Happy Birthday Macedon!
On January 29th of this year, you will be 200 years old! What a feat! Now let’s go back to our starting point.
With the first settlement of the Phelps and Gorham Purchase in July 1789, the 1780s seem to have been a time of remarkable change for our town. of range and tract. Mountain ranges stretched from east to west, and regions ran from south to north. The township was divided into his 72 lots of 320 acres. Macedonia will eventually be designated Tract 12, Range 3.
One of my favorite books on Macedonia is The Macedonian Pioneers and Other Treatises of the Historical Society of the Macedonian Center, compiled by Mary Louise Eldredge in 1912.
Turner’s history also states: It is east of the Macedonian village and overlooks it. He was accompanied by his unmarried Bennett Bates, Jonathan Warner and Noah Porter. They made his 46-day journey in the spring of 1789, with a team of cattle and wagons. (“Macedonian Pioneers,” M. Eldredge, p. 13)
It wasn’t until 1823 that a bill was passed creating a Macedonian town from what was then Palmyra, County Ontario. On April 11, 2011, the New York State Legislature, comprising Ontario and Seneca counties, formally recognized Wayne County. This is very important information when doing research. If you want to see documentation of events that occurred before 1823, you’ll have to go to Ontario County for the records.
Macedonia began to grow rapidly. We have a local family whose roots can be traced back to the founding of the town. Agriculture was a very important part of our community. The Packard family is one of Macedonia’s first settlers and looks forward to celebrating his 200th birthday in 2025 at Packard’s Valley Farms. Airy, Aldrich, Allen, Allyn, Baker, Bastian, Beal, Bills, Billing, Durfee, Hance, Herendeen, Hoag, Jennings, Lapham, Mann, Norton, Osband, Packard, Porter, Ramsdell, Reed, Smith, Tabor and Willits Name it.
Early operations included a number of mills, including the Bickford Huffman Grain Drills business. World-renowned for its double-seeded grain drills, this company perfected the art of farming and seeding while providing employment to hundreds of people in our community. Wayne County Historical Society, or Deer, Michigan You can find one of their grain drills at the Henry Ford Museum in Bourne. Macedonia continues to grow, making history and encouraging new businesses to settle here.
Education and religion were important to people in our community. Prior to the establishment of Macedon High School, students could attend his 1853-built Macedon Academy. Hundreds of boys and girls attended the school until it closed in 1903.
The Macedonian First Baptist Church is celebrating its 223rd anniversary this year. Founded in 1800 with the help of Webb Harwood. Methodists have a church at Macedon Center. The exact date of organization is unknown (believed to be before 1812). The current church building was built on land donated by Durfey Osband in 1847. Quakers also had a large presence in our area and at the Macedon Center he had not one but two meeting houses. One of his buildings, built around 1868, still stands today at the southeast corner of the road between Canandaigua and Macedon Centre. It is now owned by the Macedon Historical Society and has been repurposed as the Macedon Center Meeting House. This is a place where community members can gather and celebrate.
The Macedonian Bicentennial Committee has been busy over the past two years preparing for the 200th anniversary. Plans are underway for his second Macedon Heritage Festival this fall. It will be a day of celebration with music, food, drinks, local organizations, craft vendors, and activities for children. We are looking forward to this event along with the World Fife and Drum Festival hosted by Towpath Volunteer Fife and Drum Corps. It takes place September 2nd at Rock 30 Canal Park from 10am to 9pm. Things are going well and the night will end with a torchlight parade and hopefully fireworks. We are looking for sponsors and participants. Please let me know if you are interested.
Macedon also has events planned throughout the year, including a torch relay in Wayne County townships, an April 11th anniversary celebration at Walworth’s Lake Carey, and the Wayne County Fair from August 14-19. participate in many events.
A special education teacher at Wayne Finger Lakes BOCES, Brown is a Macedonian town historian and secretary of the Macedonian Historical Society.
