USA > New York > Erie County > Our County and Its People: A Descriptive Work on Erie County, New York (Volume 1) > Part 43
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The Church of Our Lady of Mercy was organized in 1874 and a church building was completed in the next year, and a parochial school established. St. Stephen's church was organized in De- cember, 1875, and the house of worship on Elk street was built immediately thereafter; a parochial school is connected with the church. Church of the Blessed Sacrament, Delaware avenue, brick and stone edifice, opened in May, 1889. Church of the Annunciation, organized 1888. St. Columb- kill's, organized 1887; St. Agnes church (English and German), Benzinger street. Church of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Alabama street, organized and built 1897. St. Theresa's church, Caze- novia street, organized and built 1807. Church of the Holy Name of Jesus, and St. Nicholas church. St. Anthony of Padua church was organized in 1890 by a congregation of Italians. In addition to these there is the Polish Church of the Assumption at Depew, built in 1897, and a mis- sion at Kenmore established in 1897. There are ten German Catholic churches in the city, which are noticed in the chapter on the Germans of Buffalo. Chapels are connected with many of the Catholic institutions, and nearly all of the church societies have parochial schools under their charge. Scores of benevolent and charitable institutions, hospitals, asylums, and other institu- tions are maintained in active usefulness by the Roman Catholics of Buffalo, to which detailed reference in these pages is impossible.
" As the demand for gas increased other companies were organized for its manufacture. The Buffalo Mutual Gaslight Company was organized in December, 1870, but did not begin manufac- turing gas until February, 1873. The first officers were A. Reynolds, president; David Ransom, vice-president; Albert G. Stevens, secretary. Succeeding to the Buffalo Oxygen and Hydrogen Gas Company was the Citizens' Gas Company; the former was organized in the early part of 1871, with John B. Griffin, president. In 1873 the property of the company was sold under a mortgage and the Citizens' Company was established in December of that year, with Jacob F. Schoellkopf, president; John H. Vought, vice-president; E. S. Wheeler, secretary; C. Rodenbach, treasurer. In September, 1807, these three companies sold out to a New York syndicate for $5,000,000. Electric 47
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370
OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.
The act incorporating the Buffalo City Water Works Company was passed by the Legislature March 15, 1849, the incorporators being George Coit, Walter Joy, William A. Bird, Orlando Allen, Horatio Shumway, George R. Babcock, Isaac Sherman, Cyrenius Bristol, Oliver G. Steele, Thomas M. Foote, William Bucknell, jr., Henry W. Rogers, William Coffin, and Aaron D. Patchen. The capital stock of the com- pany was $200,000, with authority to increase it to $500,000. The meeting for formal organization was held February 7, 1850. On the 11th of March of that year the Common Council adopted a resolution by the terms of which the city was to become a subscriber to the com- pany's stock to the amount of $100,000; no action was taken under this resolution. During the year 1850 the relative desirability of different sources of supply was discussed; the contract for erecting the works was let to Battin, Dungan & Co., of Philadelphia and Newark, N. J., who became large subscribers to the stock, and William J. McAlpine, a distinguished engineer, was employed to investigate sources of sup- ply, etc. There appears to have been a general belief that water should be taken from the bay southwest of the city; this source was objection- able to the engineer, chiefly on account of exposure of the works to ice and storms and increased cost. He favored the plan finally adopted of pumping from the river, with a reservoir situated on Prospect Hill. Lots 29 and 30 were purchased for a site for the works and lot 145 for the reservoir. The contract price was $375,000. Work on the shaft and tunnel was commenced July 29, 1850, on the reservoir August 12, and on the pumping works September 12. During that fall and the fol- lowing year pipes were laid in Main street and many other streets of the city. The reservoir was completed in November, 1851, and on December 3 the last pipe was laid on Niagara street connecting the res- ervoir with the distributing mains. River connection was soon estab- lished and pumping began December 19. On January 2, 1852, water was let into the pipes through the city, and on the 5th A. R. Ketcham was appointed superintendent, an office he held many years.'
lighting was commenced in Buffalo in July, 1881, by the Brush Electric Light Company, which or- ganized on the 1st of May of that year, with John F. Moulton, president; James Adams, vice- president; H. G. Nolton, secretary and treasurer. Incandescent lighting was introduced in 1882-83. The electric lighting of the city is now done by the Buffalo General Electric Company. Four power stations are maintained, supplying 8,000 arc and 25,000 incandescent lights.
1 A legislative act of May 7, 1868, authorized the city to issue bonds to the amount of $1,500,000 for the purchase by the city of the property of the Buffalo Water Works Company (the presidents of which have been Henry W. Rogers, 1850-54; Albert H. Tracy, 1855-59; Henry W. Rogers, 1860- 63). On August 15, 1853, the purchase of the entire plant of the company was consummated for
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371
FROM 1840 TO THE CIVIL WAR.
The police force of Buffalo was also placed upon a more efficient foundation during the period under consideration. As late as 1845
$705,000, the first Board of Water Commissioners being Henry W. Rogers, C. J. Wells, and James Ryan. Mr. Ketcham was superintendent until 1874, when George Holsey was appointed; he was succeeded in 1880 by A. R. Ketcham, who was followed on March 1, 182, by Louis H. Knapp. The present superintendent is Francis G. Ward. The water works is now a part of the Department of Public Works. The following statistics show the growth and condition of the system under mu- nicipal ownership to January 1, 1897.
Pipe laid each year
Revenue.
Maint'nance and repairs.
Extensions and improve- ments.
Bought from old Company
38
4,758
$111,123 42
1870. From July 1, 1869, to Dec. 81. 1870
21
899
159,665 88
1871
11
1,810
124,865 00
1872
9
3,557
188,581 47
1878
4
1.961
168,267 20
77,447 60
308,600 46
1874
4
5,273
176,219 01
66,218 50
307,355 64
1875
4
1,966
184,516 48
64,862 37
159,098 75
1877
1
745
200,183 28
55,230 50
48,555 32
1879
5
247
215,558 44
60,983 67
161,883 89
1881
12
3.276
210,031 46
76,629 09
201,487 10
1882
16
1,655
362,762 07
79,105 90
160.617 81
1883
18
5,185
426,588 93
87,193 53
200,029 90
1884
14
2,402
382,581 64
81,078 88
186,623 92
1885
27
1,474
444,424 70
92,438 30
327,918 82
1886
888
477,209 57
95,031 04
342,493 57
1887.
21
2,780
476,411 87
127,065 25
209,542 10
1888
21
1,250
494,777 52
143,125 76
428,505 68
1889
26
4,889
542,952 35
145,822 98
595,642 29
1890
26
3,190
595,456 94
143,091 79
820;063 73
1891.
26
861
555,910 78
136,941 62
418,094 78
1892.
99
588
590,750 73
170,032 80
428,721 78
1893.
35
1,508
813,493 00
203,357 99
393,694 30
1894
34
1,657
712,728 21
218,820 64
494,440 96
1895 1
25
3,069
642,023 40
291,339 75
321,387 99
1896.
10
4,093
641,807 56
495,139 07
456,548 32
WATER BONDS OUTSTANDING.
DATE OF ISSUE.
Rate of Interest.
When Due.
Amount.
·
Sept.
1, 1878.
1-1-
per cent
Sept.
1, 1903
$200,000 00
April
1, 1874 ..
April
1, 1905
100,000 00
July
1, 1874. .
July
1, 1906
100,000 00
Aug.
1, 1874 ..
Aug.
1, 1908
100,000 00
Oct.
1, 1874.
1-
t-
Aug.
1, 1909
100,000 00
July
1, 1876.
July
1, 1× !*;
100,000 00
Sept.
2, 187%.
5
Sept.
2, 1898
50,000 00
April
25. 1879.
5
April
25, 1898
100,000 00
April 26, 1880.
5
April
26, 1899
100,000 00
July
1, 1880.
4
July
1, 1904
50,000 00
Sept.
1, 1890.
4
Sept.
1, 1904
100,000 00
Nov.
26. 1880 ..
4
Nov.
26. 1897
64,000 00
April 25, 1881
...
4
E
April
25, 1900
100,000 00
1 From this date all water has been furnished city buildings and city service free.
Digitized by
1
3,340
191,835 84
61,474 22
106,900 21
1876
2,980
189,296 90
57,553 27
17,014 05
1878
2,530
205,415 75
54,497 22
11,457 50
1880.
$69,228 74
$355,492 46
From 1868 to July 1, 1869 ..
1
2,946
Miles.
Feet.
YEARS.
...
Oct.
1, 1908
79,328 00
Aug.
1, 1875.
372
OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.
the city had only a captain and eight watchmen, as they were then designated, to preserve public peace. At that time the mayor called
WATER BONDS OUTSTANDING-CONTINUED.
DATE OF ISSUE.
Rate of Interest.
When Due.
Amount.
April
1, 1884.
4 per cent.
April
1, 1901
$90,000 00
July
1, 1885.
July
1, 1905
100,000 00
Oct.
1, 1886.
316
Oct.
1, 1903
100,000 00
Mar.
1, 1887.
312
Mar.
1, 1906
100,000 00
April
1, 1887.
April
1, 1906
50,000 00
June
1, 18.
June
1, 1902
100,000 (0)
June
15, 1828.
June
15, 1908
57,500 00
June
15, 1888
34
June
15, 1914
275.000 00
Dec.
1, 183.
34
May
1, 1919
225,000 00
Aug.
1, 1889.
316
Oct.
1, 1909
145,000 00
Jan.
1, 1890.
31
Jan.
2, 1910
50,000 00
July
1. 1830.
316
Jan.
1, 1911
100,000 00
Aug.
1, 1891 ..
Aug.
1, 1911
50,000 00
Nov.
1, 1891.
4
Nov.
1, 1911
100,000 00
Oct.
1, 1892.
816
Oct.
1, 1912
100,000 00
Dec.
1, 1892.
316
Dec.
1, 1912
100,000 00
July
1, 1894.
July
1, 1914
180,000 00
Jan.
1, 1896.
Tan.
1, 1916
50,000 00
Sept. 25, 1897.
Sept.
25, 1917
400,000 00
Total.
$4,015,882 00
PRESENT STANDING OF THE PRINCIPAL WATER WORKS AC- COUNTS, JANUARY 1, 1897.
ITEMS.
Jan. 1, 1895.
Added two years, 1895 and 1896.
Standing Jan. 1, 1897.
Original purchase.
$705,000 00
$705,000 00
Real estate, including taxes.
110,826114
110,826 14
Engines.
611,992 67
$58,574 75
670.507 42
Holly pumping house.
12,092/25
12,092 25
Holly pumping machinery
41,307 41
41,307 41
New engine house
86,478 84
86,478 34
Gas well.
12,646 08
12,646 08
Bird Island inlet pier and tunnel.
613,480 04
618,480 04
Main pipes, branches, hydrants, etc.|
4,812,495 07
429,465 51
5,250,960 58
Coal and boiler house and chimney .! Coal tunnel.
4,524 53
4,524 58
New valve house.
910 70
910 70
Overhead crossing.
1,447 8
1,447 87
New boiler house.
8,497 19
8,497 19
Electric light plant.
3.68, 24
3,687 24
Repairs, boilers, and moving same .. New boilers.
5,417 65
5,417 65
New buildings
105,817 86
105,817 86
Ice elevators.
א! 1,737
1,787 98
New reservoir.
559.273 51
559,273 51
Electric light and telephone cable
1.330 30
2,125 80
R. R. tracks, lower pumping station
2.220 591
2,220 50
Tunnel No. 2, conduits and wells.
:32.421 05]
$2,481 05
Coal trestle and switch ..
2,120 58
2,180 58
New horses.
1,495 00
125 00
1,620 00
Ventilators
NO 99
800 99
Conduits and wells.
13,930 12
18,576 80
32,506 92
New furnaces ..
21,000 00
21,000 00
Digitized by
1
·
Dec.
1, 1909
100,000 00
May
1, 1889
Aug.
1, 1909
100,000 00
Oct.
1, 1889
July
1, 1910
100,000 00
Jan.
1, 1891.
26,711 53
26,711 53
21,658 00
26,021 00
48,279 00
795 00
373
FROM 1840 TO THE CIVIL WAR.
attention to the fact that the city, with about 20,000 population, was unprotected by efficient police. Two years later the force was in- creased to a total of fourteen officers. From 1840 to 1845 the watch- men received seven shillings a night for their services; the captain, one dollar. Such was the crude method of preserving the peace down to 1855. In that year Samuel Bagnall was elected chief of police, but the records of his term of office, if any were kept, have disappeared, with the exception of notes of sundry arrests. An important change was made in 1857 by which the mayor, with consent of the council, was authorized to appoint a chief of police, captains, policemen and police constables; such officers to hold for a term of three years, unless sooner removed for cause or by resignation. Robert H. Best succeeded Chief Bagnall and entered upon his duties in 1858, with eleven policemen under him. Chief Best resigned after three years of service, and was suc- ceeded by George Drullard; he resigned April 1, 1863, and Charles Darcy was appointed and was the last of the chiefs under the old dis- pensation, which went out of existence in 1866, as noticed farther on.
The census of 1850 gave the population of Erie county as 100,- 993, an increase of 22,358 in the preceding five years; Buffalo was given 42,261, an increase during that period of 12,488. The city had
PRESENT STANDING OF THE PRINCIPAL WATER WORKS AC- COUNTS, JANUARY 1, 1KG-CONTINUED.
ITEMS.
Jan. 1, 1895.
Added two years, 1895 and 1896.
Standing Jan. 1, 1897.
Lower suction pipe.
$863 52
$863 52
Tunnel No. 3.
$51,646 87
51,646 87
New plant.
2,349 98
2.949 98
Rebuilding Worthington engines ..
50,000 00
50,000 00
Coal house and retaining wall.
345 67
345 67
Iron house, boiler, etc ..
1,654 00
1,654 00
Raising roof s. boiler house
385 00
785 00
Total.
$7.831,304 21
$640,939 58| $8,472,243 79
The pumping plant consists of eight engines with a total capacity of 145,000,000 gallons every twenty-four hours, as follows :
Engine No. 1, Worthington
10,000,000 gallons.
"
3.
15,000,000
4, Gaskili.
15,000,000
=
"
5,
20,000,000
..
20,000,000
..
20,000,000
"
8, Hammond.
30,000,000
Total.
145,000,000
Digitized by
15,000,000
374
OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.
just recovered from its second severe visitation of the cholera, which came in May, 1849, and during the summer months filled the streets with mourning and the people with fear and anxiety. Up to the last day of May 134 cases were reported, with fifty-one deaths. From that date to September 10 the daily number of cases ranged from fifteen to nearly one hundred, and the deaths from one to twenty-five. The total number of cases in the city was a little more than 3,000 and the deaths nearly 900. The Board of Health fought the pestilence with vigor, but was unable to master it until it had thus wrought its will. Many of the inhabitants of the city fled to the country, where they were not always warmly welcomed. The disease found its way to some of the towns near by the city, but in a less fatal form.
The decade from 1850 to the breaking out of the Civil war was one of remarkable prosperity in Erie county, with the exception of the year 1857, during which a financial crisis was reached and a panic and strin- gency followed similar in character and consequences to that of twenty years before. The population of the county increased during the decade to 132,331 in 1855 and to 141,971 in 1860; in the city the gain was from 42,261 in 1850, to 74, 214 in 1855, and to 81,129 in 1860- almost doubling in the ten years. The great West sent down its im- mense and rapidly increasing grain product to swell the commercial importance of Buffalo and inspire her business men with hopeful en- thusiasm. In 1850 3,681,347 bushels of wheat were received by lake, and ten years later the quantity had reached the enormous total of 18,502,649 bushels. During the same period the receipts of corn in- creased from 2,593,378 bushels in 1850 to 11,386, 217 in 1860. Other lines of trade and manufacture, even to the modest store of the country merchant in the distant village, felt the impulse of this lake business.'
1 Capt. A. Walker, in a paper deposited with the Historical Society, gives the following list of men and firms who were in business on the Buffalo docks in 1848-50, many of whom had been engaged in commercial business from its infancy : Israel T. Hatch, Joel Thayer, Seymour & Wells, James G. Gibson. H. W. Millard & Co., Joseph Dart, Jason Parker, S. W. Howell, Russell H. Heywood, J. T. Noye, John R. Evans, Joseph B. Gardner, Evans & Dunbar, B. Spencer. Waldo & Mann, J. Myers & Co., Niles & Whalen, Abell & Gardner, Ressel & Eldridge, William Andrews, Mack & Hall, James D. Sawyer, Holt & Palmer, J. & C. Hitchcock, H. S. Beecher, A. W. Johnson, A. Chester, I. H. Bostwick, H. Williams, William B. Harmon, R. Haskill, A. Morrison & Co., F. R. Townsend, George W. Tifft, R. Farnsworth. Morris Hazard, Monteath & Sherman, William Stimpson, Dean Richmond, W. H. Bement & Co., Hayes & Johnson, William Buckley, O. W. Ranney, H. B. Walbridge & Co., Bement & Ruden, William A. Brown, Ward & Co., M. S. Hawley, Hamilton Rainey, William Foote, Kent & Carley, Richard P. Wilkins, James Murray, Philo Durfee & Co., E. Root, Cobb & Co., Isaac S. Smith, Charles Holland, John G. Brown & Co., S. Purdy & Co., H. O. Corwin & Co., Coats & Folger, S. H. Fish, G. S. Hazard, Joseph E. Follett, A. W. Cutler, George W. Allen, Simon Spearman, Henry Daw, Fleeharty &
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FROM 1840 TO THE CIVIL WAR.
Railroad facilities were improved and extended, many of the lines point- ing to Buffalo as a central point for termini and connections. Exten- sive public improvements were inaugurated in the city and many insti- tutions founded to contribute to the general advancement.
As Buffalo prospered, so did the farmers in the outlying towns. Their crops were uniformly good and their market always open and compara- tively easy of access. Before 1855 most of the old pine stumps, which had long resisted the decaying effects of time, and around which the farmer had for many years reluctantly driven his plow, were pulled from their beds and laid in the now seldom seen stump fences. Even on the back roads the farms now showed noticeable improvement in buildings, stock and care in tillage. Agricultural methods began to change at this time. Notwithstanding the general improvement mentioned, the quantity of grain raised in the county did not increase. This was owing to the fact that the farmers were beginning to appreciate the importance of dairy- ing, which has in recent years become so large a factor in their busi- ness; they also found it more and more profitable to produce hay, pota- toes and other vegetables for the Buffalo market.
Meanwhile the German element was rapidly increasing both in city and country. The European disturbances of 1848 gave a powerful impulse to German emigration, and many of the sturdy wanderers found their way to this county. Some of these brought money and almost none were at all destitute. All were endowed with habits of frugality and industry, which could not fail to bring to them a good measure of success. Many of these German settlers located near their countrymen who had already made homes in Collins, Eden, Hamburg, Cheektowaga, and Lancaster, while large numbers settled in Batavia and Genesee streets in Buffalo and soon spread over the whole northeastern part of
Warren, Robert Allen, Allen W. Norton, J. Nottingham, S. Strong, William Chard, S. Brown, J. M. Smith, Joseph Plumb, Maxwell & Co., Bemis & Brothers, I. H. Hooker, Joy & Chapin, William Howard & Co., D. N. Barney & Co., H. H. Sizer, Edwin Thomas, Charles C. Hall, and H. M. Kinne.
The following quotation is from a paper prepared by Sanford B. Hunt, descriptive of com- mercial affairs of that time : "Passenger steamboats were in their glory, numerous lines leav- ing daily, crowded with passengers, advertised with wonderful pertinacity by the class of 'runners,' very remarkable men in their way, and adding to the seductions of this persuasive system, the charms of music discoursed at all hours from the guards of the steamboats. Eleva- tors were only an experiment then, and a vast number of 'longshoremen were supported by the labor of handling freight by inconvenient processes. . Canal boats were small but numerous, and the result was a business which advertised itself by its own bustle and by the crowd which was constantly maintained in the narrow quarters where it was transacted and through which every stranger passed on his way east or west."
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376
OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE,
the city and became an important element in the business life of the community.
One of the most interesting features of this German immigration was that known as the Ebenezer Society. This association of Germans, mostly emigrants from Rhenish Prussia and Hesse, purchased of the Ogden Company about 8,000 acres of land situated in the present town of West Seneca, including the old Indian village. The colony came over in 1844-45 and occupied their lands, which covered a large portion of the central and northern parts of the town. The whole number of the emigrants was about 2,000. They took the name Ebenezer, though among themselves they were known as the Community of Inspiration. They established two villages of considerable importance and one ham- let, which were designated as Lower Ebenezer, Middle Ebenezer, and Upper Ebenezer, the latter the smaller of the three and situated in what is now the town of Elma. They built a saw and grist mill, a tannery and a few houses on Cazenove Creek a short distance south of Lower Ebenezer, and later erected a woolen factory and mill on Buffalo Creek, above Middle Ebenezer, calling that place New Ebenezer. This pecul- iar society held their property in common and was incorporated by an act of the Legislature. The entire control of the property and the management of affairs was vested in a board of managers, the leading member of which was for a number of years Charles Meyer, who had been a merchant in Brazil and was a competent business man; their legal adviser was George R. Babcock, of Buffalo. Their villages were composed of large frame houses, each of which held several families. In these houses the cooking was done in a large kitchen, the meals were served at a common table, but each family had a separate bed- room. Their discipline and morals were severe and strict, and they never had trouble with their neighbors or the authorities. Pauperism and crime were unknown among them. Their products were always the best to be had and their prosperity was marked. Their religious beliefs were peculiar and little known to their American neighbors. This social and business experiment was successful financially, but not in other respects. While their land under careful tillage quadrupled in value, many of their young men and women became uneasy and dissatisfied under the strict discipline. Buffalo was near at hand, where thousands of other Germans were living under very different circum- stances, which appealed forcibly to the young people of the Ebenezer district. Public opinion, too, looked with disfavor upon a community
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877
FROM 1840 TO THE CIVIL WAR.
living in a manner so at variance with American customs. Their char- ter was for sixteen years and it seemed doubtful if it would be renewed. These conditions, with the desire for more land, led the society in 1856 to purchase a large tract in Iowa, and to sell their property in West Seneca. In this business Mr. Babcock continued to act as their agent and in the early part of 1857 made some sales; but the financial strin- gency of that year closed all similar sales. With the coming of better times the sales continued at reduced prices, and the society conscien- tiously reimbursed the purchasers who had paid the higher prices at the beginning. The managers soon began transferring their people to Iowa and between that time and 1863 all were removed. Their lands, mills, etc., were mostly purchased by other Germans-the mills at Caz- enove Creek, with 60 acres of land, were sold to John Saxe for $10,000. The woolen factory at Middle Ebenezer passed into possession of J. Schoeflin & Son, who removed the machinery and engaged in the man . ufacture of cider mills, horse powers, etc The factory at New Ebene- zer was burned. The Ebenezer post-office was retained at Lower Ebenezer, and a new one opened at Middle Ebenezer with the name of Gardenville.
On the 15th of October, 1850, the town of Hamburg, which had remained unchanged since its formation in 1812, was divided and the new town of Ellicott erected, comprising all but the two western tiers of lots in township 9, range 7. The first election was held in the following spring. The name of the town was not satisfactory and it was changed to East Hamburg, February 20, 1852.
On the 16th of October, 1851, the new town of Seneca was formed, the territory being wholly within the boundaries of the Buffalo Creek Reservation and comprising that part of the reservation formerly em- braced in the towns of Black Rock, Cheektowaga, Hamburg and East Hamburg. The Ebenezer colony comprised the greater part of its inhabitants. On March 25, 1852, the name of this town was changed to West Seneca.
Three other new towns were formed in the next two years, which may as well be noticed here. On October 19, 1852, Grand Island was set off from Tonawanda, and on November 24 following the town of North Collins was formed from Collins, with the name Shirley; the name was changed on June 24, 1853. On December 2, 1853, the town of Marilla was formed, which comprised all of the Buffalo Creek
48
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378
OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.
Reservation within the limits of Wales and Alden, excepting the mile- and-a-half strip on the north side. Marilla was the last town but one erected in Erie county.
In 1850 the Buffalo and Rochester Railroad Company was formed by the consolidation of the Buffalo and Attica company (before described) and a company which had constructed a road from Attica to Rochester, and in 1852 opened a new direct line from Buffalo to Batavia and sold its line from Buffalo to Attica to the New York City Railroad Com- pany. The latter leased this line to the New York and Erie Company, which built a branch from Attica to Hornellsville, thus forming a con- tinuous line from Buffalo to New York; this whole line was ready for traffic in 1852. In the same year the Buffalo and New York City Com- pany ' opened a line of road from Buffalo to Batavia, near the line of the Central track, thence eastward to Avon, and thence southeastward to Corning. In a short time, however, the track between Buffalo and Batavia was taken up, while the line beyond Batavia went under con- trol of the Erie company.
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