Nunda Historical Society

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Nunda Historical Society

The NHS has been collecting, preserving, presenting and promoting Nunda NY area history since 1983.

View 1854 and 1858 wall maps of Livingston County, exhibits of Nunda artifacts, and our major exhibit telling "The Story of Nunda." Visit the Rose Shave Gallery with 49 paintings by a most talented Nunda artist who worked from about 1875 to 1925. Purchase books on local history, our annual Nunda Historical Society Calendar, Rose Shave or Nunda Town note cards, Rose Shave Prints, or our lovely Nunda Tapestry Afghan.

06/12/2026

We are back with the KCS Administrators, Faculty and Staff as found in the 1976 yearbook.

Do you remember these folks?

06/11/2026

There hasn't been this much excitement over trains crossing a bridge above the Genesee River in what is now Letchworth State Park since the last day of July 1875, when a six-engine test train became the first to cross the Erie Railroad's newly completed iron trestle. The massive structure had just replaced the famous Portage Wooden Bridge, which had been destroyed by fire less than three months earlier.

On that summer day, large crowds gathered to witness the historic crossing. Today, even larger crowds are expected to watch Union Pacific's famed Big Boy 4104 locomotive cross the beautiful arch bridge that replaced the old iron trestle a few years ago.

After crossing the Letchworth Bridge, today's train will pass through the towns of Portage and Nunda on its way to Hornell, offering plenty of excellent viewing opportunities along the route.

On Saturday, we will share some local photographs of Big Boy's visit to our area. We invite readers to send us their own photos or add them in the comments to Saturday's post. We'd love to see and preserve this historic day through your images!

06/10/2026

All aboard for our next history journey!

In honor of the fiftieth anniversary of the graduate of the Class of 1976 we are going to go page by page through the KCS yearbook for the 75-76 school year!

Today we cover the introduction section of the "Chieftain." On Friday we will move on the administration, faculty and staff....

06/09/2026

Here is a memory from the Nunda News in November 1980 - do you remember these folks and their popular business from 46 years ago?

06/08/2026

In a response to a reader regarding the old bell tower on the Village Building on Nunda's Square, we have gone on one of our historical adventures to determine when the tower was removed and what happened to Nunda's fire bell.

Click on the images to finish the journey!

06/07/2026

We hope you have been enjoying our daily history posts!

Since the “short version” of the Nunda Historical Society’s mission is to “collect, preserve, present, and promote Nunda area history,” we believe our Facebook posts have become an important tool for presenting and promoting our local heritage. We are now in our sixth year of daily posting, and the average number of daily readers has steadily grown to more than 1,000. We have also grown to more than 3,100 followers.

Of course, those numbers are modest compared to modern social media “influencers” and organizations that can boast tens of thousands—or even millions—of followers. But for a small local historical society, we are very pleased with the response!

So we extend a heartfelt thank you to all of our readers and supporters. We hope you will continue to join us on our little local history adventures.

Tomorrow we will return to the story of Nunda’s Fire Bell, but first we would like to share some important announcements about upcoming NHS events and activities.

06/06/2026

We are back again with the story of the bell tower that once held the local fire bell.

Responding to a reader's question as to when the old tower was taken down, yesterday's post - with the help of some local photographs - narrowed the removal to between 1958 and 1963.

Today we can tie it down to a single year - 1962, thanks to this interesting article written by the well known newspaper reporter, Bob Bickel.

Click on the article to see the article.

06/05/2026

Last weekend we ran an image taken by Roy Gath of Nunda's Sesquicentennial Parade in 1958. The Village Building in the background caught the eye of a reader who asked when the original 1900 Bell Tower was removed.

We haven't uncover the actual date - but we have narrowed it down to within a five year period!

The image on the left proves that the tower was on the building at the time Roy took the slide of the grand parade. The one on the right was taken when the Nunda Rancheros won the state drum and bugle corps championship in 1963. In that one the tower is gone.

It is likely that the exact date of the removal is in the village records - we will see if we can find it! In the meantime - does any one have memories or even a photograph of its remova

Why was it removed? Town Historian Marjorie Frost wrote ib October of 1973 that "the top-heavy fire bell tower also wa removed some years ago to take weight off the structure,"

The tower has been gone for over sixty years - but the bell still can be found in the square. Stay Tuned!

06/04/2026

CAN YOU HELP?

The NHS Library Crew has a mystery on their hand that they hope a reader can solve.

They are currently accessioning a group of items that once below to Charles Yuecstock who graduated from Nunda Central School in 1950. There were several other Nunda black and orange letters in the collection that Charles must have earned during his high school years - but this one is different in several ways.

Click on the images for more on the mystery item!

06/03/2026

Happy World Bicycle Day!

In celebration of the event we are posting our most noted bicycle related image in our collection - one that has been use as a book cover, calendar page, and even a wine bottle!

Let's take a closer look!

Address

24 PORTAGE Street
Nunda, NY
14517

Opening Hours

10am - 12pm

Telephone

(585) 468-5420

Website

http://www.nundahistory.org/

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