Tis the season ....

 October.  the start of fall, so they say, but can still have a Indian Summer.  Leaves are changing color and there is a chill in the air.  What else does it make you think of?  For me, it is the mysteries that each town has.. us too! 

Let me set the scene.  The year 1906, the place, the Western House Hotel here in Village of Springville, Town of Concord.  The action, a card game being played on a table inside, and a quarrel that moved to outside in front of the Western House, between Fred Percival, a teamster for the Honorable L J Shuttleworth, Fred Schneider, a member of the B R & P fence gang and Peter & Martin Harbars who were brothers.  Fred Percival in a fight, knocked the two brothers down.  They left to go home with Martin returning after a short while with a revolver and then he shoot both Percival and Schneider.  Percival, shot in the groin, was able to walk down the street a little way to the American Hotel, waking up Frank McLin to request a drink, telling him, I have been shot up, and then..... he died.  Schneider was shot in two places and managed to crawl to the field behind the Hotel where he was found the next morning.  Martin Harbar was found a day later, lying across the railroad track, his head was severed from his body and a not found in his pocket, admitted to his guilt of shooting the two men.  His brother Peter remarked that had it not been for the booze there would have been no trouble at all.  Do you think these three men still walk the tavern, drinking together, and maybe playing cards?  I wonder who is holding the ace of spades. 

I got to see if I can find some more!!

As we go through all the wonderful items, books, photos, documents and artifacts that the Historical Society and Historian Office have I am hoping to share some with you.

These hang up in one of our buildings we have.

The Town of Concord was established in 1834, and the first resident that 

spent the winter was in 1807!

I am going to share them with you .

 

 Moments in Time…When I moved to this area 34 years ago, I knew nothing about how the town was founded, what happened here.  Then I got involved with the Historical Society and started to learn, since then I have learned so much about this area. I am going to share it with all of you now.  Let’s start off on the Early history of this area. 

In 1807 Christopher Stone and John Albro settled here in the area known as Springville.  They remained during the winter.  At the time Springville was part of what was in that time known as, the old town of Concord, which was organized of the following towns, Sardinia, Concord, Collins, North Collins and part of Brant.

With people moving into the area a school was soon formed with Anna Richmond teaching the first school in 1810 with only 14 students. By 1814, Mr. Eaton was teaching school with 70 students.  The Springville Academy was organized December 14, 1825, by subscription.  to run their schools, to build schoolhouses, to hire teachers, the community invested in their schools. The original subscription reads as follows; “We hereby agree to pay the Trustees to be appointed by us, several sums set opposite our names, one third in grain or materials for building, on the first of March next,(1826), one third in salable young stock on the first of September next, the other third in cash, one half of which to be paid in cash on the first of June next and the other half on the first of January 1827.  The Academy was incorporated on March 19, 1827.  The first term of school was in the fall of 1830.  1867 found the name changed to Griffith Institute in honor of Mr. Archibald Griffith of Concord.  His story will follow at a later date.

What were some other first for this area? … Well in 1810, David Stickney opened the first Hotel, described as a double log house.  The first Grist mill was built in 1814 by Benjamin Gardner, and Frederick Richmond built the first distillery

In 1815 the town was known as “Fiddler’s Green”, a name applied by David Stickney, who was also the proprietor of the Town’s Tavern, and was given by the reason of the fiddler’s who practiced and played in the area.

The town was sure not lacking in churches.  In 1816 The Presbyterian Church was organized by Rev. John Spencer; John Russel was the first deacon. 1820 the Methodist Church was organized by Father Hall. 1827 the First Baptist Church was organized by Rufus Eaton, who was the chosen first deacon.  1846, the Universalist Church was organized with Rev George being the first minister.  In 1856, St. Aloysius Roman Catholic Church was organized.

In April 1821, a law was passed, enacting that all that part of the county of Niagara, north of the center of Tonawanda creek should be a separate county by the name of Niagara, while the reminder should thenceforth be known as Erie.

The Village of Springville was incorporated in 1834. The first officers were President, Hon. Carlos Emmons, Trustees; Ebenezer Dribble, Jacob Rushmore, Joseph McMillian and Samuel Cockran, Assessors; Johnson Bensley, Richard Wadsworth, and Theodore Smith, Clerk; Peter V S Wendover, Collector, Mortimer Arnold, Treasurer; Pliny Smith, Constable, Freeman Bailey, Pound master, Abrial Gardner.

The first Newspaper was known as the Springville Express which was published in 1844 by E H Hough. You can come and see these newspapers, while at the Lucy Bensley Center on Wednesday 9am to 2pm, located at 23 North Buffalo Street.  Along with the Springville Express Newspaper, you can see the Springville Journal, Springville Herald, and the Local News, all newspaper published in Springville.