Building date: Unknown, razed 1911 for development after 1910 fire that burned all the businesses between the hardware store and the The Beehive.
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Map views courtesy Google Maps. Location is Google Earth confirmed; 43°13'27.21"N 77°11'06.90"W.
Town of Williamson and Wayne County Maps.
The Beehive history sheet. From the personal research of cobblestone historian Karen Crandall.
Google street level view shows the barber shop and upstairs apartments at right with "Gallo's" store (built 2000) next to the left (west). The Beehive, AKA The Old Land Mark or the Grist Mill, was approximately located where these two current buildings are located. A hardware store is located at the intersection further west. A fire on July 4th 1910 burned all of the business buildings between the hardware store and The Beehive, brick and cobblestone structures that blocked the progress of the fire. For a detailed account of the fire, see the article "Williamson's July 4, 1910 Fire", parts 1, 2 and 3, by Brooks Tenney, The Sun & Record, Thursdays, September 1, 8 and 15, 2005.
There is still a culvert under the street that carries what remains of the creek shown in the 1853 map excerpt from the south to the north under the road and behind Gallo's and the barber shop building. Thanks to Perry Howland Town of Williamson Historian, who provided detailed information for this page in an 7/9/2020 email.
The two-story cobblestone building, below, known as "The Beehive" once stood on the north side of East Main Street in the village of Williamson on the site of what was later the Hart Store building and later Gallo's Store, 4119 Main St. It was called that because it was always a "beehive of activity." It housed a flour mill, undertaking establishment, flour mill and dried apple packing plant. Families lived on the scone floor. Its was torn down in the mid 1900s by Isaac Moon, Jacob Ver How and M. O. Engleson while preparing to build the Moorman-Ver How block, later the Hart block - From article, "The Beehive and the Band Stand," Williamson Sentinel, August 24, 1950. It is believed the building was demolished about 1915. Richard Palmer email 7/10/2020.
 1853 Wayne County Wil-27 Excerpt Map.jpg ¹ Click on link to enlarge. |  Williamson_E Main_North Side_00514 ² Photograph looking west taken before 1900 since no trolley tracks are visible. | Main Street in Williamson was dirt when this old photo (left) was taken in the early 1900s. Standing in the box of the wagon and overflowing into the next wagon are about 23 men and women who worked at The Beehive packing dried apples in M. O. Engleson's packing plant. He purchased apples from local farmers, dried them and shipped them out. Posed on the step of the nearest wagon, with his foot on top of the wagon wheel in the stance of a victorious lion hunter is the late Levi Cunningham, the father of Frank Cunningham of Wayne Street. Just back of him is Cornelius Moorman of Lake Avenue, wearing a dark cap and white shirt; the late John Boekhout, wearing a busy mustache and a pair of overalls, and the last M. O. Engleson in dark top coat and hat. Among the women on the wagon seats and standing high up behind the seats are Mfrs. DePortal Nye, Ophelia Bruzee, Mrs. Rob Morgan, Mrs. Chauncey Smith and Mrs. Isaac Brooks; Dan Giebel's sister, Sarah, Nellie Paslow, (Mrs. John De Frine); and Minnie Pool. From article, "The Beehive and the Band Stand," Williamson Sentinel, August 24, 1950. David Contant had a meat market here in 1911. Perry Howland Town of Williamson Historian. |
 The Beehive.jpg ³ Click on link to enlarge. |  Beehive Image Main St.jpg 4 2019.0073.0253 "The Flour Store looking west" (from the Chester Peters photo collection). | In the September/October 2023 Newsletter, I [Dan Montondo] included a photo of the "Beehive" on East Main Street. This time I would like to feature a few more photos of this building whose name indicates that it was a major center of commercial activity in 19th Century Williamson. The Beehive was a Grist Mill and Flour Store, located on the north side of East Main Street about where Gallo's now stands. I could not find when it was built but, a June 6, 1916 article in the Williamson Sentinel about the Williamson Fire Company's first gas powered fire engine noted that the Beehive building "which stood where the Moorman and Verhow Co's building now stands," was saved with the help of the Ontario Fire Company. From the article and the Cobblestone construction we can deduce that the Beehive was built between 1825 and 1865 and destroyed between 1910 and 1916. 4 |
 East Main St Grist Mill 1910.jpg 4 Click on link to enlarge. | 2018.0073.0252 "North Side East Main St. Grist Mill before 1910 (from the Chester Peters photo collection). In the September/October 2023 Newsletter |  4 July 1910 East Main St Fire.jpg 4 2018.0073.319 "July 4, 1910 Fire East Main St. (North Side) Williamson, NY," note the current Williamson Hardware on the left and the Beehive on the right (from the Chester Peters photo collection). |
¹ 1853 Wayne County Map Will-27 Excerpt courtesy the Library of Congress.
² Image courtesy Perry Howland, Town of Williamson Historian.
³ Image courtesy Richard Palmer. Attribution not provided.
4 Image and text courtesy Newsletter, MarApr 2025, Pages 8 and 9. Williamson-Pultneyville Historical Society.
