Browse Items (47 total)

Postmarked 1910, the former Caledonia School had been integrated into New York's Union Free School district since 1895, and designated as the town's high school since 1898. In 1914, the older structure would be rebuilt in brick and serve its function…

The son of a Scottish immigrant, Hamilton was born 1832 in Le Roy and grew up on a farm. After a brief time spent as a teacher in the upper midwest, Hamilton returned to Caledonia, married Jane Vallance, and had five children. Hamilton was a leading…

"Under the Protection of Mary" is the usual translation for this emblem blessing the Catholic Church's approved ceremonial book. First published in 1829, it was by 1894 in its 8th edition and used in churches like St. Columba in Caledonia, NY.…

This resonant symbol appears near the end of a 1904 history of the Western New York Diocese of the Protestant Episcopal Church. It was fairly common in the Anglican church and its Episcopal branches in the United States, one of them St. Andrew's…

At the time of this photograph the buildings and trees shown on Main Street were little more ten years old, rebuilt in 1892 after a devastating fire. In addition to the Soldiers Monument (dedicated in 1900), the Hotel Kreisler figures…

Postcard shows the junction of East and State Streets, including what the writer calls "Our much talked of monument." At this time the Soldiers Monument, dedicated in 1900 by then-governor Theodore Roosevelt, would have been seven years old and an…

Headline from the weekly Caledonia "Advertiser" describes a major fire that destroyed much of the village's commercial district and the Moss House hotel in 1891. The story goes on to enumerate some of what was lost: "The fire cleaned out two…

Number 5 on the Burleigh map, records for this school prior to 1892 are missing due to a major fire on Main Street that year. The structure shown by Burleigh received a west wing in 1896 and a north wing in 1904. In 1914, a new brick structure…

Number 7 on the Burleigh map, an original modest structure served the needs of a railroad built primarily to deliver coal from the Pennsylvania anthracite fields, east to New York and west to Buffalo on the Great Lakes. Amidst ferocious competition,…

Number 42 on the Burleigh map, it's not clear whether Davis (1860-1947) ever was successful in starting up his billiard hall--and the attendant liquor license likely for its operation. It's more certain that, by May 1894, he and Charles Bundy had…