Photos submitted to Times Observer The Carriage House on Sixth Ave. was built in the style of Clare’s father, Jerry Crary’s home. After his death, Jerry Crary’s home on Market St. was demolished, but the Carriage House, with its distinctive architecture still stands on the Crary Home property.

Photos submitted to Times Observer
Clare Crary’s photographic Studio, located at 512 Liberty St., had a dark room for his photographic work and a potting shed for the greenhouse that originally was attached. The greenhouse still stands behind the Carriage House, today.

Photos submitted to Times Observer
Clare and Gene Crary’s home at 508 Liberty St., Warren, was built in the early twentieth century, as an English-style house. Today it is the centerpiece of the Crary Home.

The name Crary has been known in the Warren and the Warren County community for literally a century. Clare Crary was a well-known businessman, photographer and philanthropist and his wife, Gene Crary, was a world-class artist and supporter of Warren community organizations. Together, they had a substantial influence on the Warren community through their work in Warren community organizations and their philanthropy. Their story is an inspirational one.

There were few settlers in Warren County in 1800. Thick forests covered the landscape, including dense forests of white pine, hemlock and numerous species of hardwoods. White pine often was harvested first because it could be floated to streamside saw mills. But by the 1850s, hemlock was being harvested for its bark, which contained large quantities of tannins used for tanning leather and soon oil would be discovered in nearby Titusville.

Jerry Crary, Clare’s father was born in Liberty NY in 1842. In 1867, at the age of 25, Jerry Crary came to Sheffield PA to work with his brother Horace H. Crary in the leather tanning business. Jerry Crary became a partner in Horton, Crary & Co., which made shoe leather.

In 1870, Jerry married Laura A. Dunham in Warren. The couple had four children while in Sheffield, before coming to Warren in 1902: Horace Allen, Miner Dunham, Clare J. and Marian A. Crary. The family home was at the corner of Market and Sixth St. in Warren. While Marian moved to Brooklyn, N.Y., the three boys remained in Warren. The brothers collaborated together in Warren businesses. Miner Crary was Vice-President of the Warren National Bank, while Clare served on the Board of Directors and later became the bank’s Board Chairman. Clare was an officer in the Pennsylvania Furnace and Iron Company with brother, Horace. Upon their father’s passing, the children inherited substantial wealth from their father.

Clare had graduated from Amherst College in 1901. In 1906, he married Irene Horton of Brooklyn NY. They had three sons, Calvert H., Douglas D. and Stephen T. Crary. Clare built his home at 508 Liberty St, a block away from his parents, early in the Twentieth Century. After his father’s passing, the family home on Market St. was torn down, though the carriage house on Sixth Ave. was not razed and today is part of the Crary Home property, so its distinctive architecture still can be seen. The Crary Art Gallery stands on the site of Jerry Crary’s house today.

Unfortunately, Clare’s wife, Irene, passed away in 1942. At a later date, after Irene’s death, Clare married Gene Alden Walker, a talented New York City portrait painter. Together, Clare and Gene contributed their talents to Warren society and the world.

Clare was a world renowned photographer; his studio still stands at 512 Liberty St. as part of the Crary Home. He was a founder of the Pictorial Society of America, now one of the largest photographic societies in the world. International acclaim for his photography resulted in his being named a fellow of the Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain, an associate of the Photographic Society of America, a member of the Oval Table Society and an associate of the Pittsburgh Salon.

Clare’s activities in Warren also have brought him acclaim. He was a founder of the Warren Community Chest (now the United Fund). He founded the Northern Allegheny Conservation Association in 1961 and was named honorary president in 1967. Clare served as President of the Warren Library Association, Chairman of the Warren County Chapter of the American Red Cross, Treasurer of the Children’s Aid Society (now Family Services of Warren County, Inc), Trustee of the First United Methodist Church, Director of the YMCA, Director of the State Hospital and Director of the Struthers Library Building. Clare helped organize the Boy Scouts in Warren, served as Scout Master for about 15 years and later as Commissioner of the Boy Scouts of America. Holger Elmquist and Clare organized the Warren Foundation (now Community Foundation of Warren County) and within the Foundation established a Scholarship fund and the Crary Medical Grant.

Genevieve (or Gene) Alden Walker Crary, born January 31, 1898, in New Albany, Ind., was the daughter of Herbert G. and Clara P. Walker. She was a direct descendant of John and Priscilla Alden, well-known passengers on the Mayflower, and leaders in Plymouth Mass. Her father operated a floral shop in New Albany IN that was originally established by her grandfather, Francis Walker, after his retirement from the ministry in the Methodist Episcopal Church.

Gene was an accomplished individual in her own right and complimented Clare’s work in the world and the Warren Community. Gene was a well-known painter, who studied under famed American painters Charles Hawthorne and Terry Farnsworth, and maintained a studio at the National Academy of Design in New York City. She painted under her maiden name, Gene Alden Walker, and maintained a studio at the National Arts Club in New York for 15 years. Her work was exhibited widely and she received many awards. Pieces of her work are represented in the permanent collection of the National Academy of Design, Montgomery Museum of Art and in private collections. Gene was a member of the Grand Central Gallery of Art, Audubon Artists, National Arts Club, National Association of Women Artists, The Allied Artists and the Pen and Brush Club. The “Gene Alden Walker Award” is given annually to aspiring female artists by the National Association of Women Artists.

Here in Warren, Gene served as a member of the Distributing Committee of the Warren Foundation and was a Director of the Northern Allegheny Conservation Association. Gene established the Crary Art Gallery, in memory of her husband, on the site of his parent’s home at 511 Market St. She was a member of the Trinity Memorial Episcopal Church, the Woman’s Club of Warren, Warren Philomel Club, Warren Art League and the Garden Club. Gene was the Director and Vice-President of the Watson Memorial Home – a role that inspired the Crarys to establish a home (the Crary Home) for well men and women age 55 or older on their own estate, a home which is operating to this day. Gene devoted much of her last years to completion of the Crary Home. She died January 14, 1988, at her 508 Liberty St. home. Today, the Crary Home, the Crary Gallery, the Community Foundation of Warren County and the Northern Allegheny Conservation Association are lasting legacies of the ways the Crary’s success in business was shared with the community throughout their lives.

Todd Ristau helped with this article