Roc The DAY! 2024 With Greece Historical Society

Are you ready to make a difference in your community? Please mark your calendars for December 3, 2024, because it’s time to ROC the Day with the Greater Rochester community! This 24-hour event is all about coming together. We encourage giving back to our region. We need YOU to join us in making a real impact.

At the Greece Historical Society & Museum, we are dedicated to preserving and celebrating our area’s rich history. Participate in ROC the Day on December 3rd. You can help support our mission. This ensures that future generations can continue to learn about our past.

This Donate button sends you to our Roc The Day Page for the Organization

Join us in supporting our community and ROC the Day on December 3, 2024. Whether you donate your time, money, or resources, every contribution makes a difference. Together, we can make a real impact right here in the Greater Rochester region.

So, what are you waiting for? Mark your calendars, spread the word, and get ready to ROC the Day with the Greece Historical Society & Museum. So on December 3rd, let’s come together and make a difference. See you there!

Any amount you donate today will help the Society’s Mission. Its mission is to preserve the History of the Town of Greece.

This Donate button sends you to our Roc The Day Page for the Organization

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Unleash Your Potential: Shape the Future of the Greece Historical Society!

Are you ready to make a difference? As a volunteer with the Greece Historical Society, you have the power to influence how we connect our community with the rich tapestry of our shared history. This is your moment to step up and unleash your potential! We are excited to announce a series of regular meetings designed to reinvigorate our Society, discuss what has been lost, and brainstorm new, innovative ideas that can propel us into the future. It’s time to rally together, share our voices, and cultivate a space where history thrives!

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Play Ball Exhibit

On display at the Museum are artifacts from the game’s beginnings in the early 1800s to a jersey from the champion 2023 Greece Post American Legion team. Started on March 10, 2024, and runs till the end of the year.

Town of Greece resident Joe Territo, a co-founder and past President of the Rochester Baseball Historical Society is curating the exhibit. He also serves as the official team photographer for the Rochester Red Wings.

Little is known about baseball playing during the very early days of the sport in the Town of Greece. Accounts of organized games are extremely rare. Most of the town was farmland during the 19th century.
It is likely that the children of hard-working farmers played the game more often than their parents. Back then, the game would not have included gloves because baseball was played barehanded during most of the 1800s. It is also likely that these youngsters played an early form of the game called town ball. Bases could have consisted of various objects including stones or even tall stakes driven into the ground that players had to touch to be counted as safe. Farm tools, such as ax handles, were commonly converted into bats, and balls were handmade from tightly wound twine or yarn wrapped in cloth or leather.

As Greece grew in population with farmlands becoming housing tracts and the town evolving into a vibrant suburb of Rochester, organized baseball became commonplace. Businesses such as the Hotel DeMay and the Dutch Mill sponsored youth teams and men’s softball teams. Visitors will also learn that a semi-pro team called the Town of Greece home and was very popular during the early part of the 20th century.

If you want to learn about some of our local hometown athletes who have gone on to the pro level or just had some records set at local high schools besides Jerome A Combs, then get yourself a copy of our publication written by Marie Villone Poinan the late Tom Sawnor.

Baseball jerseys with significant Town of Greece baseball history

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BICENTENNIAL SNAPSHOT COLLECTION ON DVD

Bicentennial Snapshot Logo

From March 2022 through March 2023, in celebration of our town’s bicentennial, the Greece Historical Society produced 54 multimedia podcasts called Bicentennial Snapshots. Each snapshot, averaging five to 10 minutes, explored a different aspect of Greece’s history.

Even though all of them are available on our website, the complete series of Bicentennial Snapshots is also available on a set of four DVDs for $15.00. Click on the Buy Now button below to order your DVD set of our Bicentennial Snapshots.

Bicentennial Snapshot DVD Cover
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GHS AWARDED FOR EXCELLENCE IN PROMOTING LOCAL HISTORY

We are thrilled and honored to announce that on September 20th, 2022 the Association of Public Historians of New York, along with the New York State Museum, presented to the Greece Historical Society its 2022 Award for Excellence in Promoting Local History.

The Association of Public Historians of New York State is a professional organization that represents the 1,600+ government-appointed historians in the state.

We are incredibly proud of all our volunteers, who are directly responsible for our receiving this honor.

Besides maintaining our museum with permanent and changing exhibits and presenting a popular lecture series. the Greece Historical Society has published books and stories, produced videos, provided speakers to local organizations, digitized local newspapers, erected historical markers, and conducted cultural resource surveys of local architects like The Thomas W. Boyde, Jr. Project.

Most recently, in celebration of the town’s bicentennial, GHS volunteers researched and published stories of pioneer families of Greece and produced fifty-four 5 to 10 minute videos highlighting various aspects of the Town of Greece’s history. The bicentennial videos can be found on the left side of our homepage in the section labeled Bicentennial Snapshots.

Our Tuesday Programs can be found under GHS Program Archives. The Archives section is being transformed into a unique experience that will make it easier to see articles from our newsletter, view snapshots, and learn about Greece landmarks. We also plan to add parts of our digital kiosk to the website over time.

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