History of Stagecoach travel in Allegany County, NY, is scarce. It is known that it was the only early land-travel mode in the period prior to arrival of railroads, excepting for foot or horseback.
A few sketches are visible of the history and I will start it here. If you have interest in this history or have any lead to information please forward to me so that I can let this be known. WEBMASTER (Email Link)
From Mary Rhodes (Thelma Rogers Genealogical & Historical Society) comes the following notification advertisement which was in a recently received copy of "Rural Budget" Newspaper dated 1-23-1858.
Pickup Hotel -1951 View
A great photograph has been published and re-published of the old Wellsville Hotel "Howell House" and later Pickup Hotel on North Main Street. {I fought the fire (as an Andover Fireman) when the Hotel burned at 4:15 a.m. the morning of September 11, 1961. rt} The Andover News stated, "virtually destroying the oldest building on Wellsville Main Street; The building , a former stagecoach stop, was built in 1852 and was known for years as the Howell House. It was purchased by the Pickups in 1936."
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What interesting things can happen....such as this story.
A lady in Ohio thanked me for putting some stagecoach history on the web and said how happy she was to discover it as she googled around. She wrote that she had "many years ago acquired" 4 stereoscopic cards which she had found fascinating and stored them away. In taking them out she had no idea where they were from and had never been near "Hornellsville and Wellsville" so she googled the towns and "Stagecoaches" and came up with my website. When she found the towns and read a little more on website she discovered she really had some interesting pictures and wanted to share the fact that she enjoyed them much more after reading about the town and the Hotels which are now gone, Howell House (last known as Pickups Hotel, burned down) and Fassett House, torn down. I acknowledged and specifically asked her for possibility of copies....she responded she was 70 years old and didn't know how to send attachments in the email process so would take them to her local UPS store who were good at copying other photos for her in the past, please give her my mailing address if I trusted her.
She then decided to send the originals for my use and they now reside in the Thelma Rogers Historical Society possession at Wellsville, NY.
The results are below:
Above, Howell House circa 1870s - Main Street, Wellsville, NY
Above is backside identifying the Howell House
Above, Fassett House, recently torn down after fire, now a vacant lot next to the Pizza Hut Restr.
Backside of Card Identifying Fassett House.
An improved version of the stereoscope card photo in B&W.
Fassett House Hotel, Main Street, Wellsville NY.
An improved version in B&W of Howell House. Main Street Wellsville, NY
Thank you for sharing these photo cards.
Geneva Daily Times,
Sat., Feb. 6, 1926
Nunda, Feb. 6. - Charles Bullock of Nunda, 78 years old, and an inmate at the county home for several years is dead. He formerly drove the stage between Nunda and Angelica, carrying the mail and passengers. Bullock was the last survivor of Allegany county's old stage drivers.
(Above researched & shared by Dick Palmer)
