By Charlotte M. Reed, Genesee County Historian, Batavia Daily Press, April 23, 1966
Genesee County, interested always in all forms of historic preservation, is especially proud that as the "Mother County" of Western New York it has been identified from the beginning with the extensive Cobblestone movement centered in Childs, Orleans County.
Our own grouping of this unique architecture, though not numerically as large as in certain sections, is nevertheless praiseworthy and shows that we have been alerted to the importance of our own contribution to the valuable record.
One recalls that with regret that today only the site remains of the once famous Cobblestone Block on Batavia's Main Street where was printed the first issue of the Daily News, June 25, 1878. This is true also of the county's cobblestone "Lunatic Asylum" - an adjunct of the County Farm, then known as the "Poor House" - built in 1828.
We know definitely of two homes, at least, that are now gone; one in the town of Elba and another in the town of Pavilion. The latter - the Timothy Miller house - built by Jack Wallace 1831-1837 was on the Summit Street Road out of LeRoy and was destroyed by fire in 1930. Oakfie1d's oldest mercantile building, built in 1846, which successively housed a blacksmith shop, a laundry, pool parlor, garage, bicycle shop, and at the time of its razing in 1964, a shoe-repair shop, was another landmark now regretted.
Likewise, what is said to have been the first school in Alexander, was built of cobblestone and stood on Church Street; several now living have told your historian of having attended it before it, too, was leveled. We are constantly finding evidence of other cobblestone structures; some torn down because of deterioration or a regrettable lack of understanding of their historical significance; others removed in the cause "progress."
Alexander Structures
Among those still standing throughout our fair county - a delight to cobblestone connoisseurs of the mid-1960s, Genesee lists several outstanding treasures. We find the town of Alexander the Town Hall housing the Yorker's Museum on the third floor, which was built in 1836 of field cobbles as the former Genesee-Wyoming Academy - one of Western New York's most important places of higher learning. It then served successively as a private school, a union free school, and a grade and high school until 1938.
Three homes are still the delight of their owners: one on Route 98, built in 1837 and occupied by the Brown family; two, remodeled former school houses, are on the Dodgeson and Sand Pit Roads, respectively.
Batavia boasts one on the Batavia-Oakfield Townline Road, built about 1850 - the home of Dr. and Mrs. Irving Wiswall. An 1830 home on the corner of Bethany Center and McLernon Roads in the town of Bethany, is now occupied by the Drew Lloyd family.
Stafford has two buildings - one on the east side of Fargo Road, built in 1840 by Giles Minor. Distinguished by its smoke house, stepping block and hitching post, it is now owned by the Harry Trietleys, who have preserved these interesting features. On the west side of the Fargo Road stands the William Hanson house built in 1831 of rather large farm stones of varying sizes, by John Warren who came from Bishop's Taunton, Devonshire, England, in 1830. Extensively modernized by an addition on the north end, one notes that the original north and south walls were built with no window openings.
In Le Roy Area
Going to LeRoy from Batavia, we find the Champion-Baron home on the north side of Route 5 at the western edge of the village. Built between 1832 and 1836, this story and a half house was carried out in Greek Revival design. Time has brought little change other than a replacement of the original small square portico - enhanced by its Doric columns and a wide frieze which matched the architectural trim of the house - with a 20th century porch extending across the front.
Darien has one quaintly small rectangular building on the Harper Road north of Route 20. Built in 1863 as Judge Ridley's "Court House," it was later used from 1914 to 1937 for a Post Office, and for a time, for voting purposes. Now, it is used privately as a little home. And on the Alexander-Darien Townline Road, the Clifton Bailey's are presently restoring to its original appearance (from photographs) their cobblestone home purchased four years ago.
The towns of Byron and Bergen, to our knowledge, claim not a single cobblestone; neither does the town of Pembroke. But Pembroke's neighbor on the northwest edge of the county, the town of Alabama, shows evidence of the stone - perhaps, we would like to think, even in greater numbers then the one remaining house which built prior to 1860, sports an addition. Its owners, the Scarboroughs, said that in remodeling it for occupancy, hand-hewn beams and the outline of a fireplace and bake-oven were discovered.
Almost opposite, at the corner of Maple Street and the Ledge Road, is a small school house, set in the midst of a tiny rural graveyard. In recent years it has been plastered over and no trace of its cobblestone identity is visible.
At 10 Forest Ave. in Oakfield we find another home of rather large field cobbles belonging to Mrs. Dorothy Hammond. Interestingly, its deed goes back to Colonel Alfred Cary, for whom the village was originally named Caryville and through whose philanthropy, the well-known Cary Seminary was established.
The present John Martin house on the Judge Road in Oakfield was built 1825-1830 by two brothers, Daniel and Disbrow Calkins. Working through the summer on the Erie Canal as stone masons, they are said to have brought the cobbles from Lake Ontario - and worked on the house in the winter. They built a second house which we understand was not cobble and planned a third - but never completed it. The pile of stones and a well are today's mute testimony to the plan.
Elba Landmarks
Going out the Oak Orchard Road from Batavia (Route 98), Elba adds four more to our list. The Moses True-Hartman home built in 1836 of cobbles of varied colors and shapes, stands with its front entrance facing Maltby Road. The old Ford home on the Ford Road (Route 262) two miles east of Route 98, is said to have probably been built by the same mason as the Underhill-Wiswall house because of the similarity of workmanship. It has recently been purchased and is slated for restoration.
And in the heart of Elba we find a little old blacksmith shop at the corner of Main and Mechanic Streets. [Note: moved to Genesee Country Museum]. Enticing in its promise of "untold stories," the old Friends Meeting House at the corner of Quaker and Lockport Road - once known as Snoker Hill, has been used as a summer home for several years. Its entrances - one for women and one for men, as it was originally built in 1836, have been closed up with masonry. Only recently did it pass from the Staples family - descendants of one of the founding members, William Weeks. It is now owned by State Police Investigator Ronald A. Butterfield of Attica.
Of novel interest, we list two smoke houses which recently have been brought to our attention. One in the town of Darien, and the second, the "Tryon Smoke house," the latter termed "an architectural gem" by our LeRoy historian. Standing a mile from the razed Timothy Miller house in Pavilion, it was presumably built in the 1830s.
And thinking back, we recollect that the building that is now the Star Dry Cleaning establishment on East Main Street - once a huge home in Batavia's elite residential section - has lost its identity with the cobblestone era. The lower half built of cobblestones has been plastered over with stucco.
Almost daily Genesee's Department of History finds new data for its cobblestone story - research for which had been in progress here in the Holland [Land] Office [Museum] since the origin of the project. Any and all information and pictures are still welcome. The help of everyone is needed as well as that of the local historians. In 1965, a map locating Genesee's known cobblestones was compiled and filed with the Cobblestone Society - as requested. Now in the foreseeable future, either 1967 or 1968- according to O. W. Shelgren Jr., new elected Society President - Genesee County is scheduled to play host one of the annual tours.