The Holland Land Company on This Week’s State of Greater Western New York Report – February 3, 2022

How did the western half of the Greater Western New York Region get settled? Did you know there were interesting challenges faced by the developers? What did they do to entice settlers? Find out now on this edition of the State of Greater Western New York Report.

In the first segment of the show, Ryan Duffy, Executive Director of The Holland Land Trust Museum in Batavia, New York tells the story behind the Holland Land Company. He lays out how a group of foreigners who never set foot on the land they bought found Joseph Ellicott, who masterminded the settlement of the entire region, then compassing all the land west of Genesee River (and called Genesee County). Duffy reveals some fascinating things Ellicot did, including the invention of a standard measurement you’re quite familiar with.

In the second half of the show, Duffy describes the history of the original Land Trust Office in Batavia that Ellicott used to fill the remaining half of the Greater Western New York Region. He then takes us on a virtual tour of the museum as well as the stories behind some of the names associated with the exhibits in the museum.

Our guest happily answered questions from the live audience. In fact, these are probably some of the same questions you had. Would you like to be a member of our live audience so you can ask our guests questions? Click here to join the growing number of members who share your feelings on StateOf.GreaterWesternNewYork.com because then we can automatically send you the link to watch our shows live.