Stagecoach Days in Central of New York

Geneva Gazette, January 24, 1816

   On the 16th inst. a Stage commenced running from the village of Rochester, Genesee county, to Canandaigua - to leave Rochester every Tuesday and Friday, at 7 A.M. and arrive at Canandaigua the same day; leave Canandaigua every Wednesday and Saturday, at 9 A.M. and arrive at Rochester the same day.

Geneva Gazette, June 18, 1816

                     NEW STAGE.
The subscribers have commenced running a STAGE from Geneva, through Vienna and Palmyra, to Pittsford, where it will intersect a line lately established between Canandaigua and Lewiston, under the following regulations:
Leaves Geneva on Monday, and arrives in Pittsford the same day - leaves Pittsford on Wednesday and arrives at Geneva on Thursday and arrives at Pittsford on Friday - leaves Pittsford on Saturday  and arrives at Geneva on Sunday.
                                                   Wm. Hildreth, Root & Co.
Phelps, May 24.

Geneva Gazette, December 11, 1816

   A STAGE has commenced running from this village through Benton and Wayne, to Bath, in Steuben county.
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   Advocate of the People, Auburn, N.Y., October 2, 1816

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Geneva Palladium, November 22, 1822

     

                                Daily Conveyance

TO AND FROM THE ERIE CANAL & GENEVA HOTEL.

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   A COACH will leave Geneva every morning at 9 o'clock. Passengers will be conveyed between Cayuga Bridge and Montezuma by Mr. Phelps' American Water Coach. Seats may also be taken at Geneva or Montezuma for Newburgh, &c. via the Steam Boat. The Coach will leave Cayuga daily for Geneva, soon after the arrival of the Water Coach.

     WM. FAULKNER, Proprietr.

Geneva, June 12.

    Extra Horses and Carriages kept as above.
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Geneva Palladium

Wed., Dec. 11, 1822

   Stage Robbery. - On Friday morning of last week the rear boo of the Post Coach, from Canandaigua to this place was cut, and a trunk, belonging to Mr. John West, of New York, was taken out. The robbery was not discovered until after daylight, when within five miles of this village. Search was immediately made, but altogether fruitless until Monday afternoon, when it was found in a swamp about a mile east of Canandaigua, with the bottom broken, and every article taken. The papers, letters, books, &c. and the straps which were round the trunk, were snugly deposited in the trunk. The robbers did not obtain a farthing of money, as Mr. W. had carefully deposited it about is person a short time previous.

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Onondaga Gazette, Syracuse, N.Y., February 11, 1824     

    In order to inform our distant readers of the public travel through this place,we are informed as a fact, that on Wednesday last, the passengers in the stages passing through this place, amounted to between sixty to seventy, averaging from nine to eleven for each stage. The lines of stages now through this village, consist of the old and new lines from Albany and Utica, east, and from Buffalo and Canandaigua, west; which pass daily. In addition to these, the Cherry Valley mail line also passes every day.

    Also a new line of stages has recently been established from Sacket's Harbor to this place, running three times a week. There is not a place in the western district, perhaps, where public travel has increased to such an extent, as through our now flourishing village; and the rapid growth of the place, and extensive works for the manufacture of course salt seems to excite the admiration and elicit the praise of all who view them. We think  we hazard and and nothing in saying, that, from the peculiar advantages of our village, it must become a place of importance and worthy the attention of the enterprising emigrants who wish to located in a growing place of business and particularly inviting to honest and industrious mechanics.

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Ithaca Journal,  April 27, 1825

                            MAIL STAGE
     
                 From Catharine to Ovid
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   The subscriber has commenced running a Mail Stage from Catharine to Ovid, by the way of Burdette. This stage is connected with the line of Stages from Elmira to Ithaca, and is so arranged as to have is arrivals and departures regulated by that stage, both on its outward and return passage; so that passengers can at all times reach Ovid from Elmira in one day, and vice versa.
   This being a Mail Stage, it must and will run regularly. No vicissitudes of weather or other circumstances will be allowed to interrupt it. The utmost attention will be bestowed, with a view to ensue to passengers a safe, certain, and agreeable conveyance.
                                                                         GEORGE HIBBARD.
  Catharine, 13th April, 1825*

(*Catharine is today's Watkins Glen)

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Geneva Courier, January 8, 1879
(Excerpt, quoting from Ray's Miscellaneous Register, 1823)

  On September 5, the stage going west was robbed "in the neighborhood of a thicket between this village and Waterloo." The robber climbed on the stag in the night, and cut loose the trunk that was stowed in the boot.)

Geneva Courier, January 15, 1879

          THE LAST STAGE.

THE RAILROAD AND THE STAGES.

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The last Stage leaves Geneva Saturday - A look at the past.

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   Saturday next, January 18, 1879, will mark an era in the history and progress of Geneva. On that day the last stage will make its last trip - the Geneva and Clyde stage line will after Saturday be a thing of the past. The withdrawal of the stage would not in itself be a very noteworthy occurrence, but the fact that it brings the end of the stage business in Geneva is an interesting one.

   There was a time when stages were as plenty and nearly as noisy in Geneva as railroad trains are now; when it was a prominent station on the Albany and Buffalo stage route. Our older citizens well remember the sight and sound of the large, heavily loaded stages, as with cracking whips and blowing horns they rattled through the streets, on their way east and west through the villages and wilds of the then new state.

   In the busy season it was no uncommon thing for from three to six stages to pass through Geneva every three hours. All stopped at Hemenway's Hotel, now the Water Cure; driving up to the piazza with a grand flourish, the row of coaches standing in front of the house while passengers and drivers went in for refreshment - solid and liquid.

   Geneva was one of the important stations on the stage route, and in 1823 orders were given that the mails between Albany and Buffalo should be opened only at Geneva. The stage business was at its height in 1830. In those days stages were the only means of communication for persons desirous of losing no time. A gentleman of this village, who came here in 1822, by stage, left Northampton, Massachusetts, on Monday, and arrived in Geneva on Friday. On one of his trips west from Albany an attempt was made to rob the stage between Albany and Schenectady, by cutting loose the baggage in the boot behind. The passengers heard the noise, and turned out in time to save their goods. It was not an uncommon thing for the stage to be robbed.
  In 1811, as shown by an old copy of the Expositor, printed here then, Geneva was the post office for Seneca, Sodus, Romulus, Phelps, Junius, Palmyra, Lyons, Crooked Lake, and many other places. E. White, post, informs his patrons that he will no longer carry papers. In 1808 a "post rider's notice" offers an opportunity for people indebted for newspapers delivered by Elijah Wilder so he could pay for his wheat.

  In 1823, a New York paper noted as an example of extraordinary speed that a stage traveled from Utica to Albany, 96 miles, in 9 hours and 10 minutes. The same year Ray's Register records that this village is connected with the outside world by three daily stages for Rochester and Buffalo west, Utica, Albany and Cherry Valley east; to Bath and Angelica twice a week; to Ithaca, Owego and Newburgh, three times weekly; and to Lyons and Sodus once a week.

    With the completion of the Central road, which was celebrated with great rejoicing on July 4, 1841, the main line of stages was of course discontinued. As the railroads have increased, the stage traffic has fallen off, till for several years the Clyde stage has been the only one left. The construction of the Geneva and Lyons Railroad now necessitates the abandonment of that route, and the victory of the locomotive over the stage is complete.

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Western Argus, Lyons, Sept. 10, 1845

Western Argus, Lyons, Sept. 10, 1845

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            Geneva Gazette, January 1, 1823

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     Geneva Gazette, January 22, 1823

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Geneva Gazette, July 14, 1824

Wayne County Sentinel, Palmyra, July 16, 1824

Geneva Gazette, July 25, 1827

Geneva Gazette, July 25, 1827

Geneva and Rushville

MAIL STAGE

   The subscribers have established, between RUSHVILLE & GENEVA, a Line of Stages, running three times a week - Leaves Rushville on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, at 5 o'clock A.M. and arrives in Geneva at 8 o'clock of the same morning. Returning, leaves Stone's Mansion-House in Geneva, at 4 o'clock P.M. and arrives at Rushville at 7 o'clock P.M.

    Travellers from Geneva to Bath will find this route an accommodation,, as a Stage leaves Rushville for Bath on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, at 7 o'clock A.M.                                                               S. STARK & Co.

  Rushville, July, 1827