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 Aurora
was one of the three towns—Aurora, Holland and Wales—into which the remainder
of the old town of Willink was divided on the 15th of April, 1818. On December
4, 1857, a tract was set off to form a part of Elma. The town is about six
miles square and contains an area of 23,600 acres. It comprises township 6,
range 6, of the Holland Companys survey, which was surveyed into lots in 1802.
The town is situated near the center of the county, east of the West Transit,
and is bounded on the north by Elm; on the east by Wales, on the south by
Colden and on the west by East Hamburg. The principal stream is Cazenove Creek,
which flows northwesterly, the east branch passing through East Aurora village.
The surface is high upland and somewhat hilly, and the soil is clay and gravel
and very fertile. Dairying, general farming and fruit growing are among the
leading industries.
The records of Willink and Aurora were burned in 1831, and it is impossible to
give a complete list of the early supervisors. Among them were Peter
Vandeventer, Elias Osborne, Asa Ransom, Joseph Yaw and Isaac Phelps, jr., all
of the town of Willink. The supervisors of Aurora, so far as can be
ascertained, are as follows:
John C. Fuller. 1825—26; Thomas Thurston, 1827—28; Jonathan Hoyt, 1830—34; John
C. Pratt, 1835; Lawrence 3. Woodruff, 1836—37; Joseph S. Bartlett, 1838; Thomas
Thurston, 1839-42; Jonathan Hoyt, 1843; Thomas Thurston, 1844; Hezekiah
Moshier, 1845—46; Hiram Harris, 1847—48; William Boies, 1849; Hiram Harris,
1850; Daniel D. Stiles. 1851—52; George W. Bennett, 1853—55; Hiram Harris,
1856; Edward Paine. 1857—58; William N. Bennett, 1859—60; Seth Fenner, 1861—62;
Dorr Spooner, 1863—65; De Witt C. Corbin, 1866; Pliny A. Haynes, 1867—68; Henry
Z. Persons, 1869—70; Christopher Peek, 1871—73; John P. Bartlett, 1874—75;
Lyman Cornwall, 1876—78; Henry B. Millar, 1879—80; Lyman Cornwall, 1881—82;
James D. Yeomans, 1883; Henry H. Persons, 1884-86; Frank R. Whaley, 1887—88;
Henry H. Persons, 1889—94; Byron D. Gibson, 1895—97.
In June, 1803, Jabez Warren surveyed and opened “Big Tree Road,” and on April
14, 1804, he contracted for 1,443 acres of land on lots 16, 24, 31 and 32,
being the site of a large part of East Aurora and vicinity; he paid $2 per
acre. The same day Henry Godfrey, Joel Adams, Nathaniel Emerson, John Adams and
Nathaniel Walker took contracts for land covering the valley of Cazenove Creek
for three miles above Warren’s, the price being $1.50 per acre, which was the
cheapest that any land was sold for in Erie county. Mr. Warren built the first
house in town and moved his family into it in March, 1806. The first resident
family was Taber Earl and his wife, who arrived in 1804, settling on lot 15. In
1804 Joel Adams also came in with his family. Among the settlers in 1804 were
Henry Godfrey, Nathaniel Emerson, Humphrey Smith and Gen. William Warren; in
1806 Timothy Paine, Phineas Stephens, Solomon Hall, Oliver Pattengill, Jonathan
Hussey, James Henshaw and others arrived. Mr. Stephens built the first saw
mill, at East Aurora; in 1807 he erected the first grist mill, and for several
years the place was known as Stephens’s Mills. In 1807 Gen. William Warren
opened the first tavern that summer Mary Eddy taught a school in his old cabin,
and the next winter he was the teacher. Ephraim Woodruff began blacksmithing in
1807, and became the owner of a large tract of land in the heart of East Aurora
village. About this time Abram Smith purchased the mill sites at Griffin’s
Mills and West Falls.
Among other very early settlers were Enos, Luther and Erasmus Adams, Ira and
Walter Paine, David Rowley, Samuel Calkins, Oren and Timothy Treat, Judge Isaac
Phelps, jr., Chester Darby, Jonathan Bowen, the Stafford family, Moses
Thompson, Russell Darling, and Amos Underhill, all before 1812. In 1808 a frame
school house was built in East Aurora, and in 1809—10 Humphrey Smith erected a
grist mill at Griffin’s Mills.
Other early settlers were Judge Elias Osborne, Micah B. Crook, Israel Reed,
Josiah Emory, Sr., Levi Blake, Daniel Thurston, jr., Joseph M. Henshaw, Ira G.
Watson, Daniel Haskell, James M. Stephens, and Sumner and Asa Warren. Dr. John
Watson was the first physician. Probably the first death was that of a daughter
of Humphrey Smith. The first store was opened in a log cabin at Blakeley’s
Corners by John Adams and Daniel Haskell; there a post-office called Willink
was established in 1814, with Simon Crook as postmaster. In 1815 Robert Persons
opened the first permanent store in the town, at East Aurora, and soon
afterward the post-office was moved to that locality. In 181€ Gen. William
Warren erected a frame tavern there, which was soon purchased by Col. Calvin
Fillmore, uncle of Millard Fillmore. Of the settlers prior to 1825 there were:
Abijah Paul, Jedediah and John C. Darby, William Boies (father of Joel, Warren,
Wilder, Eber, Jarvis, William and Watson Boies), Thomas Thurston, John
Hambleton, Hawxhurst and Isaac Addington, Henry P. Van Vliet, Enos Adams and
son Ira S., James Brookins, Elijah Darrow and son Edward S., Josiah Emory, jr.,
Moses Haynes and son Pliny A., David Paul and son James W., Gen. Aaron Riley.
James W. Stiles. Cyrus Underhill, Rev. James P. Underhill, Henry Van Vliet,
Samuel Wolcott.
About 1820 Lemuel Spooner built a grist mill in the southeast part of the town
which was replaced in 1860 by another erected by Lyman Cornwall; David Nichols
built a carding and fulling mill a mile and a half above the mouth of the west
branch of Cazenove Creek; and about 1822 Sylvester McKay erected an oil mill on
the same dam, Benjamin Enos built a tannery a little farther up that stream,
and Joseph S. Bartlett put up a fulling and carding establishment near the
Stephens mill. Another tannery was placed in operation east of East Aurora
and a third near South Wales. There were at one time upwards of twenty saw
mills in the town. On the oil mill site E. S. Taylor built a pail factory in
1840; it was sold to Henry Van Vliet in 1844 and to William H. Davis in 1847,
and was burned about 1849. In 1843 Aaron Rumsey erected a large tannery near
Griffin’s Mills which he carried on about twenty years. The first railroad
proiected in Erie county was incorporated in 1830 by Joseph Howard, jr., Edward
Paine, Aaron and Joseph Riley, Robert Persons, Calvin Fillmore and Deloss
Warren, all residents of Aurora. It was styled the Buffalo and Aurora Railroad
Company. The road was surveyed by William Wallace, but was never constructed.
The following also became active citizens of the town: William N. Bennett, John
Bragg and son George S., James G. Darby, Henry Moore and son Henry F., Gifford
J. and Jeremiah Moore, H. L. Henshaw, Charles Boies, Don Carlos Underhill,
Joseph B. Dick, Harry H. Persons, Medyard R. Phelps (who built a tannery at
Griffin’s Mills in 1828 and carried it on for thirty-five years), Daniel
Rowley, Caleb Calkins, Thomas Holmes, Josiah Maples, Isaac Blakeley, Mortimer
K. Adams, Elihu Walker, Martin C. Bentley, Daniel Pierson, Harvey White, Edwin
Fowler, Lawrence 3. Woodruff, Bryan Hawley, David P. White, Stephen Holmes,
Seth McKay, Orange F. Allen, Robbins Stiliman, Emmons Fish.
The forests of early years gradually gave place to fertile and well cultivated
farms, for which the town is noted. Soon after the Rebellion dairying assumed
much importance; cheese factories came into existence, and the formation of the
“Cloverfield Combination” in 1874 by Johnson, Horton & Richardson, brought
this industry to the front. The head of this combination, locally, was Harvey
W. Richardson, who, in 1879, built a large cheese warehouse in East Aurora. In
1878 the Union Fair Association of Western New York was organized, and held an
exhibition each year at East Aurora until about 1890. The town has also become
noted for its large stock farms, notably those of Cicero J. Hamlin, H. C. and
Josiah Jewetf, and James D. Yeomans.
East Aurora is one of the principal villages in Erie county, and within recent
years has become a desirable residence town, especially during the summer
months. It is eighteen miles from Buffalo, on the Western New York and
Pennsylvania Railroad, and contains about 1,600 inhabitants: The village is the
result of the union of two hamlets, which for over fifty years were known as
the Upper Village and Lower Village of Aurora, the latter having the
post-office and styled in postal records as Willink. In 1818 these two villages
were a full mile apart; at the Upper Village, or East End, were the tavern of
Calvin Fillmore, the store of Robert Persons, the office of Dr. Jonathan Hoyt,
and a few houses, while at the Lower Village were a few dwellings, the Eagle
tavern, and the new grist mill erected by John C. Pratt on the site of Phineas
Stephens’s mill, which had burned. Elihu Walker was the postmaster. About 1819
Polydore Seymour established a store at the Lower Village; other merchants
there prior to 1832 were Samuel H. Addington, George W. Baker, Stephen Holmes,
N. G. Reynolds and Samuel W. Bowen.
At the Upper Village Robert Persons was succeeded in 1824 by his brother,
Charles P. Persons, who converted the store into a tavern; this was the
beginning of the present Globe Hotel. Joseph Howard, jr., opened a store and
hotel in 1820 and in 1828 erected a brick block on the corner of Main and Pine
streets. In the spring of 1853 Millard Fillmore, then twenty-three years of
age, came here and opened the first law office in the town. He practiced law
here seven years, taught school the first two winters, and also did surveying;
he built the house on Main street which was afterward enlarged and occupied by
Joseph Riley. In May, 1826, Nathan K. Hall entered Mr. Fillmore’s office as a
student, and in 1829 Goorge W. Johnson began studying law there and also opened
a classical school. Another student was Deloss Warren, who practiced law there
several years. Other early lawyers were La Fayette Carver, Albert Sawin, James
M. Humphrey, William C. Johhson, L. W. Graves, John F. Brown and Joseph H.
Shearer. Dr. Jabez Allen settled there in 1834 and Dr. George H. Lapham in
1836. Among the early merchants were Joseph Riley, Aaron Riley, J. & J. 0.
Riley, and Paine, Persons & Co., who were succeeded by H. Z. Persons.
The Aurora Manual Labor Seminary was incorporated in 1883; among its early
principals were Daniel Howard, jr., and A. Garrison. On April 11, 1838, the
name was changed to the Aurora Academy, and Hiram H. Barney served as principal
from that year until 1847. He was followed by Calvin Littlefield, Rev. James M.
Harlow, Hiram L. Ward, George Conant, Charles W. Merritt, Darwin Phelps, Lloyd
Rice, David Sinclair, Leslie W. Lake, and others. In 1866—67 a new brick
building was erected, and in 1883 the institution became a Union school.
At the Lower Village Dr. Erastus Wallis became a physician in 1825. Early
lawyers there were Peter M. Vosburgh and Isaac M. Vanderpoel. Among the earlier
merchants were John W. Hamlin, Cicero J. Hamlin, Judson Prentice and Sylvanus
B. Thompson. The grist mill
was burned in 1853 and in 1867 a new one was erected by A. T. Hambleton. The
carding and fulling mill built by J. S. Bartlett and later operated by his sons
was burned in 1865, and in 1866 J. P. and 0. A. Bartlett erected a woolen mill.
In 1851 the Lower Village was incorporated as Willink. For several years
afterward it had but three stores, while the Upper Village had only one or two.
The construction of the Buffalo, New York & Philadelphia (now the Western
New York & Pennsylvania) Railroad in 1867 gave the latter place a new
impetus, and in 1873 the old village corporation was extended over both
villages, which took the name of East Aurora. Thenceforward it enjoyed a steady
growth. A fire in 1869 burned the Eagle tavern and an adjoining block and
another in 1870 destroyed the brick block occupied by Isaac Ellsworth and the
saw mjll of Amos Roberts. The Willink House and the store of H. B. Millar &
Co. were burned in 1875, the buildings on the northeast corner of Main and
Buffalo streets in 1876, and the saw mill of Cyrus Rogers in 1878. Other fires
destroyed the Bartlett woolen factory; the East Aurora Preserving Company’s
establishment, which was started in 1880; the grist mill erected by A. T.
Hambleton in 1867; the Boynton & Waggoner felt factory (in 1895); and the
tannery of
D. M. Spooner (in 1897). About 1876 a fire department was organized and now
consists of one chemical, three hose companies, and a hook and ladder, with an
engine house in each end of the village.
Several other manufacturing establishments are or have been in operation in
East Aurora. The Eagle furnace was erected about 1852 by Pratt & Bond, who
were succeeded by Nathan M. Mann, William H. Mann, Darbee & Peek, Darbee,
Peek & Brother, and Heineman & Smith. A planing mill was added in 1878
and is now owned by S. Harris Peek. D. K. Adams formerly had a saw mill which
is now the water works plant.
Among later merchants are H. C. Persons & Son, F. H. Fuller, Henry Keyser,
Shubael Waldo, T. Fuller, Thompson & Hoyt, H. B. Millar, T. & T. S.
Millar, G. A. Edwards & Co., Chisman Gibson, J. A. Case & Co., Spooner
& Gundlack, Dr. Jabez Allen, Charles E. Lamb, Frank Kelsey, L. D. Mapes,
Clarence Lamb, L. N. Hatch, B. D. Gibson, Gibson & Hammond, L. F. Persons
& Co., J. P. Arnholt, W. G. Whitney, and F. W. Gardner. Of the later
lawyers there are Charles W. Merritt, Charles H. Addington, and Frank N.
Whaley. Dr. Horace Hoyt and Dr. William H. Gail were among the later
physicians. The Persons House, now the Warner Hotel, was built by Byron D.
Persons in 1872; Damon’s Hotel was erected on the Willink House site and
Colvin’s Hotel on the site of the old Eagle tavern.
The first newspaper in East Aurora was the Aurora Standard, which was started
by Almon M. Clapp in 1835. It was discontinued after about three years, and for
a short time Deloss A. Sill published a paper at the Lower Village. The Erie
County Advertiser was established in August, 1872, by C. C. Bowsfield. Its name
was changed to the Aurora Advertiser, and in January, 1878, Walter C. Wood, its
present editor, became its publisher. He changed the name in March, 1897, to
the East Aurora Advertiser. In 1879 C. A. Hamilton started the Weekly Times,
which was discontinued after about three years. In July, 1886, Dietrich
Brothers established the Aurora Enterprise, which they published until about
1893. The plant was purchased in 1894 by White & Waggoner, who started the
East Aurora Citizen, which was purchased by W. C. Wood and merged with the
Advertiser two and a half years later. Newell W. White continues in the general
printing business.
The Bank of East Aurora was organized in August, 1882, with a capital of
$30,000, and with Stephen C. Clark, president; Henry Z. Persons,
vice-president; and Henry H. Persons, cashier.
The East Aurora Electric Light Company was incorporated in August, 1890, by
Frank R. Whaley, president, and Harvey W. Richardson, secretary and treasurer.
The original capital of $12,000 has been increased to $20,000. The water works
were built in 1890—91 and have cost to date $56, 000, the village being bonded
in that sum. There are two plants, one pumping water from springs and the other
from nine wells.
There are eight churches in East Aurora. The Methodists erected an edifice in
the Lower Village in 1827 which was long afterwards sold to James M. Boies and
occupied for a time by the Evangelists and others; a new M. E. church was built
in 1877. A Congregational church was organized about 1826 and with the Baptists
erected an edifice at the Upper Village. On March 21, 1843, it became a
Presbyterian body and in 1845 a new church was built; an opera house was
erected on this site in 1893, a new Presbyterian church having been built in
1891. The Baptist church was organized with ten members October 17, 1810; in
1844 they became sole owners of the CongregationalBaptist edifice, and in 1883
moved it back and erected a new church on the site. The Universalists were
organized and erected an edifice in 1844. The Disciples church was founded in
1856, with ten members, and in 1865 built an edifice in the east end of the
village. St. Mathias Episcopal church was organized February 27, 1869; in 1870
they erected a church which was enlarged in 1897. The German Lutheran- church
was built in 1881 and the Roman Catholic in
1884.
East Aurora has enjoyed almost uninterrupted prosperity during the past fifteen
or twenty years, and is an attractive, thrifty village with every local
advantage. Many of its dwellings, business blocks, etc., are imposing and
valuable. It seems unnecessary to enumerate the various business and other
establishments because of their number and diversified character.
West Falls is a small village in the southwest corner of the town and astation
on the Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburg Railroad. It had its beginning in the
grist mill of Abram Smith and store of Lawrence Read, both of which were
started about 1818. For about thirty years it was known as Crockershire, from
the Crocker family, and later for a brief time as Florence, but since the
post-office was established it has been known as West Falls. The grist mill was
successively owned by Miner Strope, Willard Berry, L. B. Clark, John Willey and
John Snashell. Several saw mills have also been run by this water power,
notably those of Henry Haight, Smith Decker and Mrs. L. C. Burr. Aniong the
merchants of the past are Reuben Baker, Allen Holmes, Hiram Green, F. C.
Thompson, Byron A. Churchill, Wheeler C. Holmes 2d, George T. Harvey aud John
J. Snyder; the latter was burned out October 26, 1897. Joseph M. Henshaw was a
very early tavern keeper; the West Falls Hotel was built by James H. Ward about
1835. The first physician was Dr. F. F. Bishop, about 1840, and after him came
Dr. O. C. Strong. The Methodists held services in the old school house until
1849, when a union church edifice was built. The First Free Baptist church was
- organized in 1858. The First Free Methodist church was formed in 1859 and in
1861 erected a meeting house. An Evangelical church was completed and dedicated
June 26, 1892. A new school house was built in 1897. Besides these churches the
village now contains a grist mill, a pickling establishment owned by W. &
G. Klipfel, and a few stores, shops, etc.
Griffin’s Mills is a small village on the west bank of Cazenove Creek, a little
south of the west center of the town. It was originally known as Smith’s Mills,
from Abram Smith and his son Humphrey, who first developed the mill privileges
there. During the war of 1812 Obadiah Griffin and his two sons, James and
Robert, from Canada, purchased the property, carried on the business many
years, and gave the place the name of Griffinshire or Griffin’s Mills. About
the same time Adam Paul opened a store and carried it on for about thirty
years. The Griffins had a saw mill, grist mill, distillery and ashery. Robert
Griffin opened a tavern, and in 1822 a brick hotel was erected. In 1825 the
Griffins sold their property and moved away. The mills passed to Henry Hill and
from him to Henry P. Darrow. James Ives opened the second store in 1825 and was
succeeded by Harry L. Baker, the first postmaster. Other merchants were Aaron
Riley, 0. B. Baker, Theodore Henshaw, Joseph R. Brookins and S. D. Avery. Of
the physicians there were Dr. D. J. Williams, Dr. Caspian R. Morrow and Dr.
L. F. Boies. The West Aurora Congregational church was organized August 18,
1810, with nine members. This is now a Presbyterian church. An M. E. church was
formed about 1850. About 1868 a Baptist church was organized, but it finally
disbanded. The village now contains two stores and the grist mill of Ferdinand
Wanneke.
Jewettville is a station on the Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburg Railroad, in
the west part of the town, and contains the hotel of Adrian Metz and the brick
yard of Brush & Smith. In 1878 H. C. and Josiah J ewett established here
one of the largest horse farms in the country, upon which they built immense
barns and a mile race course entirely covered.
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