Terms Served
Listed by term start date:
- 1903 (One Term)
Biography
Willis Nelson Britton (1860-1935), known as W.N. was the son of seven term Greece Supervisor Alanson “A.P.” Britton and Laura Lewis. W.N. had a brief tenure as Town of Greece Supervisor in 1903 finishing out the term of Frank Vance who died in office.
In business life, W.N. wore many hats, he was a landowner, farmer, fruit grower and produce dealer. In addition, he started in real estate at the age of 22, founding the W.N. Britton Realty Corporation. W.N. worked with Kodak founder George Eastman to help him procure land for his expanding business and to set up and operate support utilities such as rail access and a water pumping station. He said in an interview that he built more than a thousand homes and introduced his “Better Plan” financing model, demonstrating that with a modest down payment, people could own a home for the same monthly mortgage payment as their rent. Many of the homes W.N. built were directed at Kodak’s growing work force.
W.N. established Britton Aviation Field which evolved into the current county airport. He was committed to public school education. W.N. donated eight acres of land for the Willis N. Britton School in the Koda-Vista neighborhood in 1928 with a clause that if the property ceased use as a school, it would revert to Britton family descendants. This school was later known as Hoover Drive Middle School, Odyssey School, and today is the Discovery Charter School.
In his personal life, W.N. married Charlotte “Lottie” Combs (1863-1938), the granddaughter of Reverend William Williams and Ann Prosser, in January 1885. They had four children, Hervey, Laura, Ward, and Avis. The couple spent 47 winters in St. Petersburg, Florida where W.N. died in 1935. Lottie died in 1938 in Greece and they are interred in the Falls Cemetery. Term Highlights
Infrastructure
- 1903 Road System Reform: The town voted 100–34 to abolish the labor-based “Pathmaster” road system in favor of a property assessment system, levying $1 per $500 of assessed valuation for road improvements.
- First assessment-funded road project: North Greece Road, from North Greece to the railroad, became the first roadway improved under the new assessment plan.
Governance
- Modern fiscal approach adopted: The shift from compulsory labor to an assessment-based system marked a major change in how the town funded, planned, and governed public works, reflecting growing population demands and more formal municipal administration.
Town Services
- First telephone installed: The Town Clerk’s office received the first telephone in the Town of Greece at an annual cost of $12, representing an early step toward modern municipal communication and recordkeeping.