We are thrilled and honored to announce that on September 20th, 2022 the Association of Public Historians of New York, along with the New York State Museum, presented to the Greece Historical Society its 2022 Award for Excellence in Promoting Local History.
The Association of Public Historians of New York State is a professional organization that represents the 1,600+ government-appointed historians in the state.
We are incredibly proud of all our volunteers, who are directly responsible for our receiving this honor.
Besides maintaining our museum with permanent and changing exhibits and presenting a popular lecture series. the Greece Historical Society has published books and stories, produced videos, provided speakers to local organizations, digitized local newspapers, erected historical markers, and conducted cultural resource surveys of local architects like The Thomas W. Boyde, Jr. Project.
Most recently, in celebration of the town’s bicentennial, GHS volunteers researched and published stories of pioneer families of Greece and produced fifty-four 5 to 10 minute videos highlighting various aspects of the Town of Greece’s history. The bicentennial videos can be found on the left side of our homepage in the section labeled Bicentennial Snapshots.
Our Tuesday Programs can be found under GHS Program Archives. The Archives section is being transformed into a unique experience that will make it easier to see articles from our newsletter, view snapshots, and learn about Greece landmarks. We also plan to add parts of our digital kiosk to the website over time.
This week in our bicentennial snapshot for September 20th, 2022 we explore Thomas F Toal a cooperage owner, a barber, and a worker from Kodak who grew up on the Parma Greece border.
Thomas F. Toal was born on August 26, 1866, and grew up in Parma, Monroe County, New York. He was a cooper before going to work at George Eastman’s Kodak where he worked for 12 years and then retired back to the North Greece/Parma area to be back in the country. He died in 1948 and was laid to rest in Our Mother of Sorrows Cemetery at the corner of Latta Road and Mount Read Blvd.
Carrie L. Frisbee
Carrie L. Frisbee was born in 1864 in North Greece, Monroe County, New York she is a niece of Edward Frisbee the owner of the land that was leased to District School # 7 on the family land, the school was located on the north side of Frisbee Road, and east of North Greece Road. (Attach a Map of the location here). Carrie L. (Frisbee) Toal died on 1 January 1957 and she was laid to rest next to her husband Thomas F. Toal in Our Mother of Sorrows Cemetery at the corner of Latta Road and Mount Read Blvd.
Left Carrie L. Frisbee | Right Thomas F ToalThis is a map of District 7 from the 1872 Map of Greece, New York you can see all the land that is owned by the Frisbee family
What is a Cooperage? What is it nowadays?
According to Wikipedia: A cooper is a person trained to make wooden casks, barrels, vats, buckets, tubs, troughs, and other similar containers from timber staves that were usually heated or steamed to make them pliable. Journeymen coopers also traditionally made wooden implements, such as rakes and wooden-bladed shovels. In addition to wood, other materials, such as iron, were used in the manufacturing process. The profession is the origin of the surname Cooper. A Cooperage was responsible for making the barrels that were used to store foods, wines, whiskeys, and other drinks or other items that needed to be preserved compared to canning or vacuum sealing or bottling of fruits, vegetables, and drinks in glass jars. A cooperage would make different size barrels depending on what was going in the barrel. Some of these barrels had gunpowder in the barrel, or maybe pickles, flour, crackers, dried beans, wheat, apples, corn, carrots, or other fruits and vegetables. Some were just used to hold umbrellas, tools, and other items to keep them organized.
Some of the barrels that Tom Toal made ended up in New York City to a buyer who either was for a big farm or a business in New York City that shipped products over to Europe and other places that wanted fresh goods from America in the late 19th century to the early 20th century. Depending on what the barrel was going to be used for the cooper would choose the right type of wood the most common wood was oak it depends on where in the world it was made. Modern wooden barrels for wine-making are made of French common oak (Quercus robur), white oak (Quercus petraea), American white oak (Quercus alba), and more exotic Mizunara Oak. All typically have standard sizes. Recently Oregon Oak (Quercus Garryana) has been used. The links next to each type of oak will take you to the Wikipedia page on each of the different oaks.
Cooper Tools
Here is a picture of the tools that a Cooperage would use to make the barrels.
cooper’s tools from Pinterest
Below is a picture of the different size barrels that a cooperage would make the smallest for dry goods would be a Rundlet which was 1/14 tun, the next size up would be a Barrel at 1/8 tun, and the next size up after a barrel is a Tierce at 1/6 tun, the next size after a Tierce is a Hogshead at 1/4 tun, followed by a Puncheon, Tertian at 1/3 tun, then a Pipe, Butt at 1/2 tun, finally the biggest barrel would be a Tun. But for liquids, there would be a gallon-size barrel that held one gallon of liquid.
Types of barrels revolutionarywarjournal.com
Below are two charts from Wikipedia that explains the English Wine and Brews barrel storage and amounts:
When Tom Toal was 21 years old, he went to work for H. C. Phelps making barrels; some were used in H.C. Phelps’s General store or sold from Phelps’s Store. This is where Tom learned the trade of making barrels to be used for different types of goods. Within a few years of working for H. C. Phelps, Tom started his own cooper business making barrels and selling them. While Tom ran his own cooperage he had customers from local farms, general stores, breweries, wineries, and other businesses that needed barrels to store items in. In 1972 Frank Toal was interviewed and explained his dad’s cooperage and shared some of the stories with us, below are a few quotes from Frank Toal.
Phelps general store Latta and North Greece Roads sketch William Aeberli 1970 GHS
” … my Dad began making barrels in early, August. He bought his staves in the rough and once a year an agent from New York City came up to take the order for staves, ‘hoops and headings.”
“They were shipped out to North Greece in box cars on the old Hojack Line. We’d go down to the station with racks up on the hay wagons and load the supplies.”
“Dad’s business was spread clear down to the lake and over to the Parma town line. He even had a warehouse down at Braddock Bay…In those days the whole section was apple orchards and Dad would ride his bicycle all around the countryside and take orders from the farmers or collect his money—he never learned to drive a car!”
The most interesting thing that Frank said during the interview was that his dad never learned to drive a car.
Larkin Hotel William Aeberli, Greece Post 1971 October 14
Tom Toal and His other Trade
One of Tom’s other trades was being a barber; Tom was one of those men who believed in hard work and hardly allowed himself to have an idle moment, so he took up being the village barber. He worked two nights a week in a second-floor room at the Larkin Hotel charging the proverbial two bits (25 cents) for a shave and a haircut.
Tom’s Connection with Doctor Abdiel Bliss Carpenter
After 18 years as a cooper, Tom bought the old Conway land and became a farmer. His farm was next door to Dr. Abdiel Bliss Carpenter. Years before, when he was a lad in his teens, he would do odd jobs for the old doctor. The Doctor’s beautiful house and estate made a lasting impression on Toal. But you won’t believe this but after twelve years of city living, he decided to move back to the country but not to any house but the estate of Doctor Abdiel Bliss Carpenter and lived there the rest of his life.
Carpenter House sketch by Wm. Aeberli Greece Post 1972 February 17
Dr. Abdiel Bliss Carpenter from W.H. McIntosh, History of Monroe County, New York, 1877
Abdiel Bliss Carpenter was born in Seneca, Ontario County, New York, on May 11, 1809. He was the son of Daniel and Lydia Smith Carpenter. He attended one of the small one or two-room schoolhouses in the town of Seneca in Ontario county, then went on to attend Geneva Academy which now is the home of Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, New York. At the age of 17, Abdiel Bliss Carpenter was certified to teach in Benton, Yates County which is 15 minutes to the south and west of Hobart and William Smith Colleges by taking Pre Emption Road south. But Abdiel was more interested in becoming a doctor and practicing medicine; he wanted to care for people instead of teaching people. So, he began an apprenticeship with Doctor Anthony Gage in Ontario County before moving to North Greece. In 1827 he moved to North Greece / Jenkin’s Corners and continued his training with Doctor M.B. Gage who lived in North Greece.
In 1830 at the age of 21, Abdiel Carpenter married Jane Louesa Rowleyof North Greece. They settled down in a small house behind the brick church on the northwest corner of Latta and North Greece Road.
Jane Louesa Rowley grew up on the southwest side of North Greece Road not far from Jenkins’ Corners. Her family’s farm is now home to North Greece Fire Station and its North Greece Road entrance. The Rowley homestead was located directly across from the entrance to College Ave. This photo of the Rowley homestead was in a photo album recently donated to the Greece Historical Society and which we were thrilled to receive.
As you can see on this 1858 map of North Greece there are two Rowley properties one is the S.S. Rowley the other one is the H. Rowley property. The Rowley homestead in the picture to the right is that of H. Rowley.
The Rowley homestead in North Greece, from GHSNorth Greece map 1858
Fairfield Medical College, Herkimer, NYAbdiel Bliss Carpenter Degree to be a Doctor
It was common practice at that time for someone who wanted to be a doctor to attend medical school after acquiring some medical training. The year after his marriage, the twenty-two-year-old Abdiel Carpenter went to the Fairfield Medical School in Herkimer, New York. Fairfield Medical College closed in 1840, due to competition from other medical colleges opening in New York and surrounding states. This is when many of the other colleges and universities like Syracuse University and the University of Rochester were founded.
He attended Fairfield Medical College college 10 years before the school closed for good. He graduated and earned his degree to practice Physic and Surgery on January 3, 1830.
Abdiel Bliss Carpenter returned to North Greece upon receiving his degree to practice Physic and Surgery and purchased Dr. M.B. Gage’s practice and started practicing in North Greece. His career as a doctor spanned 34 years. During that time, he would keep a record of all the children he assisted into this world just like Doctor Samuel Beach Bradley did in Hoosick.
Doctor M.B. Gage was a Commissioner of Common Schools from 1827-1831.
Carpenter ledger from Edward G. Miner Library
sketch of Abdiel Bliss Carpenter Greece Post 1972double-breasted Prince Albert frock coat
Frank Milton Carpenter son of Abdiel Milton Carpenter, described his grandfather Doctor Abdiel Bliss Carpenter as “a serious practitioner, a self-made man of no-nonsense personality.” Frank remembered that his grandfather always wore a Prince Albert Coat and top hat.
What is a Prince Albert Coat?
A Prince Albert coat: “a double-breasted frock coat usually with a flat velvet collar, becoming in vogue after a visit to the U.S. by Prince Albert in 1876.” The Prince Albert coat is a variant of a Frock Coat.
What is a Frock Coat?
According to Wikipedia, A frock coat is a formal men’s coat characterized by a knee-length skirt cut all around the base just above the knee, popular during the Victorian and Edwardian periods (the 1830s–1910s). It is a fitted, long-sleeved coat with a center vent at the back and some features unusual in a post-Victorian dress. These include the reverse collar and lapels, where the outer edge of the lapel is often cut from a separate piece of cloth from the main body, and also a high degree of waist suppression around the waistcoat, where the coat’s diameter around the waist is less than round the chest. This is achieved by a high horizontal waist seam with side bodies, which are extra panels of fabric above the waist used to pull in the naturally cylindrical drape. As was usual with all coats in the 19th century, shoulder padding was rare or minimal. Learn more on Wikipedia.
Doctor Abdiel Bliss Carpenter served two one-year terms as town supervisor once in 1843, and then again in 1848.
The grave marker of Jane Louisa Rowley Carpenter in Falls Cemetery from Find-a-grave
Abdiel Bliss Carpenter and his first wife Jane Louesa Rowley Carpenter had seven children together but she passed away in 1859. Abdiel remarried Caroline Elizabeth Carpenter and had three more children.
These are 4 of the 9 children
Two of the seven children born to Abdiel Bliss Carpenter and Jane Louesa Rowley
Abdiel Milton Carpenter
Frank Irving Carpenter
These are two of the three children that Abdiel had with Caroline Elizabeth Carpenter
Charles A. Carpenter
Helen E. Carpenter
Etching of Dr. Abdiel Bliss Carpenter, his wife Caroline, and their home on Latta Road from W.H. McIntosh, History of Monroe County, New York, 1877
Doctor Abdiel Bliss Carpenter owned land on both sides of Latta at 3490 and 3491 Latta Road. As you can see in this 1887 map below, it now shows the land is owned by Doctor A.B. Carpenter and his son Doctor A.M. Carpenter who lived right across the street from each other. Their office was on the south side of Latta Road. Eventually, Abdiel Bliss Carpenter retired to devote his time to farming and turned his practice over to his son, Abdiel Milton Carpenter, or Dr. Mit as his patients called him.
1887 Map of North Greece
Both houses still stand today. The original house at 3490 Latta Road was built around the 1840s as a story-and-a-half rectangular edifice; the small porch on the west is most likely a remnant of a porch running across the front. The house had 15 rooms after the second floor, front addition, and pillars were added in the early 1860s.
3491 Latta Rd
3490 Latta Rd
On the north side, on land that was once owned by Lewis Combs, he cleared a hundred acres and planted wheat; the first year of farming produced such a bumper crop, Dr. Carpenter was able to pay off all his debts.
Abdiel Bliss Carpenter passed away on January 9, 1896, at the age of 86, and his remains are buried in the Falls Cemetery on West Ridge Road at Latona Road on the southwest corner.
This week and in the next two snapshots we look at the Tavern / Hotel / Inn / Speakeasy that occupied the southeast corner of Latta Road and North Greece Road. The first hotel we will look at will be named after its last owner Joseph Larkin, not its first owner or subsequent owners. Back in the early years of the country and in some really rural communities the hotel, tavern and post offices, and general stores were all in one building or sometimes in separate buildings depending on the size of the community it was located in. But for North Greece, it appears that on the map in 1858 the Post Office was located in the store that belonged to Mary Phelp, and across the street before H.C. Phelps had a store it was A. W. Dickerson General Store.
North Greece map 1858
The Background of the Hotel and its similarities to the H. C. Phelps building
The Larkin hotel was build sometime before the civil war, based on research and architectural details that William Aeberli and Shirley Cox Husted found based on similarities between the design of the H.C. Phelps General Store and the Larkin hotel.
Larkin Hotel William Aeberli, Greece Post 1971 October 14
Phelps general store Latta and north Greece roads sketch William Aeberli 1970
The owners of the location
North Greece map 1858
Map of North Greece 1872
From what we can tell there could have been as many as 4 or more owners of the hotel the list of people we have based on available data and records is Mary Phelps, then we have a record of Archaeus Johnson (A. Johnson) buying it from Henry and Melvina Hazen on April 1, 1869, after that its a mystery, and without any other information and the information that children of Joseph B Larkin had with them when they passed away, so we will never know its full past or what made it a thriving spot for stagecoaches to stop and rest for the evening.
Peter Larkin
Peter Larkin
Born: 1810 in Ireland no date or month available other than based on the year of death and the text on the grave which reads DIED 14 Mar 1884 of 75 years.
Rose Larkin
Born: 1816 in Ireland
Died: April 25, 1881, at 65 years of age
Peter Larkin was a successful farmer, entrepreneur, and three-term supervisor of the Town of Greece, as well as a member of Mother of Sorrows. In the 1870 census, it lists him as owning nearly $ 500,000.00 in real estate. We have a record of him owning a hotel near Latta Road and Long Pond Road, but he was not the proprietor of the hotel. Also in the 1870 census, we learn that his nephew Joseph was living with him and his wife Rose Larkin.
Peter and Rose Larkin, and Nephew Joseph in the 1870 censusPeter and Rose Larkin, and Nephew Joseph in the 1880 census the year after this entry Rose would pass away.
Joseph B. Larkin
Joseph B. Larkin
Born: September 1855 in New York
Death: 15 April 1907
Married: Elizabeth Anna Slater
In the 1870s we learn that Joseph moved in with his uncle in North Greece and started out attending what would have been District School Number 6 and then went on to Charlotte or John Marshall for high school or entered the workforce sometime between the 1870 and 1880 census
Children
Rose Mary Larkin
1882–1955
Anna G. Larkin
1884–1954
Elizabeth M. (Larkin) McKenna
1886–1961
This was the only daughter that got married but had no heirs
Married Frank J. McKenna
Frances J. Larkin
1889–1971
Joseph Larkin, and family entry in the 1900 Census
Based on the Monroe County Sheriff’s deputies and the newspaper report below:
Larkin’s Hotel Burglarized
The hotel of Joseph Larkin at North Greece was entered by burglars last Tuesday Night and Mr. Larkin’s watch was stolen. Money was also taken from the clothing of both Mr. and Mrs. Larkin. No trace of the thieves has been discovered.
In 1891 we learn that Joseph was the proprietor of the hotel and he and Elizabeth were either out or asleep when the Larkin Hotel was burglarized by thieves, and from the records show an undisclosed amount of cash was taken from the clothing of Joseph and Elizabeth Larkin, as well as Joseph’s watch which could have been from his Uncle or another family member or one that he saved up and bought we will never know.
We do know that both He and His Uncle were both Democrats and the hotel was used as a site for Democrat Political Caucuses.
The Larkin Hotel was demolished around 1912, that was probably because the four daughters did not want to take it over or could not take over the hotel.
This week and in the following 6 six snapshots we will be exploring the North Greece area and the people, Hotel DeMay or the hotel with many names that it had over time, Jerome Combs a baseball player, Doctor Abdiel Carpenter, and so much more. North Greece Fire Department will be covered in a later snapshot along with the other fire districts in the town. But this week we will give you an overview of the area and give you a breakdown of what is in the North Greece Area.
North Greece Overview
The North Greece area is located at the intersection of North Greece Road and Latta Road the streets that are included in this area are the east side of Manitou Road, The North side of English Road from North Greece Road to the intersection of English and North Ave if Pickering and Flynn Road Connected that would be the edge of the east side of the district up to the HoJack Line on Flynn Road, it then follows the Hojack line but it drops south of G. W. Northrup’s Property on North Greece Road, then down the back sides of the properties that sit on the west side of North Greece Road as soon it comes up to Latta and head west back to Manitou Road.
North Greece Area Map
Latta Road
Latta Road highlighted in red
Latta Road is one of the Oldest Routes in the county but Latta only runs from Manitou Road to Lake Ave. But as for State Route 18 otherwise known as NY 18 begins at a junction with NY 104 south of a complex grade-separated interchange that includes NY 18F, NY 104, and the Niagara Scenic Parkway on the eastern edge of the village of Lewiston. to NY 104 in Lewiston then it zig-zags thru Orleans County until it passed thru Hilton and Parma then it turns on Manitou Road then on to Latta road and passes right thru the Hamlet of North Greece it then intersects NY 390. After a small distance east of NY 390, NY 18 passes Greece Arcadia High School as well as the newly built Greece Central School District Transportation and Support Services facility, Paddy Hill School, Mother of Sorrows, and intersects Mount Read Boulevard at the Paddy Hill Hamlet before intersecting Dewey Avenue a half-mile to the east. NY 18 turns south onto Dewey Avenue; however, state maintenance continues to follow Latta Road east to where it crosses into the Rochester city limits at Charlotte. This section of Latta Road is designated as NY 941A, an unsigned reference route. NY 18, meanwhile, becomes maintained by Monroe County as part of CR 132, an unsigned designation that follows Dewey Avenue north to its end at the Lake Ontario shoreline. The route continues south on Dewey Avenue to the Rochester city line, where CR 132 ends, and maintenance of the route shifts to the city of Rochester. NY 18 ends about 1 mile (1.6 km) later at a junction with NY 104 in an industrialized area known as Eastman Business Park.
North Greece Road
Surveyed in 1807, North Greece Road started out as just a dirt road that connected these two travel arteries. Initially, it ended at Latta Road but was eventually extended to the south shores of Braddock Bay at the point where North Greece Road turns left and becomes Hincher Road and Buttonwood creek discharges into Braddock bay. North Greece Road and Elmgrove were realigned to meet at one light between 1988 and 1993 when Elm Ridge Shopping plaza was constructed to help get commercial trucks into Sam’s Club and Walmart as well as the Hess Gas station now Speedway and Pep Boys.
Left 1988 – Map of North Greece Road at Ridge Road – Right 1993
The Hamlet of North Greece
North Greece map 1858 from Rochester Public Library
Not surprisingly a hamlet sprang up at the crossroads of Latta and North Greece Roads. Although not denoted on a map, the hamlet was often called Jenkins’ Corners. We don’t know for sure why it was called this; there was a local farmer, William Jenkins, who may have given his name to the community, or perhaps it was named after an itinerant preacher, the first Methodist circuit rider to the area, the Reverend Amos Jenks. The natives of North Greece would sometimes say that they lived “down at the Jenks.”
William Schmitt, a Buick dealer, formed the North Greece Fire District. A Pierce-Arrow truck was purchased for $6,700, the first motorized fire truck in the Town of Greece. In June of 1922, the Blacksmith Shop once owned by Lewis Combs at the corner of North Greece and Latta Roads became the first firehouse, and William Schmitt, the first chief. During the ’20s the Department responded to many fires and traveled out of the District to assist surrounding Fire Departments.
In 1935, Chief William Schmitt declared 1922 Pierce-Arrow unsafe; two 1936 American-La France pumpers were purchased. The Fire Department had grown to 55 members.
On July 27, 1958, the new house at Latta Road and Mt. Read Blvd. was dedicated. In September of 1958, two new Seagrave pumpers were placed into service at the new firehouse.
On September 15, 1963, the construction of a new communication center and three-bay addition was dedicated at the station at North Greece and Latta Roads. This building replaced the Lewis Comb’s carriage and wagon manufactory with a more state-of-the-art building for fire departments in the 1960s.
More on the history of the North Greece Fire Department up to 1982 can be found in the book Milestones Along The Way 1922 to 1982, written by Eugene Preston and John Stageman. Just this June the North Greece Fire Department Celebrated its Centennial years of service to the North Greece Community
We at the Greece Historical Society say thank you for your service to the folks who live within the North Greece Fire Department District and that the department can grow and evolve its firefighting efforts with new technology and equipment to battle fires better, as well as better building techniques that different engineering and building codes change because of fires, accidents, water rescues and some of the different natural disaster that is occurring now due to climate change.
North Greece business notices 1872 Map from Rochester Public Library
Lewis Combs and Hiram Bice went in together on a butter business together.
“As their business notice said, they manufactured a butter-churn that was “acknowledged as the best churn in the United States.”
The churn had a horizontal shaft that extended the length of a rectangular box on its legs.
A series of radial beaters was attached to the shaft. According to his patent filed in 1865, the inventor, J. F. Sanborn of Hardwick, Vermont, said that he wanted to “contrive a churn that would be efficient for producing butter from cream, and then serve as a butter worker for washing and mixing salt with the butter…” Individuals such as Lewis Combs and Hiram Bice used the design to make these churns which could produce butter in eight to fifteen minutes, half the time or less of a vertical hand churn, and much easier on the arms.
Drying House
North Greece had a fruit drying house. Drying was a major method for preserving fruit, especially apples, to export to Europe. LeFrois’ was used into the first decades of the twentieth century until supplanted by cold storage and canning factories.
School # 6 before 1927School 6 1927 -1949Present Day Private House
Perhaps reflecting the hopes of parents and students, the North Greece school was located on College Avenue. It was also called the “gooseneck” road by local residents because of the bend in the road.
This is the old brick school.
In 1927 the school had swings, slides, and teeters outside. The pupils in the upper grades played baseball in the back of the school on the baseball field. The school had two rooms, with four grades in each room. The school was heated with a coal furnace. They had a bathroom for boys and girls. This year they had regular electric light.
In 1949, the North Greece school district joined the Hilton Central School system.
Aerial Photos of North Greece 1930-1999
You can explore some Historic Aerial photos of the North Greece area on the Monroe County Interactive Historic Data Map website it has from 1930 to 1999 aerial photos in black and white whereas Google Maps and other modern map sites now have color Satellite images on their platforms.
North Greece Post Office
The North Greece post office moved around from H. C. Phelps on the Southwest corner of Latta and North Greece Roads to the hotel on the Southeast Corner then it moved behind what was Lewis Combs’s carriage and wagon manufactory. Then at some point in the 1950s or 1960s, it moved to a brick building at 640 N Greece Rd, North Greece, NY 14515 which is south of where the DeMay Hotel stood at the corner of Latta and North Greece Road.
The Hotel of Many Names Hotel Larken, Hotel Domino, Hotel DeMay, and more names
The next 3 Weeks will be About the Southeast corner and the Hotel of Many Names. One Hotel in our Hotel of Many names is actually the Manitou Beach Hotel and which was located at the western end of the Manitou Beach Trolley Line in 1943 it closed and never reopened after that year.
Hotel Larkin
Domino Hotel
North Greece Hotel
Hotel DeMay
If you have memories or pictures of the inside of the DeMay consider posting some to our Facebook page so you can share a piece of Greece History for the rest of us to read and see what it looked like before it left us as a staple in the North Greece area.
Till Next week… This has been your look into the hamlet of Jenkin’s Corners / North Greece.
This week we explore some of the myths of some of the nicknames of the communities in the town. This week we look at street names, elevations, and finally the Hojack Line. Some have myths about the name, while some are named after a person or where one of the settlers came from and decided to call the Town of Greece their home.
Street Names of Greece
There are more than 1,050 streets and roads in the town. It should be no surprise that more than 80 of the street names in Greece are related to the farm families who lived along them. In 1935, town supervisor Gordon Howe proposed that some streets be renamed to honor early pioneers. The first change voted on by the town board was to rename what had been Sage or Ottaway Road to McGuire Road in honor of Felix McGuire who settled in Greece circa 1805. Here is a little bit from the Article written in the society’s newsletter by Bill Sauers you can read more by the link below the quote:
Map of Greece, 2022, from monroecounty.gov
For the trivia aficionados, in the Town of Greece, there are only 25 Streets and 173 Roads but there are approximately 369 Drives, 160 Lanes, 94 Courts, 94 Circles, 40 Avenues, 25 Ways, 7 Boulevards, 21 Trails, and fewer of Commons, Coves, Estates, Landings, Boulevards, etc.*
There are over 80 streets named after the original farm families who lived there. We have some named for the seasons: Spring, Summer, and Autumn, but no Winter. There are animal streets: Fox, Deer, Hawk, Owl, Eagle. Several have female names: Judy Ann, Jackie, Laura, Roseanne, but very few have male names and there are 14 named after saints. There are “state streets”: Kentucky, California, and Florida, but no “State Street” (although one wing of the mall calls its self Main Street but that doesn’t count), and even some named after the pilgrims; (Miles) Standish and (John) Alden. Wood seems to be the most popular with 97 containing the word wood in them, but surprisingly, for a town once known for its orchards, only eight with Apple. Then there are 40 Creeks and 14 Brooks, but no Stream. We even have one named after a card game, Canasta. Of course, some developers couldn’t resist sneaking in their own names: Willis, Britton, and Alfonso (DeNardo).
*The numbers are approximate and may vary somewhat from what is stated in this story.
Scott Road was the section that ran from Stone Road to Emerson St.
On Mount Read, a famous female pilot, and no it was not Amelia Mary Earhart, but Blanche Stuart Scott, she was a Pilot, Automobile Adventurer, Actress, a museum curator. Blanche Stuart Scott, America’s first female pilot, was born in 1885 on her grandparents’ farm in Greece located on the north side of Lexington Ave, the south side was in Gates. Reading from her unpublished autobiography during a recorded interview, she said.
“My name is Blanche Stuart Scott and I come from a pioneer family, a Rochester pioneer family, who came to Rochester in eighteen hundred and ten. And settled out on what was then the old Scott Road and is now Mt Read Blvd.”
Blanche Stuart Scott
The land that was the Scott Brothers lot is now where Delphi Automotive a division of General Motors is located today and is now located in the city of Rochester.
1910 Map of Greece from the Rochester Public Library History and Genealogy Division.
Eddy Road
Eddy Road ran from Stone Road to Latta. The road was named after Thomas Eddy who lived at 3205 Mount Read Blvd.
Thomas Eddy Homestead
Mount Read
At the corners of Latta and Mount Read on the Southeast corn where Our Mother of Sorrows Church was the land once owned by Nicholas Read a pioneer family of the town of Greece and the Paddy Hill area which we will cover more in a later snapshot either on Our Mother of Sorrows Church and or Paddy Hill. It wasn’t until sometime in the 1920s that the entire stretch from Buffalo road to Latta Road would become Mount Read Boulevard.
Elevations in the town
Below is the list of different elevations in the town listed from the lowest point to the highest point the town. If you want to explore the elevation where you live you can check out the site topographic-map.com which is a great digital representation of the data from the United States Geological Surveys topographical data with color-coded elevation lines blow is low elevation and very red is higher elevations.
The lowest Elevation in the town is 243 feet and that is along the ponds at the lake which covers all the beach hamlets along the lakefront.
Mt Read at Latta Road Elevation is 345 above sea level.
North Greece Elevation at the intersection of Latta Road and North Greece Road is 338 feet above sea level
The spot where the Native American fort and Hanford Tavern were at Maplewood drive at Bridgeview drive is only 386 feet above sea level.
Barnard / Dewey Stone Area is 400 feet above sea level
King’s Landing Elevation is 415 feet above sea level
Ridge Road at Apollo Drive Elevation is 441 ft above sea level.
West Greece Elevation is 455 feet at the Hoosick Cemetary.
Ridgeway ave right at the entrance to Ridge Road Fire District Station #3 is 525 feet above sea level.
South Greece Elevation at School 12 at Old Ridgeway and Elmgrove Road is 525 feet above sea level.
The highest point in the town is where the BJ’s Wholesale Club is located on Bellwood Drive which is 558 feet above sea level.
Hojack Line / Lake Ontario Shoreline Railroad / Rome, Watertown, Ogdensburg Rail Road (R.W. & O.) line and New York Central Railroad
If you are in your 30s or older at least once in your lifetime saw the swing bridge rotate for the trains to cross over the Genesee River at Port of Rochester. The Lake Ontario Shoreline Railroad began operating in 1871. Ownership and the name of the railroad changed hands over the years including the Rome, Watertown, Ogdensburg Rail Road (R.W. & O.) line and New York Central Railroad. But it was colloquially known as the Hojack line. There are to this day speculations of how the line became known as the HoJack Line.’
Hojack Line Myth # 1
“It seems that in the early days of the railroad, a farmer in his mule-drawn buckboard was crossing the tracks when the mule stopped and wouldn’t move. When the farmer saw the fast-approaching train, he began shouting, “Ho-Jack, Ho-Jack.” Amused by the incident, the trainmen began calling their line the “Ho-Jack.”
Hojack Line Myth #2
According to a story published in the Greater Greece Post in 1965, “when it was necessary to hurriedly assemble a train crew in the wee small hours of the night, the call Ho Jack would boom through the halls of the rooming houses where railroad men stayed.”
Hojack Line Myth #3
A farmer, turned train engineer by the name of Jack Welch would yell Whoa, Jack when he stopped the train as if he were still stopping a horse. It was picked up and passed on as Hojack.
The More Plausible answer to the Hojack Line Myth
From a scientific standpoint if you listen to the sound of a train whistle as the sound travels thru the air it sounds more like hojack or Whoa Jack but even this could be seen as a myth to the nickname of the line.
Want to Explore More on Snapshot 19
Consider the following the following books for more information on the information in this snapshot:
The Hojack Line Remembered Oswego to Lewiston by Richard Chait is available in the gift shop at the museum and where ever books are sold just not available in our online store.
We explore the impact that the canal had on the Town of Greece, in the state of New York. In 1817 the idea was formed to create an easy way to get products from Lake Erie, and the other Great Lakes to New York City and back.
According to Wikipedia, The canal was first proposed in the 1780s, then re-proposed in 1807, and the survey was authorized, funded, and executed in 1808. Its construction began in 1817 after proponents of the project gradually wore down its opponents; and it opened on October 26, 1825. The canal has 34 locks with an overall elevation difference of about 565 feet (172 m),[1] starting upstream with Black Rock Lock and ending downstream with the Troy Federal Lock. Both locks are owned by the United States Federal Government[2].
Sea level elevation of the Canal route
The Canal Started at Lockport and ended at the Hudson River.
LockportHudson River Lock
The Erie canal had received some nicknames for the Erie Canal project because of New York Governor DeWitt Clinton, his project received some interesting names, and his political opponents wanted to call the project, here are a few of the names they called the Erie Canal, the first name it was derided as was “Clinton’s Folly”, another one was “Clinton’s Big Ditch”, and “Clinton’s Ditch”. Over time the folks realized that the Erie canal helped bolster the port at New York City with a strong advantage over other port cities on the eastern seaboard and helped make it easier to travel by water than it was to portage the goods to stagecoaches or other modes of early transportation in the interior of the United States.
The Erie Canal was one of the great civil engineering projects of its time, and the cost to build it was $7,143,789. The total length of the Canal is 363 Feet(584 km) and 50 Locks made up the canal to traverse the change in elevations of sea levels to get it from the Hudson River elevation to the elevation of Lake Erie.
Asa Rowe Ad in the Genesee Farmer Monroe Horticultural Garden
If you remember when we told you about Asa Rowe and his Monroe Horticulture Garden and Nursery he took full advantage of the Erie canal for shipping all his plants and seeds to other states, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconson, featured in Bicentennial Snapshot # 13.
Terry Burns
As the canal was dug by hand it required an army of laborers. Some of those laborers, such as Terry Burns, one of the pioneers of Greece, decided to stay after working on the canal, settling in Greece in 1823.
South Greece did have one Lock and it was only used when they did the expansion in 1919 till about 1923 then after it was used as a dry dock for the rest of the 1920s on the canal but later it was decommissioned and blocked off the dock is now just being overgrown with trees and other wild plants.
Erie Canal Completion Medal, 1826 this one is in The Henry Ford Museum
During my Visit to the Henry Ford Museum in August, I saw this sitting in the Driving America Exhibit in front of an 1891 Abbot Downing Concord Coach.
The Buffalo Maritime CenterCut away of a packet boat
The Buffalo Maritime Center is in the process of building a replica of a packet boat at the Longshed at Canalside in Buffalo at the end of the Commerical Slip and they believe it will take at least 2 years to complete the boat project and set sail in 2025 for the 200th anniversary of merging of the waters. In 2025 they will be traveling the Erie Canal and stopping in each community along the Erie canal so people explore the replica, as well as displays about building the boat and how they built it, and the materials they used in the process you can learn more about the project at https://buffalomaritimecenter.org/
This week on our Bicentennial Snapshot we explore two of the most visited General Stores out of two neighborhoods the first one will be H.C. Phelps Located on the southwest corner at Latta and North Greece and the second one is Gilbert (Burt) J Wagg’s Groceries and Provisions Located where Tim Horton’s is today at Lake Ave, Ridge Road and Pullman Ave.
Disclaimer The references to tobacco products in this Bicentennial Snapshot are for historical purposes only, recounting an individual’s reminiscences of a bygone era. The Greece Historical Society does not encourage the use of any tobacco products.
Today we take it for granted how easy it is to buy food, clothing, and other products from various stores and within easy travel distance or online via Amazon, eBay, and other online retailers. But in the 19th century and even into the 20th century, Greece residents depended on General Stores for their purchasing needs.
When the American colonists mainly started expanding west word they would set up General Stores that would be where the travelers or residents of the small villages or towns would gather to buy, trade, or sell items that they needed for a day-to-day living unlike how it is now that you purchase Clothing from Store A and then go to store B to get you Garden supplies, then maybe you go to Store C for your meats, and then finally get to the Produce Market for all your fresh produce these good would last longer or shorter depending what the product was intended for like planned obsolescence.
The invention of the Ice Box did help out with some growth of General stores but some of the General stores evolved with the times and they kept up with the changes evolving into smaller corner stores which some people will call the store a bodega, especially in New York City. In other parts of the country, the Mom and Pop General stores are somewhat making comebacks in your rural communities because these are now becoming small access points for online orders and delivery hubs for pickups for places like Amazon, UPS, FedEx, DHL, LaserShip, and even the post office still because the cost is still worth them to operate just to help the people that cannot get the packages delivered to the porch of the local farmer or rancher or even the smallest campgrounds.
Question of the Week:
How long do you think it would take for you to get from Hoosick Cemetary (West Greece) Manitou at West Ridge Road to G.C. Latta House at Lake Ave, and Latta Rd in Charlotte?
But for this question, we will be starting at the Hoosick Cemetary Manitou Road at West Ridge Road, proceed heading north on Manitou Road until you come to Latta Road, and then make the right on Latta Road passing H.C. Phelps General store on the right at North Greece and Latta road, and continuing on Latta you will be passing Green Acres on your left, you then continue on Latta and cross over Long Pond Road, maybe stop at Apple Anne’s for some apples, after that you maybe stop to worship at Mother of Sorrow’s church and then head down the hill and cross over Dewey ave and a much smoother path on Latta road you pass on your left the Fleming Homestead now a nursing home to then you should get to your destination at Lake Ave and Latta in front of the G.C. Latta House
Here is the formula to solve for each type of mode of transportation
time = distance/speed
Your Distance is 9.5 Miles
Your Speed is based on the mode of transportation you take to get to the destination.
Traveling by car at 35 mph
Traveling by a Horse at 5-8 mph
Traveling by a pedal bike can vary depending on how fast you can pedal it can be as low as 8 mph and high as 26 mph
Traveling by public transit is not available for this example.
The answer to this will be at the end of this post with the solution to this question.
H.C. Phelps.
H.C. Phelps is located on the southwest corner of Latta Rd and North Greece Rd.
Henry C. Phelps built his store on North Greece Road in about 1870. The area was then known as Jenkins Corner at Latta Rd. By 1900 it had the name, North Greece, as it’s known today. Henry carried a varied lot of merchandise. Just about anything that would fit in the store and would sell found a place on the floor or a shelf. He catered to the farmer and his family. It helped that the local U.S. Post Office was also in the building. The opening of the Manitou (seasonal) Trolley in the 1890s expanded the number of cottages along the lake and bays. Several times a week Phelps would send out his horse and wagon filled with fresh vegetables, fruit, and sundries. Going door to door, the “huckster” (an old term for a peddler) would often empty his wagon by the end of his route. After Mr. Phelps retired the store continued under several owners and name changes well into the 20th century. The post office moved to its own quarters and other business enterprises took over the site until we arrive in the 21st century. Except for the loss of the front porch and several horse-hitching posts, the building remains much as it was built over 145 years ago. An insurance office is now the proud caretaker.
Gilbert “Burt” J Wagg
Gilbert (Burt) J Wagg’s Groceries and Provisions is Located where Tim Horton’s is today at Lake Ave, Ridge Road, and Pullman Ave.
Wagg’s Grocery and Provisions store could hardly be called a general store in the same sense as Henry Phelps’s business. Gilbert (Burt) J. Wagg started in business in the early 1900s with several small grocery stores in Rochester. Since he was a natural salesman and “go-getter” (a favorite saying of the day), he decided to open yet another store on the northwestern edge of the city. Streets along Lake Avenue were developed because of the expansion of the Eastman Kodak Company, and Kodak Park Works. An ideal place for Burt’s new store was on the east side of Lake Avenue near Kodak. The business grew, with departments added almost yearly. A bakery, a meat department, groceries, and produce were sold there from the start. Furniture, china, yard goods, clothing, shoes, phonographs later called gramophones now called record players or turntables depending on your generation, and records all became integrated into Wagg’s, especially after the business was moved nearby to a building with ample floor space about 1912. The business eventually took a building on Lake Avenue as well as a number down Pullman Avenue.
One photo ( 1920) shows the business with a bus at the corner of Lake and Pullman. Most people referred to it as Wagg’s Corner. The mini-department store then employed 28 clerks and drivers to cover the departments and five delivery wagons. Burt is at the telephone in one of the photos and his sister Grace is at the adding machine to his right. Grace was as astute about the business as her brother. Burt passed on in 1944.
Burt is at the telephone in one of the photos and his sister Grace is at the adding machine to his right.
Grace took over and ran it until it became clear newer and more modern stores had opened on West Ridge Road. The business closed in 1964 and the building was torn down in 1988. Parts of the other shops that were to the right of the G.J. Wagg’s store are still standing but now are apartments at 17 thru 29 Pullman Ave. Pullman Ave was redesigned to come back a bit from the corner that Lake Ave and Ridge Road to prevent sharp turns onto Pullman Ave from coming from the Veterans Bridge or from lake ave turn onto Ridge Road and then a sharp left onto Pullman Ave and then the raised median makes it impossible to turn on to Pullman ave after the light on at ridge and lake coming from the Veterans Bridge.
Answer to the Question
How long do you think it would take for you to get from Hoosick Cemetary (West Greece) Manitou at West Ridge Road to G.C. Latta House at Lake Ave, and Latta Rd in Charlotte?
Your Distance is 9.5 miles in one direction
Your Speed is based on the mode of transportation you take to get to the destination.
Mode of Transportation
Speed
One Way Trip
Round Trip Time
Car
35 mph
15-17 minutes
30-34 minutes
Pedal Bike †
8 mph
1 hour, 11 minutes, 15 seconds
2 hours, 22 minutes, 30 seconds
Pedal Bike †
26 mph
0 hours, 21 minutes, 55 seconds
0 hours, 43 minutes, 51 seconds
Horse Trot‡
5 mph
1 hour, 54 minutes, 0 seconds
3 hours, 48 minutes, 0 seconds
Horse Trot‡
8 mph
1 hour, 11 minutes, 15 seconds
2 hours, 22 minutes, 30 seconds
Walking §
3 Hours 10 Minutes
6 Hours 20 minutes
Calculation of Time
† Traveling by a pedal bike can vary depending on how fast you can pedal it can be as low as 8 mph and high as 26 mph
‡ Traveling by a Horse at a trot at 5-8 mph
Traveling by public transit is not available for this example based on the chosen route that was selected
This week we continue the look at the central commercial district in the town most of you know as
The Ridge.
The Ridge today, Satellite view via google maps
In the bicentennial snapshot # 11 the Ridge Part 1 – we started out with the life of the ridge forming from the glacial thru just the starting of Eastman Kodak company at Ridge Road and Lake Ave northwest corner. This week we look at the growth and population boom on the Ridge Road.
Topics that are featured in this video
Plank Road
J. Y. McClintock and the McClintock Cubes
Breif overview Annexation of parts of Ridge for the City of Rochester
The Greece Memorial Town Hall and ADA Ridge
Dewey Ave at West Ridge Road
Plazas on The Ridge
The evolution of the Ridge from a Path to a Six-Lane with Median
Plank Roads
Did you know that a portion of Ridge Road was a planked road? in the 1860s there was a section that was planked it was from Long Pond Road to Elmgrove Road (Henpeck Road). It was a 2.5-mile stretch that was plank which means is the road was made of wooden planks it was thought to have been 9 1⁄2 miles (15.3 km)and chartered on October 23, 1848, and there was a court case involving Kenyon vs the Seeley over the tolls that were collected on this plank road.
This is an example of a plank road
Keene Farm
For the most part, however, the Ridge was a dirt road until the beginning of the 20th century. In the foreground of this photo is the dirt roadway. A bicyclist goes along a cinder path; this was laid out circa 1884. One had to buy a license for the bicycle to use the path—that’s how it was maintained. One resident writing about the early nineteen hundreds said that bicycles were “almost as thick on that path as the cars are on the Ridge today.” Notice, Lay farm and the greenhouses in which flowers were cultivated as well as other fruits and produce were prep for the spring planting season.
J. Y. McClintock and the McClintock Cubes
In 1900, Ridge Road became a state road, and money was appropriated for its improvement. In 1909, an experimental paving technique was used; 2-inch square cubes, which were called McClintock cubes after the Monroe County Road Supervisor who promoted their use, had to be laid by hand across the 16-foot width of the road. More than 700,000 cubes were laid. The cubes were able to withstand the heavy traffic along the Ridge for only two years and then began to fail.
McClintock cubes , had to be laid by hand across the 16-foot width of the road
J. Y. McClintock – Monroe County Road Supervisor
Annexation of parts of Ridge for the City of Rochester
The city started to expand in 1850 slowly with the annexation of Driving Park, and yes there was a horse racing track, on Driving park. Then again in 1874. The Village and the port of Charlotte were annexed next in 1916. Then just after World War One in 1919, the City took the rest of lake ave as well as portions of Dewey and, and Ridge Road and Mt. Read Blvd. Because of the Annexation of the village of Charlotte the town needed a new town hall and town center that is when the Town Memorial Hall, was built as a tribute to all the lives lost as a result of World War 1, it was completed in 1921 and then expanded in over the next 80 years. More on this topic in a future snapshot.
The Greece Memorial Town Hall and ADA Ridge
On the right is a slideshow that shows the changes of the town hall over the last 80 years until the mid-1990s when the town outgrew the town hall complex at Ridge Road, and with Ridge Road Fire District being right across the street and the pending expansion of the Ridge in 2002. Here is a small expert from an article Alan Muller Greece Historical Society’s Historian wrote in the society’s newsletter talking about the reason for the change of the town hall location and why it was needed. The population at the time of the construction of the Town Hall at Ridge, Long Pond, and Mitchell Roads was only 3,350. More on this topic in a future snapshot.
Through the next almost eighty years many additions and changes were added to increase the needed space. Again, as before, talks were started that a new Town Hall was needed. The added arrival of the computer age compounded the problem. The electrical system, as well as the telephone wiring system, was aged and obsolete. The thick brick walls did not lend themselves easily to that kind of an upgrade.
Alan Muller – The Tale of Three Bricks Or – “It only took 25 years”
Across from the Town Hall was Whitman’s Service station which later became Wittman Motors and included a tow service. Wittman’s was located at 2496 Ridge Road, across from the old Town Hall.
Wittman’s Carriage shop became Wittman’s Motors at 2496 West Ridge Road
Dewey Ave at West Ridge Road
Corner of Ridge Road and Dewey Avenue looking west down Ridge, 1940s. Office of The Town Historian
With the invention of the Automobiles, it would allow thousands of Greece Residents to commute to Kodak or many other places throughout the town in the picture to the left you can see how busy the intersection of Dewey Ave and West Ridge Road was in the 1940s. More On the Dewey Ave corridor in a future episode of the Bicentennial snapshot.
Plazas on The Ridge
In the years after World War 2, the town started to explode with population growth, and with that, it brought a number of new plazas and centers to buy your households, groceries, home improvements supplies, and many other goods. Here is a list of the Plazas from the Mount Read to Elmgrove Road goes as the follows:
Staples/Home Depot or Lowes Theater plaza at Mount Read and Ridge (not included below),
Stoneridge is named for the plaza at the corner of Ridge Road and Stone Road,
Total Square Feet: 180,000
Ridgecrest – Located at Ridge Road and Fetzner Road,
The Mall at Greece Ridge is the merger of Greece Towne Mall and Long Ridge Mall
Total Square Feet: 1,675,000
Ridgemont Plaza is the longest strip mall in Greece and has a post office in the plaza
Total Square Feet: 320,844
Lowes Plaza now or AMES plaza before 1997 whichever one you know it as
Over 295,000 Square feet but not Larger then Ridgemont
Finally, Elmridge Center which is Elm of Elmgrove Road and Ridge of West Ridge Road
If we are missing a name of a plaza that should belong on this list that it has to be on West Ridge Road and located between Mount Read Blvd to Elmgrove Road please let us know on our Facebook page if we are missing it and we will at it to this post.
in 1968 The Town’s first indoor mall opened with only 16 stores filled and by Christmas, all 46 shops were filled. More on the 2 malls and the merger will be a future snapshot.
One of the deadliest fires in the town of Greece occurred across from Stoneridge Plaza The Holiday Inn, we will cover it in a special of it is own due to the amount of information from the fire. And with that this was not the only building that had a fire on the Ridge in the Ada Ridge snapshot we tell you about an another fie and this is at the Rowe Tavern and that St. John’s helped moved a building to so the Rowe Tavern could reopen.
The evolution of the Ridge from a Path to a Six-Lane with Median
On the New York DOT they a pdf with the Annual average Daily Traffic what do you think is the annual average daily for the range from Maplewood to elmgrove. This was from a 2003 report from the New York State Department of Transportation Traffic Volume Report for MONROE COUNTY.
Route
Length
Start Description
End Description
Year
AADT
104
0.98
Manitou Rd (RT 261) W GREECE
N Greece Rd
03
29742
104
0.09
N Greece Rd
(NY-386) Elmgrove Rd
00
20930
104
1.87
(NY-386) Elmgrove Rd
LONG POND RD SB
01
33317
104
0.92
LONG POND RD SB
FETZNER RD
03
21607
104
0.09
FETZNER RD
ACC RT 390
98
47261
104
0.62
ACC RT 390
STONE RD
99
44342
104
0.26
STONE RD
MT READ BLVD ROCH W LN
00
49547
104
1.14
MT READ BLVD ROCH W LN
(NY RT-18) DEWEY AVE
98
38514
104
0.64
(NY RT-18) DEWEY AVE
RT 940M LAKE AVE
01
39107
104
0.06
RT 940M LAKE AVE
RIDGEWAY AVE
00
35421
104
0.23
RIDGEWAY AVE
ACC MAPLEWOOD DR
00
54558
Total Vehicle travel
414346
2003 NEW YORK STATE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Traffic Volume Report for MONROE COUNTY
This was the reason the Ridge evolved from a path to a two-lane road to a four-lane to now a six-lane with raised medians from coming off the Keeler St Expressway to Palm St and then the median picks back up at Dewey Ave and continues from there until Elmgrove Road/North Greece Road.
Lay Farm
The Corner of West Ridge road and West Outer Drive where Bob Johnson Chevrolet stands today started out as the Lay Farm it the became the Pine Tree Inn, and then Ver Hulst Farm and Ver Hulst Brothers Farm Market from 1936-1993. From 1998 and currently, Bob Johnson Chevrolet, one of the largest automobile dealerships in the country occupies the site.
Lay FarmPine Tree InnVer Hulst Brothers from Bill SauersBob Johnson Chevrolet, 2022, photo by Bill Sauers
This week we turn our attention to the central commercial district in the town most of you know as
The Ridge.
The Ridge today Satellite view via google maps
We at the Greece Historical society bet that most if not, every person in the town of Greece has at least one point in their daily life been to some part of the Ridge, which could be to the Mall at Greece Ridge formally Long Ridge Mall, and Greece Towne Mall, Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Wegmans, or the number of other shops and stores along the Ridge.
According to the Diary of Eli Granger whose dairy we share a bit from in the King’s Landing snapshot, he wrote this entry in his diary about the ridge and why he thought it would be a handsome ridge for a road
[1 June 1797] came home on a handsom Ridge suitable for a Roade — got home on Monday 29th May after Spending 14 days 3 of us — 42 days in whole — my Expence for pilott — 8 dollars for Expence at Niagary for pilote &c — 2 dolars — other Expence — $3.90
Those who may not remember earth science class or other science classes and parts of some history classes when they talked about the Ice Age and how most of the region was covered in ice and glacial valley, also called glacial troughs as seen in this map. Almost 13,000 years ago a large glacial lake, Lake Iroquois, as it is called by geologists, lapped the far eastern portion of what became the Niagara escarpment. When the waters of Lake Iroquois receded, it left a ridge of land 400 feet above sea level. You can see on this map, the dimensions of the prehistoric lake in relation to Lake Ontario today.
Map of Lake Iroquois
Notice the line in Red that is the portion of Ridge Road from the Genesee River to Lewiston. , the /// lines going from lower left to the upper right that is the outline of Lake Iroquois, and the cross lines ### in the pen are the ice sheet as the ice continued to recede north as the time when on from the ice age.
Greece Memorial Town Hall
In 1960, in front of the old Greece Town Hall, on W Ridge Road, a Monroe County historical marker was placed noting the history of the old Ridge Road. Before the town moved from the old Greece Memorial Town Hall offices in 1997 to the new Greece Town Hall located on Long Pond Road. With the center of the population being closer to the Latta and Long Pond area the town felt that they need to move all the town services to a centralized campus close to the middle of the town instead of being on a major corridor where it stood for almost 96 years. From March 20, 1960, to 1997 when you went to the Old Greece Memorial Town Halland you might have wandered over and look the historical marker that was in front of the Town Hall. On the historical marker, it explains Ridge Road was molded by glaciers and that it was a well-traveled Haudenosaunee (Indian) trail, then it was traversed by Pioneers’ ox-carts, stagecoaches, and covered wagons, and that the town of Greece was founded in 1822. The Old Ridge Road historical marker was removed for a short time while Ridge Ridge was being expanded into a six-lane with a raised median highway. It was placed in the care of the Greece Historical Society. The sign was reinstalled and now sits on the edge of the sidewalk and the strip plaza.
This sign was originally located right as soon as you walked out of the front doors of Greece Memorial Town Hall and to the left of the Flag pole on the sidewalk in the picture above. Headline from March 24, 1960, Greece Press,Strip Plaza at the location where the old Greece Memorial Town Hall stood, Photo Bill Sauers
How much do you think it cost now to start a road like the Ridge, back then in 1813 New York State appropriated $5,000 for construction work that cost would be only $90,346.56 this was mainly to cut down trees and build basic bridges over streams this does not include the veteran’s bridge over the Genesee River, Mount Read bridge, and the bridge at Ridge and I-390/NY-390. Those bridges would be built during Part 2 of the Ridge which will be next week.
We cover more on the Rowe Tavern in our look into the neighborhoods of Greece, which will be called ADA (Ridge) note that this is the only neighborhood that uses the ridge in its title.
Falls Hotel / Rowe Tavern
Stone Tavern
Travelers often stopped for the night at one of the two-story taverns along the Ridge, such as the Stone Tavern, or the Rowe Tavern.
Stage Coach Loaded with passengers in the 1860s from the Office of the Town Historian
Even though Railroads and by the time these taverns were open for business most of the transportation to these establishments was by stagecoach, and as many as twelve people might be stuffed inside the coach, but that was perhaps better than having to ride outside while being subjected to all kinds of weather that mother nature could unleash during this time period.
There were a number of small general stores that a lot of the early pioneers shopped at for daily goods and items they needed for daily living. Like Anderson General Store located at the southeast corner of Ridge Road and Mitchell Road and Gilbert C. Wagg’s emporium at Ridge Road and Pullman Ave, these two General stores as well as a well-known general store in the North Greece Area at Latta and North Greece Road will be featured in the bicentennial snapshot number 14 all about these general stores. Also, you can check out this article from October 2017, Corinthian called “A Tale of Two General Stores From Apples to Zithers” by Alan Muller
As for the nursery businesses, this was where Asa Rowe, the Lay Farm, the Ver Hulst Farm, and smaller farms operated from but most notably Asa, and the Lay Farm. In 1826, Asa Rowe established the first nursery business in Monroe County when he opened the MONROE GARDEN AND NURSERY on the north side of Ridge Road near where today, Mitchell, Long Pond, and Ridge Roads intersect. He offered a large selection of “fruit and ornamental trees, shrubs, herbaceous plants, bulbous roots, and green-house plants.” The opening of the Erie Canal made transportation fast and cheap and his nursery business thrived.
The Lay Farm, which later became the Ver Hulst Farm, now sits Bob Johnson’s Chevrolet.
Anderson General Store is located at the southeast corner of Ridge Road and Mitchell Road. circa 1912 Gilbert C. Wagg’s emporium was located at Ridge and Pullman Ave where Tim Horton’s is now located. and a portion of the smaller shops attached to Wagg’s still stands on Pullman Ave as apartments.
How many recognize these two buildings here?
Craig ApartmentsDavid Todd Mansion from History of Monroe County, W. H. McIntosh, 1877
Ridgemont Country ClubUpton Manor from GHS
These are two structures that can be seen on the ridge the first one on the left is the David Todd Mansion which became a small apartment complex and the one on the right is The Upton Manor which is now the site of Ridgemont Country Club. For more information check out this article from our newsletter about the Craig house called The Victorian Survivor on the Ridge by Alan Muller written for the September 2020 issue of the Corinthian.
We wonder how many of you know that George Eastman and Eastman Kodak Company started the first plant for filmmaking not in the City of Rochester but in Greece, New York. In the 1890s, George Eastman decided that 16 and a half acres of farmland in Greece, “out in the country” where there was fresh air, plenty of clean water, and railroad terminals, was ideal for his new film-making plant. He constructed it on the corner at Ridge and Lake across the street from Wagg’s Corner. The Town of Greece would never be the same. But that’s a tale for another episode.
This week we introduce you to Samuel and Lydia and George and Frances Latta, one of the preeminent families of the Town of Greece. They were members of the Valliant 33 group that fought to defend Charlotte and the port from the British in the war of 1812 Part 3 snapshot.
He was born 14 Apr 1776, in Walkill, Ulster co., New York to James and Sarah Jackson Latta. Some of his many accomplishments as a pioneer family of the town of Northhampton which covers both Towns of Gates and Greece until 1812 when the town was renamed, Gates then in 1822 the two towns split into Gates and Greece. Samuel Latta served as Town Supervisor in 1810 as seen in this map here. He was the first to build a warehouse at the port of Charlotte and was the first Collector of the port which was described in the snapshot Charlotte-Genesee Lighthouse. He surveyed and laid out a road from the river to Parma, today’s Latta Road.
Among Samuel’s accomplishments: he built the first warehouse at the mouth of the Genesee River, the first in all of this part of the country; he was the first collector of the Port of Charlotte; he surveyed and laid out a road from the river to Parma, today’s Latta Road.
George C. Latta
George C. Latta was born in 1795 in Walkill, Walkill, Ulster co., New York to James and Sarah Jackson Latta and brother to Samuel. George has some of the same talents as his brother did but he was an entrepreneurial powerhouse. He was the quintessential “self-made man.” The broad range of his investments and businesses included mercantile, forwarding, manufacturing, farming, and nursery operations.
One of the mercantile companies was for a clerk in the Frederick Bushnell and James K. Guernsey mercantile business in Charlotte.
After working in the mercantile business he went on to be the town supervisor from 1845 to 1849, a trustee of his church the Lake United Methodist Church, and he donated the land for the Charlotte Cemetery which is located at 20 River St in Charlotte is right across from where District 4 school was located and now is the site of Rochester Engine 19 Station.
W. M. Britton and Edward Frisbee were not the only town supervisors and or families that help with education and land to be used for a school, In 1837 George Latta donated a site at the North side of Stutson St. A new one-room brick building replaced the old one. In 1837 bricks used for the building were made on site. In the 1860s the school was overcrowded with 1 teacher handling 80 students. In 1868 a new school was built at the corner of Latta Rd and River Streets. In 1893 a two-story addition was completed at a cost of $ 6,200. In 1907 a second school was constructed on-site. After annexation, Rochester built school # 38 on Latta Rd in 1928 and put on an addition in 1953. The evolution of education in the town may be another snapshot altogether as some other things that George C Latta did as supervisor of the town of Greece can be viewed on the digital kiosk at the museum in the section labeled supervisors of Greece.
Grave stone of George C LattaDistrict 4 on the land that George C Latta donated for the construction of this school
An Article was written by Joan Sullivan about George C Latta a Pioneer, Merchant, and Entrepreneur those who would like to read that article can it be read here
For more about these two pioneer families check out our pioneer families displays in the dining room at the museum Sundays from 1:30 pm to 4 pm. If you are into reading you might want to pick up a copy of Pioneer Families of the Town of Greece: Volume 1 now available in our gift shop or on amazon. Also, some of this information is in Eight Miles Along the Shore as well which is another great book about the town’s history.
All video and post-production are done by Pat Worboys and Narration and script are by Maureen Whalen. Most of the photos in the clip are from the Greece Historical Society’s archives, Greece Town Historian’s Office, and the Greece Post, the rest are creative commons licenses which are provided in the video.
This week we conclude our three-part presentation on the attacks along the Greece shores of Lake Ontario during the War of 1812. Today we look at the battle fought on May 15, 1814. What occurred then never made it into any national history books, but is legendary in local history. Initially, 33 men from the volunteer militia responded to the sighting of the British fleet at the mouth of the Genesee River and fooled Commodore Sir James Yeo into thinking that they were “a substantial force” until more regiments could join them to turn away the enemy.
The Valiant 33
We know 17 these names of and members of the Valiant 33:
Isaac Stone, Francis Brown, Elisha Ely, Abelard Reynolds, Hamlet Scranton, Jehiel Barnard, Hervey Ely, Jesse Hawley, Silas O. Smith, Oliver Colby, Sam Latta‡§, George Latta*§Thomas King†, Bradford King†, Zaccheus Colby‡, Eastman Colby, Frederick Rowe
Note the symbols next to some of the names
*- Greece Town Supervisor
† – They are the Sons of Giddon King more on King’s Landing is in King’s Landing
‡ – They are Town of Northhampton Supervisors, not Gates or Greece – The town of Gates was formed in 1813 when the town changed its name to Gates, and for more information on the forming of the town of Greece check out the first snapshot of How Greece was formed
§- The Latta Family, Sam and George are brothers, born in Walkill, Ulster co., New York. More on the Latta Family in Snapshot #10 and in the publications Eight Miles Along the Shore and the latest book Pioneer Families of Greece Volume 1.
Samuel Latta’s War of 1812 Card
Sketch of what appears to be the Frederick Bushnell and James K. Guernsey mercantile business at the mouth of the Genesee River or the
One of the Wearhouse that was hit was near Frederick Bushnell’s and James K. Guernsey’s mercantile business located in the Port.
The war of 1812 did last till February 18th, 1815 but there were so many small battles and wars in this battle, was the British attempting to retake the colony back and make America regret its choice to become its own country on July 4th, 1776.
General Peter Porter arrived that afternoon in time to receive a second flag. The British demanded that they surrender the provisions or they would land an army and 400 Indians. There were now 600 to 800 men on the east and west sides of the river ready to fight. Not knowing how many men were defending Charlotte, Yeo sailed away from the mouth of the Genesee on the morning of May 16, 1814.
General Peter Porter sent a message back to the Governor of New York that day stating:
“We saved the town and our credit by fairly outbullying John Bull.”
General Peter Porter
General Peter Porter Years of service 1812–1815 Rank: Major General
Sir Commodore James Lucas Yeo
“At the Genesee, the enemy had a substantial force.”
Sir James Yeo wrote in his report to his superior officers:
Eight Miles Along the Shore By Virginia Tomkiewicz and Shirley Cox HustedPioneer Families of the Town of Greece – Vol. 1
This week we consider King’s Landing, the First European Settlement, and Lake Port west of the Genesee River. Natives of Sheffield, Connecticut, in 1797. the King and Granger families established a settlement on the banks of the Genesee River. They cut roads, built a bridge over the ravine, cleared the land, built a wharf and a schooner, sailed to Fort Niagara with their first load of produce and wheat, killed rattlesnakes, and went about their daily lives until the settlement was decimated by malaria or Genesee Fever as it was called then. In 1807, the seven Hanford brothers renewed the King’s Landing settlement and built a mill, hotel, and shipping center. More on Handford’s Tavern involvement in the War of 1812 Part 1.
The King’s Landing Bicentennial Snapshot was compiled by Lee Strauss, and Joseph Vitello, using notes by Helen Edson Slocum, Narrated by Maureen Whalen.
For more on King’s Landing check out: Eight Miles Along The Shore by Virginia Tomkiewicz and Shirley Cox Husted is the first book you should pick up.
There is a copy of King’s Landing, A History of the First Settlement west of the Genesee River in the State of New York 1797 by Helen Edson Slocum available in our reference library for research only.
Don’t forget to, check out the Digital Kiosk inside the Newcomb Museum Wing has a fully interactive exhibit on King’s Landing.
Eight Miles Along the Shore By Virginia Tomkiewicz and Shirley Cox Husted
This week on the Bicentennial snapshot, we take a look at The Hinchers. They were the first European settlers on the shore of Lake Ontario, on the west side of the Genesee, between here and the Niagara This week we introduce you to the Hincher Family, the first European settlers west of the Genesee River. William Hincher, the patriarch of the family, was a veteran of the Revolutionary War and a participant in Shays’ Rebellion. In 1792, he brought his wife, Mehitable, and their eight children to western New York, settling on the west bank of the Genesee River where the Charlotte-Genesee Lighthouse stands today.
Eight Miles Along the Shore By Virginia Tomkiewicz and Shirley Cox Husted
If you would enjoy reading books about history, then here is a list of books related to this snapshot: The Eight Miles Along The Shore by Virginia Tomkiewicz and Shirley Cox Husted is the first book you should pick up. Please visit the online gift shop located on our website or stop in to see our selection during our scheduled hours.
Sources and credits for the graphics used are given either in the lower third portion of an image or at the end of the video.
The Greece Historical Society presents these weekly Bicentennial Snapshots to mark the 200th Anniversary of the founding of the Town of Greece. Each week we feature a particular aspect of Greece, New York history. Each Bicentennial story will be unique in nature and over the course of the 52 episodes, you will learn about the people and events that comprise the vibrant history of Greece from its earliest days to the present.
In this week’s Bicentennial Snapshot, we will look at the indigenous people of the Genesee Valley, the Onödowá’ga (the Seneca). Onödowá’ga means “People of the Great Hill.” They have always lived in western New York, and the Town of Greece is on their land. As part of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy, they were “the keepers of the Western Door.”
Map of Town of Greece, New York, Exhibiting known aboriginal villages campsites and trails. Presented to the Rochester Historical Society by Harrison C. Follett in 1918. Seen on pg 15 in Eight Miles Along the Shore
Numerous tribal sites have existed in Greece, New York, particularly near Braddock Bay, where they would camp during the summer months to hunt and trap game and gather cranberries from the bogs of Cranberry Pond. To the left is a drawing of a map showing all the locations of the Onödowá’ga campsites, villages, trails, and burial sites in the town of Greece.
Suppose you would like to learn more about the Onödowá’ga or the Seneca. In that case, we have a chapter called Indian “Giants” in the Earth in the book Eight Miles Along the Shore, is where you can learn more about where they lived in the town and the discovered archaeological sites.
Eight Miles Along the Shore By Virginia Tomkiewicz and Shirley Cox Husted
Haudenosaunee mural Painted by Walt Goulding
The cover art for this clip was the mural painting that is in the Haudenosaunee exhibit area before entering the Newcomb Museum Wing. The mural was painted by a long-time member and former President of the Historical Society’s Walt Goulding.
This week, we look at the founding of the town of Greece, from the inception of Ontario and Genesee Counties to the creation of Monroe County and the Town of Greece. During the session of the 45th, New York State Legislature convened on March 22, 1822, and the New York Senate approved dividing Gates into two Towns, Gates and the newly formed Town of Greece. This decree went into effect on April 1, 1822.
Each story is researched, written, and narrated by retired librarian and local historian Maureen Whalen; she has a unique style of storytelling that makes each Bicentennial Snapshot come alive and easy for everyone to understand.
Sources and credits for the graphics used are given either in the lower third portion of an image or at the end of the video.
The video is Produced By: Pat Worboys, who manages the video and Information Technology services for the Greece Historical Society and Museum.
