At Home in Rochester: Charles Ward and Neva Burr Crissman Residence

This Tudor-revival residence at 607 West University Drive was built in 1926 as the residence of Charles Ward Crissman and his wife, Neva Mae Burr Crissman.  Husband and wife were both members of prominent merchant families in Rochester.  Ward Crissman was born in 1890, the son of Harvey B. and Carrie May Albertson Crissman. He grew up on a farm north of Rochester and was graduated from Rochester High School with the class of 1908. After an early career as a schoolteacher and principal in Waterford, Crissman married Neva Mae Burr, the daughter of Rochester hardware merchant George Burr, and then entered into the hardware business with his father-in-law. Ward and Neva Crissman eventually took over the hardware business from her father, but Ward Crissman died very unexpectedly in 1935 from complications following an appendectomy.  His widow and son-in-law continued to operate Burr's Hardware until 1965, when they closed the business after 64 years on Main Street; Green's Artist Supply moved into the building a few weeks later. Neva Crissman died in 1978.