Old Honeoye Falls - Shows the covered railroad bridge above the upper falls (c.1853)
A Capsule History By: Diane Ham, Mendon Historian
It
is difficult to imagine the Town of Mendon once being a dense forest
and also to visualize Honeoye Creek as ever having been a roaring
stream. The Town of Mendon today is much different from the log cabin
era of 1790 when oxen pulled covered wagons through mud holes, when our
pioneer families planted the seeds of settlement, and wolves howled in
the woods behind the clearings. And this was the beginning.
The
Sullivan-Clinton Expedition was ordered by President George Washington
in 1779, to break forever the power of the Seneca Indians who fled west
hoping for protection from the British on the Niagara Frontier. The
Sullivan Expedition was successful and hastened the development of
Western New York. When peace came and the land in the Finger Lakes and
Genesee River areas was opened for sale, the word was passed along, and
settlements sprang up rapidly as people rushed to buy land either for
speculation or to farm for themselves. They set out on foot or
horseback and drove their stock, while their families usually came by
water or covered wagon. Very often, the heads of families or older sons
came ahead as land hunters, made their selection, bought land, built a
hut or cabin and then returned along the trail to pass the winter at
the old home and to sell their farm before bringing their family to
Mendon.
In January, 1789.Ontario County was formed from
Montgomery County. The Town of Mendon was originally part of Ontario
County and was annexed to Monroe County when it was formed in 1821.
Mendon was organized in 1813, and the first town meeting was held in
April of that year, at the home of Thomas Ewer (later adjourned to his
barn) at the corner of West Bloomfield and Cheese Factory Roads. The
Honorable Timothy Barnard was elected Moderator.
Mendon most
likely got its name from one of its early settlers, Caleb Taft, who
came here from Mendon, Massachusetts. Most of the early settlers to
Mendon came from Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, and from the
eastern counties of New York State, where their prospects for existence
were poor. Between 1792 and 1800, 26 families settled in Mendon, most
of them near “Mendon village” or East Mendon, as it was called in early
days. They were Samuel Miller, Robert Briggs, Daniel Sines, Cornelius
Treat, Loren Wait, Jason Cross, Dan Williams, Joseph Bryant, Abraham
DeGarmo, John Park, John Silley, Dr. Joel Brace, Jonathan Brace, Henry
Bryant, Jonas Allen, Abel Parkhurst, Philander Barrett, Nathaniel
Williams, Lyander Barrett, Medad Barrett, Edward DeWolf, Samuel Lane,
Amaziah Park, Benjamin Park, Ralph Strong and Caleb Taft.
In
1800, a road was opened from East Mendon westward. From this time until
1805, numerous groups passed through the area from every part of New
England. Before long, the country became more thickly settled, and a
few men started in the milling business. Sites along the streams were
selected for their waterpower. A person looking for a mill site
explored up and down the stream for a desirable location, and when one
was found he went before the Town authorities to secure a writ of “ad
quod damnum.” This enabled the miller to have the adjoining land
officially examined, and the possible amount of damage by making a dam
was estimated. Mills were so great a public necessity that they were
permitted to be located on any person’s land where the miller thought
the site desirable. Thus, the local farmers found a market for their
wheat, corn and oats at the grist mills throughout the 19th century and
into the early years of the 20th century.
“Mendon village” was
the first post office established in the Town. Timothy Barnard was the
first postmaster at his residence a mile northwest of the village. A
mile west of the “village” stood the first schoolhouse. The
entertainment of travelers and emigrants began in an early log cabin
tavern; later a more pretentious structure known as the East Mendon
Hotel which was built in 1812 on the northwest corner of the four
corners. Jonas Allen was the first supervisor.
By 1860, the Town
of Mendon contained three hamlets, the village of Honeoye Falls and
23,000 acres of excellent farmland. Mendon contained two churches, a
steam flouring mill, a steam sawmill, a foundry, and twenty houses.
Mendon Center had a grist and saw mill and 15 houses and was an early
Quaker settlement with choice land for farming. Sibleyville was a busy
hamlet in the southwest part containing a sawmill, machine shop which
manufactured carding machines, a foundry, water grist mill and saw mill
which doubled as a cider mill in the fall, a woolen mill, cobblestone
meeting house and about a dozen houses. Later on, about 1896, Rochester
Junction became a hamlet with a railroad station, hotel and post
office. Honeoye Falls was, and still is, the only village in the Town
of Mendon.
The population of the Town of Mendon in 2000,
including Honeoye Falls is approximately 8,370 and embraces an area of
approximately 39 square miles.
You
can find many illustration and photograph items of Mendon and the
Village of Honeoye Falls in the Clerk's Office at the Town Hall, 16
West Main Street, Honeoye Falls. A sample of these items include:
Postcards, Paintings, Coffee Cups and Books. They make great gifts for
any occasion.
For complete item inventory and availability, inquire here
