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.

88 stories
Reset
Sort stories by:
Published date Title Last updated Random Comments

“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
Read Story

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
Read Story
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
Read Story

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
Read Story

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
Read Story

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
Read Story
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
Read Story

“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
Read Story

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

March 1, 2012 |
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,...
Categories: 1900-1950 Living in Greece Stories
Tags: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 7-Eleven A & P Anderson Grocery Cooper's Deli-Grocery Cooper's Deli-Grocery and Service Station H.C. Phelps General Store Hart's grocery McBride's Norman Cooper Red and White Reichenberger's Meat Market Ridge Road Food Store Wagg's General Store Wind Mill Grocery and Gas Station
Read Story

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
Read Story
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
Read Story
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
Read Story
South side of 1066 Long Pond circa 1904- The Brittons standing on a stone wall.

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

November 1, 2010 |  and 
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...
Categories: 1850-1900 1872 Common School Districts Living in Greece Stories
Tags: Alanson Phizarro Britton Beals Brighton Britton Farmstead Civil War East Avenue Erie Canal Falls Cemetery Greece Common School District #9 Hubbard Squash Laura Lewis Supervisor Toll Gate
Read Story

A German field gun helps win the war

November 13, 2008 |
A German field gun helps win the war. Veterans Day and Memorial Day are special days for Americans. especially for our veterans. On these special days all across America, we gather 'round our war memorials to pay tribute to our men and women who have served and to those who...
Categories: 1900-1950 Corinthian Living in Greece Stories
Tags: 105 mm German Howitzer 1941 American Legion Post Canon Commander Cyrille Ver Weire Cyrille Ver Weire Dewey Avenue Presbyterian Church Falls Church German Howitzer Gordon A Howe Gordon Howe Greece Legionnaires James Whitley Legionnaires Memorial DAy Milton Cater Rev. Alfred Wangman Tin Cans Veterans Veterans Day World War II
Read Story
1 … 3 4 5