Corning Webcam – Gaffer District’s Historic Market Street

The Corning Webcam looks east along Market Street from a rooftop in the Gaffer District, the restored downtown of Corning, New York. Brick commercial blocks line the street below, with cars parked at the curbs, a painted pedestrian crossing and a row of street trees along the sidewalks. Farther down on the right stands the old City Hall, now the Rockwell Museum, its red brick walls topped by a central spire and pointed corner turrets. Wooded hills close the view behind the rooftops. WENY News, the TV station serving Elmira, Corning and the Southern Tier, runs the camera as its Gaffer District Sky Cam. The hills change with the seasons: in mid-October they turn red, orange and gold above the gray roofs of the museum.

About Corning

Corning sits on the Chemung River in Steuben County, in the Southern Tier of New York. The city had 10,551 residents at the 2020 census and lies about 284 meters (932 feet) above sea level. Settlement near the site began in 1796, and Corning became a city in 1890. The downtown goes by the Gaffer District, a name taken from Corning’s glassmaking history (a gaffer is the glassblower who leads the team at the furnace).

Market Street is the spine of the district. Its historic district covers five blocks of East and West Market Street, from Bridge Street in the west to Wall Street in the east, with mostly Victorian-era buildings in styles that include Romanesque and Gothic Revival. The First Bank Building at 5 to 9 East Market dates from 1882. In June 1972, heavy rain from Tropical Storm Agnes sent the Chemung River into downtown, and floodwater stood about 1.2 meters (4 feet) deep on Market Street. The Market Street Restoration Agency, founded in 1974, steered the rebuilding, and its approach became a model for the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Main Street program. The American Planning Association named Market Street one of its Great Streets in 2013.

The turreted building on the Corning Webcam is Corning’s old City Hall, completed in 1893 to a design by architect A.J. Warner in the American Romanesque Revival style, and built of brick, terra-cotta and locally quarried bluestone. Its ground floor held the city fire station until 1974. Since 1982 it has been the home of the Rockwell Museum, and the museum’s sign, which names it a Smithsonian Affiliate, can just be made out on the wall facing the camera. Just west along Market Street, Centerway Square holds the town clock tower of 1883, 15 meters (50 feet) tall and built as a memorial to Erastus Corning, the city’s namesake.

Weather and Climate in Corning

Corning has cold winters and warm summers. Records for the Corning weather station put average January highs near -1 C (30 F) and lows around -11 C (12 F), so the flat roofs in the foreground often carry snow in midwinter. July is the warmest month, with average highs near 26 C (79 F) and lows around 13 C (55 F). The station averages about 983 millimeters (38.7 inches) of precipitation a year, spread fairly evenly across the months.

April afternoons typically reach the low to mid teens Celsius (mid 50s F), with frost still possible on clear nights. Autumn is the most colorful time to watch the Corning Webcam: the frame used for this post, taken in mid-October, shows the hillsides behind the Rockwell Museum in red, orange and gold, with October afternoons usually in the mid teens Celsius (around 60 F). By November the trees are bare and frosty nights return.

Things to Do Near Corning

The Rockwell Museum, the building with the turrets, holds a collection of Western American painting and sculpture. It grew from the collection of Bob Rockwell, which was shown in the Rockwell Department Store on Market Street from 1960 to 1975 before it moved into the old City Hall. Across the Chemung River, the Corning Museum of Glass keeps one of the world’s most comprehensive collections of glass objects, from antiquity to the present, and runs live Hot Glass Demos every day, each about 20 minutes long. The glass museum also runs a free daily shuttle with four stops, one of them on Market Street.

On foot, the Centerway Walking Bridge links downtown with the north bank. It opened to traffic in 1921, closed to cars in 1981 and reopened in 1986 for pedestrians, cyclists and double-decker tourist buses, and a renovation finished in 2013 turned it into a small park above the river. Centerway Square, on Market Street just south of the bridge, is a pedestrian plaza with a covered bandstand for public concerts and events beside the clock tower. Market Street itself had more than 100 storefront businesses when the American Planning Association profiled it, and its restored facades, the brick fronts below the camera among them, are best seen on foot.

Similar Webcams You Might Like

For another New York town square, a historic Scottish high street, or the Finger Lakes countryside to the north, try these:

• Watertown Webcam
• Lanark Webcam
• Farm Sanctuary Webcam

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Corning located?

Corning is a city of 10,551 people in Steuben County, in New York’s Southern Tier, on the Chemung River. It lies about 350 kilometers (220 miles) from both New York City and Toronto. The camera watches Market Street in the Gaffer District, the historic downtown on the south side of the river.

What can you see on the Corning Webcam?

A rooftop view east along Market Street: brick commercial blocks, parked cars, street trees and a painted crossing in the foreground, the turreted Rockwell Museum in the middle distance on the right, and wooded hills on the skyline.

What is the weather like in Corning?

Winters are cold, with average January highs near -1 C (30 F) and lows near -11 C (12 F). Summers are warm, with July highs around 26 C (79 F). About 983 millimeters (38.7 inches) of precipitation falls in a typical year.

What is the Gaffer District in Corning?

It is the name for downtown Corning, taken from the city’s glassmaking history. It takes in Market Street, Centerway Square and the Rockwell Museum, with restored buildings, shops, restaurants and events.

What is the red brick building with turrets in downtown Corning?

That is Corning’s old City Hall, completed in 1893 in the Romanesque Revival style. Its ground floor was the city fire station until 1974, and the building has housed the Rockwell Museum since 1982.

How do you get from Market Street to the Corning Museum of Glass?

Walk north from Centerway Square across the Centerway Walking Bridge over the Chemung River, or ride the glass museum’s free daily shuttle, which has a stop on Market Street.

Did Market Street in Corning flood in 1972?

Yes. In June 1972, heavy rain from Tropical Storm Agnes pushed the Chemung River into downtown, and floodwater reached about 1.2 meters (4 feet) on Market Street.

Source: WENY News