19th Century

Play Ball Exhibit

by Pat Worboys

On display at the Museum are artifacts from the game’s beginnings in the early 1800s to a jersey from the champion 2023 Greece Post American Legion team. Started on March 10, 2024, and runs till the end of the year.

Town of Greece resident Joe Territo, a co-founder and past President of the Rochester Baseball Historical Society is curating the exhibit. He also serves as the official team photographer for the Rochester Red Wings.

Little is known about baseball playing during the very early days of the sport in the Town of Greece. Accounts of organized games are extremely rare. Most of the town was farmland during the 19th century.
It is likely that the children of hard-working farmers played the game more often than their parents. Back then, the game would not have included gloves because baseball was played barehanded during most of the 1800s. It is also likely that these youngsters played an early form of the game called town ball. Bases could have consisted of various objects including stones or even tall stakes driven into the ground that players had to touch to be counted as safe. Farm tools, such as ax handles, were commonly converted into bats, and balls were handmade from tightly wound twine or yarn wrapped in cloth or leather.

As Greece grew in population with farmlands becoming housing tracts and the town evolving into a vibrant suburb of Rochester, organized baseball became commonplace. Businesses such as the Hotel DeMay and the Dutch Mill sponsored youth teams and men’s softball teams. Visitors will also learn that a semi-pro team called the Town of Greece home and was very popular during the early part of the 20th century.

Bicentennial Snapshot No 28 - Jerome A Combs The Baseball player
Bicentennial Snapshot No 28 – Jerome A Combs The Baseball player

Also, check out this snapshot: Bicentennial Snapshot # 28 – Jerome Combs, The Cobblestone Baseball Catcher

If you want to learn about some of our local hometown athletes who have gone on to the pro level or just had some records set at local high schools besides Jerome A Combs, then get yourself a copy of our publication written by Marie Villone Poinan the late Tom Sawnor.

Hometown Sports Heroes of Greece NY

Baseball jerseys with significant Town of Greece baseball history

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The Rochester Park Band at Manitou Beach in 1906

by Lisa Kleman
1900s Manitou Beach Postcard

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 carriage called an automobile.

“We’ll meet at 7:30 am in front of the main factory on Canal Street. And then the celebration begins! We’ll march together, grouped into our different factories, each one with its large silk and gold banner, from Canal Street to the New York Central train station.

And what is a parade without a band? And why not two? The Rochester Park Band with its handsome director, Theodore Dossenbach, and all its musicians in their glorious cream-colored suits, will lead us today, with Fred Zeitler and his 54th Regiment Band. And as we march along, people rush to the streets from their houses, or watch us pass from the windows of their workplaces, perhaps wishing they worked for James Cunningham & Sons.”

Rochester Park Band

“We have a special train waiting for us at the station which brings us to Manitou Beach, and right away we join in the many sports and contests. Want to see how we had fun in 1906? Well, there was the baseball game between the married men and the single men. There was the married women’s race, the little girls’ race, the old men’s race, and who can forget the fat men’s race? And so many prizes – for the oldest man present, the youngest man, and the man having the reddest nose!”

Orphan’s Day Picnic

The Rochester Park Band played often at Manitou Beach in the first few decades of the 20th century. On July 14th, 1920, the annual Orphans Day, sponsored by the Automobile Club, was held at Manitou Beach. It began with the car parade, starting at East Avenue and Brunswick Street, with Theodore Dossenbach and the Rochester Park Band and autos filled with excited orphans.

At Manitou Beach, the orphans rode the loop-the-loop and scenic railway and felt so much joy, which we hope lingered in their memories in their days to come. They were given lunches with two sandwiches, a banana, cake, and candy, and there was orangeade and ice cream sandwiches free throughout the day. There were games and dances and contests, and at the end of the day was the grand march with 1200 children. William Bausch, such a goodly man, chaired this event; we are so thankful to him.

The amusement park at Manitou Beach existed roughly from the 1890s to the 1920s and boasted some of Lake Ontario’s grand hotels, including the Manitou Hotel and the Odenbach Hotel. Reachable by the Manitou Beach Trolley until 1924, with its trestle over Braddock Bay, the park and beach lingered long in the memories and stories of those who were fortunate to experience its special good times.

Sources:

D&C, ‘Big Picnic at Manitou Beach”, 8/18/1906

D&C, “Wonderful Time for Orphans on Outing of 1920,” 7/15/1920

Albert R. Stone photos used with permission

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Truck Farming on Stone Road – The Thomas Farm

by Alan Mueller

Seventeen-year-old WIi­liam J. Thomas immi­grated to Greece from Cheddar, Somerset County, England, in 1882. The following year, he purchased 11 acres of farmland on Stone Road, not far west of the intersection of Eddy Road (now Mt. Read. Boulevard).

At that time, the average size of a Greece farm was less than 100 acres, only rarely exceeding 200 or more acres.

By the late 19th century, Greece farmers were principally raising root vegetables, such as car­rots, beets, turnips, parsnips, etc. Some farms with larger acreage had apple and peach orchards as well

The Thomas farm had a large greenhouse, kept warm by hot water piping, the heat coming from a coal-fired boiler. Here, early spring crops such as radishes were raised.

A large root cellar (an insulated building, partly underground) stored the root vegetables through the winter. Gradually, these vegetables were, taken to market all through the non-growing season.

Several times a week, the horse-drawn wagon (shown in the circa 1912 photo with William at the reins) would be loaded with produce and taken to the public market or sev­eral wholesalers in Rochester. The wagon left at 4 am for the market, and the wagon and driver often did not return until early afternoon.

By the late 1930s, tractors were replacing horses for farm work, and by the 1950s, horse-drawn equip­ment and wagons were completely gone.

Through the years, more farmland was added to Thomas’ original 11 acres, and his three sons con­tinued to operate the farm after their father’s death in 1938.

By the 1960s, however, it was apparent that a moder­ately large-sized farm could no longer be profit­able in Greece. After more than 65 years, farming finally ended on the Thomas property in 1960.

By 1963, the land had been sold to developers.

Similar to the majority of former farms in Greece, only the sturdy 2½-story farmhouse remains, shielded from the road by tall shrubs. These farm­ houses remain as ghosts of an important era in local history.

Photos of the Thomas farm from Mr. Frank Thomas, the grandson of Willam Thomas.

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