wrfffr' \'iS> VI0KET'BOAT ml ARRAMGEMISTS, 1844, 4 I'HCtet ItoiK IciiKs.RdtBJbiSTEll aiiil DWS^IIJJi I. ^.V M ■iJ '■ \2 [•!( ..furUudj. i\y •■'., .S...;i--\i!l.'. 'Ur <\o \' titi L.iii'Jiifj.* ilu -.' • 'I" airff'^rnjs 111 J.1yiJ^i(!!i' 'a fji time for ilir i'iitkt^t B«als rtj^jraciisp er Itiiffalu or ''In < ■■•'. ur (lio S>li)ain Uriiic^fni^ij'aKv Oiilwrjo,-^ -Tin; U'jfii-- nrc fm m-lifi in H'l^ii r''.\-^. < ;i lanugos ril Hum I-JiU''!'!;; 'tn'i-^/nvi'i Priwifii^.rpr'. to urn "t (lu Uttic, ■,, i.l I In SrMmL'-. ^liiil ill-Pitlnrf' (.■,i.i-.., Ijiimlliu, Ii>''i>um-\ |-'..^^i. Jiji'i ^ 10 i Juii.^t.-. -. *^Ci-nj I. j,\ Cdjl ; „ii H.. iii(n,:|..ffL. l'.>ia.i I-:'.li>i J'..i]'), "liM' fill \ .nt,rn^r MoiiNt lljji(e(? tjSi'iSim'I'i \ iJIn I'liii.i;-!: *^ml -Vne.hni •' ■ ""■ ' ■ ■ ' A" " 'lIiiiiiK Moiris, Jii ,!t " «!,, riiyk-rnlk-,. dp ' fK' " ilii IMrHrit, nc'noSoo I'lLiJinglOi ''' do . Vorjfc? d-i II-."; ^itcnKii-piirl, du 1 1; ■' ■ oi, l,iioU.ing,.]. l.i;P,.ll, nnd (vrl^ul rtocficKlcrut, ■'» tj "' du ■ ..Avoii''»ii T ;. \ do ■ JcM .^d I OF Pi A. LIGHT FRIIG^ CARRIED. ^axsuifc ajiplj iMkpc Piipk'tf Bpal (tffiff, K»c.hj!)i((*i'i, PACKET BOAT TIME TABLE U-.W^Wil^^, ». SCENE ON CANAL AT CUMMINSVILLE LATER EARLY DAYS 43 1833 the paper mills employed only eighty-four persons. The clover mill that year prepared 1,500 bushels of clover seed for the market. Packet boats for passengers were run with great regularity as the best means of transportation and were largely patronized. Copy of an old time table indicates landings and connections, also speed. Some of the shipments by canal in 1844 were as follows : Boards and shingles, 5,633,460 feet, valued at $44,979; shingles, 6,810,308 feet, valued at $13,620; timber, 41,124 feet, valued at $2,467; staves, 586,899, valued at $6,869; potash, 819 barrels, valued at $16,380; butter and lard, 55,875 pounds, valued at $4,470; cheese, 125,080 pounds, valued at $6, 254; wool, 95, 673 pounds, valued at $28,702; flour, 5,103 barrels, valued at $20,412; paper and sundries, 323,141 pounds, valued at $64,625. Total value of these and other products shipped about $250,000. The canal tolls of this second year of the canal amounted to $8,383, being an increase over the previous year of $2,156. The amount of property brought to the village greatly ex- ■ceeded the amount shipped. In 1850 the number of tons shipped was 34,193, valued at $665,469, and the tolls amounted to $28,400. The value of articles received was $1,287,166. ??7T- ^^fM ?-:& -, -.ST-/- - -<^^ ^it P#-:tfinja, HM ii.t.ii)! I 15 16 MAIN STREET, EAST SIDE, DANSVILLE. 1830 FP.OM PEN'SKETCK BY II. C. SEDGWICK 1 Joshua Hheparii Store li Gpo. Hvland's IJiitSliop I .3 Holirii'S' IliiriiessShop - railed the Three sistiTS 4 Haflli'i-sTiiiJcirShop ) .=> R. Dav. oflicc and Residence n W. F. 'Clark Slori' 7 Babcock Drug Store K Wilson Teasdale, Watch Shop aiHlTeiM'mi'iit House 9 Mrs. Rowley, Residence 10 s. w. Smith Residence 11 Smith atirt Melvin Store Vi Archway Leading to Potashery 18 w. Hunt. Grocery and Harness Shop 14 S. Hunt Residence 15 o. D. Stacy, Tavern and Residence 1(1 J. 0. Sedgwick, Tailor Shop and Residence 17 .T. C. Sedgwick, Tenant House 18 Davis Orchard 44 DANSVILLE OF THE PAST Dansville had about eighty structures in 1830, including three stores, four taverns, two potasheries, paper mills, grist mills, etc. In 1844 the buildings had increased to 450, with twenty-eight retail stores, twenty shops, three taverns, one book bindery, two printing offices, one bank, and fifteen offices for the professions. The cost of the whole was variously estimated to be from $250,000 to $300,000. In 1830 the Dansville fences were nearly all rail fences, and the only residents on South street were James Faulkner and W. Dorry, on Ferine street William Ferine, and on Ossian street Conrad Welch. The old academy building, FUIDAY EVEKIAG MARCH lOil,. Commencing nl G o'dSch, 1. Prayer. liUU „,„,.„, \ ull lo . M« C^iliinnl r. 1) S. !>!.;,, E^tf.t' rrOBT SB tnalum Jsli.rff J In Bwfjr K Unnnar Utrl^Hlvuiuf MOpwvleow.-t.'... "...., C [I MK»., Hf. l'iHiS)«p=l' in atf-aMkm Uii.euinilli- UiuUlb Lnct'ri>rilaiirui^HR .. . . . . S, P, Btrnda, DaiiMlUa ...J £Ii»uK'-ii> DuutIUi ... 0, \L .VmiL, " ....A.FauIkur, " CO."ITEOVERSY. (Jfl([iin1,- ' i l.Uajn.SiiAbj "" ,An Adilru. \a ^rfDan Youlb D. Jl/. YOuiib. Lltoiili AlaniufiJiil'TlinM.'-OriijtB*! .*.FiilI«r(Dn, .ViMrt* - \ SO long used for a district school, was built in 1836, and there the older boys and girls of those days received instruc- tion in advanced studies, in its first years from Prof. J. Lyman Crocker as principal. Prof. Ful- ler as assistant, and Miss Niles as preceptress. Their more el- ementary education was ob- tained at the little school-house close by, which was built be- fore the academy, and about 1821. In 1882 the late Henry C. Sedgwick, of numerous rem- iniscences, remembered as sur- viving early pupils William McCurdy, John McCurdy, J. J. Welch, Hugh McCartney, Al- onzo Bradner, G. R. Smith, H. A. Sprague, Calvin Fens- termacher, B. W. Woodruff, H. B. Opp, Mrs. Alex. Ed- wards, and Mrs. Matthew Mc- Nair. It was the time, Mr. Sedgwick said, of Daboll's arithmetic. Brown's grammar, Webster's spelling book, and the English reader. The little schoolhouse was moved about half a mile from its former position, and is now a dwelling almost opposite the barn of Brightside on Williams street, and the academy building was moved across the square and became William H. Dick's shoe factory. O. D. Stacy's tavern, which began to receive comers to Dansville in 1822, had the distinction of entertaining in 1832 two among the most remarkable men which New York state has produced. They were Martin VanBuren, then ex-governor and afterward vice-presi- dent and president of the United States, and his son John, known as "Prince John" because he danced with Queen Victoria more than once, and is reputed to have nearly won her heart — a man of infinite humor and a delightful and persuasive orator. Martin VanBuren had been employed by Amariah Hammond as agent, to look after the legal America, A. Bradner, DaHsville 'Centennial Address, -•"* H. Sjirnguc, DnnsvHji ' KHODERIC DHUE AND FIT2:' JAMES. On Kio'riuenbc, E. IHy'air Burns. A DANSVILLE ACADEMY PROGRAM OF 1837 LA TER EARL Y DA YS 45 interests of certain settlers who had purchased lands of the Pulteney estate, the titles to which had been imperiled by a decision in the Court of Errors, and was appealed from and carried up to the C(jurt of Chancery. He had managed their case with great ability and tact, and won, and the settlers were thereafter his grateful admirers. Land- lord Stacy, whose tavern received the two great men, established the first stage line between Dansville and Hornellsville. Rowley's tavern was famous for good cookery in the early days, and the landlord once entertained the famous Indian chiefs. Red Jacket and Tall Chief. Another old and popular tavern was kept by Lester Kingsbury and G. C. Taylor. This was on the site of the Hyland house, and Row- ley's and Stacy's taverns were farther up Main street. Those and later years were the years of general trainings, with tall hats, cockades, white breeches and silver lace, and for marching music the screams of fifes and din of drums. Gen. J. Albert Granger of Canandaigua was the first reviewing officer, serving many years in that capacity. He was succeeded by William S. Fullerton of Sparta. The thorough drill master was Captain Isaac W. Drake, and his successor was Captain James H. Parker. When the Patriot war began in Can- ada, some of the militiamen's bosoms swelled large with the spirit of '76, and they talked of going over to fight for the cause of the rebels, but the uprising was quickly put down and their belligerency oozed away with the lost cause. Party spirit ran high during the Tippecanoe campaign of 1840. Two log cabins were erected here by the Whigs, and guards placed in them to defend their ash flag poles against Democratic axes. Discussion waxed hot on the street corners and in the stores and taverns, occa- sionally ending in blows and bloody noses. Twice there have been prospects that Dansville would become the capital of a new county. In 1830 a movement was started in Alle- gany county to erect a new county out of portions of Allegany, Gene- see, and "so much of Livingston county as would lie south of a con- tinuation of the north line of the town of Sparta to the Genesee river. " The plan was popular in Allegany county, and pushed with persistent determination, and as Dansville had been selected as the future shire village, she was entirely willing that the movement should be a suc- cess. The most bitter opposition came from Mt. Morris, which was somewhat inclined to be jealous of faster-growing Dansville, and meetings were held there to denounce and resolve against the proposed carving process for a new county. The opposition prevailed, and no similar effort was made until 1853, when it was proposed to form a new county from Livingston, Steuben and Allegany, with Dansville as the county seat. The part to be subtracted from Livingston con- sisted of the towns of Springwater, Sparta, Dansville, West Sparta, Nunda and Portage. Again there was opposition, and again Dans- ville was agreeable. But the legislature could not be induced to pass the necessary bill, and Dansville remains without county buildings and the mild excitements of court and supervisors' proceedings. CHAPTER IV TKird Quarter of Century From Canal to Railroad — Wayland the Nearest Station — ^Dansville Seminary — Protection Against Fire — Business Men of 1850 — ^The Civil War and Dansville's Prompt Response — Later War Meetings and Bounties Paid — The Draft — The Hyland House and Maxwell Block. • THE most prosperous period for Dansville was the canal period, that is, the ten years between 1842 and 1852, or the year of the completion of the Dansville branch of the Genesee Valley canal and that of the completion of the Erie railroad to Dunkirk. In another chapter some ac- count is given of the business boom during that decade. The new railroad facilities afforded by the Erie imme- diately turned the shipment of the lumber and other pro- ducts of Allegany and Steuben counties from Dansville to the Erie stations on the south, and the rapid growth of Dansville was at an end. Between 1845 and 1850 its pop- ulation had increased from 2213 to 4090, or nearly 100 per cent in five years. The hotels and stores had been, and for three years more con- tinued to be, so busy that they could hardly take care of all their customers. Rents increased and houses could not be built fast enough for the incoming families. The surrounding farmers sold their pro- duce readily at satisfactory prices, and sowed and planted more land from year to year. The people went to and fro with smiling faces in the fond belief that the prosperity would continue, not giving much thought to the diverting power of railroads. Their eyes were opened quickly, and their castles in the air vanished. And then they began to yearn for a railroad of their own, and renewed the agitation for one of twenty years before. Meetings were held, convincing speeches made, and confidence expressed, but no railroad was completed to our corporation lines until December, 1871. In April, 1852, the Buffalo, Corning, and New York railroad, now a branch of the Erie, was opened from Corning as far as Wayland, and from that time until the opening of the Dansville and Mt. Morris railroad Wayland was the nearest railroad station to Dansville, and all our railroad business was to and from that point. Dansville's canal business was very large, but soon began to diminish on account of the extension of the main branch of the Erie, and after the railroad connection of Wayland with Rochester and Buffalo, the traffic between Dansville and Wayland with teams was heavy for nearly twenty years, and the stage lines did a thriving business. George Hyland and John Hess started a movement for a plank road, and it was built and leased for thirty years, and paid eight per cent on the stock. It was in 1850, during the prosperous decade, that the Young Men's Christian Association of Dansville was formed, the objects of which were stated to be "a reading room and library, public debate, ad- dresses by members and lectures by distinguished men from abroad. ' ' The president was Charles Shepard, the vice-presidents were S. Sweet, 46 THIRD QUARTER OF CENTURY 47 A. J. Abbott and C. R. Kern, the secretary D. W. Noyes, the treas- urer John Hartman, and the librarian H. B. Whiten. No records have been found to indicate that the association realized its ambitious hopes or continued long in existence. The disastrous effects of the great fires of 1854 and 1S5') made more serious the setback of transportation diversions, and it took a long time to fill with other buildings the spaces made vacant by them. The old academy on the square had become a district school house when, in 1858, under the auspices of the Methodist Genesee Confer- ence, a seminary school was started in town, and a movement made to build the brick seminary structure on the hillside, which was so far completed as to be occupied in January, 18(>U. The first annual catalogue, published the previous year, shows an attendance of ninety- eight male and 113 female pupils. The faculty were: Principal, Rev. PEN SKETCH Or DANSVILLE SEMINARY IN I860 Schuyler Seager, D. D. , who was professor of moral philosphy and belles lettres ; Professor of Mathematics, Charles C. Wheeler, A. B. ; Professor of Natural Science, Rev. John J. Brown; Preceptresses, Mrs. Marietta A. Wheeler, and Miss Helen M. Budlong; teacher of instrumental music. Miss Milancie Leach; teacher of drawing and painting, Miss Emma C. Hubbard, The of^cers of the board of trustees were: President, Rev. A. C. George; secretary, Hon. I. L. Endress; treasurer, B. L. Hovey, M. D. Later principals of the seminary were Rev. John J. Brown, Joseph Jones, Rev. Mr. Crumb, Henry R. Sanford, Albert Lewis, J. E. Foley, W. H. Truesdale Samuel H. Goodyear, J. B. Hubbell, and Mrs. Susan George Jones. 48 DANSVILLE OF THE PAST Many of the present citizens of Dansville, and many more who have died or gone elsewhere, received their higher education in that brick building of picturesque background and extended outlook, and there not a, few of them distinguished themselves at examinations and an- niversary exercises. In the long delay to secure a good Union school for the village it was of incalculable value to the larger boys and girls as a source of instruction and a nursery of laudable ambitions. Although in 1846 the village trustees voted to raise $800 by tax to purchase a fire engine, hose, hooks, and ladders, dig cisterns and reservoirs and provide pumps, when the great fire of 1854 came and the two great fires of 1859, it was the lack of means for coping with them which made them so disastrous. Engine Company No. 1, was organized in 1846, and in 1857, three years after the fire of 1854, Phoenix Fire Company No. 1 was organ- ized. The next company was Canaseraga Engine Company organ- ized in 1863, and the next Genesee Fire Company No. 3, organized in 1864. The great fires and an occasional small one finally aroused LAYING PIPES FOR DANSVILLE'S FIRST WATER WORKS the business men of the village to a sense of their danger from lack of water, suitable fire apparatus and an efificient fire department. The first need was water, and to obtain this, agitation began in 1872 and was continued in varying keys — there being strong opposition — until on July 22, 1873, the tax-payers, by a vote of 156 for, to 112 against, voted that water works for fire purposes should be built. These consisted of banded wood pipes down Main street, from Little Mill creek near the California house, with branches on side streets, east and west. The fall was sufficient to produce powerful streams over any building within hose reach of a hydrant, and the spirit of or- ganization for an efficient fire department became active. Dansville's water works were completed, after a long and hard fight, in November, 1873, A large faction under the lead of influ- THIRD QUARTER OF CENTURY 49 ential men had opposed them and put every possible obstruction in the way of their construction. J. C. Whitehead was then president of the village, and perhaps the chief credit for the authority and means which brought them to a successful completion should be ac- corded to him, because of the firmness and persistence which he exer- cised in his official position. The first public test was made on November 2(1, 1873, at the corners of Main and Ossian streets, when streams were sent a horizontal distance of 156 feet. At last, after three-quarters of a century, Dansville had the water and power in pipes along its streets with which fire could be successfully fought, and the fear of such calamities as the conflagrations of 1854 and 1859 was at an end. This feeling of serenity was increased when in the follow- ing June Union Hose company, with its membership of prominent and athletic young men, was organized provided with cart and plenty of good hose, and officered as follows: Foreman, Col. George Hyland; assistant foreman, Maj. J. J. Bailey, president, George A. Sweet; vice president, Thomas E. Gallagher; secretary, LeGrand Snyder, treasurer, Frank Dyer. A list of some of the leading business men of Dansville in 1850 has been obtained from advertisements in copies of the Dansville Herald of that year. They are: Hubbard & Bulkley, Fraser & Abbott, Har- wood & Wilkinson, lawyers; G. P. Reynale & Co., hardware; Farley & Bristol, dentists; Orville Tousey, justice of the peace; John Betts, boots and shoes; C. D. Henning & Co., hats and caps: E. Niles, drugs; E. S. Palmes, tailor and ready made clothing; J. V & M. Taft, grocers; R. S. Faulkner, dry goods and groceries; S. Brockway, ready made clothing; D. J. Wood, boots and shoes; Sprague, Losey &Co., booksellers and stationers; F. Altmeyer & Co., looking glasses, picture frames and mouldings; H. S. & J. Lord, dry goods and gro- ceries; T. S. Ripley, M, D., physician and surgeon; F. & ]\I. Gilman, stoves, grindstones, and pumps; Barna J. Chapin, crockery and in- surance; Foote & Maxwell, forwarding; E. C. Daugherty & Co., publishers of the Herald, book and job printing; C. G. Wetmore & Co., drugs; J. Brittan & Co., general store ; George Brown, groceries; Richard Young, sash, blinds and doors; C. E. Clark, harness work; A. & J. Outterson, paper mill; Sweet & Co., manufacturers; Wm. Welch, John C. Williams, and William Foote & Co. , canal freights. Passing into the decade of the sixties, the exciting political cam- paign which elected Abraham Lincoln President, and the ominous war cloud which arose immediately afterward are recalled. The peo- ple of Dansville bestirred themselves, and their patriotism burned with an increasing heat. A great war meeting was held April 20, 1861, at which stirring speeches were made, $1,972 was subscribed to assist needy families of men who might volunteer, and the follow- ing committee was selected to distribute all such moneys: Charles Shepard, James Faulkner, Sidney Sweet, J. C. Jackson, I. L. Endress, A. Lozier and A. Bradner. Carl Stephan issued a call for volunteers, and within three days had the names of sixty-three men on his roll. These officers were chosen : Captain, Carl Stephan ; first lieutenant, George Hyland, Jr.; ensign, Ralph T. Wood; sergeants, Henry R. Curtis, George W. Hasler, Mark J. Bunnell, Duane D. Stillwell ; corporals, George B. Dippy, George M. Morris, William H. Drehmer, 50 DANSVILLE OF THE PAST A. J. Hartman. In another list the names of E. G. Richardson and George M. Morrison appear as corporals. This first company went to Elmira May 3, and became Company B, of the 13th regiment. In the fall of 1861 Ralph T. Wood recruited a second company here which be- came Company G, of the 13th. In November Job C. Hedges and Albert DANSVILLE. SOLDIERS' MONUMENT S. Lema, both of Dansville, commenced recruiting another company for the same regiment, and eighty men were enrolled by December 26, some of them in Rochester, and started for the seat of war January 6, 1862. This made three Dansville companies in the 13th, and added to these was the Dansville band, which joined it in Elmira May 20, 1861. The 13th was the first after the 6th Massachusetts to pass through Baltimore, and participated in the following battles: Cub THIRD QUARTER OF C/LYTURV 51 Run, Bull Run, Yorktown, Hanover Court House, Mechanicsville, Gaines Mill, Malvern Hill, Manassas, Stephentown, Antietam and Fredericksburgh. July 2 President Lincoln issued a call for 300,- 000 more men, and another August 4 for a like number of militia for nine months. A war meeting was held in Dansville July 30 at which several men enlisted, and another followed August 2, when there were several more enlistments and $587 was subscribed to pay bounties to the volunteers. When the third meeting was held, August 5, the subscriptions amounted to $1030.50, and twenty more volun- teers were enrolled, all of whom received offered bounties from citi- zens present. The recruiting officer was Andrew J. Leach, and his company left for the military camp at Portage August 18. Adjutant Job C. Hedges of the 13th regiment came from the front August 14 to recruit a company, and to help him a meeting was held August 19. Lester B. Faulkner and E. H. Pratt went to work with Adjutant Hedges, and under the stimulus of bounties the company was filled in eight days, and August 30 was mustered in as Company B, of the 136th regiment. James Wood, Jr., of Geneseo was colonel of this regi- ment and Lester B. Faulkner lieutenant colonel, and the officers of Company B, were: Captain, E. H. Pratt; first lieutenant, John J. Bailey; second lieutenant, Nicholas V. Mundy. The men enlisted by Capt. Leach became Company K, of the 130th regiment, and the officers were: Captain, Andrew J. Leach; first lieutenant, James C). Slay ton ; second lieutenant, Edmund Hartman. Of course there were many changes in and promotions in and from all the Dansville com- panies as the war went on. In November, 1863, Mark J. Bunnell was appointed recruiting officer at Dansville, but later being made a captain in the the Invalid Corps, S. G. Dorr, Jr., took his place. In early February the Dansville quota was filled, and a town bounty of $300 paid to each of twenty-seven men. At a special town meeting held Sept. 15, 1864, it was decided to raise by tax a bounty of $600 for each volunteer, or substitute, or the family of a drafted man, up to the number required to fill the town's quota under the last call for 500,- 000 men. Another town meeting Sept. 23 resolved to add $200 to the $600 bounty. Other public meetings were held and within three weeks the town's quota was full. On March 7, 1865, a meeting was held at which it was voted to raise $3,400 to pay bounties, and there were a few volunteers, but the ordered draft came off just before Lee's surrender, and forty-eight names were drawn. North Dansville's quota under the draft of 1862 was 116, and 122 volunteers reported. The number drafted from North Dansville in July, 1863, was 110 and the number exempted ninety-four, but many of the exempts paid the commutation of $300 each. Under the call of October, 1863, North Dansville's substitutes were three and commutations eleven. The well-drilled and much-admired Canaseragas had mostly gone to the war when in April, 1862, the Washington Zouaves were organized as a local company with the following officers and privates: Captain, Charles Reeve ; lieutenant, Henry Faulkner; ensign, Theo. Chapin; 1st sergeant, Wm. Bulkley; 2d sergeant, James Williams; privates, James Edwards, Wm. Knowlton, Charles Niles, Henry Porter, Ed- ward Readshaw, Edward Sweet, Eugene Sprague, Percy Jones, James Lindsay, Edward Niles, Jr., Wm. Readshaw, Charles Shepard, 52 DANSVILLE OF THE PAST Wm. Spinning, Rockwell Lozier, John Wilkinson. How long this promising military organization continued is not on record. When the war closed the military spirit which it had excited perceptibly diminished in a short time. The returned soldiers devoted themselves to the arts of peace. Money was plenty and prices high, new indus- tries were started and neglected old ones revived ; every able-bodied man could get work at good wages, and from 1865 to Black Friday the country prospered as it never had before. HYLAND HOUSE On April 23, 1874, the new Hyland house was opened, and the finest hotel in this and several neighboring counties began to receive the traveling public. The opening was celebrated with a splendid banquet, music and addresses, and invited guests were present from New York, Syracuse, Rochester and several country towns. The first landlord was Charles P. Howe, and the present popular landlord is John King. The Hyland house and the Maxwell block were the most important building improvements on Main street near the close of the third quarter century, and are still the largest business buildings in Dansville. Without the water works they would have been haz- ardous financial experiments, but with them they have proved to be profitable investments. CHAPTER V THe Last Quarter of tKe Centtiry The Bank Failures — Followed by Improved Conditions — Dansville's Cele- bration of the Nation's Centennial — A Circulating Library — Floods and Storms — Winged Ants — From District Schools to Union School and a Fine New Building — The Village Improvement Society and Its Im- portant Work. THE last twenty-five years of the 19tli century was one of disturbing lessons which have, on the whole, been bene- ficial to Dansville, and healthy progress in these latest years is increasingly apparent. With two very depressing bank failures which depleted many incomes and e.xhatisted the savings of a considerable number of depositors, there was an exhibition of grit and elasticity that were inspirit- ing. In the last of those failures the most of the money which had been raised for a Union school building was sunk, but more was forthcoming and the construction was not delayed. Two other banks, on solid financial founda- tions, with managers in whom the people have confidence, have taken the place of the defunct ones; the Union school, with a course which prepares pupils for college, is one of the best; electric lights have come in; new water works providing a supply of excellent water for domestic as well as fire purposes, and with sufficient fall to throw streams over the hillside Sanatorium, are a source of many satisfac- tions; Main street has been macadamized; cement sidewalks and brick crosswalks have been substituted for the old board and broken stone walks; the parks have been improved, and the old eye- sores on the Central park removed ; two new brick churches, five or six fine business buildings, and many handsome dwellings have been erected ; one of the most flourishing publishing houses outside the large cities has been established; a new trunk line railroad ribbons the hillside and affords first-class transportation facilities east and west ; a trolley road (or two) to Rochester in the near future seems to be a foregone conclusion; our nursery business has developed into a great industry, making the town one of the principal centers of the country for nursery stock ; tradesmen are prosperous and social and moral conditions have improved. It is noticeable, also, that the scenic, social, and other attractions of Dansville are making it more and more a summer resort of people from a distance. One of the first great events of the last quarter-century was the celebration throughout the country of the nation's centennial on July 4, 1876. Dansville participated with enthusiasm. There was a great parade, and the Dansville, Mt. Morris and Avon fire departments were a part of it. Dr. James H. Jackson was grand marshal. Judge John A. Vanderlip was president of the day, and Hon. Jerry Maguire was the orator. 53 LAST OL'ARTER OF CliNTURY 55 The circulating library of the private Library Association had been distributing- good books to many patrons for nearly a year, when in April, 1875, a public spelling match in which many prominent citi- zens participated, considerably increased its funds. The library grew steadily, and its value as an educator became apparent in the avidity with which its books were drawn and read by all classes. DANSVILLE LIBRARY INTERIOR In the first years of the quarter century there were some note- worthy storms and floods, but only one that did much damage. There had been a flood in April, 1873, which carried away the Read- shaw, Angell and Hyland dams, and did much damage on Stony Brook and down the valley. On March 14, 1877, there was a similar but less damaging flood. Some of the back streets became creeks, and eighty rods of railroad track two miles from the village were washed away. August 12, 1877, a hail storm about a mile wide started in Nunda and crossed Ossian to South Dansville. Trees and corn were stripped of their leaves, gardens were ruined, and some sowed crops were nearly destroyed. On some farms the hail stones lay four inches deep, and some of them were, as large as hens' eggs. A hurricane was in the storm and tore up several trees. The estimated damage was $20,000. Twelve days later a tornado visited Dansville which broke down trees, twisted off branches, toppled over chimneys and sent boards and sticks flying through the air. Other surprising natural phenomena were visitations of winged ants in 1878 and 1879, both years on August 28. There had been a like visitation in Sep- tember, 1874, which was the first appearance of the insects. They flew LAST OUARTEK OF CRNTUKY 57 rapidly in long clouds that darkened the sky, a few hundred feet above the buildings, and millions of them settled down into the streets so thickly that it was difficult to keep them out of mouths and eyes, and the doors and windows of stores and dwellings throughout the village were quickly closed against them. But all these troublesome phenomena were of little account com- pared with the crushing failures of the two banks in 1884 and 1