Holland Land Office Museum

There's really no way to say it better than Pat Weissend:

"Traffic backed up at the New York State Thruway as thousands of people from the east and the west merged to spend their entertainment dollars on a chance to make more money at one of Genesee County’s best known attractions: Batavia Downs!"

So it is that Batavia Downs lands at No. 8 in the Holland Land Office Museum's countdown of the 25 Things That Made Genesee County Famous.

The harness racing track is the oldest night-time pari-mutuel track in North America. Batavia Downs opened on Friday, September 20, 1940 at 8:20 p.m. to an estimated crowd of 2,500 people. A total of $629 was bet on the first race and over $10,000 was bet on the first card.  

The opening was the dream of William “Lefty” Goldberg and others who, as shareholders in the Monroe - Genesee Breeders Association, chose Batavia because of its location between Rochester and Buffalo. The Monroe - Genesee Breeders Association is the predecessor of the Monroe - Genesee Racing Association. The first season’s attendance was 25,935 people with a total bet of $310,790. The following year, attendance and betting doubled, but racing was canceled in 1942 and 1943 due to travel restrictions and gas rationings.

For more on Batavia Downs and how it made us famous, be sure to visit the Holland Land Office Museum Web site. While your there, you can peruse the other 17 "things" that have so far made the list. You can also hit up the museum's blog to leave your two cents about what should make it in the top seven.

Image of Batavia Downs program from 1964 taken from the Holland Land Office Museum Web site.

Groups are setting up for the annual Wonderland of Trees at the Holland Land Office Museum. The event starts Friday evening with the annual Kickoff Gala sponsored by Five Star Bank.

The Museum anticipates about 45 community groups, business, organizations and volunteers. There is still a couple of days left to get your trees up. If you or your business would like to decorate a tree, call the Museum at 343-4727. There isn’t a charge to put one up, but the group must supply the tree and all the trimmings.

On Friday night at 7:30 p.m., the annual Wonderland of Trees Kickoff Gala occurs.  Come and view the trees, vote on your favorites, enjoy music and visit with friends and neighbors as we ring in the holiday season. Tickets for the event are still available and cost $20 per ticket or $30 per couple. Reserve your ticket by calling the Museum at 343-4727.

For more information, visit www.wonderlandoftrees.com

We were wondering when the Muckdogs would make their appearance in the Holland Land Office Museum's countdown of the Twenty-Five Things that Made Genesee County Famous. Well, they've made it. They broke the top ten. They come in at No. 9.

So we all know why we here in Genesee County love the Muckdogs—and we loved them all the more after the brought home the league title this summer. But how do the 'Dawgs make Genesee County famous?

Here's Pat Weissend, director of the Holland Land Office Museum:

Although Batavia is one of the smallest cities in America to have a Minor League franchise, the team consistently ranks near the top of the merchandise sold list. More than 100 Little League and softball teams across the country use Muckdogs as their team name.

Not to mention the world champs:

Many major leaguers began their professional careers in Batavia including World Series champions and current members of the Philadelphia Phillies Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, Kyle Kendrick, Ryan Madson and JA Happ. National media outlets visited Batavia in 1998 when Heisman Trophy winner Ricky Williams played left field for the team. Some of the early Batavia greats were Jack Tighe, Dick Fowler, Manny Sanguillen and Doc Ellis. Clarence (Cito) Gaston led Batavia and the league in homers and runs batted in while playing for the 1966 Trojans. Gaston won two World Series as the manager of the Toronto Blue Jays in the 1990s.

Congrats, Muckdogs!

OK, now that we're getting near the top of the list, it's time to start making some predictions. Surely, William Morgan will crack the top five. Bill Kauffman has got to be up there, too, as someone who has quite consciously made Genesee County famous with his book: Dispatches from the Muckdog Gazette. A controversy over a transgender science teacher at a Batavia city school has to be at least number three.

What do you think? What's your number one?

Be sure to keep your browser tuned to the Holland Land Office Museum in the coming weeks. We could see our number one by the end of the year.

The Holland Land Office Museum is preparing for the 7^th Annual Wonderland of Trees. This annual fundraiser begins November 22, 2008, and runs until January 3, 2009. The annual holiday display features over 40 trees decorated by area businesses, community groups, and local school children. With the theme of “Frosty’s Holiday”, this year’s trees promises to be exciting and creative. The annual event is sponsored by Five Star Bank.

The museum is open special holiday hours for this event. We are open Tuesdays-Saturdays 10:00am-4:00pm. And starting Sunday November 23^rd, we will be open 12:30 pm-4:30 pm. The cost of the event is $4.00 for adults, $1.00 for children (ages 5-13), and free for children under 5. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the Musem at 343-4727 or on our website at www.wonderlandoftrees.com. We look forward to seeing you this holiday season.

Much to my surprise today, local author, William F. Brown, Jr. came into the Holland Land Office Museum with a box of his classic book, The Linden Murders: Unsolved!

The book, originally published in 1984 and in its eighth printing, tells the story of a series of murders that rocked the countryside around the hamlet of Linden in the early 1920s.

The price of the book is $12.95 and will not be available for long. Get your copy immediately at the Holland Land Office Museum; they will certainly sell out before Christmas.

The Holland Land Office Museum is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. For more information, call us at 343-4727 or check out our website at www.hollandlandoffice.com

Checking in at number 10 on the Holland Land Office Museum's ongoing list of 25 Things that Made Genesee County Famous is Dean Richmond.

The name Richmond still plays a prominent role in Batavia. There is the library, of course, but there is also the impressive looking family tomb in the Batavia Cemetary on Harvester Avenue.

Too bad his grand old mansion was torn down by the school board (the school board!?) after the board purchased the building in 1966 and the failed in an attempt to annex the Richmond Library. Where the Greek Revival structure once stood (311 East Main St.) is ... a parking lot. (I think they call that progress.)

But back to dear old Dean.

Mr. Richmond, according to HOLM, was born in 1804 in Barnard, Vermont. He was the son of an entrepreneur, but was forced to make his own way in life at age 14, when his father died.  He turned his father's money-losing business into a profitable one, and eventually used his growing wealth to invest in the emerging railroad business.

Dean Richmond is best known in railroad circles as the first person in America to advocate the use of steel rails for the construction of railroads. An order was placed in England for the steel rails for a test run, but the tests were completed after Richmond died. The tests were successful and the steel industry grew out of the demand for the product by the railroad.

While Richmond was president of the New York Central, he demanded that all trains stop in Batavia. In 1866, the year of Richmond’s death, more than 3.7 million travelers rode on the train line. Not all of those people stopped in Batavia, but a fair share did, and because of Richmond, Batavia became a terminal and a gateway to the west.

Among the passengers who road through Batavia, according to Patrick Weissend, was Abraham Lincoln -- both on his way to assume the presidency in Washington, D.C., and his casket was carried through Genesee County when his body was returned to Springfield, Ill. In both cases, the name of the engine that transported Mr. Lincoln was the Dean Richmond.

The Buffalo History Works site quotes this passage about the train's pass through Batavia from the Buffalo Morning Express:

The funeral train was met at Batavia yesterday morning by the Committee from this city which included Honorable Millard Fillmore. The Committee left here at 6:00 o'clock Wednesday evening by a special car provided for their accommodation, passing the night at Batavia. At 5:00 o'clock yesterday morning, the funeral train arrived at that point, where it was received, as at every halting point along the line of its long, sad journey, by an immense concourse of people. The assemblage had begun with the very dawn, when the firing of the minute guns awoke the village from its slumbers and hastened the steps of pilgrims from the surrounding country flocking in. Before the train appeared, it had grown to the proportions of a city throng.

The multitude stood with their heads bowed, silent, sorrowful and reverent, paying that sincere homage to the dead which had everywhere been so memorable and remarkable. The pause of the train was but for ten minutes, during which the committee from Buffalo took their places in the car reserved for them. From thence to this city no halt on the journey was made but at every station and almost continuously the train passed between long lines of people, who had come to catch but a floating glimpse of what bore the remains of their beloved President; and everywhere they bowed, with uncovered heads, in afflicting bestowment of their little passing tribute of solemn reverence.

Here's something additional I just found: The wreckage of the Dean Richmond, a freighter on the Lake Erie that went down in a storm in 1893. Here's a 1872 article from the New York Times about a fire aboard the very same steamer. Actually, maybe those are not the same boats. This article says there were for Great Lakes steamers named the Dean Richmond -- all met similar fates.  The link contains a picture of the fourth one.

I know it’s early, but let's start thinking about Holiday Shopping!

The Holland Land Office Museum is proud to announce the arrival of the fourth building in the Custom Wood Gift series. On November 1, 2008 the next building, the Old City Hall / Brisbane Mansion will be available at the Museum Store inside the Holland Land Office Museum.

The 5 inch by 7 inch gift features the old City Hall on the front and a history of the building on the back.

Here is the building history from the back:

Brisbane Mansion / City Hall
Batavia, New York

The Brisbane Mansion was built in 1853 by George Brisbane, the son of Batavia’s first merchant. The Brisbane family donated the mansion to the city and assumed it would be razed for a city park.

On February 5, 1918, Ellicott Hall which was serving as city headquarters burned to the ground.

After the fire, City Council decided the Brisbane Mansion would serve as City Hall. Frank Homelius drew up plans for remodeling and the Mansion opened as the new City Hall on September 28, 1918.

In 2004, City Hall was moved from this building to the new City Centre.

The Brisbane Mansion is part of the Genesee County Historic District and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

This is the fourth building available. The others are the Holland Land Office Museum, the Richmond Mansion and the old Genesee County Courthouse.

See the entire collection at http://www.hollandlandoffice.com/museum_store_woodgifts.htm

Call the Holland Land Office Museum at (585) 343-4727 to preorder yours today.

BUILD YOUR OWN BATAVIA!

I know its only October, but let’s start thinking about trees!

The Holland Land Office Museum is looking for community groups, businesses and other organizations help us in this annual event by setting up a tree.

This year, the theme is Frosty’s Holiday, but that doesn’t mean you have to follow the theme. Trees can be decorated in any style you want. It doesn't cost to participate and the only restrictions are: it has to be less than nine feet tall and artificial.

For more information and to see pictures of last year’s trees, check out the Museum website at http://www.hollandlandoffice.com/Wonderland%20of%20Trees.htm

If you have any questions, call the Museum at 343-4727.

Looks like we need to do some catching up with the Holland Land Office Museum's countdown of The 25 Things That Made Genesee County Famous. We left off with Charles Rand back at the end of September, but Pat Weissend has posted a few more in the meantime. What's more, we're about to break into the top ten!

Clocking in at No. 13 was the Pembroke driver's ed accident: a tragic crash in 1987 that claimed the lives of three students and an instructor. That accident, relates Weissend, spurned folks to act and got the blood alcohol content lowered from .1 percent to .08 percent and made it illegal for anyone under the legal drinking age to even possess a drink.

Darien Lake Theme Park earns a spot at No. 12. Weissend tells us that over 1 million people visit the park each year.

Seneca Indian Ely Samuel Parker makes his appearance at No. 11 on the list. Here's Weissend:

Parker is arguably one of the most famous people ever born in Genesee County. He spoke in front of the Supreme Court, knew United States Presidents, was one of the only Native American Generals in the United States Army and was one of President Ulysses S. Grant’s first nominees for a federal appointment.

Be sure to check out the museum Web site for more on these and the other "famous things" and plenty of other fun stuff, such as podcasts, official Muckdogs merch, the wonderland of trees and more.

Emory Upton was a prominent Batavian, a Civil War general and a traveler to distant realms. Upton commanded men and feasted with royalty. He could charm a dame and pack a rifle with equal assurance. Throughout his voyages away from his native land, Upton sent home many letters home, to his sisters mostly, chronicling his adventures.

Two years ago, a gift was made to the Holland Land Office Museum of 75 letters that Upton wrote during the Civil War and after. Since then, Museum Director Pat Weissend and County Clerk Don Read have diligently and miraculously deciphered Upton's script, transcribing the letters that will, once the project is finished about a year from now, be published in a book. Every couple of weeks, Pat and Don get together early in the morning at Main Street Coffee to pick through another couple of pages. They've nearly finished their first run through of them all.

Pat was kind enough to invite me to their transcription session this morning where, bleary-eyed yet grateful, I produced this video:

On Thursday, October 16th from 6:30 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. the Batavia Muckdogs will be at the Holland Land Office Museum with the New York – Penn League Championship T-Shirts.

While you’re at the Holland Land Office Museum, bring your camera and get your picture taken with the League Championship Trophy.

The t-shirts are available in black and grey and cost $18 for adult sizes small to extra large and $19 for sizes double x and larger.

Can’t make it to the Holland Land Office Museum on Thursday? The t-shirts are available at Dwyer Stadium, the Holland Land Office Museum, Red Wings Team Store at Frontier Field and on the web at www.muckdogs.com

Charles Rand lands at Number 14 in the Holland Land Office Museum's countdown of The Twenty-Five Things That Made Genesee County Famous. Well, it turns out that The Batavian visited the museum a couple months back and put together a video with Museum Director Pat Weissend on that very subject

Don't forget to visit the museum Web site for even more on Rand and the other things that made Genesee County famous.

Bill Kauffman spoke Sept. 9 at the Holland Land Office Museum dinner and Patrick Weissend recorded it as part of HOLM's ongoing podcast series.

You can listen to it here.

Bill's new book is Forgotten Founder, Drunken Prophet: The Life of Luther Martin.

Luther was an anti-Federalists, a misnomer used to describe a group of people who opposed ratification of the Constitution because it would, they believed (and accurately predicted) that it would lead to a concentration of power in the national government at the expense of communities and states.  The opposition of the anti-Federalist did help lead to the drafting of the Bill of Rights.

In the podcast, Bill covers Luther Martin's biography and his opposition to the drafting and ratification of the Constitution.

Coming in at No. 15 in the Holland Land Office Museum countdown of The Twenty-Five Things That Made Genesee County Famous is the only court case to have orginated in Genesee County that was heard by the United States Supreme Court. This was in 1857.

It all started when a representative of the Ogden Land Company, Joseph Fellows, tried to take the land of the Tonawanda Indian Reservation. Tonawanda Seneca Sachem John Blacksmith wouldn't have it. (A sachem is a sort of Native American king, by the way.) Blacksmith sued the land company and his case was eventually heard by the supreme court.

If you want to know what happened next, check out the full article by Museum Director Pat Weissend. While you're at the the museum's Web site, you can isten to podcasts of some of the other big things that made the list of The Twenty-Five Things That Made Genesee County Famous.

The building that became known to the world as the first-ever business incubator earns a spot in the Holland Land Office Museum's countdown of The Twenty-Five Things That Made Genesee County Famous.

Museum Director Pat Weissend relates the history of this famous plant:

In 1886, the Johnson Harvester Company of Brockport, NY moved to Batavia following a fire in the Brockport plant. Company officials chose Batavia because the railroad lines that came through the village would make the shipment of product easier. Also, local citizens purchased 14 acres of land along Cemetery Street and donated it to the company to build its plant. Cemetery Street was renamed Harvester Avenue.

In 1910, a controlling interest in the Johnson Harvester Company was acquired by the Massey-Harris Company of Canada. One of the more well known products of the Massey-Harris Company was the Clipper Combine.

In 1953, the company merged with Harry Ferguson Limited of England and became Massey-Harris-Ferguson. Five years later, the name was shortened to Massey-Ferguson.

After the plant closed a few years after the merger with Ferguson Limited, the city began the search for a new tenant. When no one could be persuaded to take over the enormous space—industrial plants all over the nation were beginning to close their doors at the time—Charles Mancuso was charged with the task of filling the space. So was born the business incubator.

Mancuso came up with the idea to rent portions of the building to small manufacturing firms until they were large enough to strike out on their own. This type of arrangement allowed startup businesses to save money and resources until they grew enough to go out on their own.

One of the first tenants to the Industrial Center was a chicken company. Mr. Mancuso was traveling around the US looking for other potential tenants and spreading the word about Genesee County. He used the chicken company as an example, and started calling it an incubator. Mancuso invented the world's first business incubator. Today, there are an estimated 5,000 business incubators in the world. In Anshan City, China there is a statue of Joseph Mancuso, the father of the business incubator.

Visit the museum's Web site for more about the business incubator and to keep up with the countdown of The Twenty-Five Things That Made Genesee County Famous.