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Founded in 1803 by Scottish families, Caledonia was known
as both Northampton and Southampton and originally included
LeRoy, York, and Wheatland.
• James McClean was the first man to be hanged in Genesee County for the murder of two Caledonia residents on March 16, 1807.
• The Hosmer Inn, an early 1800s stagecoach stop, was situated southeast of the village on modern day Route 5. Buried nearby is an unknown soldier from the War of 1812 whose body was found by Sylvester Hosmer in 1814. The Inn has since been moved to Genesee Country Village and Museum in Mumford, but the memorial stone can still be found at its original location.
• Cornplanter, “one of the wisest and best of the Seneca nobles” was born at Canawaugus, a Seneca Indian village located near Caledonia. In 1820, the village was almost annihilated by smallpox.
• In 1864, Seth Green established the first fish hatchery in
the United States in Caledonia.
• A Soldiers’Civil War Monument was erected May of 1900 in the center of the Village. Governor Theodore Roosevelt was the featured speaker at its unveiling on June 13, 1900.
• John McCain supporter, Tucker Callan, lost a 2008 Presidential
election bet with friend and Obama supporter, Tom Fisher and
had to push his friend around the Soldiers’ Monument in a wheelbarrow.
The same scenario occurred in Caledonia in 1948 during the
Truman – Dewey election.
• Caledonia’s new slogan – Village by the Springs," was
coined by Barry Ganzhorn, Sr. |
