People of Ontario County: Henry W. Johnson
Excerpt from Preston E Pierce’s A Tour Guide to Black History Sites in Canandaigua, NY. A self-educated man of affairs, Henry Johnson was born in Ferrisburg, Vermont. His hometown was a center of abolitionist sentiment and an important junction on the Underground Railroad. When his father died, Johnson moved to Canandaigua about 1836 and got […]
People of Ontario County: Henry C. Beeman
Henry C. Beeman was born in Canandaigua on Oct. 8th, 1847, the youngest child of Reuben Beeman and Orpha Crane. Beeman was educated at Canandaigua Academy until June 23, 1863 when he enlisted in Company C, Fifteenth New York Calvary. Although just 15, he lied on his enlistment papers claiming to be 18, and was […]
A Historical Playlist
What was considered popular American music changed significantly over the 20th Century. The earliest iteration of popular American music in the early 1900s was comprised of sentimental parlor songs. The growth of Broadway in the early 1910s also heavily influenced the sound of American music, and gave rise to composers like George Gershwin, Irving Berlin, […]
Long Pier
Much like Canandaigua’s pier, Geneva’s long pier once had 36 boathouses on its north side. During the construction of the 5&20 arterial in the 1950s, the pier was shortened by 14 boathouses. By 1962, the state ordered the remaining boathouses be burned due to deterioration. Long Pier served as a breakwater for the public dock […]
Onanda Park
In 1919 the Rochester YWCA purchased the Shale Glen property on the north side of Point Rochester on Canandaigua Lake. Camp Onanda, named by Mary Moulthrop as an approximation of the Native American word for “pine or fir tree,” was opened in 1920, serving young working women. In its final years before being purchased by […]
Whiskey Point
Whiskey Point is located on the east side of Canandaigua Lake. The spot gets its name from a whiskey still that early Ontario County settlers operated there. It’s said that a scow full of whiskey sank off the point, momentarily turning the lake into a large highball. By the early 20th Century, disreputable gangs of […]
People of Ontario County: Helen Stewart
Helen, along with her sister Peggy were well known portrait photographers in Canandaigua and beyond. In 1932, Peggy was named “Child Photographer in America,” and had her portraits hung in exhibitions throughout the U.S., Canada, England, France, and Japan. She photographed Franklin Roosevelt, King George, and Queen Elizabeth, among others. Helen worked with her sister […]
Canandaigua Health Home
Dr. George Washington Gregg, son of Canandaigua’s oldest resident George Gregg, was born in 1876. He built and founded the Canandaigua Health Home at 6 Gorham St. in the city. The Canandaigua Health Home focused on the care of chronic and acute illnesses, though an advertising booklet for the home lists specifically what illnesses were […]
People of Ontario County: George Gregg
In 1942, George Gregg was Canandaigua’s oldest citizen after turning 100 on May 24th. An avid hunter, Gregg was also the oldest state resident to take out a fishing permit when he was 98. Born in Bristol in 1842, he was the son of John and Lucy Case Gregg. His grandfather, a British officer left […]
People of Ontario County: Cora A. Wilder
Cora A. Wilder was born in Victor, NY on August 8th, 1858 to Jabez and Sarah M. Wilder. Cora was educated in Victor, and attended seminary school in Rochester. She lived with her parents on High St. in Victor until their deaths. Under Ontario County Clerk Bolivar Ellis’s administration, Cora was hired […]
