Save the Date for June 17, 2024
Date And Time:
Monday, June 17, 2024
4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Location:
Greece Town Hall Pavilion
3 Vince Tofany Blvd, Greece, NY 14612
Admission:
Cost T.B.D.
Free for 5 & Under
FREE PARKING
Sponsors and vendors of this Year’s Strawberry & Dessert Tastings Festival are to be announced at a later date.
On April 21, 2024, from 2 pm to 4 pm, we will be hosting two of our top researchers and presenters Maureen Whalen and Marie Poinan are often the face of Local History in our town and the broader community. They both have given many informative talks at the Greece Museum, the Charlotte Branch Library, and several other sites around town. Their subjects have covered a wide range of topics from “A to Z” (ancestors to zoo!) Each has published and assisted others in numerous books and articles. Their audiences are always eager to hear their well-researched presentations.
M & M Sunday will honor them, along with other leaders of the Greece Historical Society. Come to thank Maureen and Marie along with other “behind the scenes” folks who make our historical society one of the best in New York State.
While there, enjoy M & M Sundaes, prepared by Jane Grant.
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.
Also, check out this snapshot: Bicentennial Snapshot # 28 – Jerome Combs, The Cobblestone Baseball Catcher
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
Presented by the Greece Historical Society
The Greece Historical Society proudly announces a scholarship in honor of Warren C. Crandell, to a highly motivated, graduating high school senior from the Town of Greece who plans to further their education as a History or History Education major or minor at a two- or four-year college or university. The number of scholarships may vary annually.
$2,000.00 payable directly to the student for use towards college expenses such as tuition, fees, books, room and board, and other expenses associated with higher education. Awards will be given in two installments: first, $1,000.00 upon proof of registration/ letter of acceptance with a two-year or four-year college or university, and the final high school report card with a grade point average of 3.0 or higher submitted to the Greece Historical Society; and second, $1,000.00 upon the submission of the first-semester report card with a grade point average of no less than 2.75 to the Greece Historical Society. Estimated delivery dates: July 1 and January 1.
Completed applications must be submitted, delivered, or postmarked by the last Monday in March. The committee will review all applications received. Three candidates will be selected as finalists and interviewed by the committee at a date and location to be determined. Announcement of Awards to be made by the last Monday in April.
Submissions must include:
Link to Download the Application for the Scholarship PDF or you may use our online submission portal this is the preferred method of submission.
Or you can download the form below and fill out the paperwork
The completed packet must be mailed and addressed as the following
Warren C. Crandell Memorial Scholarship Fund
Greece Historical Society
P.O. Box 16249
Greece, NY 14616
If you email your packet to ghsscholarship40@gmail.com please compress the entire application into a single zip compressed file using built-in file compression software and label it with your name and school name and 2023-24 student for example (Jane_Doe_Greece_Odyssey_2023-24.zip) and in the subject line of the email put your name followed by Warren C Crandell Scholarship Application for 2023-24 School Year this way we can keep track of all the students who are applying for the scholarship. The fastest way is to use the online submission portal which will allow for quick upload and submission of the application.
*originally format of the essay was to be 750 to 1000 words but after careful consideration and reviewing of guest articles the committee has decided to lower the word count to 500 to 750 word essay.
Warren Crandall was born in 1926. He grew up in Rochester, but before he could graduate high school, Uncle Sam called him up for service in the Navy. He sailed in the Pacific on a supply ship, during which time he said they didn’t see much action. He did, however, cross the Equator, which is a pretty big deal for sailors, earning him the designation of Shellback. Warren was discharged from the Navy in June 1946. More on his service along with other pictures can be seen in our publication Our Town in World War II.
Returning to Rochester, he finally obtained his high school diploma and went on to SUNY Oswego to become a teacher of industrial arts, math, and science. He was instrumental in setting up the Industrial Arts program at Greece Olympia and at the junior high on Britton Road. He and his wife, Marion, were married for 50 years and were longtime residents of Desmond Road.
Marion passed away on March 29, 2005.
Warren was an enthusiastic amateur historian along with his other interests and attended programs at the Greece Historical Society whenever he could. His love of learning and teaching stayed strong throughout his life. Warren C. Crandell passed on December 19, 2021, at age 95. The bequest he left to the Greece Historical Society will be used to honor his memory by paying it forward to graduating seniors who show the same enthusiasm he had for learning.
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.
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.
The Greece Historical Society (GHS) is sponsoring a Cultural Resource Survey of The Architecture of Thomas W. Boyde, Jr., Rochester’s first African American architect. The project is funded by grants from the Rochester Area Community Foundation, the Preservation League of New York State/New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA), and individual donations.
Thomas W. Boyde, Jr. was a prolific designer of Mid-Century Modern homes and businesses, but also did significant work designing buildings for economically disadvantaged communities. The survey will help identify Boyde’s built work which spans across Western New York, including several houses in the town of Greece, and bring new appreciation to the work of this supremely talented architect who left a remarkable legacy in the greater Rochester area.
The project team includes: Christopher Brandt, architect at Bero Architecture PLLC; Jeffrey A. “Free” Harris, independent historian and historic preservation consultant from Hampton, VA; Katie Eggers Comeau, former architectural historian at Bero; Gina M. DiBella, preservation consultant from Greece; Jenna Huizinga, Brighton Historian’s Office intern and SUNY Geneseo student; and Alexis Rivers, research assistant.
While conducting research, the project team discovered additional drawings, correspondence, and interviews that went beyond the original scope of the project. They are now working to raise additional funds to include this new information and complete the project.
Please consider making a contribution to further the research on Mr. Boyde. Click Boyde Project to make a donation.
For more information on Thomas W. Boyde, Jr. and some of the work the project team has already completed, read this AIA Rochester article or view the Thomas W. Boyde, Jr. presentation recorded by the Greece Historical Society on April 12, 2022.
This book is researched and written by Marie Villone Poinan, and JoAnn Ward Snyder, and honors the families who settled in the area before 1872. It contains vignettes, photos, and input from current family members that highlight each family’s contribution to the town.
The following families are featured in Volume 1: Baker, Beaty, Bemish/Lane/Wilder, Britton, Captain, John Burns, Terry Burns, Butts, Carpenter/Toal, Cole/Kenyon, Denise, Eddy, Farnan, Fetzner, Joseph and Patrick Fleming, Robert Fleming, Goodwin, Hogan, Janes, Johnson, Kirk, Latta, Lay, Lowden, Mitchell, Mura, Nash, Newcomb, O’Neil, Perrin, Preston, James, Reilly, Reniff, Shearman, Speer/Carroll, Thorpe, Tiernan/McGee, Upton, Veeder, Veness, Volkmar.
(Available on Amazon, and in museum gift shop, or by visiting our gift shop in the museum during our regular office hours.)
This book researched and written by Marie Villone Poinan and Jo Ann Ward Snyder, honors the families who settled in the area before 1872. It contains vignettes, photos, and input from current family members that highlight each family’s contribution to the town.
This second volume will honor families who settled in the area before 1872 but were not included in Volume 1.
Below are the families that will probably be featured in Volume 2 depending on family approvals and signatures to allow the families to appear in the book:
Allen
Andrews
Beattie
Beck
Benedict
Blackwell
Bonesteel
Buckman
Budd
Burger/Phillips
Burns (Michael)
Button
Clarke
Coffey
Combs
Cottrell
Davis/T. Mitchell
Defendorf
Dorsey
English
Faker
Falls
Frisbee
Glass
Hadlock
Hincher
Hickox
Hopper
Keene
Lochner/Goodell
Justice
Marchant
McShea
Meech
Phelps
Quinn
Rowley
Ruggles
Sage/Cason
Sharpe
Spaulding
Vick
Weitz
Whelehan
Wietz
Williams
Worboys
(Will be available on Amazon, and in the museum gift shop, in Late 2023.)
