# Every House Has A Story To Tell | Here's One On Alliance Avenue
Every house on every street has an interesting back story.
When Charlie and Kristin shared the above pictures to their social media in 2025 we were seriously impressed with the beautiful job they did choosing the exterior paint colors of their love home at 45 Alliance Avenue. The new colors really POP.
Kristin posted this comment along with the pictures:
*“In a world with so much change, we made our street a little brighter. Come to our house if you need a cup of sugar. 🩵🕊️ #bluehouse #filledwithlove #cozy #bemyneighbor #cupofsugar #homesweethome #love #somethingblue”*
Couldn’t ask for better neighbors!
Of course, being the local history “nerds” we are, the new paint job stimulated questions about the history of this distinctive home. And down the rabbit hole we went…
The house at 45 Alliance Avenue was apparently built circa 1909 (see the 1909 advertisement from the D\&C below). We were amazed at the sales pitch, “...this house can be bought for much less than $6,000; is worth $6,500…” Makes ya wonder how much it the first owners paid. We don’t know, btw.
By the authority granted to UMNA by absolutely no one, we’re calling 45 Alliance the “DeGraff-Schulman” home after its two longest residing owners.
Not much is known of the original owner “E. J. Esser”. We don’t even know if E. J. was a man or woman. We do know Esser lost a daughter (cause unreported) within a year or so of buying the place based on a published obit. It appears Esser sold the house after no more than five years.
The second owner, William DeGraff, was an attorney and something of a community activist who devoted volunteer time to social issues; including running for the NYS Constitutional Convention on the Progressive Party ticket in 1914 (45 Alliance is listed as his address at that time). Eventually DeGraff became active in Democratic Party politics - particularly in judicial races. He celebrated his 50th year as a practicing attorney in 1940. DeGraff and his wife appear to have lived at 45 Alliance for more than 30 years, most likely selling sometime in 1949. It’s not clear if the DeGraffs had children since none were noted in the local press.
It appears Allen & Julia Schulman moved into 45 Alliance after the DeGraffs either late in 1949 or sometime in 1950. Julia was an English teacher, eventually retiring from the Palmyra-Macedon Central School District. The Schulmans’ had four boys. More about two of the boys below.
Mr. Schulman had a somewhat eventful working life as a bus city driver. Allen (misspelled “Allan” in the article below) was apparently attacked the same year he bought 45 Alliance by a drunk man while he was operating his bus. But that’s not the last newsworthy incident Mr. Shulman was involved in while operating a bus. There are at least three more incidents that made the paper. It seems the bus he was driving was hit by a car with faulty brakes ten years later in Brighton. In 1965 it was Schulman’s turn to cause a crash at around 10:00 am in front of 1190 Park Avenue. In July of the same year the paper reports yet another incident with Schulman at the wheel. It seems he hit a boy of 13 while the boy was stopped for a red light near the corner of East Avenue & Alexander Street. “Homina homina homina!” to quote a famous 1950s era TV bus driver, Ralph Kramden, when he found himself in awkward situations.
It certainly wasn’t all bad news in the Schulman house at 45 Alliance Avenue. The Shulmans’ eldest son, Ira, earned a Masters Degree in Education from HARVARD in 1955. He goes on to become a math teacher at Monroe High School and in 1961 marries Toby Susswein from St. Regis Drive in Brighton. The next-in-line sibling, Ira, was his best man. The other brothers, Neil and David (both younger still) were ushers at the ceremony.
In 1966 their second son, Edwin, passed the NYS bar exam. Edwin earned his undergraduate degree from the U of R and his J. D. from Cornell. As far as we can tell Edwin remained in Rochester as a practicing attorney throughout his career; starting with the Gould & Gould firm on State Street. He was snapped up within a month of passing the bar.
Three years after passing the bar, in 1969, Edwin marries Roxanne Shear, a Brighton resident and graduate of both RIT & Pratt Institute. Both her engagement announcement and her wedding announcement indicate she was working for Monroe County as a graphic artist at the time. They were married in Temple Beth El in February of that year. Interestingly, in the same year young Ed Schulman married Roxanne Shear, he represented Lyric Theater manager, Leon Knisley, in a court case that sought to stop Mr. Knisley from showing an allegedly “obscene” movie titled, “1,000 Pleasures”. Schulman wins the case and goes on to represent the Lyric and other movie theaters around Rochester in similar cases (including one involving a notorious movie titled, “The Devil in Miss Jones”) at least through the early 1970s.
We found out much less about the younger siblings, Neil and David. Neil Schuman rises through the ranks in various jobs in City government; mostly in the planning department. By 1994 he becomes Monroe County’s community development manager overseeing the county’s role in grant distributions. The trail disappears after then mostly, we suspect, due to the way our newspaper narrowed its news coverage. David’s story is even less clear. In the first instance, his name is just more common making it hard to know which David Schulman is mentioned. In addition, as he grows up there is no longer any connection to his parents or 45 Alliance Avenue to help narrow the focus. The two youngest Schulmans may have retired or left the community entirely after a point. Hard to say…
We wondered if Julia or Allen were mid-century European refugees or holocaust survivors. Probably one, if not the other since there is no mention of either before the mid 50s. Our research was inconclusive on their origin stories. Regardless, based on what we learned, the Schulman’s had an enduring relationship with the Jewish religion and the local Jewish community.
Julia & Allen Schulman remained owners of 45 Alliance Avenue for nearly 50 years until 1998. Julia passed away eight years after leaving Alliance Avenue. Allen passed several years later than his wife in 2011. They left behind many close family members including nine great grandchildren.
45 Alliance Avenue then saw a series of perfectly normal but short lived residents until the current owner bought the place just over eight years ago. Setting aside a few non-arm's-length transfers since the house was built, there have been just six owners over the past 116 years.
We could go on. We can ALWAYS go on. But, if you’ve gotten this far, we’ve kept you long enough…
