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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Ice Harvesting in the Long Ago – From the Historian’s Desk

January 1, 2013 |
When some local farmers saw the thermometer dipping colder and colder below freezing for a few days they knew that it would be time to get the ice harvesting equipment ready for use on the ponds and a few temporarily dammed creeks in Greece. Long Pond and Cranberry Pond were...
Categories: 1850-1900 From The Historian's Files Living in Greece Stories
Tags: 100lbs 1910 1920s 1930s 25lbs 300lbs 400lbs 50lbs Buck Pond Cranberry Pond electric ice box Electric Refrigerator GE General Electric HoJack Ice Ice Box Ice breaking-off bar Ice Harvesting Ice Hooks ice house Ice Multi-Toothed Plow Ice Planner Ice Poles Hooks Ice Saw Ice Scorer Ice Scraper Ice Swing Guide ice-making machines Kathie Firkins Long Pond Pond Manitou Beach Manitou Beach Hotel Manitou Road mid-1920s Mrs. Happy Housewife's Skinner Skinner Family Sleds Sleighs Walt Goulding
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Trolleys passing on the line

The Manitou Trolley – Charlotte to Grand View Beach – “From The Historian’s Desk”

September 1, 2012 |
By the mid-1880s a steam railroad was planned to run from Charlotte to Grand View Beach. This plan never went beyond being chartered and was soon abandoned. The electric trolleys that began to appear on the streets of large cities seemed a more practical solution for this short line, which...
Categories: 1850-1900 From The Historian's Files Living in Greece Stories
Tags: 1895 1907 1908 1917-18 1924 1925 Beach Avenue Braddocks Bay Buck Pond Charlotte Children's Ticket Cranberry Pond East Manitou Hotel Edgemere Drive Edgewater Hotel Elmheart Hotel Grand View Beach Grand View Beach Hotel Island Cottage Hotel Little Round Pond Long Pond Pond Manitou Manitou Beach Hotel Manitou Line Odenbach Ontario Beach Park Rail Spikes World War I
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Why was it called the Elmheart – “From The Historian’s Files”

November 1, 2011 |
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...
Categories: 1850-1900 Corinthian From The Historian's Files Living in Greece Stories
Tags: "The Elmheart Hotel" Alan Mueller Archives Corinthian Faulding W. Skinner Fred Odenbach George Wiedman Hick's Point Manitou Beach Mathews and Servis Company Michael O'Laughlin Mr. Johnson Odenbach Sheriff Albert Skinner William "Bill" Carroll William Carroll
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The cover for the sheet music "School Days" by Cobb & Edwards.

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

September 1, 2011 |
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...
Categories: 1900-1950 From The Historian's Files Living in Greece Stories
Tags: "School Days" 1869 Charlotte Grammar School 1908 1950s Charlotte High School Cobb & Edwards Common School District # 14 Common School District # 17 Common School District # 4 Common School District # 7 Eastman Kodak Company Frisbee Hill Frisbee Hill School Gus Edwards Music Pub. Co. Janes Road Joint School District No. 14 Lane's Corner
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1879 photo at 1777 Ridge Road West.

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

March 1, 2011 |
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...
Categories: 1850-1900 From The Historian's Files Living in Greece Stories
Tags: Abner Shearman Colby-Shearman home Jeanette Rhoda Wegman Companies Inc. Zaccheus Colby
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