About Us

Three home-town acquaintances struck up a friendship that launched the town’s hottest non-commercial web site.

Vince Claude came back to Hornell in June of 2003 for his 40th class of ’63 reunion, after being away from Hornell for 30 years. He currently lives in Orlando, Florida.

At the reunion, he met up with Sue Van Oxx from his class. He didn’t know her well back in high school, but she introduced him to a fellow computer-enthusiast named Jim LaMont from the class of 61, who had recently returned to Hornell after living 25 years in Las Vegas.

Jim had designed a CD slideshow of the entire 1963 yearbook and included on the CD a large number of songs popular during the mid-60s as a scholarship fundraiser for the reunion.

It was obvious to Vince that Jim had some computer knowledge so he decided to approach him with the idea of designing a web site dedicated to the Class of ’63. Vince happened to own Hornell1963.com and a web hosting company that could provide an unlimited amount of web space.

Working together, Jim and Sue developed the site as a place to post messages from the reunion committee, along with yearbook and reunion pictures.

“It turned out there wasn’t a lot of interest by the 1963 reunion organizers,” said Vince. “So we registered HornellHome.com and decided to focus on a broader, more enthusiastic audience.”

HornellHome.com was officially launched October, 23, 2003.

With a focus on 85 high school classes, area history and Erie Railroad history, the HornellHome.com web site averages 172 visitors per day and drew near 67,000 visitors before its first anniversary.

It’s almost like going home for former Hornell residents. Area pictures are posted daily at the site, along with details about the weather and what’s going on in the little town of Hornell. The site has a link to the local Hornell Evening Tribune and, by the way, the Tribune has a link that takes its readers to HornellHome.com.

“When the site first began, we tried everything to get the word out and, to be honest, we weren’t getting very far,” said Jim. “In our efforts, we submitted a notice to the Tribune’s online guest book. Not only was our message posted but along side it was a personal note from John Frungillo, the paper’s General Manager, praising the site. A few days later, he inserted a permanent link on the Tribune’s opening web page. And he began running a series of Hornell Home ads in the Tribune’s Laser Ads.

Librarian Alice Taychert and the Hornell Public Library staff embraced the project and became Jim’s greatest resource for information and historical photographs.

Sean Gaffney, Principal at Hornell High, came to the project’s rescue when progress was lagging by allowing Jim to scan several hard to find yearbooks for inclusion on the HornellHome.com website.