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Ontario Beach Park – a series of articles written by Dick Halsey (also contains access to other historical content)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 (69)Guest Stories (11)1800-1850 (8)1850-1900 (18)1900-1950 (47)1950-2000 (26)2000 – Present (5)From The Historian’s Files (23)
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The Rochester Park Band at Manitou Beach in 1906

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 1908, would transition to that new kind of horseless…

Lakeshore Garden Club History

“The Lakeshore Garden Club is one of the oldest garden clubs in this area. It was founded in June of 1935 at Char­ lotte High School under the leadership of Mr. Walter Bennett, who was its first President. The purpose of the club was to develop and promote an interest in gardening and landscaping; the…

The Tale of Three Bricks Or – “It only took 25 years”

More than a month ago we received a call from a fellow inquiring if our museum collection would be interested in having a few bricks gathered from one of the many piles around the demolished Greece Town Hall on West Ridge Road. The Town offices had already moved into the new town Hall in December…

A Community That Saved a School

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 eight rooms and an enrollment…

Greece Link to the National Football League

As we celebrate Super Bowl LIV and the NFL’s 100th season, we might want to consider the very “focal” Greece’s con­nection to the game. Joseph McShea was a talented athlete who grew up on his family’s farm on Dewey Avenue, just north of Latta Road. His great-grandparents emigrated to the town shortly after the potato…

How Different It Might Have Been?

The fall of 1953 was a rapidly changing time for the residents of the town of Greece. The Lake Ontario State Parkway (LOSP) was under construction and contractors had all they could do to build new homes for Greece’s growing population, as 100 people a month moved into the town. According to Ray Cole, the…

Town’s First St. Patrick’s Day Celebration, in 1836

Our History… by Bill Sauers Legend holds that the ancient Greeks were the first to wish someone good health while raising a glass and drinking. It is said that it was to prove that the drink was healthy (in other words, not poison). Somewhere along the line, a Ro­man custom of dropping a piece of…