Living in 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. Each of us has a story to tell. Submit a story about your group or a local history story or memory of growing up in the Town of Greece. Please email your story with photos as a zip file to: greecehistoricalsociety@yahoo.com and in the subject line put Share My Story of Local History or Memories Of Greece N.Y. and the title of your story along with a photo and brief bio so when we publish your story in the newsletter and on the web just like the stories below. Your story should be no more than 500 words. Don’t worry if you’re not an English scholar — we will edit as needed for continuity, grammar, punctuation, etc.

Ontario Beach Park – a series of articles written by Dick Halsey (also contains access to other historical content)

Our Interviews and Older Publications prior to the ones published in the Corinthian Newsletter

Some of the stories of living in Greece may bridge the years that the story is based on some may bridge all years and some may only bridge 2 or 3 of the 50 years spans per each 50-year span starting with 1800-1850, 1900-1950, 1950-2000, and 2000-Present.

Explore Living In Greece, NY

Living in Greece Stories (82)Guest Stories (15)1800-1850 (14)1850-1900 (27)1900-1950 (58)1950-2000 (35)2000 – Present (11)From The Historian’s Files (24)
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“Let’s Go For An Sunday Excursion” – and never leave the county

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 might travel for the cool…

Shopping Long Ago in Greece from the 1900s-1940s

Shopping in Earlier Times (1900s-1940s) In the early 1900s, going to the general store such as H.C. Phelps General Store and Anderson’s Store (just east of Mitchell Rd. on Ridge Rd.) would mean you could buy not only staple goods, such as flour, sugar, and canned goods but also kerosene, shoes, baskets, and hardware. You…

“A Greece Winter Wonderland in the Early 20th Century” – from the Historian’s Desk

All seems so serene and calm in most of the accompanying photos of winter circa 1910-1920 in Greece of a century and more ago. What fun to go on a sleigh ride or cross-country skiing through the snow-drifted fields. Fast forward to the 21st century and quick as a wink, the fields orchards, and farmsteads…

Why was it called the Elmheart – “From The Historian’s Files”

Back in the early 1890s, Frederick Odenbach, a Rochester liquor dealer, bought land on Manitou Beach and started to build a hotel. The newly built Manitou Trolley from Charlotte had finally been extended over a trestle across Braddock Bay to just beyond the Odenbach property. The Skinner family that owned property just to the east…

Back to School in 1911 – From the Historian’s Desk

As the Greece kid of 1911 were headed for the first day of school It doubtful if they were singing a popular song of the day, “School Days”. The refrain asks one to “take a trip on memory’s ship back to the bygone days” – “sail to the old village school… The chorus follow after…

“An Italianate Beauty in Greece” – FROM THE HISTORIAN’S FILE

The Colby-Shearman home was moved (due to the construction of I-390) in April 1968, in two sections about one-half mile from its original location at 1777 Ridge Road West to 550 Latona Road. The imposing, early Victorian house is in the Italianate style. It belongs to the picturesque movement in architecture in the second half…

1066 Long Pond Road- THE BRITTON FAMILY HOMESTEAD – “FROM THE HISTORIAN’S FILE”

Coming to Monroe County in the early 1800s, the Britton Family were early settlers in what was then called Rochesterville. Alanson Phizarro Britton, the ninth child of thirteen, was born in the tiny village in 1820. While in his teens he ran a line boat on the Erie Canal and later he managed a Toll…