[3] The mansion at 203 Genesee Street that eventually became the home of Theodore W. Case was built by John Seymour in 1836.

[1] His studies led to the development of the thalofide (thallium sulfide) cell, a light-sensitive vacuum tube from 1916 to 1918.

The thalofide cell was originally used by the United States Navy in a top secret infrared signaling system developed at the Case Lab.

He worked with other people, including Lee De Forest, to create a sound-on-film process similar to modern analog sound film systems.

Titles filmed by Case in his process, all made at the Case Studios in Auburn, New York, include Miss Manila Martin and Her Pet Squirrel (1921), Gus Visser and His Singing Duck (1925), Bird in a Cage (1923), Gallagher and Shean (1925), Madame Fifi (1925), and Chinese Variety Performer with a Ukulele (1925).

That sound studio is also open to the public and its collections include a seven-foot square balsawood box, known as a "blimp," that housed the camera and operator during filming.

The original amplifiers and many more items used in the development of sound film at the Case Research Lab are also on display, as well as an early Wall camera used by Movietone News.

To develop a light for exposing a soundtrack to film, the Case Lab converted an old silent-film projector into a recording device.

With it, the AEO light was created, which was mass-produced for use in all Movietone News cameras from 1928 to 1939, and in recording sound in all Fox feature films from 1928-1931.

On April 15, 1923, DeForest presented eighteen short films made in the Phonofilm process at the Rivoli Theater in New York City.

According to Sponable,[10][irrelevant citation] there were three reasons for this change: to accommodate a large flywheel in the soundhead, to simplify the design of the printer (which printed the picture and soundtrack in two separate passes) and to prevent films made to the Phonofilm standard being played on Case equipment.

In June 1924, renowned Scottish inventor and television pioneer John Logie Baird bought from Cyril Frank Elwell a thalofide cell, developed by Case.

Gertrude added two stipulations to the sale: that the church keep the name 'Casowasco' as a tribute to the Case family history, and that the property be used to serve the high purposes of God.

[15] At the end of 2011, the Unity House residence program left the mansion, and in 2016, the First Presbyterian Church (owners of the property) restructured the facility into a retreat center.

The Cayuga Museum, also known as the Dr. Sylvester Willard Mansion, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.