Robert Eisele Photographs

File — Box: 1

Identifier: 2024-060

Staff Only

Content Description

This collection consists of 21 photographic prints and 1 album of photographs from the early life of Robert E. Eisele of Rochester, New York. The photographs document Eisele's childhood and youth in Rochester, while the album covers his time as a member of the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1934-1935, working with Company 1265 in the development of what are now known as Buttermilk Falls and R. H. Treman State Parks.

Dates

Creation: 1923-1953, undated

Conditions Governing Access

There are no restrictions regarding access to or use of the collection.

Conditions Governing Use

Permission to publish, reproduce, distribute, or use in any current or future manifestations must be obtained in writing from the Rochester Public Library Local History and Genealogy Division.

Biographical / Historical

Friends of Robert H. Treman State Park. History of Company 1265. Accessed November 25, 2024 from https://www.justinmuseum.com/ccchistory/co1265.html.

Mariner, Cosmos. C.C.C. CO. #1265. Accessed November 25, 2024 from https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=118660.

Biographical Note

Robert Elmer Eisele was born to Edwin and Dorothy Eisele on June 19, 1916. He grew up in Rochester, New York, with the family living at 231 Clifford Avenue in 1920 and 94 Roth Street in 1930. His sister Arlene was born in 1923. Robert graduated from St. Michael's grammar school in 1930. Upon graduating from Benjamin Franklin High School in 1934, he joined the Civilian Conservation Corps and served at Camp 1265 (which he refers to as Camp 60 for unknown reasons), working on what is now Buttermilk Falls State Park near Ithaca. Eisele later married Faith Elizabeth Woodward Wells in 1942, served in the Navy during World War II and eventually moved to California, where he passed away on October 2, 1992.

Civilian Conservation Corps Camp SP-6, Company 1265, operated from 1933 to 1941 near Enfield, New York. Housing 200 men in a suite of bunkhouses, the camp provided workers to develop work building bridges and trails in Enfield Glen (now Robert H. Treman), Taughannock Falls, and Buttermilk Falls State Parks, and took out flagstones from the creek bed above Taughannock Falls for use in stonework projects in many of the Finger Lakes State Parks of New York State. Their work included building stone and timber bridges and retaining walls, constructing scenic foot trails, improving roads in the parks, grading, seeding, and planting trees. Nothing of the camp remains today.