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Greece Historical Society P.O. Box 16249 Greece, NY 14616 (585)225-7221

Located at: 595 Long Pond Road, Greece, NY 14612 greecehistoricalsociety@yahoo.com

http://www.greecehistoricalsociety.net

TOWN OF GREECE, NY - HISTORIAN'S OFFICE

and the

GREECE HISTORICAL SOCIETY 2015 ANNUAL REPORT

The Greece Historical Society was formed in 1969 and received its absolute charter from the New York State Department of Education Board of Regents as a not-for-profit 501(c)3 corporation on November 21, 1974. Concerned and interested community volunteers of various backgrounds and education lend their talents to

govern the organization as the Board of Trustees. The all volunteer Society’s purpose is to collect, preserve, research and share local history with the Greece

community whose population is approximately 95,000. We strive to provide the community with an awareness of the past, an appreciation of the present, and a vision for the future, giving a sense of “roots” and a

greater feeling of belonging. To accomplish its purpose the Society offers:

- free public programs - newspaper articles about local history - group and school programs

- free docent led museum tours, especially to school groups and scouts - resource materials and books to area schools and libraries - a resource library at our History Center

- special events - a web site and Facebook page informing people of coming programs and events

- DVDs, videos and Power Point shows of various history subjects, sites and architecture - a museum shop selling a variety of local history books - the services of the Town Historian’s office, maintained at our history center

Beginning in the mid 1970's the Greece Historical Society shared space with the Town of Greece Historian in a Town owned house on English Rd. In 1988, with the encouragement of then Town Supervisor Don Riley, the

former home of Gordon Howe, Greece Town Supervisor for 26 years and former Monroe County Manager, was donated, to the Society by Wegmans. The 1855 farm house has been restored by the Society and sits on a

one acre parcel of land leased from the Town of Greece on the Greece Town Campus. The Campus includes the Town Hall, Town Justice Court, Public Library, Community & Senior Center, a Kiwanis Club play ground and other recreational amenities. The house, which the Society owns, is the home of the Society’s

administrative offices, research library, museum shop and the office of the Town Historian. An added wing houses our exhibits.

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Alan Mueller

Docent led tours are held Sunday afternoons from 1:30 to 4:00 p.m. or by appointment. Office hours are

Monday and Tuesday mornings from 9:30 a.m. to noon, or by appointment. Special events exhibits and programs are held throughout the year.

TOWN HISTORIAN

The Greece Town Historian has been located with the Historical Society for

approximately 40 years. For the past 20 years the Greece Historical Society has

contracted with the Town of Greece to provide the space for and services of the

Town Historian. The GHS Board of Trustees has appointed Alan Mueller, a long

time Greece resident and Society member with the title “Town Historian.” The

majority of the historic documents, files, books, maps etc. from the Greece

Historian's Office are considered the property of the Town of Greece. One room at

the Historical Society’s home is dedicated as the historian's office and not part of

the Greece Historical Society. The Greece Historical Society accessions

household, farm, business, objects, photographs, etc. for their collection and

collects local genealogy information when available. There is reciprocation between the two entities, but

each remains separate, although society volunteers do carry out some responsibilities (i.e. education and

programs) of the Town Historian. (NOTE: On December 28, 2015, the Town of Greece notified the

Greece Historical Society that the historian's office would be moved to the Greece Public Library by

January 1, 2016.) The following information about the Historian's Office in this report was written by

Mr. Mueller.

In 2015 the historian's office had about 40 outside inquiries for

various information. I also supplied information and select

photos to the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle newspaper

reporter's. Nearby towns of Gates and Irondequoit called for

information. One of the largest and most successful exhibit's

the Greece Historical Society has mounted in many years was,

Greece during World War II. Many file folders from the

historian office were perused for information about local service

personnel, civil defense, rationing, The Odenbach Shipbuilding

Corp., planting of Victory Gardens etc. The office also supplied

various documents and wartime booklets for the display cases in the exhibit.

The Greece Historical Society publishes the Corinthian newsletter six times a year and I submit a

full page column with text and photos for each issue.

The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle daily paper asked local Monroe County historians if they

would submit a column with several relevant photos three times yearly. My three columns this

year appeared in March, August and December. The first told a brief history of the William

Mitchell farm, the former land is now part of the western half of The Mall at Greece Ridge; the

August column was about the Lay Family, very early settler's (1808-1812) of what would

become Monroe County and the Town of Greece. The final column traced some of the history of

the former thriving hamlet of West Greece.

The Monroe County historians meet two times yearly. The Spring Meeting was at the former

Fairport Library, which now houses their historical society. We met this Fall at the Parma

Historical Society Museum. The Spring meeting of the GAHWNY (Government appointed

Historians of Western New York) was again at Bohn's Restaurant in Batavia, NY.

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On October 17th the Greece Public Library and The Friends of the Greece Public Library held a

three hour "How to Festival". Twenty some tables of interest, including; How K9 Dogs Do

Their Jobs, How to tell if Fruit is Ripe and How to Research Your Home. This last one was my

contribution to the well attended, first ever event.

My able assistant, Betty Fetter (some 90 plus years old) and myself continue to refine and add to

the files and various collections that demand easier access and proper preservation. In the

process we occasionally find photos or paper items that have no significance to Greece History,

but have relevance to other communities. A few such items from the collection were donated to

the historian offices of Irondequoit, City of Rochester and Interlaken, NY.

Lastly, along with fellow Greece Historical Society volunteers I attended the annual conference

of The Museum Association of New York - "Museums in Conversation", held in Corning, New

York, April 12 - 14 at the Corning Museum of Glass.

GREECE HISTORICAL SOCIETY

MUSEUM EXHIBITS

Besides maintaining and updating the permanent exhibits in our

Museum Newcomb exhibit hall we started the year with a

"History of Uncle Sam” and in May opened a seven month

exhibit "Our Town in World War II." This was our major

exhibit for 2015. It was an unqualified success as we attracted

record crowds to the museum and the programs done in

conjunction with it. It was a bit of a departure for the Society as

for the first time we mounted an exhibit that took over large

portions of the house and museum and used the exhibit as the guiding theme for our

programming over the year. Attendance at the museum went up by 300 percent; there were

many first time visitors, and we garnered new members and volunteers through it. We also

published three booklets related to the exhibit. As a result of the exhibit the Society now has an

oral history and documentary archive of World War II veterans preserved for future researchers

VISITORS During 2015 approximately 900 visitors signed in at our museum.

(not including school tours.) We are sure that more than half the

visitors do not sign in, so it can be assumed that we had well over

2000 visitors.

Besides individuals and families, tours included nearly

600 children from five Greece Public and private schools. Tours

also included groups from the Greece Chamber of Commerce,

several senior and church groups and Scout groups.

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COMMUNITY EDUCATION The Greece Historical Society continues to provide local history information to museum visitors

and students of Greece Central Schools, private schools and home-schooled children and scout

groups. We had approx. 600 students tour our museum in 2015. Kathie Firkins and Linda Evans

did presentations for both Longridge Elementary School and also a home school group. Several

students from the area high schools volunteered to be Sunday afternoon door greeters to fulfill

their Community Service requirements.

GHS ON THE ROAD During 2015 Members of the Greece Historical Society

presented programs at dozens of venues including the Village

at Unity, Legacy, Fleming Point, St. Mark's R.C. Church,

North Greece Fire Department, Historic Brighton, Charlotte

Branch Library, Hilton Historical Society and St. John's

Meadows in Brighton. We conducted tours at Holy Sepulchre

Cemetery and the former Hamlin CCC-POW Camp. We also

had information tables at the Winter Harborfest in Charlotte

and the Charlotte Farmers Market and conducted a "How to Research you House History" at the

Greece Public Library's "How to Festival"

COMMUNICATION & PROMOTION The Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, the Greece Post, and

GreeceNewsNY.Com magazine have featured the Greece Historical

Society in several articles and columns during the year. Kathie

Firkins and Maureen Whalen appeared on Channel 10 TV news

with Rebecca LeClair to promote the "Our Town in World War II"

exhibit and Marie Poinan was interviewed by Time-Warner about

the Odenbach Exhibit"

Our Facebook page, started in 2011, now has over 450 “friends” and a monthly e-mail blast is

sent to over 600 people. Our web site http://www.greecehistoricalsociety.net averages many

visits per week. Our bi-monthly newsletter, the “Corinthian,” is mailed to all our members,

distributed at the museum and our monthly programs, and is available on-line. We also

occasionally mailed additional promotion material nearly every other month.

STAFF DEVELOPMENT

During 2015 members of Greece Historical Society attended the

Museum Association Annual Conference in Corning, NY with

funds provided by a grant from the New York State Council on

the Arts (NYSCA) and the New York Family History Conference

in Syracuse. We also conducted a Staff Workshop with

professional consultant and met with Museum Association of

New York staff locally.

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GOVERNANCE In 2015 the governance committee completed work on a conflict of interest policy, code of ethics

policy, and whistleblower policy. These policies were presented and approved by the Board of

Trustees.

PUBLIC PROGRAMS

Tuesday Evening Lecture Series

Our eight monthly lectures featuring local historians, authors, and humanities scholars have

again proven to be very popular with the community. During 2015, attendance varied from as

low at 55 to as high as 175. (total 785). Nearly 350 showed up for our September program on

the history of the Odenbach Shipbuilding Corp. (Because of the room capacity a second program

was presented two weeks later). Our programs have earned a reputation throughout the region for

providing high quality, professional, and entertaining history lessons. Besides Greece residents,

our guests regularly come from Victor, Henrietta, Hamlin, Chili, Spencerport, Irondequoit, and

the City of Rochester. The monthly lectures are held at the Greece Public Library. We would

like to thank library director Cassie Guthrie and her staff for being so supportive and

accommodating to our needs.

Sunday Programs at the Museum During 2015, the Greece Historical Society hosted several informal programs on Sunday

afternoons in the museum. These programs were varied with the intent to interest a wider variety

of people and ages. The programs included "A Biography of a Neighborhood", talks from World

War II veterans, and the story of Koda-Kids the English children who come to Rochester during

World War II.

PUBLICATIONS

GHS member Marie Poinan wrote and

published "The Story of the Odenbach

Shipbuilding Corporation" and along with

Maureen Whalen published "Our Town in

World War II"

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PUBLIC RECOGNITION

Alan Mueller - Our historian Alan Mueller’s love

of history made him the ideal person to be honored

with the Greece Chamber of Commerce's first-ever

history award on April 23rd. For the past 15 years, he

has served admirably as the Town of Greece Historian,

under the helm of the Greece Historical Society. Prior

to his association with the Town of Greece and the

Historical Society, Alan volunteered for over 20 years

at the Strong Museum and is a charter member of the

Charlotte Genesee Lighthouse, where he served as

curator for many years.

Maureen Whalen - On August 15th the Greece

Community Partners held a recognition ceremony and

reception honoring community volunteers Greece

Community & Senior Center. One of the honorees was

our very own Maureen Whalen. Besides volunteering

at the Greece Historical Society, she has been a docent

at the Seneca Park Zoo for many years and is currently

researching the history of the zoo. She retired as the

branch manager of the Charlotte Branch Library where

she started and still leads the oldest monthly book

discussion group in the Monroe County Library system. She initiated a children's story time

program and helps coordinate a monthly program on local history at that library's "First

Thursday History Series." In January she also received the 2014 Volunteer of the Year Award

from the Greece Historical Society.

HOLY CHILDHOOD PROJECT The Greece Historical Society was pleased to partner again

with Holy Childhood Development Center in a project to

record what the Society owns or presently has on loan in the

house. The students take turns entering information in a

spread sheet designed by the project’s supervisor, Patrick

Worboys. The students are assisted by a life coach from the

school. Working as volunteers for the Society offers these

students training and experience and the Society benefits

from their dedicated efforts and is very grateful.

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PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS It is imperative that the Greece Historical Society maintains a relationship with professional and

community organizations. The following are the organizations that the Society is a member of, or

has a working relationship with: The Association for Public Historians of New York State,

Greece Chamber of Commerce, Landmark Society of Western New York, Museum Association

of New York, American Association of State and County Historians, and the Rochester Regional

Library Council. We also maintain a close co-operation with local historic societies, especially

the Charlotte Genesee Lighthouse, and meet regularly with local historians. Our society president

is a member of the Town of Greece Historic Preservation Commission.

CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS

After several years of fund raising we had a new roof installed by

American Custom Exteriors & Interiors. The project was funded

entirely by donations from the community. A new refrigerator was

purchased from Charlotte Appliance with a portion of funds

provided by the Friends of the Greece Public Library and the

museum gift shop received a fresh coat of paint.

BOY SCOUTS For the past several years we have sponsored Boy Scout Venturing

Crew #1910. The group has used our house for a meeting place and

they were a tremendous help at the Strawberry Festival.

HISTORIC PRESERVATION The Greece Historical Society provides information to the Greece Historic Preservation

Commission and one GHS trustee is a member of that commission.

TECHNOLOGY

Thanks to a Rotary Club of Greece grant of $500.00 we were able

to purchase a new high speed scanner and have now begun

scanning documents and photographs making them more

accessible to the public and older office records to free up filing

space. In addition we purchased a video camera and have begun

recording various programs and exhibits. (Photo: Al Meilutis,

president of the Greece Rotary and president elect, Patricia

Anthony presenting check to GHS president Bill Sauers)

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FINANCIAL REVIEW Gary Krauss, CPA, conducted a review of the Greece Historical Society financial statements for

2014. A financial review was completed in the spring of 2015, with no adverse comments from

Gary. The GHS treasurer transitioned from Betty Tudisco to Bill Peeck in mid-year 2015 due to

Betty's getting a full time consultant's job. A review of past years documentation was conducted.

Old unneeded receipts from the 1970-2000 time frame were destroyed. A review of the

electronic finance records maintained by the society for 2000-2013 was also conducted. Back up

paper files for 2000-2013 were also reviewed, and some unneeded documentations for years

prior to 2007 were also eliminated.

RESEARCH In the past year Greece Historical Society volunteers have continued their research on early

settlements in Greece, have begun researching early area agriculture and have made plans to

interview members of long-time farming families in Greece. Also extensive research was made

by volunteer Marie Poinan into the Odenbach Shipbuilding Corporation (a World War II

complex in Greece) using primary source materials provided by the Odenbach family and the

historian's office. The research resulted in the publication of the research and a major display in

our exhibit hall, along with public programs that were attended by over 500 people from our

community.

FUNDRAISING Strawberry Festival – this year’s annual Strawberry and

Dessert Tasting Festival included five area vendors offering samples

of their dessert products, entertainment, and information displays

from several local non-profit organizations. Nearly 600 of our guests

enjoyed what we consider the Town’s best neighborhood festival.

Community Yard Sale - In July we hosted a Community Yard

Sale, organized by Trustee Cynthia Shevlin. Rented spaces were

offered to any member of the community to sell their wares.

Museum Shop - Our museum gift shop continues to sell a large

selection of books, locally made quilts, Greece coverlets and tee

shirts along with a variety of items of local interest. In 2015 the shop

was repainted and reorganized.

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VOLUNTEERS

Board of Trustees - The current Board of Trustees

of the Greece Historical Society is entrusted with the

stewardship of the society's artifacts and provides

valuable guidance for the staff and volunteers. Board

members participate in developing new ideas, plans and

events that contribute to our organization's continued

growth.

Individuals who currently serve on the Board of Trustees

bring a wealth of knowledge of local and WNY history,

community, business & government skills/contacts and philanthropy. Board members receive no

reimbursement for their participation. Board meetings are held 7 times a year.

Vital to any not-for profit organization is the tireless dedication, energy and support of its

volunteer board of trustees. Our nomination committee is always on the lookout to fill vacant

positions with individuals interested in joining this dedicated team. Student Assistance

The Greece Historical Society was pleased this year to have helped several local Greece high

school students fulfill their "Citizens in Action" requirements. They served as door greeters on

Sunday afternoons, guiding visitors to the exhibits, counting attendance, and helping with

computer data entry. .

During the past year several college students assisted us doing research for our exhibits and

helped with the newsletter mailing. One student, an American History major at Elmira College

spent part of her Christmas break helping to plan our next exhibit and plans to be a museum

docent in the summer.

Another student currently attending St. John Fisher, volunteers as a museum guide and another,

a graduate in American History and Library Science, volunteers two afternoons a week, doing

research and helping to plan exhibits. We are grateful to these students for their enthusiasm,

assistance and bringing fresh ideas to our organization.

Volunteer Reception - In appreciation to our

volunteers a reception was held November 16 at our history

center followed by a program by Jane Grant about last year’s

barn project she created. State Senator Joe Robach attended

the entire event and thanked the volunteers for their

commitment to the Community. Deputy Town Supervisor

Michele Marini had some kind words about the importance

of volunteers.

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Thank You! - It takes countless volunteers to run

our organization. Some may loan us a treasured heirloom,

repair a broken light fixture, help with a single event or

guide visitors through our museum on Sunday afternoons.

Still others of our loyal volunteers spend hundreds of hours

during the year to keep the place going. With so many

volunteers throughout the year, it is just impossible to list

everyone, especially with all the help we received in 2015.

Other exhibits, events and projects each took many hours

of volunteer time. Let's not forget the many school and

scout tours that were conducted by several retired

teachers from our education committee. Then there were

our Sunday docents and Sunday program presenters, the

museum shop committee, finance committee, the

governance committee, the regular Monday morning

group, the guys helping to photograph, scan and

inventory our collections, and assist the Town Historian

and our Board of Trustees. We also can't forget the

Greece Garden Clubs who maintain our gardens.

Thank you to our volunteers, members and community for your

continued support in preserving the past for the future ! 2015 BOARD OF TRUSTEES: William M. Sauers (President)

Sandy Peck (Vice President)

Paula Smith (Secretary)

Bill Peeck (Treasurer)

Cynthia Shevlin (Newsletter Editor)

Jack Wallenhorst

Ruth Curchoe

Betty Tudisco

Tom Sawnor

Gregg Redmond

Pam O'Sullivan

Donald C. Newcomb (Honorary Trustee)