Living in Greece Stories

Stories and recollections from the people, places, and publications that document life in the Town of Greece.

These articles offer perspectives on what it was like to live in the Town of Greece in the past. Many are from the archives or newsletters of the Greece Historical Society. If you would be interested in learning more about the Town of Greece’s history, please feel free to contact us at (585) 225-7221.

(These stories are the property of the Greece Historical Society, which retains all right thereto. The contributors to these stories provide them for non-commercial, personal, educational, and/or research use only. Prior written permission from the Greece Historical Society and the individual authors must be obtained for any other use, including but not limited to commercial or scholarly publications, or any reproductions or redistribution of any kind.)

Share Your Stories and Memories

We love to read stories and memories by you or your organization. Submit a local history story or memory of growing up in the Town of Greece by emailing a zip file with your story and photos to greecehistoricalsociety@yahoo.com. Use the subject line: Share My Story of Local History or Memories Of Greece N.Y. plus your story title. Include a brief bio and one photo for publication.

Your story should be no more than 500 words. We can edit for continuity, grammar, and punctuation. Stories may cover one span or multiple spans: 1800-1850, 1900-1950, 1950-2000, and 2000-Present.

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Murals Brought Awareness of Greece Erie Canal History

May 28, 2025 |
At Henpeck Park in Greece, NY, three murals beneath the Elmgrove Road bridge depict the Erie Canal's evolution: its construction, expansion, and the Junction Lock era. Commissioned by the Greece Chamber of Commerce and painted by Stacey Kirby, they were unveiled in 2010 to highlight the canal's local significance.
Categories: 1800-1850 1850-1900 1872 Common School Districts 1900-1950 1950-2000 2000 - Present Living in Greece Stories
Tags: 1918-1920 Albion Cayuga Dave Pandina Elmgrove Road Erie Canal Erie Canal at 175 Erie Canal Bicentennial Greece Chamber of Commerce Henpeck Park Jodie Perry Junction Lock Mural Mania Orleans September 2010 South Greece Stacy Kirby World Canal Conference
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The City of Rochester in the Town of Greece: A legacy of the Erie Canal

February 9, 2025 |
The distinctive shape of Rochester, New York, is largely the result of various annexations over the years. Notably, in 1926, the city annexed a narrow strip of land, approximately 2 miles long and 130 feet wide, running parallel to Ridgeway Avenue in the Town of Greece. This land was part...
Categories: 1800-1850 1850-1900 1900-1950 1950-2000 2000 - Present Erie Canal Living in Greece Stories
Tags: 1825 1918 1922 1926 1938 1956 390 Camegi Companies Charlotte city Culver Road Durand Eastman Park Erie Canal Erie Canal Commons Genesee Valley Park Geographic Information System GIS Greece Irondequoit Bay Junction Lock Lake Erie Latona Road Lee Road Monroe County GIS North NY-390 old Olde Erie Trail Plat Map population density property boundaries rail Rochester State Route 390 subway town trail Tyron Park weather patterns
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Greece Public Library 1958 – Present

July 1, 2024 |
The Greece Public Library, established in 1958, began with a book caravan in the 1920s and temporary locations. By 1962, it had its own building. Over the years, branches opened and closed, and in 2000, a new library building was completed. Today, it continues to evolve, meeting modern needs with...
Categories: 1900-1950 1950-2000 2000 - Present Living in Greece Stories
Tags: 1958 21st century library Barnard Crossing branch book caravan Dewey-Stone branch Greece Public Library interior remodeling library charter Lowden Point branch Mitchell Road Monroe County Traveling Library North Greece branch Olympia High School Paddy Hill branch Story Garden Town Campus Willis N. Britton School
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The Grand Erie Yacht Club

May 4, 2024 |
Laurie Eisele explores the remnants of the Grand Erie Yacht Club, founded in 1982 by marina members seeking camaraderie. Bought for $1, operational hurdles were overcome by community support, culminating in a bustling hub of activities until its closure in 1992 due to disagreements and regulatory challenges. Despite its derelict...
Categories: 1950-2000 Guest Stories Living in Greece Stories
Tags: Capt. Jeff’s Marina chicken barbecues Commodore Erie Canal Fleet Captain Henpeck Henpeck Park Monte Carlo nights New York State Rear Commodore Ross Gates Secretary spaghetti dinners steak roasts The Grand Erie Yacht Club treasurer Vice Commodore
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Greece Little League – 70 Years Old!

March 4, 2024 |
Celebrating 70 years of Greece Little League program, starting in 1954 as Barnard Little League it evolved over 70 years to where it has expanded to cover all of the Town of Greece, parts of Charlotte and all of the Town of Hilton to the number of players and teams...
Categories: 1950-2000 2000 - Present Guest Stories
Tags: 3641 Latta Road Barnard Park Baseball Basil Marella Carter Park Challenger Charlotte D4 Championships Dorsey Field English Road Park Gary Biekirch Park George Badgerow Park GLL Greece Greece Little Leauge Greece Tornadoes Travel Hilton Innovative Field Rochester Red Wings Softball The Legion Post #486
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Judson S. Kenyon

November 4, 2023 |
An ashtray artifact at the Greece Museum led to the discovery of Judson S. Kenyon, a notable personality from Greece, New York. Born in 1872, Kenyon was highly active in local politics and the Greece Baptist Church, earning a dedicated ashtray from the Greece Republican Party in 1948. He passed...
Categories: 1850-1900 1900-1950 1950-2000 Corinthian Guest Stories Living in Greece Stories
Tags: 1872 1920 1948 1963 Arthur Rickman Ashtray Barry County clerk deacon Deborah Cole Myers elephant Elizabeth L Rowe English Road Falls Cemetery Greece Baptist Church Greece Grange Greece Republican Party historian Juddy Kenyon Judson S. Kenyon Kate (Rickman) Justice Long Pond Rd Michigan Pioneer Families Rhode Island Rochester Business Institute teacher treasurer trustee Willard H Justice Williams James Kenyon
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Eighty Years Later- Camp Sawyer’s Well

September 1, 2023 |
In the February Corinthian, I wrote a short story, "The Stories That Find You - Camp Sawyer's The Well", about a well and its pump that Boy Scout Troop 14 (from a 2018 article called A Civic Club's Legacy,) from Barnard School used at Camp Sawyer in the late 1930s...
Categories: 1900-1950 1950-2000 2000 - Present Corinthian Living in Greece Stories
Tags: 1930s 1937 1943 1970 2018 Boy Scout Troop 14 Camp Sawyer Empire Clay Product Gilbert Holtz red sandstone Sawyer Park
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They Gave Their Talent for the Benefit of the Community

June 1, 2023 |
Deep in the back of a rather large yard at Paddy Hill, hidden among the weeds and overgrown brush, is what appears to be the foundation of an old structure. Adolescents finding this structure could easily imagine themselves as an explorer discovering the ruins of an ancient civilization. A less...
Categories: 1900-1950 1950-2000 Living in Greece Stories
Tags: "shanty" "The Cat and the Canary" 1931 1946 1947 1948 1955 1957 76 Productions Auditorium Theater comedies Common School District 5 Cornell University Democrat & Chronicle Greece Post melodramas mysteries Paddy Hill Paddy Hill Players Paddy Hill Players troupe philanthropic group premier amateur theatrical group PTA Statewide Contest Times-Union Newspaper Walter Whelehan Whelehan Whelehan Family Farm
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Greece Special Police, the Former Civil Defense Auxiliary Police

July 1, 2022 |
The Special Police Unit of the Greece Police Department was also known as Auxiliary Police. In 1951 the Federal government passed legislation that civil defense would be a vested joint effort between the federal government and states, to protect against communist government attack of the United States with atomic bombs...
Categories: 1950-2000 Guest Stories Living in Greece Stories
Tags: Defense Emergency Act of 1951 Greece Auxiliary Police
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