USA > New York > Erie County > Our County and Its People: A Descriptive Work on Erie County, New York (Volume 1) > Part 64
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Hamburg village had a population in 1880 of 758; in 1890 it was 1,331; and at the present time it is estimated at about 2,000. The village contains 7 general stores, 2 groceries, 2 drug stores, 2 clothing stores, 2 jewelry stores, 2 furniture stores, 2 hardware stores, 2 shoe stores, 3 meat markets, 2 merchant tailors, 3 millinery stores, 2 banks, a weekly newspaper, 3 printing offices, 10 hotels, a canning factory, 1 flouring mill, a planing mill, 2 coal dealers, 2 harness shops, 2 shoe- makers, 2 livery stables, 3 cigar manufacturers, 8 blacksmith shops; a news and notion store, 2 photograph galleries, 5 physicians, 5 dentists, 6 lawyers, a union and 2 parochial schools, and 7 religious societies and 6 churches. In the vicinity are also a number of poultry yards.
Abbott's Corners (Armor post-office), from 1812 to 1850, was the chief business place in the town. It lies near the line between Ham- burg and East Hamburg, and had its nucleus in the tavern of Jacob Wright, who came there about 1807, and who gave it the name of Wright's Corners. After the close of the war of 1812-15 Seth Abbott arrived and about 1820 opened another tavern; later he built a large brick hotel, and from him the place has since been popularly known as Abbott's Corners. Harry Abbott, his son, opened the first store, and when the post-office, named Hamburg, was established there was ap- pointed the first postmaster. About 1850 the office was moved to Hamburg village and later the present post-office, called Armor, was established. Seth Abbott's hotel passed successively to Chauncey Abbott, William Titus, jr., Reuben Newton and (in 1861) Louis Hepp.
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About 1821 Sabin Weld built a tannery, which, after many years, was sold to George Lamb, who removed it to Buffalo. The first physician was Dr. William Warriner, who came before the war of 1812. Dr. Pringle settled there about 1820. Charles B. Hyde, the first lawyer, came to Abbott's Corners about 1825. Among the merchants who followed Harry Abbott were George White, Cushing Swift, Philander Rathbone and Louis Hepp. Mr. Hepp has been a hotel-keeper and general merchant there since 1861. John Romler has been a long- time wagonmaker and postmaster.
After 1850 the business interests and importance of Abbott's Cor- ners rapidly diminished, until now there are but 1 store, 2 hotels, 2 blacksmiths, 1 church, etc. A Congregational church was organized about 1817 and an edifice erected in 1825; about 1850 the building was sold and the society became Presbyterian. The First Methodist Epis- copal church was built in 1857. A Baptist society was organized in August, 1894, but soon disbanded.
Abbott's Road is a station on the Erie Railroad about one mile north- west of Abbott's Corners.
Water Valley, situated on Eighteen-mile Creek about a mile south- west of Hamburg village, has been chiefly noted as the best mill site in the town. At a very early date John Porter had a woolen factory there; it passed to Charles Haviland & Son, was burned in 1869, and on the site O. C. Pierce erected the present grist mill of Arnold Pierce & Son, the daily capacity of which is about 200 barrels of flour. Later Edward Hunt built a foundry and planing mill where his father formerly manufactured agricultural implements. The foundry is now owned by Stewart Brothers. In 1883 Dietrich & O'Brien established a furniture factory which was subsequently burned. The first store was opened by Sterling Mallory, who was succeeded by Jesse Bartoo about 1848; the latter was followed by his son, who discontinued the business about 1873, and since then no store has been conducted there .. Water Valley now contains little else than the foundry and grist mill.
Big Tree is a small hamlet and station on the Erie Railroad, north of Hamburg village, and where the White's Corners road crosses the Big Tree road, near Bush Creek.
Windom is a post-office and station on the Buffalo, Rochester & Pitts- burg Railroad and on the town line between Hamburg and East Ham- burg. .
Blasdell, situated in the north part of the town, is a brisk village
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founded by Heman M. Blasdell, who purchased and laid out the site and opened the first store about 1885. It contains three large manu- facturing establishments, namely, a planing mill erected by J. I. Jewell in 1894, the stone-paper composition factory of Martin & Thacher, and an aeromotor factory. It also contains several stores and shops, a union school and a Brethren in Christ church, built in 1892. The Buffalo and Hamburg Electric Railway was constructed from Limestone Hill in West Seneca through Blasdell to Woodlawn Beach in 1895. In 1897 a terminal railroad was built from Blasdell to Depew as a "short cut " for the leading trunk lines. Besides these the village has stations on the Erie, the Lake Shore, the Western New York and Pennsylvania and the Nickel Plate Railroads.
The following are all summer resorts along the shore of Lake Erie, and are reached by one or more of the railroads which run parallel with the shore through the town.
Woodlawn Beach is is situated in the northwest corner of the town, six miles from Buffalo. It is the most popular resort, particularly for excursionists, on the Erie county shore of the lake.
Bay View is owned by the Bay View Rifle Association, and has long been noted for its rifle range.
Athol Springs contains the Fresh Air Mission Hospital, which was incorporated in 1894. For several years one or more hotels have been kept there. Lakeside Cemetery, incorporated July 3, 1895, was opened to the public August 22, 1896, and comprises 250 acres.
Hamburg-on-the-Lake, or West Hamburg, is a mile south of Athol Springs.
Wanakah is little more than a station on the three railroads.
Lake View is a railroad station in the southwest part of the town, and contains one hotel, the store of F. W. Cook, the factory of the Erie Cycle Company (built in 1895) and a union church (erected in 1892).
Idlewood lies in the southwest corner of the town, at the mouth of Eighteen-mile Creek. It is controlled by the Idlewood Association, which was organized in 1882, and has about twenty members, each of whom has a summer residence there.
TOWN OF HOLLAND.
The town of Holland is situated on the east line of Erie county, near the southeast corner, with Wales on the north, Colden on the west and Sardinia on the south. The town was formed April 15, 1818,
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from the territory of old Willink and then comprised the present town of Colden, which was set off in 1827. Holland comprises township 8, range 5 of the Holland survey, and contains thirty-six square miles, or 24,934 acres. Cazenove Creek flows northwesterly across the town, and Hunter's Creek drains the northeast part; a branch of Buffalo Creek drains the southeast corner. Most of the town is upland, with fertile valleys along the streams.
The territory of this town was first settled in 1807, when Arthur Humphrey, Abner Currier and Jared Scott bought farms in Cazenove Creek valley in the northwestern part. In 1808-09 Ezekiel Colby set- tled in the same valley, Nathan Colby located on Vermont Hill, as also did Jacob Farrington, east of the site of Holland village. Others who came in before the war of 1812 were Daniel Mckean, Harvey Colby, Samuel Miller, Increase Richardson, Sanford Porter, Theophilus Bald- win and Joseph Cooper.
Operations of considerable importance took place in this town during the war, as related in earlier chapters. A grist mill was begun dur- ing the war on the site of Holland village, which was bought and finished in 1814 by General Warren and Ephraim Woodruff; a saw mill was added in 1815.
Caleb Cutler settled in Holland in 1816 and his descendants still reside in the town. Joshua Barron opened the first tavern soon after the war, probably in 1816, and in the next year Leander Cook opened the first store near the first mills. George Burzette settled about 1819, and Stephen Parker and John Rufus Sleeper came in at about the same date. John Huff settled on West Hill in 1822, where Samuel Johnson had already located. Among other prominent settlers may be men- tioned :
Moses McCarthy, Isaac Dickerman, Nathaniel P. Davis, John H. Bucknam, R. W. Button, Jefferson Colby, Paige E. Cooper, son of Samuel Cooper, who came in 1810, Sylvester Curtis, Charles F. Button, Caleb Cutler, Benjamin F. Day, M. L. Dicker- man, Timothy Dustin, John Dustin, Jacob Farrington, Burt E. Farrington, Philip Fisher, Merritt Gould, Amos Gould. Lawrence W. Hawks, Lewis Hawks, Burritt Hayes, Saxton K. Jackson, James Kimball, Deloss W. Kimball, William Mabon, Charles S. Rice, Israel Rice, Dayton and Aaron Riley, James, Joseph, John O. and Philip D. Riley, all sons of James Riley, Leonard Sergel, Sidney S. Sleeper, John Sleeper, James M. Stanton, Austin A. Stickney, Jacob Wagoner, George Wagoner, Ira Ward, Roger D. Ward and Thomas Ward.
About 1850 German settlers began to locate in Holland along Hun- ter's Creek, and they soon became numerous. They organized a Ger-
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man Baptist church and built a small house of worship about 1850, which was superseded by a larger one in 1865; it is still in use and situated about three miles east of Holland village.
In the course of time the farmers of this town gave less attention to grain raising and devoted their energies more to dairying, and at the present time some of the largest and best dairy farmers in Erie county are residents of Holland. There are several cheese factories in opera- tion, part or all of which are in the combination of Richardson, Beebe & Co. The building of the Buffalo, New York and Philadelphia Rail- road across the town in 1871 gave the farmers and tradesmen better facilities for reaching markets and added a stimulus to the growth of Holland village, through which it passes.
Holland Village .- This place is situated a little southwest of the center of the town. The first mills, before mentioned, passed through the ownership of several persons, among whom were Robert Orr, Edgar O. Cheney, John McMillan, Jacob Wurst, to Paul J. Wurst, present operator. Amos Hill built a saw mill in 1820, which dis- appeared before 1840. Isaac Rich built another there, and a carding mill; the saw mill had various owners, one of whom put in grinding machinery. In 1862 Marcus Case, then owner of a saw mill, built a new and better one. In 1878 Ichabod N. Briggs built a new grist mill, which is still in operation.
Merchants of past years have been: Leander Cook (the first), Hoyt & Flinn, Hoyt & Adams, Howard & Riley, John O. Riley, Marcellus L. Dickerman, Perry D. Dickerman, A. M. Orr, C. A. Button, Jerome B. Morey, John F. Morey, Austin N. Stickney. William B. Jackson, Isaac B. and Frank W. Ellsworth (father and son), G. A. Crandall, Rodell J. Bowen, W. J. & N. A. Taber.
There are now in the village 4 general stores, 1 bank, 1 hardware store, 1 drug store, 1 jewelry store, 1 millinery store, a tannery, 2 grist mills, 2 saw mills, a clothes wringer factory (started in 1897), 3 hotels, 1 agricultural implement store, a newspaper, a shoe shop, 3 blacksmith shops, and a wagon shop.
In 1829 William Hoyt built a new hotel on the corner of Main and Virginia streets, which was subsequently kept by Anson Norton, Will- iam Crook, Vinal L. Morey, and for many years by Abner Orr, when it was known as Orr's Hotel; it was sold to settle his estate, was con- verted to other uses and burned in 1886. The site has not been rebuilt. The Holland House, new the New Lowry House, was built about 1835 by Jonathan Paul, who was succeeded by his son, David Paul, who
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conducted the house many years and was followed in the business by his widow. Later it had several proprietors, among them Seward H. Sears; it is now owned by C. C. Lowry, who gave the house its pres- ent name. The old Lowry House was built about 1873 by C. C. Lowry, who conducted it until it was burned in 1890, after which the present Holland House was erected on the site.
A. Rumsey & Son, of Buffalo, built a large tannery in 1850, which is now controlled by the United States Leather Co. Horace Selleck built a planing mill in 1876, which was subsequently burned. Edmund C. Wallash established a furniture business in 1876. Nathan and Homer Morey were early tanners and shoemakers.
The post-office at Holland was established in 1822, with Lyman Clark postmaster. Other postmasters in the village have been Elon Clark, Isaac Humphrey, Philip D. Riley, Nathan Morey, O. G. Rowley, Waterman Burlingham, Perry D. Dickerman, A. M. Orr, Chauncey G. Currier, Clayton A. Button, Frank W. Ellsworth, William B. Jackson, Walter J. Taber and Horace Selleck.
The Bank of Holland was incorporated October 21, 1893, with cap- ital of $25,000. First and present officers: William B. Jackson, pres- ident: Jacob Wurst, succeeded by Philip D. Riley, vice-president; George E. Merrill, cashier.
The Holland Water Works were incorporated in 1891. Officers: William B. Jackson, president; Jacob Wurst, succeeded by his son, Paul, vice-president; C. A. Button, succeeded by Charles M. Sill, sec- retary, Asher Cutler, treasurer. Water is obtained from springs a mile from the village and is distributed by gravity.
The Holland Fire Department was organized in November, 1893, with forty members. Henry Spaulding has always been foreman. The equipment consists of a hose cart, a hook and ladder truck. Firemen's Hall was built in 1896 at a cost of $2,000. William W. Bucknam has been president since the organization; Paul J. Wurst, secretary ; Will- iam B. Jackson, treasurer.
The Holland Review is a weekly newspaper started in 1889 by Clay- ton A. Button. He was succeeded by Paul J. Wurst and he by Albert F. Bangert.
The first physician in Holland was a Dr. Parker, whose first name is not remembered; he settled there about 1825 and remained ten years. Dr. Zoroaster Paul located there about 1834 and when he removed about twelve years later, he was succeeded by Dr. Bradley Goodyear;
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he practiced about ten years and was followed by Dr. Dascomb Far- rington, who still remains, in association with his son. Dr. A. C. Osborn settled in the village about 1868 and is deceased, and Dr. Ed- win Farrington practiced there for a time and removed to Buffalo.
Holland has suffered considerably from fires, notably in February, 1888, when six structures were burned, including William B. Jackson's store; in 1886, the Cazenove Hotel, an old landmark, was destroyed; and in 1890, when a hotel, store and dwelling were burned.
The First Baptist church of Holland was organized November 29, 1829, with twenty-six members. The church edifice was built in 1844. A Methodist class was formed here many years ago and in 1871 a house of worship was erected. The society is still in existence. A German Lutheran society was formed in 1874 and a house of worship built in the same year. A Roman Catholic church was organized and a church built in 1884.
Protection .- This is a hamlet in the extreme southern part of the town, where John Dake had a turning lathe about 1830. Ten years later Charles Fuller opened a hotel. Frank Lyford opened a grocery store in 1846. O. W. Childs established a general store which he sold to William B. Jackson in 1881. John Dake built a saw mill in 1840 which was changed to a feed mill and apple dryer, which are not now operated. The business interests are confined to a saw mill and a grocery.
East Holland is a hamlet in the southeastern part of the town, where the saw mill of Hawks Brothers is located, and an old church of the Christian denomination.
Cooper's Mills is a mere hamlet where are located the saw mill of Arthur Cooper, and a turning factory and a cider mill.
The first town meeting of Holland was held in the spring of 1819, when the following officers were elected:
Arthur Humphrey, supervisor; Samuel Corliss, town clerk ; Richard Buffum, Caleb Cutler and Chapin Wheelock, commissioners of highways; Samuel Corliss, consta- ble and collector; John A. Abbott, constable; Charles Crook, poormaster; Rudol- phus Burr, Elon Clark and Ira Johnson, commissioners of schools; Elon Clark, Ira Johnson and Abner Nutting, inspectors of schools.
Following is a list of the supervisors of Holland with their years of service:
Arthur Humphrey, 1819-20; Mitchell Corliss, 1821-24; Asa Crook, 1825-28, Chase Fuller, 1829-32: Moses McArthur, 1833-34; Isaac Humphrey, 1835-37; Moses Mc- Arthur, 1838-40; Samuel Corliss, 1841; Moses McArthur, 1842-47; Philip D. Riley,
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1818; Moses McArthur, 1849-51; Abner Orr, 1852; Ezra Farrington, 1853; Abner Orr, 1854; Philip D. Riley, 1855; Oliver G. Rowley, 1856; Ezra Farrington, 1857; Oliver G. Rowley, 1858; John A. Case, 1859; Philip D. Riley, 1860; Nathan Morey, 1861-62; Philip D. Riley, 1863-64; John O. Riley, 1865-71; Perry D. Dickerman, 1872; John O. Riley, 1873; Charles A. Orr, 1874-75; Homer Morey, 1876-78; John F. Morey, 1879-80; Austin N. Stickney, 1881-83; Ichabod N. Griggs, 1884; Jacob Wurst, 1885- 87; Henry L. Bangert, 1888-89; Ichabod N. Griggs, 1890; Charles M. Sill, 1891; Ichabod N. Griggs, 1892-94; William B. Jackson, 1895-97.
TOWN OF LANCASTER.
Lancaster is situated east of Buffalo, in the north-central part of Erie county, and comprises fractional township 11, range 6, and a strip averaging a mile and a half in width off the north side of the Buffalo Creek Reservation. This town was formed from Clarence on the 20th of March, 1833, and includes the Indian lands to the center of the original reservation, the whole being six miles east and west and about eight and three-fourths miles north and south. The town of Elma was set off December 4, 1857, thus reducing Lancaster to its present area of about thirty-seven square miles, or 23,531 acres.
The surface is generally level. The soil is clayey loam in the south- ern part and gravelly, with considerable limestone, in the north part; these sections are watered by Cayuga and Ellicott, or Eleven-mile, Creeks respectively. Into the former flow Little Buffalo Creek and Plum Bottom. Outside of the villages the principal industry is general farming, with the dairying interests paramount.
According to the books of the Holland Land Company the first pur- chase of land in Lancaster was made by Alanson Eggleston in Novem- ber, 1803, the price being $2 per acre. Asa Woodward and William Sheldon purchased lands in the same month. The first actual settlers, as near as can be ascertained, were James and Asa Woodward, in 1803, at Bowmansville. They were followed in 1804 by Matthew Wing, Joel Parmalee and Warren Hull. Soon afterward William Blackman, Edward Kearney, David Hamlin, Zophar Beach, Peter Pratt, Elisha Cox, and others came in. Elias Bissell, Benjamin Clark and Pardon Peckham located near Cayuga Creek in 1808. Their sons, James Clark, Elias and Elisha Bissell, and Thomas Nye Peckham, became prominent citizens of the town. In 1808 a road was cut from Buffalo through Lancaster village, eastward, and in the same year Daniel Robinson built the first saw mill in town at Bowmansville. About 1810 Benjamin Bowman purchased this mill and built another, and ever since then the place has been designated by his name.
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In 1810 the first school house in town was built, of logs, on the farm subsequently owned by Leonard Blackman, Miss Freelove Johnson (afterward Mrs. Amos Robinson) being the first teacher; it was re- placed by the so-called "Johnson school house," which stood on the site of the brick school house in the Peckham neighborhood. In 1811 Bar- tholomew Johnson erected a saw mill on Ellicott Creek at what is known as Johnson's Corners. Among the early comers to the Cayuga Creek settlement were the Carpenter, Field, Johnson, Hibbard and Paine families. Ahaz Allen built the first grist mill in town, at Lan- caster, in 1811, and when work was stopped the first night 955 fish were caught in the mill-race. Edward Kearney, Riley Munger and Joel Mix were also early settlers there. Joseph Carpenter erected the first tav- ern, which with the mill were the nucleus of the village.
Among later settlers and residents of the town were:
Capt. Philip Peckham, Thomas Gross, Simon Adolph, George Boshert, Elias Bis- sell, Palmer S. Bowman, Lafayette Cooper, John G. Dykstra, Joel George, John Haskell. Rev. John Hutchinson and son Thomas, Joseph Knauber, Charles Kurtz, John G. and Henry Leininger, John Nuwer, Philip Mook, Joel Taylor, William Fisk, Dr. Brown, Frederick Kirchholter, Israel Ely, Calvin Ely, Joseph and Harvey Clark, Platt Wakelee, Dr. W. Parker, Truman Luce, Alpheus Gage, Oliver Brown, Milton McNeal, James Clark, Clement Wakelee, Elihu Bissell, Norman Kimball, Leonard and Eleazer Blackmon, Henry Atwood, Henry L. Bingham, Ebenezer Briggs, George, Samuel, Solon and John Bruce, Ezra, Noyes and Selden Ely, Israel P. Sears, Alex- ander, James, John and Apollos Hitchcock, Worp Van Peyma, John Richardson, Gardiner Kip, Norman Dewey, Stephen Y. Halsey, John L. Lewis, William H. Bost- wick, George and Lewis Clapp, Hiram Clark, Englehart Oehm, Alexander Romer, Anson Sanford, John Schrankel, Matthias Schwartz, Samuel H. Smiley and son Benjamin D., Jacob Stephan, George Stutter, John Walter, Jesse Wheelock, Jacob Young. The German settlements began about 1830.
The following is a list of the supervisors of the town of Lancaster from its organization to the present time, with their years of service:
John Brown,1 1833-34; Milton McNeal, 1835; Albert E. Terry, 1836; John Boyer, 1837; Milton McNeal, 1838-40; Norman B. Dewey, 1841; Milton McNeal, 1842: Elijah M. Safford, 1843; Milton McNeal, 1844-45; Jonathan W. Dodge, 1846; Milton McNeal, 1847; Jonathan W. Dodge, 1848; Robert Neal, 1849; Henry Atwood, 1850: Henry L. Bingham, 1851-52; J. Parker, 1853-54; Eli H. Bowman, 1855; Henry L. Bingham, 1856; Robert Looney, 1857-60; William W. Bruce, 1861-62; John M. San- ford, 1863; John T. Wheelock, 1864; F. H. James, 1865-66; N. B. Gatchell, 1867-76; Charles W. Fuller, 1877-80; Charles F. Tabor, 1881-82; Englehart Oehm. 1883-84; N. B. Gatchell, 1885; Englehart Oehm, 1886-87; George A. Davis, 1888-91; Watson M. Blackmon, 1892; George A. Davis, 1893-97.
1 Mr. Brown had also been the supervisor of Clarence in 1880-81-32.
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Lancaster Village .- The village of Lancaster, the most important one in the town, had its nucleus in the grist mill of Ahaz Allen and the tavern of Joseph Carpenter. About 1823 a post-office was established with the name Cayuga Creek, the postmaster being Thomas Gross; in 1833 the name of the office was changed to Lancaster. In 1843 an academy was started and a building erected; the first teachers were Messrs. Hadley and Blennerhassett. After several years of successful existence it dwindled and was abandoned. Later Judge Theodotus Burwell secured the foundation of an agricultural college known as Oakwood Institute; its only teachers were successively Dr. De Young and William H. Brewer. The institution soon went down, and the building erected for its use is now occupied for a barn. In 1849 several wealthy Hollanders settled in the village. In the same year the Lan- caster glass works were established by eight glass blowers from Pitts- burg, chief among them being Charles Reed. These works have been successively owned by Reed, Allen, Cox & Co., Reed, Shinn & Co., James, Gatchell & Co., James & Gatchell, Dr. F. H. James, and the Lancaster Co-operative Glass Works, Ltd. They were burned in 1859 and rebuilt. Brush & Howard built a large tannery in 1849 which was burned September 3, 1887. About 1851 a Mr. Koopmans erected a second tannery, which was converted into a soap factory in 1887 by Hoffeld & Co. John A. Laux opened a hotel in 1850, and about this time William Curtis had another on the site of the American House, which has been kept by John Raynor, R. S. Miller, and others. In 1851 Dean & Halsey started an iron foundry, and there were also two saw mills in operation. In January, 1865, a stock company was organized, the chief promoter being Samuel Bailey, and a well was sunk on Plum Bottom for the purpose of obtaining petroleum; this attempt and one later near Lake Como proved failures. In 1866 a German began the manufacture of church organs, and in 1868 William H. Grimes erected a brick factory for the purpose; the business was abandoned after a few years and the building was converted into a malt house, which has long been operated by Scheu Brothers of Buffalo. Street lamps were intro- duced in April, 1867, and were replaced by an electric light system July 31, 1897, by Ernest Feyler.
The Lancaster Literary Society was incorporated December 13, 1866, by Charles F. Tabor, president; Rev. William Waith, vice-president; Edgar H. Perry, secretary ; George Clapp, treasurer; Nathan B. Gatch- ell, Dr. Frederick H. James, Frank Lee, Rudolph F. W. Hoffeld,
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