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    Wellsville
    Wellsville
    Wellsville
    Ebook194 pages1 hour

    Wellsville

    By Thelma Rogers Genealogical and Historical Society

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    About this ebook

    The town of Wellsville is located in the rolling hills of the northern reaches of the Allegheny Range of the Appalachian Mountains, east of Allegany County, just a few miles north of the Pennsylvania border. Wellsville was established in 1855, making it a relatively young town in comparison to others in New York. When the Erie Railroad was completed through Wellsville in 1851, tanning and lumber concerns gained much larger markets, and in the next 10 years, the population grew fourfold. The discovery of oil in 1879 brought even more people. George "Gabby" Hayes was as at home on the stages of Wellsville as he was on a Hollywood screen, and William Duke, world-famous trainer of the 1925 Kentucky Derby winner, Flying Ebony, called Wellsville his home. In addition to its steam turbine and heat recovery industries, Wellsville hosts a vibrant and growing campus of Alfred State College.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateJul 13, 2015
    ISBN9781439652275
    Wellsville
    Author

    Thelma Rogers Genealogical and Historical Society

    Mary Rhodes, Wellsville town historian, uses photographs from the Thelma Rogers Genealogical and Historical Society to present the growth of the town through its many businesses and families.

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      Book preview

      Wellsville - Thelma Rogers Genealogical and Historical Society

      Rhodes

      INTRODUCTION

      The story of how Wellsville was named is a simple one, perhaps too simple to believe. A group of pioneers met at Harmon Van Buren’s Tavern in 1832 and decided to name the settlement Wellsville after resident Gardner Wells. Wells had come to the area only a few years prior and acquired extensive properties in the settlement. He moved downriver to Belfast by 1850, but he is honored every time we recount our history or say the name Wellsville.

      In 1832, the settlement of Wellsville was part of the town of Scio, and the area was sparsely inhabited. The Van Buren family built a cabin, which developed into a tavern and a meeting place by necessity, as there were no other public buildings. Informal trade was conducted early by Silas Hills until Norman Perry erected a real store in 1835.

      Pioneers put the Genesee River to use immediately. The river runs south to north, emptying into Lake Ontario, and was prone to flooding, but mills were built on the banks to cut wood and grind meal needed for everyday life. Lumbering operations used the river to move logs during times of high water, and, of course, the river was a source of food. Early settlers so relied on the area’s abundant game for survival that later in the century it became a novelty to actually see a deer. Job Straight, Silas Hills, William Weed, Reuben Kent, Harmon Van Buren, Daniel Tuttle, Zenas Jones, Asa Foster, and Gardner Wells are names that will always be associated with the settlement of the town and village.

      Early travel was difficult as the few roads in the area probably followed Indian pathways or deer trails. It was a challenge for a wagon to navigate these routes to bring products to market, and it was an investment of time counted in days. In 1849, a plank toll road facilitated the movement of lumber and supplies to and from the settlement. Wellsville, in the southern part of western New York, drew a slow, steady stream of settlers. As the Erie Railroad laid its way through the heart of the settlement, Wellsville’s population began to swell with families who knew they could make a good life here.

      Tanneries and lumbers mills were the community’s largest employers. Hemlock trees grew in abundance in the woods around Wellsville and were lumbered for their wood and bark. The trees were cut, stripped of their bark, and sent to mills for processing. The hemlock bark was sent to the tanneries, where it was an essential part of the tanning process. Wellsville was dubbed Tanbark City because the Wellsville, Allegany, Genesee, and Hatch Tanneries had so many large piles of hemlock bark, called tanbark, lying in their yards. The Erie Railroad brought raw leather for processing from as far away as South America. The tanneries also attracted many German and Irish immigrants who stayed here after the United States Leather Corporation ceased its operations in the early 1900s.

      In 1855, the town of Wellsville was created from the townships of Scio, Andover, and Willing, making it the second-youngest township in Allegany County. By 1857, there were enough residents to vote for the incorporation of the settlement of Wellsville as a village. The vote was 150 for incorporation, with only eight voters dissenting.

      The Erie Railroad always called its station in Wellsville Genesee Station for the place where the railroad touched the Genesee River. A legislative act in 1871 changed the name from Wellsville to Genesee, but this proved confusing. There was already a town of Genesee in Allegany County, and a township of Genesee in Potter County, Pennsylvania, as well as a town of Geneseo in Livingston County. Another legislative act in 1873 legally changed the name back to Wellsville, and the railroad station officially became the Wellsville Station.

      Wellsville was built and rebuilt as fire repeatedly worked its remodeling magic on the community’s buildings. In the late 1860s, the village was swept by several large fires that ingested wooden structures faster than citizens could work the bucket brigades. The village mandated that newly constructed buildings in the business district be made of brick. It is surprising to see how many new buildings were erected in the course of just a few short years because of fire.

      Orville P. Taylor came to Wellsville around 1871. His belief that oil could be discovered in the area changed the face of the county. Almost bankrupt from drilling dry wells, Taylor finally hit oil in 1879 and caused a rush of people to move to and invest in Wellsville. Many residents had no idea what oil was used for.

      By 1902, an oil refinery was built in Wellsville to collect and refine the oil of the Allegany field. That refinery later became the Sinclair Refinery. Folks say that the people of Wellsville never felt the effects of the Depression because of the Sinclair Refinery.

      In the mid-20th century, the need for automobiles became as much of a force in the remodeling of the village as fire had been in the 19th century. Municipal parking lots grew to accommodate vehicles, removing some neighborhoods completely. A New York State initiative to build a highway around the village created more changes to the landscape.

      Today, as with many small villages across the country, Wellsville struggles to maintain its downtown character. In an age where people no longer barter face-to-face, Main Street has lost many of the small businesses that were the heart and soul of Wellsville’s marketplace. The people of Wellsville are resilient; they will adapt over time and find new uses for their treasured buildings.

      This book cannot begin to tell the whole story of Wellsville’s rich history and interesting people. Many cherished photographs and wonderful stories cannot be shown or recounted here because of limitations of space. Perhaps the photographs and brief descriptions contained in this book will encourage you to delve deeper into Wellsville’s history. There is so much more to learn about this amazing community.

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      WELLSVILLE TO 1880

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