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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A Milk Pail, A Photo Album and the Fleming Farm

March 1, 2020 |
The Fleming House, a stately brick farmhouse on Latta Road in Greece, was owned by the Fleming family for over 160 years. Joseph E. Fleming was the first to purchase the property in 1853 and completed the double-wall farmhouse in 1854. The farm had milk cows, goats, pigs, chickens, a...
Categories: 1800-1850 1850-1900 1900-1950 Fleming Family From The Historian's Files Living in Greece Stories Pioneer Families
Tags: Joseph Fleming Pioneer Families
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Greece “Roadhouse”

September 1, 2019 |
A Roadhouse (United States, Australia) or stopping house (Canada) according to a recent dictionary is Roadhouse: a tavern or inn along a country road, as in the 1920s. John Frank Maier was born and grew up along with his siblings on Hague St. in Dutch (Deutsch) town. Both his parents were immigrants from...
Categories: 1900-1950 Dewey-Latta area From The Historian's Files Hamlets of Greece Living in Greece Stories
Tags: 18th Amendment 1919 1920 1923 1958 1965 1968 Bar Canada Canadian Canadian Liquor Deutsch Dewey Ave Dewey/Latta Dodge Brothers Dutch Eddie Surridge George Maier Germany Hague St Henry Ford Island Cottage Hotel Jim Davis John Frank Maier John Frank Maier III Juke Box Kirkwood Rd Lake Lake Ontario Latta Road Long Pond Pond Midge Neon Signs Olive Hager Prohibition Restaurant & Residence Roadhouse Round Pond Rum Runners T.W. Beatty and Son. T.W. Beatty and Son. Island Cottage Hotel The Maier Family two-and-a-half-story Volstead Act Wenzel Maier World War II
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Christmas Greetings Cards 1875-1900

December 1, 2017 |
Greeting cards for the Christmas season were very slow to gather popularity in the United States prior to the Civil War ( 1861-1865). The first commercial Christmas card was introduced for the season of 1843 in London, England. It wasn't a success for several reasons. In the early 1870s, a...
Categories: 1850-1900 From The Historian's Files Living in Greece Stories
Tags: Boston Christmas Christmas Eve Civil War England Facebook Greeting Cards Holidays Instagram Linkedin London Mass Pinterest Saint Nicholas Santa Snapchat Tumblr Twitter Whatsapp YouTube
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A Tale of Two General Stores: “From Apples to Zithers”

October 1, 2017 |
Our History... by Alan Mueller Small general stores (as they were often called) were in the Charlotte area from the earliest days. In the 1850s general merchandise businesses were established along Ridge Road West. Henry C. Phelps built his store on North Greece Road in about 1870. The area was...
Categories: 1850-1900 From The Historian's Files Living in Greece Stories Uncategorized
Tags: General Stores Gilbert (Burt) J Wagg's H.C. Phelps Kodak Park Lake Ave Lake Avenue North Greece Pullman Ave Wagg's General Store
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American soldiers with a French Machine Gun

“Calling Home” in The Great War, World War One

May 1, 2017 |
Incumbent President, Woodrow Wilson, barely won a second term over the Republican candidate, a former Governor of New York State, and an associate Supreme Court Judge, Charles Evan Hughes. Wilson's propaganda re-election promise had been, "He kept us out of war". President Wilson was born and raised in Virginia and...
Categories: 1900-1950 From The Historian's Files Living in Greece Stories
Tags: 1917-1919 A.E.F. Charles Evan Hughes Cog - 38 inf Congress Flags French French Machine Gun Harry G. Penny Postcards U.S. War Woodrow Wilson World War I
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Truck Farming on Stone Road – The Thomas Farm

December 1, 2016 |
Seventeen-year-old WIi­liam J. Thomas immi­grated to Greece from Cheddar, Somerset County, England, in 1882. The following year, he purchased 11 acres of farmland on Stone Road, not far west of the intersection of Eddy Road (now Mt. Read. Boulevard). At that time, the average size of a Greece farm was...
Categories: 1850-1900 1900-1950 1950-2000 From The Historian's Files Living in Greece Stories Uncategorized
Tags: 1882 1930s 1938 1950s 1960s 1963 19th Century 2½-story farmhouse beets car­rots Cheddar coal-fired boiler Eddy Road England horse-drawn wagon Mount Read Blvd non-growing season parsnips root vegetables Somerset County Stone Road turnips William J. Thomas
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“From tractors to tracts!” – From The Historian’s Desk

October 1, 2016 |
It is not quite a century since rural Greece slowly and sometimes not so slowly started to turn from an almost com­pletely agricultural community to street after street of home developments. After World War II the pace quickened so fast that the DPW couldn't keep up with all the new...
Categories: 1800-1850 1850-1900 1900-1950 From The Historian's Files Pioneer Families
Tags: DeConinck Kirk Road Latta Road Mitchell Pioneer Families Preston World War II Yarker
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Music in the air for over 130 Summers at Ontario Beach Park

August 1, 2016 |
This 2016 summer season of Wegman's Concerts by the Shore has concertgoers hearing such varied groups as The Dady Brothers Grand Band, The Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, The Greece Jazz Band, and the Skycoasters, with more to come. Looking back through newspaper files, postcards, and photos of the last century and...
Categories: 1900-1950 Charlotte From The Historian's Files Living in Greece Stories
Tags: 1870s 1900s 1910 1919 1920s 1924 1925 54th Regiment Bands Bartholomay Cottage Hotel and Pavil­ion Columbia Records Dossenbachs Edison Company Edison Records Edna White Gilmore Band Herman Japan Day John Cummings Lapham's "Red Husser" Band Link Ontario Beach Patrick Gilmore Rochester Park Band Skycoasters Spencer House The Dady Brothers Grand Band The Greece Jazz Band The Lapham The Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra Theodore Theodore and Herman Thomas Edison
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The Dance years at the Elmheart – Manitou Dance Pavilion – From The Historians Desk

January 1, 2016 |
The Elmheart Hotel was built about the same time as the Manitou Beach Trolley line was constructed, circa 1890. George Weidman Sr. and his brother-in-law, Michael O'Loughlin ran a saloon on State Street in the city and decided to invest in property on Lake Ontario. They purchased the Elmheart Hotel...
Categories: 1900-1950 From The Historian's Files Living in Greece Stories
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Manitou Beach Hotel – “From the Historian’s Files”

May 5, 2015 |
By far the largest and the most elegant of all the late 19th and early 20th century hotels along Lake Ontario in Greece was the Odenbach Manitou Beach Hotel. It was located at the far western end of the Manitou Beach Trolley. Built in 1888 by the Matthew and Servis...
Categories: 1850-1900 Corinthian From The Historian's Files Living in Greece Stories
Tags: Braddock Bay Charles P. Odenbach Charlotte Charlotte Beach Damon's Orchestra Fred J. Odenbach Fred Odenbach Frederick S. Odenbach John H Odenbach Manitou Beach Hotel Manitou Road Manitou Trolley Marie Villone Poinan Matthew P Odenbach Olcott Beach Sax Smith Tommy Tucker Vincent Lopez World War II
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Homer J. Buckman – Sold Milk, Cream, and Lollipops!!!

November 1, 2014 |
Explore the story of Homer J Buckman. It might be a surprise to learn that a man that founded one of the first dairies in Greece also sold "suckers" in his very modest store, attached to his dairy barn.
Categories: 1900-1950 Ada Ridge Corinthian From The Historian's Files Hamlets of Greece Living in Greece Stories
Tags: Buckman's Buckman's Dairy and Bakery dairy Homer J. Buckman Lollipops Ralph DeStephano Sr.
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“The Main Street of Greece” – From The Historian’s Desk

September 1, 2014 |
Ridge Road in photos: 1909 -1960 Every few years, if not sooner, a news article about the Ridge being expanded or improved pops up in news­ print or other media. From what was once the eastern edge at Lake Avenue to the western edge of Greece at Manitou Road, Ridge...
Categories: 1900-1950 1950-2000 From The Historian's Files Living in Greece Stories
Tags: "The Lewiston Road" 1900s 1909 1928 1940 1955 1956 1961 20th Century Cube-Block Dewey Ave Eight Miles along the Shore Emrich Kids Greece DPW Kodak Park Lake Avenue Long Pond Road Manitou Road mid-1860s Monroe County Pure Waters System Monroe County Water Authority Native American Naum Bros. Nicholas Sparks Pepperidge Dr Ridge Road West Stone Road
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What’s in a Street Name? From the Desk of the Historian

July 1, 2014 |
From the Historian's File What's in a Street Name? What are the origins of many of the Greece Street names?
Categories: 1950-2000 Corinthian From The Historian's Files Living in Greece Stories
Tags: Alan Mueller Alden Arcadia Parkway Athena Drive Cabot Canasta Road Cider Mill Corinthian Duxbury Eddy Road Hojack Park Hover Drive Joseph Vitello Mt. Read Boulevard Nantucket Olympia Drive Ottaway Podunk Standish Street Names
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First Christian Church then Greece Methodist Church Latta Road GHS

“A stone is a stone is a Cobblestone!”

November 5, 2013 |
Webster's New World Dictionary (College Edition) has the following: Cob-ble-stone (kab' I ston') A rounded stone of a kind formerly much used for paving.  First Christian Church then Greece Methodist Church Latta Road GHS School district 9 school also served as Greece Methodist Church in the mid 1800s GHS Well,...
Categories: 1800-1850 Corinthian Designated Landmark From The Historian's Files Living in Greece Stories
Tags: Allan Mueller Cobblestone Cobblestone Masonry Cobblestone Museum
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North Greece Hotel, Domino Inn, or Cosmo Inn? – From the Historian’s Desk

May 1, 2013 |
OK! What's in a name? When the new hotel (replacing the earlier Larkin Hotel) was built at Latta and North Greece Roads it was simply called The North Greece Hotel. That was in 1909; but not long after it opened, it be­ came the Moerlbach Hotel named for a new...
Categories: 1900-1950 1950-2000 From The Historian's Files Living in Greece Stories North Greece
Tags: Cosmo Club Domino Inn Hotel DeMay Moerlbach Hotel North Greece Hotel
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Post Mark North Greece, N.Y. – From The Historians Desk

March 1, 2013 |
After turning the corner at Latta Road to go south on North Greece Road, one might quickly pass a plain red brick building at the rear of a small parking lot. Across the right front of the building are the letters, United States Post Office. If you aren't from the...
Categories: 1850-1900 From The Historian's Files Living in Greece Stories North Greece
Tags: 14515 1880 1900s 1945 1963 New Construction of North Greece Station 1 1964 1967 Alfred Phelps Ann Piazza Cracker Barrels Doris Cutter Florence Germeroth George Germeroth Jr. Greece H. C. Phelps Kerosene Latta Road Melinda Germeroth Molasses North Greece North Greece Fire Department North Greece Road Phelps General Store Pickles Post Office Trailer United States Post Office William Aeberli William T. Filer World War II zip code
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