New York State plans renovation of Anthony's childhood home

BATTENVILLE, N.Y. -- New York state is planning to do restoration work on the early childhood home of Susan B. Anthony.

The house Anthony's father built in 1833 in the Washington County hamlet of Battenville is water-damaged and in rough shape. The state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation bought the foreclosed property in 2006 but has done little to preserve it.

The Albany Times-Union reports the agency is now planning to invest $700,000 this year on the Greek Revival style house where Anthony lived from ages 6 to 19 when her father managed a nearby cotton mill.

A substantial part of the funding was secured by state Sen. Betty Little and Assembly member Carrie Woerner, who believe the house could become an attraction for rural Washington County.

The official Susan B. Anthony Museum and House is in Rochester, where she lived for 40 years while she was a national figure in the women's rights and suffrage movement. No plans have been developed yet for the Battenville house, beyond preserving it.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution giving women the right to vote, and the 200th anniversary of Anthony's birth in Adams, Massachusetts.