‘Historical Society’ Archives
The 1887 Building An Old School History
By Chad Neal Ellicottville was a planned village, whereas most villages started from one point and grew from there. Part of the planning process for the village was creating the town square, with quarters allotted to the school district and a church, and half for the county. The school sat and still sits on the corner of Jefferson and Washington [...]
Sledding was the winter sport for youths
By: Cal Mercer Submitted by the Ellicottville Historical Society Ping Pong was the hill where you tooled your sled. Ping Pong was in Dr. Stone's side yard on Elizabeth Street. Sledding down from the top, you stopped at the sidewalk snow bank – most of the time. The exception was to go over the top and out into the roadway. Then, you [...]
Way Back When
Recently, I wrote a story about filling silos with corn. My phone soon rang and Bill O'Brien, having seen his father in the newspaper picture, was contacting me. He and his wife, Barb, soon came and we spent the afternoon reminiscing. He brought me some pictures, one of which shows thrashing on the O'Brien Stock Farm, now the Ilex [...]
Speaker Series at the Salamanca Historical Museum
The speaker series continues at the Salamanca Historical Museum, 125 Main St. on Monday September 20th, at 6:30pm. Maggie Fredrickson will be speaking on 19th century inventor Birdsill Holly. The title of her presentation is "Square Peg In A Round Hole." She is presently the Historian of the Village of Franklinville and Curator of two [...]
Way Back When – Hollis DeGroff
By: Betty Hackett I remember Hollis DeGroff. He was born the son of a blacksmith and learned this trade. Much of his life was spent as a dairy farmer in the Town of Franklinville. Later, the family moved to Hencoop Road. He worked as a saw filer for Fitzpatrick & Weller. At first, these were circle saws and later became band saws. [...]
MANSFIELD TOWN HALL
The destiny of the Mansfield Town Hall seems to be veering towards a favorable future for the local historians there. Mary Ellen Campbell initiated the notion of creating a historical society using the aging building that used to house the confabs of the rural town's government. A new building was recently built adjacent to the conservative [...]
Way Back When
What do you know about trolley cars...especially trolley cars in this area? The trolley lines went from Olean to Salamanca and Little Valley. There was a junction called Seneca Junction which went to Limestone and Bradford. Then the line went over Rock City Hill to Olean. Going past Rocky Crest, a large tuberculosis sanitarium on the right, and [...]
Way Back When – Ellicottville News / Special E Fects – July 23 Edition
Jessie and Will Luss lived at 27 West Washington Street in Ellicottville. When I was about 5 my sisters and I would stop there on our way to Sunday school. Jessie liked us a lot and often had will go and get a pan of apples to treat us. I remember that Will would peel my apple for me. Later on when I was caring for Nettie French, she sent me to [...]
Way Back When – The Barneys
I came to know “the Barneys,” a team of beautifully matched work horses. They were owned and driven by Lester “Red” Hinman on the job. He used them to skid logs in the woods. One time a trucker by the name of Clyde Clark was delivering them to or from a job in Zoar Valley. The truck shifted and the horses went right out the back, no harm [...]
Way Back When
Way Back When The second person that came to our house on Poverty Hill was Richard (Dick) Hadley. Unlike Clarence Bolles who had six children; Dick was a bachelor. He lived in the dining room and had nowhere to go. We sold him a building lot where he built a small cottage. In the meantime, he moved upstairs in our house. When our son started [...]
