Town of Franklinville
  The Town of Franklinville
 

Learn lots more about Franklinville by following these links !

Introduction
Early History
Death Records 1860-1894

 

Pioneers
Early Settlers
Joseph McClure
Pardon T Jewell
Marvin Older
Delos E Lyon
Curtis Brothers
Searl and Storrs
Doctors
William McNall

Park Square and Fairs
The Story
The Trial
The Wedding
Franklinville Fair
Bands

Postal History
Introduction
Post Office
Postmasters

Hotels and Inns
Globe Hotel
Hotel Lester
Bard Hotel
Brown Eagle Hotel

Businesses and Industry
Bartholomew's Pharmacy
West Park Square Drug Store
Quality Bakery
Cutlery Industry
Mercantile
Dairy Industry
Firehouse Liquors
Blount Plow

Churches and Buildings
Baptist
Other Churches
Presbyterian
Methodist Episcopal
Amusement Hall
The Miners Cabin

In the Public Trust
Newspapers
Chronicle-Journal
Fire Department
Mt Prospect Cemetery
Public Works
Railroads

This information came from the files of Joie Wilson, formerly the Franklinville Town Historian and the section editor for Franklinville on the Cattaraugus County website.

If you have information about Franklinville, or have a question, contact Joie at [email protected]

Thanks, Joie !!

You are our [an error occurred while processing this directive] visitor since January 29, 1999--

 

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Mr. Perley was thus well prepared when in 1889 he bought of his
father the Franklinville Argus, and changed its name to The Chronicle.
Eventually there would be another name change when, in 1910, Charles
Perley purchased a local competing paper, the Journal, which had been in
business since 1888; having merged the papers, he henceforth conducted
the paper under the name of The Chronicle-Journal.
When Charles Perley printed the last edition of The
Chronicle-Journal to be published under his ownership, his final
editorial was a retrospective of his family's original arrival in
Franklinville. I was fortunate enough to find this clipping in the
Blount Library. It is quoted below because it gives a rather good
insight into what Franklinville was like in 1875.


The Chronicle-Journal, December 29, 1911

"We came here 36 years ago. Franklinville at that time was a
pretty small town, but it was promising for hadn't the post office and
voting places been lately moved up from Cadiz, and wasn't the depot of
the new Buffalo & Washington railroad located here? There was still a
good deal to do to make it an attractive village, however it was much
better off than hundreds of villages we passed through on our way from
Columbus, Ohio where the family had previously lived.

We recall our entry into Franklinville with a great deal of
vividness for a boy of nine years. Bony Deibler was at the depot and was
about the only sign of life when the train stopped. Father and Mother
Perley and five little Perleys clambered down the coach steps,lugging
baggage necessary for a family of that size on a pioneer trip.
Where Morgan Hall stands there was a vacant lot with the open cellar
marking the spot where the old Newton residence once stood.

Where the Chronicle-Journal now (1911) stands was VanDyke's Saw
Mill, and a little farther up the street was Dan Chapman's Shoe Shop."
In re his father: "He learned the printer's trade under his father
Samuel Perley at Erie, Pa., Samuel Perley being an associate of Horace
Geeley in the ownership of a paper published at Erie in the early part
of Greeley's career."

Joseph Crain, the new owner of The Chronicle-Journal was eligible
to teach in the schools of New York State and, by reason of credentials
received in 1911, to ascend to a District Superintendency in this state.
After several years of teaching, however, he had given it up in favor of
newspaper work.

Before coming to Franklinville and buying The Chronicle-Journal,
Mr. Crain had served as reporter on the Boston, New York City and
Philadelphia newspapers. Following this he owned and operated the Afton,
N. Y. Enterprise for five years. January 1, 1912 he became proprietor of
Franklinville's Chronicle-Journal.

In January of 1918 The Chronicle-Journal was sold to Gordon L. King
and Company. Gordon King was the youngest son of Dr. and Mrs. Clarence
King. As a school boy he had worked in the Star newspaper office in
Machias and learned the printing trade. Later he worked in both the
Chronicle and Journal newspaper offices here. He also worked at job
printing in several offices in Buffalo and in 1912 was employed by The
Van Hoesen Press in Franklinville. After that he was foreman of the
Chronicle-Journal of this village until he bought the equipment and
business of the paper July 1, 1914.

The Van Hoesen Press having been mentioned in that last recitation,
it is perhaps necessary to explain how that got into the historical
picture with regard to the newspapers.

Roy Van Hoesen, as a young man, served an apprenticeship in the
Journal newspaper office under Ward Morton, remaining in that position
three years. Then, in 1895, in partnership with Virgil O. Hayden he
bought the Springville News. At the end of one year they sold out and
returned to Franklinville. On February 19, 1898 he became assistant
manager and associate editor of The Grape Belt & Fruit publications of
Dunkirk, N. Y., then run by his former employer, Ward Morton, who had
leased the Journal to Guy L. Smith. Mr. Smith suspended publication of
the paper July 4, 1898. Mr. Van Hoesen took charge of the Journal,
conducting it until Mr. Morton returned from Dunkirk.

In 1907 Roy Van Hoesen started working up his own mail order
printing business on a part time basis. In October, 1909 he started
a very modest printing shop in the cellar of his home which soon expanded to occupy a goodly part of the house. In September 1912 he moved the business out of the house and into 14 Elm Street.

Mr. Van Hoesen had earlier established The Anacona World & The Campine Herald, both monthly poultry publications. In 1914 he started The Yorkshire Swine Monthly. He claimed a world wide circulation for these publications.

The reason that these things are known to us is because of another
publication of his which has perhaps had the longest life. He wrote and
published a small, illustrated book called Franklinville in Pictures and
Story, containing biographies of the then contemporary village leaders,
as well as pertinent facts concerning the services and appearance of the
village at the time.

He included his autobiography. The book, published in the early 1900s has become a classic source for researchers of local history in that time period.

In January of 1923 Gordon King sold to Cassar Adams of Cuba, N.Y.
Late in 1927, C. R. Stout of Friendship, N. Y., who was editor of
the Friendship Register from 1916 to 1927, purchased the Chronicle-Journal.
He also printed the Cattaraugus Star and the Rushford Spectator.

On February 5, 1929, as the result of a destructive fire it was
necessary to move the printing office to the brick building on the east
side of Park Square where it meets Chestnut Street.

C. R. Stout continued to publish the paper until 1945 at which time
he turned the operation of the paper over to his son Max Stout who ran
it until March 17, 1967.

The three newspapers were then purchased by Ray and Virginia
Wielosynski and merged into the Franklinville Sentinel.

The Chronicle-Journal no longer existed.

In 1968 the new combined newspaper's name was changed to NewsTime.
April 15, 1970 saw the distribution of the final issue of that
newspaper.

A locally published newspaper no longer existed at all in
Franklinville.