Nunda Historical Society

Do you like popcorn? A century ago it was possible to buy some locally packaged seeds to grow your own! Here is a picture of the W.D. Burt seed box we have on display in our "New Century" exhibit at the Nunda Museum. Be sure to stop in to see it! Please note: More history of the Burt Seed business can be found in the Dalton Historical Cookbook 1982 and in a display in the Nunda Post Office that the NHS put together a few years ago.

Here is a cute bunch - A group of Nunda Central School first graders from the 1950-51 school year! How many can you pick out before peeking at the names?

We haven't had a mystery house in a while - so here goes! Any ideas? It could be in Nunda, Portage, or even Genesee Falls! Answer on Saturday!

Lets turn back the clock and take a peek at a Portage farm life on this weekend 130 years ago!

Although we posted the first photo last Sunday, we will use it once again for a "then and now" comparison.

The Saturday, August 23, 1958 edition of the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle carried the following headline on the top of page 15: Nunda to Depict Past, Present History in Sesquicentennial Parade Tonight. The grand parade certainly ranks as one of Nunda’s memorable events - you will find photographs of the parade as part of the NHS Good Times exhibit in the museum. However, just below the article is another story from Nunda that may be even more memorable - the Gre...at Tuna Fish Wreck in Dalton. Freight Wreck Block Erie Line at Dalton DALTON. Aug 22- The Erie Railroad’s Buffalo Division was completely tied up at 7:30 tonight when 31 cars of an eastbound fast freight were spread over right-of-way just east of this village. A 150-car Train known as New England 74 was out of Buffalo and due in Hornell at 7:30 p.m. The Chief Dispatchers office at Buffalo said the cars began to pile up about 60 cars back of the engine and they had no report of the cause of derailment. That office also reported that there were no serious injuries to any members of the crew. Many local folks took photographs of the wreck, including the ones below taken by Mary Smith VanNostrand and share with us by her grandson, Christian Swanson. (Please note that a a couple of these images may NOT be from that particular wreck. ) Thanks Christian for sharing these with us.

On this Memorial Day we honor young Gardner Bacon, the first of Nunda's Civil War dead. Please click on the images below for more on this fallen hero.

Here is an interesting photo from almost a century ago showing some children from our area. Click on the images for more information!

We will be holding a special "First Sunday" event on June 6th. During the week we will be sharing more details, but as you can see by the poster, it will be a great FREE activity for the family!

This photograph, taken sometime in the early 1900s, is our latest mystery photo. Can you identify the location? (Answer on Wednesday!)

Nunda folk have been sending Valentines Day greetings for a long time. To take a short but "heart felt" look at the practice, just click on the images below!

This Valentine's Day postcard was sent by a secret admirer to a young woman in Pennsylvania in 1912 - and yes he only signed his card "Your Valentine" Happy St. Valentine's Day from the Nunda Historical Society!

Do you remember Dick White? Dick is best remembered for his wonderful singing voice. Editor W.B. Sanders wrote the following on June 25, 1970 when reminiscing about Saturday night band concerts in the Nunda Village Square. It was a great night in Nunda and the stores did a land office businesses as well as the vendors of hot peanuts and popcorn. One feature of the concerts was also a solo or two by Dick White of Oakland, possessed with a sweet high tenor voice, singing 'When I Grow Too Old to Dream' and other popular numbers which always went over big...." Click on the images for more information!

Can you help? We are doing some research on the house at 37 Mill Street in the village. Does anyone remember any of the people who lived there before 2010? Thanks for any names and general dates! You can either share in the comments or contact us through Messenger.

Farming has always been an important part of Nunda's story. Many of Nunda's farmers of the second half of the 20th century farmers were proud members of the FFA. The Future Farmers of America youth organization was established in 1928. Our local FFA club was organized before 1937 at the high school. These photos of some of our local FFA members were taken in 1955. See our descriptions for identification of most of the individuals.

Today we travel back in time to visit with our neighbor to the south, the town of Grove. Once part of "Greater" Nunda, Grove retained many economic, social and cultural ties with our town, especially with the Dalton area. You will find below a map of Grove from the 1856 wall map of Allegany County which is available through the Library of Congress. We have also included a description of the town that appeared in 1860.

Happy Birthday to President Abraham Lincoln! Click on the images below for more on the story

Just plain cute - what more can we say about this front page photo from the March 4, 1976 issue of the Nunda News!

Here is an aerial view of the part of the Nunda village looking south along State Street more than a half century ago. Lets see how many interesting details we can pick out! Be sure to click on the images below!

Folks did a great job on solving most of the mystery challenge we posed regarding this photograph on Monday. Click on the photos for more information on this photograph!

You got the location of the barber shop in yesterday’s post, but not the identities of the barber or his customer. We thought we would provide you with some clues today and then post the answer tomorrow. Both men are mentioned in the newspaper clipping below. Also, the photograph is dated 1944. This advertisement filled an entire page in the October 5, 1928 issue of the Nunda News. The list of businesses is certainly interesting - as is the "Shop Local" campaign of almost a century ago!