Celebrate 175 years for Arcadia

History - Newark

Celebrate 175 years for Arcadia
By Bob Hoetzel, Town Historian

A celebration is in order: Tuesday, February 15, 2000 is the 175th anniversary of the founding of the Town of Arcadia.

When Ontario County was created, January 27, 1789, part of that territory, the present towns of Sodus, Lyons, Arcadia, Marion, Walworth and Macedon, were designated as the "District of Sodus." March 1, 1811 the Town of Lyons (including the present Arcadia) was set off as a separate township. All of the 15 townships now constituting Wayne County were set off as a new county April 11, 1823.

It was less than two years later that the present Town of Arcadia was created from the western part of the Town of Lyons. From this we can trace the lineage of the present Town of Arcadia from the Town (or District) Sodus, Ontario County (1789-1811); Town of Lyons, Ontario County (1811-23); Town of Lyons, Wayne Co. (1823-25); and Town of Arcadia, Wayne Co. since 1825. So much for genealogy.

A canvass of the various county offices in Lyons failed to locate a copy of the minutes of the Board of Supervisors of Wayne County from 1825 or the two years previous. Lacking such records, and with no history or legend I know of, we have no inkling of who first proposed the splitting of the Town of Lyons into two separate townships, the reason for the division, who proposed the name Arcadia, or the reaction on the part of Lyons folks at the thought of losing a large portion of their territory and taxpayers. Perhaps the rivalry between the villages of Newark and Lyons, which was still present in my younger years, started back then.

What was discovered at the County Historian's office was an early copy of Laws of the State of New York which, under the section for the 48th Session, contains the following entry: "An act to divide the Town of Lyons. Passed February 15, 1825.

I. Be it enacted by the People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly. That from and after the first Monday of March next, all that part of the town of Lyons, in the county of Wayne, which lies west of the following line, to wit: Beginning on the north line of said town, five miles east of the north-west corner of said town, and thence running south on a line parallel with the west line of township number twelve, to the south line of said town of Lyons, shall be and the same is hereby erected into a separate town, by the name of Arcadia; and the first town meeting shall be held at William Popple's coffee-house, in the village of Newark, on the first Tuesday of April next.

II. And be it further enacted that all the remaining part of the said town of Lyons shall be and remain a separate town by the name of Lyons,

III. And be it further enacted, that as soon as may be, after the first Tuesday of April next, the supervisors of the towns of Lyons and Arcadia, notice being given for that purpose, shall meet together and divide the money and poor belonging to the said town of Lyons previous to the division, agreeably to the tax list, and that each of the said towns shall forever thereafter maintain its own poor."

My understanding of the above enactment is that the actual birth of the new township was Monday, March 7, 1825 - "the first Monday of March next." All early histories of the town and county, however, list the birthdate as February 15, 1825, the date the division was authorized by the legislature. Who am I to argue the point?

The first Arcadia town meeting was held at William Popple's coffeehouse on April 5, 1825. I have found no other reference to that establishment or its owner. Elected as supervisor of the town was Col. James P. Bartle, who had been supervisor of the town of Lyons since 1824. As his residence was in the village of Newark, this position with the town of Lyons was no longer valid. The group of Arcadia residents, all males, of course, in those pre-suffragist days, wisely selected this enterprising and experienced man to lead their new town in its infancy.

Also elected at that first town meeting was: Theodore Partridge, town clerk; Hezekiah Dunham, Joseph Luce, and Andrew Finch, assessors; Hiram Soverhill, William Terry and James McCain, constables; Caleb P. Lippett, Artemus Doane and John L. Kip, commissioners of common schools; George W. Scott, Artemus Doane, and Joseph A. Miller, inspectors of common schools. Andrew Loper won the bid as keeper of the town poor. This list is of interest today as an insight to the concerns of the body politic of a rural township 175 years ago.

The first white settlers in what is now the Town of Arcadia were Joseph Winters and the brothers Arnold and Benjamin Franklin who came in 1791. The first white settlers in what is now Wayne County arrived in the present Lyons township in 1789 - the same year George Washington was inaugurated as the first president of this new nation.

By 1825, Arcadia consisted of the villages of Newark and Lockville/Arcadia, and the hamlets of Ninham, Mud Mills, Fairville, Hydesville, Jessups (now Whitings) Corners, and Marbletown. Only two of these were ever incorporated by the state as villages, Arcadia in 1839 and Newark in 1853. Newark, Arcadia and Fairville were once post villages, locations of registered post offices.

The pioneer Arnold Franklin left this area in 1810 for the "unknown Missouri territory" because he said other settlers in this region were crowding him uncomfortably and were driving off the wild game from which he derived his living!

With an area of 30,944 acres (Lyons was left with but 21,661 acres), the Gazateer of the State of New York (1860) described Arcadia as, "A rolling region, broken by drift ridges. Mud Creek flows E. through the town N. of the center, and receives several small streams as tributaries. The soil is a sandy, gravely loam, mixed with clay on the hills. Gypsum is found in the S.W. and marl in the center." To this, Landmarks of Wayne County (1895) adds that, "The soil is very fertile and easily cultivated."

Both failed to mention that Arcadia contains the highest elevation in the county, Brantling Hill, as well as the nationally-recognized Zurich Bog.

"Webster" tells us that the name "Arcadia" is from Arkadia, a region of ancient Greece, "the abode of a simple contented pastoral people; hence any scene of simple pleasure and quiet." While certainly outdated as describing our Arcadia, the choice of the name in 1825 was somewhat prophetic. 175 years later, our Arcadia is the residence-of-choice of some 15,000 residents. Some of are "simple" a few are "pastoral" and, hopefully, most are "contented."

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