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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Parma Greece United Church of Christ

Parma Greece United Church of Christ

November 4, 2024 |
“About the year 1830 a small number of persons, residing near the town line in Parma and Greece, feeling the necessity of religious services, met together at what was known as the old red schoolhouse, east of Parma Centre, and agreed to hold bi-weekly meetings for mutual prayers and for...
Categories: 1800-1850 1850-1900 1900-1950 1950-2000 2000 - Present Churches Corinthian Guest Stories Hamlets of Greece Living in Greece Stories North Greece UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST
Tags: 1834 1835 1843 1844 1848 1861 1888 1903 Albert Dunlap Ambrose Burlingame Asa C. Morrison Christian Conference of Western New York Cobblestone Cobblestone Church Elder Crocker Elder James W. Burgdorf Elder Joel Doubleday Elias Jones Erie Canal Ezra Smith Isaac Chase Jessilou Gage Vaccarelli Jonathan Morse Jonathan S. Thompson Latta Road Madison Thomas Manitou Road Orleans County Parma Parma and Greece Christian Church Parma Greece United Church of Christ United Church Of Christ William J. Grimes
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The Ridge Road Cemetery Association, Also Known as the Falls Cemetery

October 12, 2024 |  and 
The Ridge Road Cemetery Association, also known as Falls Cemetery, is one of the oldest cemeteries in Monroe County, New York. It was established in 1811 by Daniel Budd and his wife Chloe Allen, who purchased land in what is now the Town of Greece. The north section of the...
Categories: 1800-1850 1850-1900 1900-1950 1950-2000 2000 - Present Ada Ridge Falls Cemetery Greece Cemeteries Hamlets of Greece Living in Greece Stories Pioneer Families Wagner Cemetery
Tags: 16 War of 1812 Veterans 1770-1850 1787-1871 1798-1879 1800-1881 1810 1811 1827 1836 1850 1900s 1963 25 Civil War Veterans 5 Revolutionary War veterans 5 Spanish-American War Veterans Asahel Tucker Budd Hotel and Tavern Chloe Allen Civil War Claude Hare Daniel Budd David Hare Jr. David Hare Sr. Diane Hare Dutchess County Established 1813 Falls Cemetery Fetzner Frederick Rowe Gordon Hare Greece Memorial Town Hall Hannah (Hopper) Bartholf John Williams Katie Meeson Korean War Veterans Latona Road Linda Crushman Dowell M. B. Loper May 1810 Mitchell Road Monroe County Deeds Niagara Falls Ridge Road Cemetery Association Stephen Bartholf Town’s Memorial Day remembrances Vietnam Veterans West Ridge Road William Fall William Falls Hotel World War I Veterans World War II Veterans
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A House and Farm on Buckman Road

June 7, 2024 |
Jo Ann Ward Snyder has been researching pioneer families in the Town of Greece for two books. While researching the George Buckman family of Buckman Road, the author discovered that their childhood home was indeed the old Buckman homestead. George and Lucy Buckman raised their three children, James Burl, Homer,...
Categories: 1850-1900 1900-1950 1950-2000 2000 - Present Ada Ridge Hamlets of Greece Living in Greece Stories
Tags: 163 Buckman Road Alice Mitchell Bonnie Reilly Bonnie Stemen Fiser Buckman Burl Buckman Civil War Diane Newman Long George Albert Buckman George Buckman Homer J. Buchman Ione Reilly Newman J. Burl Jo Ann Ward Snyder Long Pond Lora Clarke Lucy Griffin Lucy Griffin Buckman Mary Katherine “May” Beck Reilly May Beck Reilly May Buckman May Newton Buckman Thomas Michigan Monroe County Oakland County Pioneer Families Reilly Family Veronica Reilly Ward Webster
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Notice in the Daily Democrat, June 14, 1854

Ralph Francis: Black Activist and Abolitionist

February 2, 2024 |
Marie Poinan presented on Charlotte ferries' history, highlighting Ralph Francis, a black ferry operator who might have aided the Underground Railroad (UGRR). With limited records due to UGRR secrecy, Francis's activism and circumstantial evidence, including his property and business ties, support possible involvement. After facing personal tragedies and potential danger,...
Categories: 1800-1850 1850-1900 Charlotte Hamlets of Greece Living in Greece Stories
Tags: Benjamin Cleggett Canada Charlotte Civil War conductor Daily Democrat Democrat & Chronicle Eagle Hotel Francis & Cleggett Barber Shop Frederick Douglass Fugitive Slave Act Genesee River Greig Street Harriet Tubman Kelsey's Landing Marie Villone Poinan Maureen Whalen New York State North Star Ontario Peterborough Port of Charlotte Ralph Francis Reynolds Arcade Stagecoach stationmaster Third Ward Underground Railroad
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The Dutch Mill – A Community Gathering Place

May 1, 2022 |
The Dutch Mill - April 17, 2022 Every community or neighborhood has a gathering place. Over time many come and go, they may change hands or change their name, but eventually something happens and the old place becomes nothing but a memory to the local old timers. Then there are...
Categories: 1900-1950 Dewey-Stone Area Living in Greece Stories
Tags: 1932 1947 1948 1984 2016 2022 Ann Marie and Bob Simmons Barnard Fire Department Bertha Cox Chester and Sharon Ventura Cinema Restaurant Clam bakes Donald Hall Leon Cox Odenbach Peacock Room Old Mill old windmill Thomas Brierly Jr. Thomas Brierly Sr.
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Briarcliff Club Memories

July 1, 2021 |
Ration coupons, victory gardens, salvage drives, saving cooking fat, "buy bonds today." All familiar words to a home front generation during World War II. Unlike our wars since, World War II affected every single person in this country, and no matter what your occupation or financial status, everyone had to...
Categories: 1900-1950 Dewey-Stone Area Hamlets of Greece Living in Greece Stories
Tags: Barnard Except Home Barnard Exempts Boxart Street Briarcliff Club Briarcliff Rd clam bake Dewey-Stone Strathmore Drive Strathmore Drive Athletic Club Valleywood Club Victory Gardens World War II
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The Rochester Park Band at Manitou Beach in 1906

July 1, 2020 |
1900s Manitou Beach Postcard Want to have some fun? Let's go on a company picnic to Manitou Beach in the summer of 1906. We'll join the nearly 1,000 employees of James Cunningham & Sons, a huge company with several factories, which, in 1906, was still making horse-drawn carriages, but by...
Categories: 1900-1950 Charlotte Guest Stories Living in Greece Stories
Tags: 1890s 1906 1920 1920s 1924 19th Century 20th Century 54th Regiment Band amusement park at Manitou Beach Automobile Club Baseball Braddock Bay Canal Street Chralotte Elmheart Hotel Fred Zeitler James Cunningham & Sons. Manitou Beach Manitou Beach Hotel Manitou Beach Trolley Manitou Hotel Manitou Trolley New York Central train station Odenbach Hotel Orphans Day Rochester Park Band Theodore Dossenbach William Bausch
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A Community That Saved a School

May 1, 2020 |
During the 1920s and '30s Greece experienced an increase in population, especially in the Dewey-Stone area. Among that increase were very many Catholic families; so in 1926 St. Charles Borromeo School on Dewey Avenue opened with a planned enrollment of 250 students. By 1938, with some modifications, the school had...
Categories: 1900-1950 Dewey-Stone Area Living in Greece Stories
Tags: Barnard Fire Department Bishop James Kearney Catholics City of Rochester Hose Company 24 Democrats Dewey-Stone Easter Break Good Friday Eve Holy Thursday Jews North Greece Fire Department Protestants Rabbi Philip Bernstein Republicans Rochester Diocese Sheriff Albert Skinner Simon Stein St. Charles Borromeo Parish St. Charles Borromeo Roman Catholic St. Charles Borromeo School Temple B'rith Kodesh The Greece Press Western New York
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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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Proposed Community Center and Park

December 1, 2018 |
In June of 1929, our town of only 13,000 was growing rapidly and there were no provisions for playgrounds or rec­reation. Then W. Chandler Knapp, chairman of the Greece Planning Board, with the backing of leading residents, proposed purchasing 85 acres of land, known as Glendemere Farms, on Dewey Avenue....
Categories: 1900-1950 Dewey-Stone Area Living in Greece Stories
Tags: 1929 1942 1949 2006 Almay Road Barnard Fire Department Catholic Diocese of Rochester Churchville Clark Park Dewey Ave Eastman Dry Plate & Film Company Eastman Kodak Company Ellison Park Fall football George Clark Glendemere Farms Gordon A. Howe Gordon Howe Great Depression Greece Community and Senior Center on the Greece Town Campus Greece Planning Board Mendon Ponds Monroe County Parks Commission Mr. Clark St. Joseph's Villa Villa of Hope W. Chandler Knapp
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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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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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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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“Let’s Go For An Sunday Excursion” – and never leave the county

July 1, 2012 |
That is just what families and couples might do in the summer of 1912. Sunday was the ideal time for an outing as the aver­ age work week was 5 and one-half days. The Rochester area was lucky to have Lake Ontario and Irondequoit Bay close at hand where they...
Categories: 1900-1950 Charlotte Living in Greece Stories
Tags: "The Breezer'' "The Hawaiian Gardens" "The Pink Ticket Trip" 1900 1912 1924 Birds Charlotte Clinton Street coats East Main Street Glen Haven Park Hojack Line Irondequoit Bay J.D. Scott Japanese Garden Lake & Bay Belt All Resort Ticket Lake Avenue Trolley Lake Ontario Lake Ontario Shoreline Railroad large ladies hats Main and State Main St Mr. J.D. Scott Naphtha or Gasoline Launch Newport House Ontario Beach Park peanuts Philadelphia Pt. Pleasant Rochester Trolley Sea Breeze Sea Breeze Pier Sodus Bay St. Paul Street State Street ties Turkey-Trot! umbrellas West Main Trolley Worms Wurlitzer Orchestra Piano
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