Newstead Historical Society

09/02/2026

Perry's history!
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🍦 It started in 1918 with nothing fancier than a milk route in the small village of Akron, New York, just east of Buffalo. H. Morton Perry had no idea he was laying the groundwork for a Western New York institution.

🍨 The real turning point came in 1932, when the Akron High School cafeteria manager asked Perry for ice cream. He and his son Marlo answered with a family recipe from his own mother, guided by one simple rule, always put in enough of the good stuff. Word spread fast, and soon Perry's was scooping for shops and diners all across the region. 🚚

✨ More than a century later, that same family recipe built entirely on trust between neighbors is a fourth generation Western New York tradition.

09/01/2026

Did you know?

Some other early settlers of "Erie" were Elisha Geer, Jonathan Fish, Charles Knight and his son-in-law Lemuel Osborne. The latter two arrived early in 1807 and in July of that year, according to Mrs. Osborne, daughter of Mr. Knight, the first church of our present Town of Newstead was organized in her father's home.

Mrs. Osborne was still alive when the Centennial History of Erie County was printed and she told the author there were 12 persons present who organized a Methodist society, and her father was the first class-leader. This was the first Methodist organization on the Holland Purchase. The First Methodist Church of Akron is an outgrowth of this small society and from this small beginning derives its reputation as the "Cradle of Western New Yok Methodism". (source: The Town of Newstead Bicentennial 1823-2023)

08/31/2026

Looking at the Newstead Historical News, Volume 2, No 2, Spring 1981, we have the official renaming of the Octagon House and the beginning of the quest to acquire the funds to purchase the landmark and restore it 45 years ago. We have come a long way!

08/27/2026

The past is really almost as much a work of the imagination as the future. - Jessamyn West

08/24/2026

Taking a look at the Newstead Historical News, Volume 2, No 1, Winter 1981, it is chock full of interesting goodies: a snow roller, Dr. Crane's mansion, how the NHS was going strong after 25 years without yet having a building of it's own to call home, and a little tidbit about a lost landmark.

08/20/2026

History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people. - Martin Luther King, Jr.

08/18/2026

Did you know?

In 1805, Archibald S. Clarke bought land on the Buffalo Road, west of and on the opposite side of the road from Vandeventer’s tavern.

By some accounts, it is said that he kept a public house, but it is certain that a general store was opened by Archibald in 1806 or 1807 on the property just east of what is now Ledge Lawn Cemetery. This was an area where other newcomers began to build log houses and form a neighborhood.

Not only was this the first store in Newstead, the store was the first in Erie County outside of Buffalo. (source: Town of Newstead Bicentennial book)

08/11/2026

Taking a look at the Newstead Historical News, Volume 1, No. 4, Fall 1980 there is an article on the "Akron Octagon" that featured a paper prepared by David Parzych for his studies at Geneseo.

08/07/2026

Goodies galore! Help support the Newstead Historical Society while enjoying some good food!