77 South Street

This house was built for Harold E. Hills and his wife, Caroline, in 1897. Harold Hills was a prominent Auburn attorney and the grandson of Eleazor Hills, who operated Auburn's first general store.



Harold Hills died at age 39 and the house was taken over by his brother, William, and his wife, Alice. William too was an attorney. The Hills home was the scene of formal dinner parties and multi-generational Christmas-night parties given by Mrs. Alice B. Hills for 48 years. With her gracious living style, formal dinner parties and gowns, Alice was the last of the South Street Victorians. Alice died in 1966 at the age of 98.



The Hills family occupied the home until the death of Alice's daughter, Mary Day Butler, in 1971. The home was left unoccupied by the heirs for a number of years. It is presently being restored.

~ Information provided by Sheila Tucker, Cayuga County Historian