Corning, NY, is a peculiar town. Although demographically small (about 10,000 residents by 2024[SL1] ), its local businesses enjoyed an international reach. Most people are familiar with Corning Glass, but sartorialists like Tommy Hilfiger and golfers like Jack Nicklaus fondly remember a small family-run clothing store on Main Street called the Hub. My great-grandfather, Francis J. Lynch, purchased it from its founders and operated it with his son, James Peter Lynch. The Lynch father-son team clothed customers from the Western New York region and around Sayre, PA, throughout the mid-20th century. This James Peter Lynch (my grandfather) is whom I would choose to interview. This interest stems not only from his successful business career, but also from the fact he represents the oldest source of my family’s history since his wife (my grandmother) died last year.
James Peter Lynch was born in 1936 to Francis J. Lynch and Margaret Young Lynch. He grew up in a professional, affluent neighborhood on 4th Street located on the south side of Corning. As a child, he involved himself in the performing arts (trumpet, tuba, Corning Free Academy chorus); sports (football, basketball) at his high school, Corning Free Academy; and summered on Keuka Lake, where he sailed as well as fished. After earning his Bachelor of Arts at Holy Cross, he married his fiery high school sweetheart, Betsey Lee Kriger, in 1958, and with her, had four children: Michael, Christopher, Robert, and Karen. James worked alongside his father after college and eventually purchased the store from his father. While working at the Hub, James also found time to participate in the Rotary Club and Chamber of Commerce, where he served more than one term as its President. In Corning’s history, he recounts the opening of the Corning Museum of Glass in 1951 and the city’s famous flood of 1972, which threatened inventory stored in the Hub’s basement. When not working, James took his family to Martha’s Vineyard in the summer and out west in the winter to ski. Additionally, he hosted a weekly “Gong Show” watch party for the neighborhood.
Although a successful store in town, the Hub was unable to survive the inflationary period after the 1981 recession and the opening of the nearby Arnot Mall. It unfortunately folded in 1983, prompting James, Bets, and their daughter Karen to move to Blue Ash, Ohio. Here, he joined Brooks Brothers and managed three stores in Ohio as well as Connecticut. In 1992, James and Bets moved to Norwalk, CT, before settling in West Palm Beach, FL, in 2001, where he remains today. My grandmother died late last year, and James represents the last of his generation in my family.