Village History
Blast From the Past
Stories, memories and images from the Village of Middleport archive. Choose an item below to read more.
Elmer Vary, Tinkerer and Inventor
In the early 70’s when my husband and I first moved to State Street, we met Margaret and Elmer Vary, our neighbors at 55 State Street. Little did we know what a treasure of a man Elmer had…
Middleport Inventor, Dr. E. L. Downey and his cure
On the corner of Orchard and Church Street was a broom factory. They operated there for some time, then moved out. Another inventor,Dr. E.L. Downey. Downey took over the broom factory and…
Name this important Middleport resident
Do you know who this is? He was an important figure in Middleport’s past and he has a road named after him. There is an historic marker on this road that shares some history about this man…
Before the electric refrigerator…
Before the dawn of the electric refrigerator, the ice box kept things cold. Needless to say, there was a need to harvest and store ice. Iceboxes date back to the days of ice harvesting,…
One and Only Blastfurnace
The community of Middleport has been home to many different businesses throughout the years. Gin mills were very common and old maps show we had plenty of them to keep residents and canal…
Striking up the band in Middleport
By Anna Wallace, former Village Historian The first reference to the Middleport Band was in 1840 at a Presidential Rally in the Town of Royalton and a Temperance Rally in Lockport. We don’t…