People and communities
Paisley: promises on paper, bills in the mail
Documented history · Sources compared
A surviving receipt and tax notice put an individual buyer inside the story of Paisley’s advertised boom.
A receipt fixes one small transaction
Henry P. Cortelyou paid $21 for two lots, according to a receipt issued under H. A. Freeman’s name. Its handwritten date reads September 4, 1888; the collection caption says September 11. The document supports a payment, not a completed house or a profitable resale. Cortelyou receipt.
The advertised return was a promise
A Freeman advertisement promoted hotel shares with an anticipated ten-percent annual return. A separate Building and Loan prospectus offered shares payable at one dollar monthly and advertised a route to homeownership. Its reproduced newspaper extract is dated December 9, 1888, so this particular version cannot simply be dated October 31 from the collection’s heading. These are sales claims, not audited returns. Freeman advertisement; prospectus outside; prospectus inside.
The tax form tells a different story
Cortelyou’s 1890 notice values five lots together at $40. The total bill is 84 cents: 72 cents tax plus 12 cents costs and stamps. The printed $1.79 is the rate per $100, not his bill. An August 1892 Herald editorial reported the association in liquidation; court records would be needed to establish its formal outcome. 1890 tax notice; Herald editorial.
Sources and research limits
The linked scans were inspected individually. Dates supplied only by newspaper captions remain attributed. No criminal conviction or complete investor-loss total is established. THS Paisley document collection.