100 YEARS OF LETCHWORTH

William Pryor Letchworth and his Gift

On December 1, 1910, William Pryor Letchworth passed quietly into eternal rest at his Wyoming County home, Glen Iris. This set in motion processes that would bring great changes to his property and the surrounding countryside.
Born in 1823 in Brownsville, NY, Letchworth was the fourth child of eight in a tight-knit Quaker family. He grew up valuing honesty, piety, modesty, hard work, education and service to others. Apprenticed as a clerk in a saddalry and hardware business in nearby Auburn, he quickly became so well known for industry and business sense that he was offered a partnership in a new metal working business being established in Buffalo, New York when he was only 25. The Pratt & Letchworth firm prospered, thanks to William’s hard work and organizational skills.
As the country moved towards Civil War, divided over issues of states rights and slavery, William was torn. His Quaker background made him anti-slavery but also opposed to war. When war started, he contemplated enlisting in the medical service but was soon convinced by family and friends that his “frail constitution” made him unsuitable. Besides, efficiently continuing to produce wagon and harness hardware, as well as parts for locomotives to transport troops and supplies was more important to the war effort than one enlistee could have been.
Even before the war, Letchworth felt he was spending too much of his time tending the business. Vacation trips to Florida in 1854 and Europe in 1856 showed him there was much more to life. Bringing brothers and nephews into the business allowed time for social and intellectual pursuits and time to look for a vacation home. Riding a train on the Erie Railroad in 1858 while returning from business in New York City, Letchworth was introduced to the Genesee Valley when the train stopped on a towering trestle, allowing passengers views of waterfalls and canyons below.
Letchworth purchased his first valley property in 1859 and continued to acquire land until he owned more than 1,000 acres. He used his property gently, planting thousands of trees on naked, logged over hillsides, experimenting with the latest in farming technology with his tenants and developing an “ornamental farm” with landscape architect William Webster.
He had long been interested in the Native American cultures and incorporated preserving artifacts of Native history into his estate development. In 1871 he acquired a Seneca Council House, a combination of church and community center to its native users. The pre-revolutionary war building was carefully moved to the Council Grounds bluff above the Glen Iris and was dedicated at the Last Council Fire on the Genesee in 1872. This event brought together descendents of Revolutionary War era chiefs of both the Seneca and Mohawk Tribes in an attempt to reconcile their differences. This ceremony was followed by the reburial of Mary Jemison, famed “white women of the Genesee” on the Council Grounds in 1874.
Letchworth retired completely from Pratt and Letchworth in 1873 and that same year accepted appointment to the State Board of Charities. He was to serve on the Charities Board for 23 years, 10 as president. During his tenure he brought credibility and respect to the group through his dedication and high standards. Through his leadership and marketing skills, demonstrated first in his business success, many important social reforms were implemented. He accepted no salary or expense money during travels inspecting every institution and asylum in the state. He also traveled to Europe again to study the more humane treatment accorded Epileptics and those suffering from mental illness and published the results of these studies. In 1893, he received an honorary L.L.D. degree from the State University in recognition of his social reform work and in 1909, a mental hospital in Theills, NY, was named Letchworth Village.
Letchworth continued through these years to develop his estate and to acquire native artifacts. In 1875, his widowed sister, Mary Ann Crozer moved to Glen Iris to be his hostess and companion and manage his household. Letchworth never married but a wide circle of family and friends enjoyed the beauty and peace of Glen Iris. Outsiders enjoyed the estate too, when excursion trains from Buffalo might bring several hundred to Portage Station on a weekend to walk the Glen Iris grounds and woods and view the waterfalls and cliffs. Letchworth never closed his gates to these and in fact, placed benches, shelters and other accommodations for their use. In 1898, he opened a small museum on the Council Grounds to display his collection of artifacts, including the mounted skull of a Mastodon that had been unearthed in nearby Pike, NY, in 1876.
In 1895 electricity was generated commercially by hydropower at Niagara Falls. Selling electric power was seen as a new way to get rich. In 1898 the Genesee River Company incorporated to build a dam on the Genesee River just upstream from the Upper Falls. Supposedly to control flooding and supply water for the Erie Canal, the project also proposed a tunnel from the top of the Upper Fall to the bottom of the Lower Fall, a total drop of about 350 feet, for power generation. This of course would bring industry to an area Letchworth had worked to erase man’s mark from. Moreover, it would dry up his waterfalls! His lobbying skills were put to work to defeat the project. In 1903, not having raised sufficient funds to start construction, the Genesee River Company’s charter expired. This same year, Letchworth suffered a stroke. In 1906 the company’s charter was renewed and Letchworth understood that his plans to leave his estate to Wyoming County to become an orphanage would not protect it sufficiently. Working with the American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society he made plans to deed his 1,000 acres to New York State to become a park for everyone to enjoy forever. He signed the deed December 31, 1906. Then Governor Hugh’s accepted on behalf of the state in January 1907. Letchworth retained life use of the estate so it wasn’t until his death that the property officially became public.
Many changes were undertaken quickly. On the Council Grounds, the many displays and ornaments added over the years were cleared away. In September, at the last public appearance of his life, Letchworth had unveiled a statue of Mary Jemison at her gravesite on the Council Grounds, but the buildings and plantings nearly hid it from view. The grounds were cleared, the museum and the caretakers cottage cabin torn down and the Nancy Jemison cabin, brought to the bluff in 1880 was relocated. Now the statue was the focal point of the Grounds. A new museum was built where the Glen Iris stables had been opened in 1913. Arboretum blocks of trees from around the world were planted on now unused farmland. Roads and bridges were improved to provide better access for travel by horseless carriages. The Glen Iris opened as an inn. More land was purchased and added to Letchworth State Park.
In the late 1920’s and 1930, New York State consolidated operation of the various public lands deeded to the state but operated and overseen by private groups like the American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society. Genesee Region of Parks assumed management in 1930 of not only Letchworth but of other State properties in Genesee, Wyoming, Livingston, Monroe and Orleans Counties. Development continued, with the force of the state driving land acquisition. In the 1930’s, federally funded projects like the Civilian Conservation Corps allowed massive development of parks. In Letchworth, more than 3,000 enlistees in four camps built roads, bridges, stone walls, cabins and picnic shelters and water systems. They removed unused structures from newly acquired land and planted thousands of trees.
With the start of World War II, the Civilian Conservation Corps program ended and the camps emptied. Some were used to house refugees or prisoners of war but most were torn down. With gas rationing and little funding or staffing during the war, the park was seldom visited, but plans were being made for the years after the war, when development could continue.
In the years following the war, there was increased need for recreation for a more urban, industrialized population. The Lower Falls Restaurant or Cafeteria opened in 1948. The Lower Falls Pool was constructed nearby and opened in 1950. A campground operated at St. Helena where the CCC camp had stood until the present day Highbanks Campground opened opposite the entrance from Perry in 1964. The Highbanks Recreation Area at the north end of the park opened the big swimming pool complex there in 1963.
Much of this development followed plans made soon after the final defeat of the Genesee River Company’s plans for a dam near the Upper Falls. Recognizing devastating floods that rushed through the valley, nearly destroying Rochester, some means of controlling the river was seen as necessary. A dam at Mt. Morris could use the whole length of the canyon for flood pool, displacing only a few valley farm families and two small villages at Gibsonville and St. Helena. There was no rich, influential, large landowner like Letchworth to object. Land was over through the years and in 1948, work on the Mt. Morris Dam started. Completed in 1952, the dam was built and is managed by the Army Corps of Engineers and is the largest gravity feed, concrete dam east of the Mississippi. Largely operated as a dry dam, holding back no water, when necessary the dam can back water up to the foot of the Lower Falls. This has happened only twice to date; in 1972, during flooding caused by Hurricane Agnes in June and in April 1993 when melting of a deep winter snow pack and spring rains coincided.
In 2006, we celebrate the centennial year of William Pryor Letchworth donating his 1,000 acres to New York State. There have been many changes during those 100 years, as the park grew to over 14,350 acres and experienced recreational and commercial development Letchworth could never have imagined. There are more changes being completed for the centennial. In the museum, familiar artifacts are being joined in displays by new material, with completely new labeling that explains more clearly the native history of the area and the development of the park. For the first time, William Pryor Letchworth’s life and his gift will be featured as pivotal to the park’s existence. Not visible to visitors but critical to the collection, the storage area has been completely redone with new shelving, good lighting and new heating and ventilating systems for climate control. In preparation for new exhibits, material in storage has been carefully cataloged and accessioned and exciting finds have been discovered.
On the Council Grounds big changes are happening too. The Jemison Cabin and the Council House have been moved back to the locations Letchworth placed them more than 100 years ago. Rotting logs have been replaced by new hand hewn logs. The buildings have been placed on foundations to protect the new wood from deterioration. New roofs and chinking between the logs restore the buildings to the way they looked in 1890. Other displays that Letchworth exhibited on the Council Grounds will be recreated in the next several years.
Throughout the park, new interpretive signage is being prepared for placement at overlooks and other significant areas. These panels will let everyone who visits learn something of the geology, nature and history of the park; information formerly only available through attendance in the interpretive programming. Of course, signs can never tell as much of the story as a program can, nor can they answer questions from patrons. New programs will be added to old favorites and new experiences and discoveries will continue to make each program unique.
While we all enjoy the festivals and excitement of the celebration of the centennial of Letchworth State Park, we should also consider its founder and his beliefs and values. To what extent does the modern park represent those? Thousands of acres have returned to woodland from the open fields being cultivated in Letchworth’s time. He who spent thousands of dollars having trees planted would appreciate that. He would appreciate the return of wildlife and birds that has come with the reforestation. He would understand the value to families of the time spent here together, camping, hiking and enjoying each other. He would also value the programs offered year ‘round to visitors as well as school or other interest groups that tell the history and nature of his park, educating the public to better appreciate and protect this special place. On a practical level, as a participant in landscape planning and management, he would appreciate the many hours of hard work that keeps lawns mowed, roads and trails open and facilities operating. If he were still around he’d probably have many suggestions and ideas for improvement and greater efficiency.