memory of the women and children who formed the Skinner household. Timothy died in Mexico in 1915 and is buried in Mexico Village Cemetery.

Dr. Avery Warner Skinner

Local School Leader and State Education Official

Dr. Avery Warner Skinner (1870-1937), son of Timothy and Sarah Rose Skinner, was born in this historic brick house on Railroad Street, now Scenic Avenue. He graduated from Mexico Academy in 1887 and Syracuse University in 1892, pursued advanced study at Columbia University in 1915, and taught history at the State Summer School at Thousand Island Park from 1896 through 1904.

After serving as principal of Andes Collegiate Institute, he returned to Mexico in 1895 as the first principal of the newly organized union free school district after Mexico Military Academy was discontinued. Working with the Board of Education, he helped close the three village district schools, organize new classrooms and faculty, and integrate the grades and academic courses into a unified local school system.

He later served as Superintendent of Schools in Oneida and, beginning in 1909, in the New York State Education Department, ultimately becoming Director of the Division of Examinations and Inspections. At his death, the Mexico Independent credited him with organizing a Regents plan. The newspaper also reported that, at his 1936 retirement, his administration had been recognized for significant advances in statewide supervisory service and for improvements to Regents examinations prepared under his direction.

Dr. Skinner married Nancy Brown Bates Skinner; their daughters were Margaret Rose Skinner Fullerton and Charlotte Huntington Skinner Taylor. In retirement, he again devoted himself to Mexico's schools, working closely with the Board of Education during the organization and construction of the new Mexico Academy and Central School. Contemporary local accounts state that he inspected construction progress daily during the summer and fall of 1937, and credit him with securing a department for physically handicapped students, described as the first such department in a village school. The Board planned to honor him at the dedication of the new building, but he died before its completion. Important conferences with leading state educators were held in his study in this home. He died suddenly at the State Education Building in Albany in 1937 and is buried in Mexico Village Cemetery.

A House of Continuing Community Service

In 1944, the American Legion purchased what the Mexico Independent later identified as the former home of A. W. Skinner on Scenic Avenue. The house became a meeting hall for Stone-Davis Post No. 384, a Mexico-area Legion post documented in local public life by the early 1920s. In this new role, a residence long associated with family life and educational service continued as a gathering place for veterans and the wider community.

The National Register nomination records that American Legion use led to some changes in the floor plan, while the interior remained substantially intact. The house therefore preserves evidence of both chapters of its history: the Skinner family residence and its later community-service life as an American Legion hall.

After the Legion sold the property into private ownership in 2006, the house returned to residential use. Later assessor and real-estate records document its period as a two-family residence, while more recent listing material describes its return to use as a single-family home. In 2026, the house is beginning another chapter as Ben and Helen prepare to make it a home for their family.

The Timothy Skinner House remains a witness to three generations of public duty: Avery Skinner, whose work helped shape a developing town and county; Timothy Warner Skinner, whose legal, judicial and village leadership was centered in Mexico; and Dr. Avery Warner Skinner, whose influence on public education reached across New York State while remaining rooted in this home. It also honors the women and children of the Skinner household, whose births, lives, losses and memories are part of the history preserved within these walls.

In caring for this house, we honor the Skinner family, the veterans and neighbors who later gathered within its walls, and the continuing history of Mexico, New York.

Help Preserve This History

No confirmed early photograph of the Timothy Skinner House has yet been located. We welcome contact from anyone who may have photographs, documents or memories connected to this residence, the Skinner family or its years as an American Legion hall.

Especially sought: images identified as Center Street, Railroad Street, 5355 Scenic Avenue or 5707 Scenic Avenue; Skinner family photographs or letters; Stone-Davis Post No. 384 records or event photographs; and Mexico Academy or Central School materials relating to Dr. Avery W. Skinner.

Those with material to share may contact Ben or Helen directly so that additional parts of the home's history may be documented and preserved.