History

The first settlement at Lime Lake were made about 1819 at the north end.  The lake has been so named because of shell lime deposits once found on the bottom.  According to legend, the Seneca Indians had called the lake Odosagih, which meant “clear, spring, living waters.”

Little, if anything is recorded about the early settlements here until 1820, when Andrew McBuzzell built the first saw mill near Lime Lake Outlet.

The first merchants in the area were Howard Peek and Alva Jefferson, who opened a store at the north end in 1822.  The first inn in the area, located at the lake’s south end, was operated by Widow Freeman in the early 1820’s.  In 1823 Daniel Potter erected the lake’s first grist mill, located near the site of McBuzzell’s operation.

Lime Lake’s first tavern, operated by Warner Sanford, opened in 1830.  In 1835, Follett & Colgrove opened the only woolen mill ever to exist in Machias at the site of David Potter’s grist mill, which had been swept from its foundation by a flood three years earlier.

The County of Cattaraugus purchased 200 acres of farm land in Machias bordering on the lake from Willard Jefferson in 1833, and there established the County Alms-House and Insane Asylum.  The facility has gone through many transformations over the last century and a half, and today is known as the Cattaraugus County Home and Infirmary.

On November 23, 1850, Lambert Babcock broke through the Lime Lake ice and drowned.  This was the first recorded drowning at Lime Lake.

The first railroad to come through Lime Lake was constructed by the Buffalo, New York & Philadelphia Railroad Company, completed in 1872.  The track ran north-south along the eastern shore of the lake.  The railroad played an important industrial center in Cattaraugus County.  The company today is known as Consolidated Railroad or Conrail.

In 1880, Lime Lake’s “Ice Age” began as the E. Webster, Son & Company ice firm of Buffalo erected the first ice house at the lake.

The next forty years as Lime Lake became a loader in the marketing of ice blocks prior to the advent of electric refrigeration.  Several other ice firms followed the Websters, and the average capacity of ice shipped each season is estimated to have been 145,000 tons.

At the turn of the century, Lime Lake was an important industrial point in the county.  A booming ice industry regularly employed hundreds of men, and the mills at the north end were busy night and day.  In addition, the country alms-house was a large employer of men and women.  The lake’s industries in turn made it possible for other area businesses, such as the Hazelmere Inn and the Lime Lake Hotel, to prosper.  However, in the early part of the 20th century, the lake began to change.

In 1912 the Queen City Dairy Company built a bottling plant at the sight where the mills had stood.  The plant flourished at the north end for two decades.  This building later became the site of the Old Miller Roller Skating Rink.

Fire destoyed the once famous Hazlemere Inn in early 1920.  The inn, located in Hazelmere Park, was a popular attraction for tourists and locals alike.  In 1922, the Odosagih Bible Conference was founded on the site once occupied by the park.

The 1920’s also saw the demise of the ice trade at Lime Lake.  The advent of electric refrigeration slowed the demand for ice blocks, and he business was completely idle by the late ’20s.

Elmer Potter developed an amusement park called Lime Lake Park at the north end in the late 20’s.  The park became a popular attraction at the lake for decades and inspired the development of Lime Lake as a resort town.

Robert Ripley featured Lime Lake in his world renowned “Ripley’s Believe It Or Not” in February 1940.  Ripley reported that Lime Lake was the only lake on record having two outlets and no inlets.

Today the lake only has one outlet on the north end.  Thanks to Mr. Richard Korn, who called in, we have this important correction.  Apparently, back in the 1950’s, the southern outlet, which led to Ischua Creek, was closed off by the gravel companies who had operations nearby.  Mr. Korn should know since the old outlet was on his property!  The former southern outlet is actually now a spring water inlet coming in from the swamps across the lake.

The Lime Lake Cottage Owners Association was established in 1944.  The purpose of the Association is to mutually benefit its member property owners and maintain the water facilities of the lake, and improve community relations around the lake.  The Association controls the boat launch and park, both located on Broad Bay Circle, and the dam which regulated the lake’s water level.  The LLCOA became incorporated in 1959.

The latter part of this century has been a growth in residential development, both seasonal and year round. As of 1992, there are more than 375 cottages and homes surrounding the lake, and property owners and renters come from several other states and Canada to enjoy the beauty and quality of life that Lime Lake offers.

Machias

This is an interior town, lying northeast of the center of the county.  It contains a total area of 25,890 acres, of which 16,831 are improved, and in 1875 had a population of 1385.  The surface forms a portion of the elevated table-land which divides the waters of the Allegany River from those of Cattaraugus Creek.  Near the residence of CHESTER ASHCRAFT, ESQ., are two springs, separated by a distance of only about 30 feet, but the waters of one flow north to the St. Lawrence, while those of the other start on their way to the Mississippi.  Lime Lake, in the northeast part, 1100 feet above Lake Erie, covers an expanse of about 500 acres.  It receives its name from the fact that deposits of shell lime are to be found in its bottom.  Its waters are discharged north into Cattaraugus Creek, the outlet affording fine water-power privileges.  Ischua Creek flows south, through the eastern part, into the Allegany River.

The soil is a clay and gravelly loam, of good quality, and well adapted to grazing, stock-raising, and he cultivation of the cereals.  Stock-raising and the manufacture of cheese occupies the attention of the farming classes.

The cheese-factories controlled by MESSRS. NEFF & GAMPP, WILLIAM HOWDEN and JOHN HOLDEN, comprising seven different establishments use the milk of about 2200 cows, and manufacture over 500,000 pounds of cheese yearly.  This branch of industry has grown up since 1866, when R. and W. FOLLETT established the first cheese-factory, at a point about one mile west of Machias Village.

Learn more about the Town of Machias on their website here!

*The above information was obtained from the History of Cattaraugus County, New York by L. H. EVERTS, 1879.

Ice Houses

Throughout the 1800’s and early 1900’s, Lime Lake was an important economic area. In addition to supplying water power which ran the sawmill and grist mill, the Lake became a source of ice. At first this ice was used only locally but in the 1880’s, ice houses were built by concerns from Buffalo, N. Y. By the late 1880’s, 145,000 tons of ice were being harvested annually from the Lake. This industry flourished throughout the early part of the twentieth century until electric refrigeration became commonplace. 

Excerpts from newspaper clippings ; “Ice will be cheap in Buffalo this summer. Now we can sell ice for what the freight on Canadian ice would cost. This report from E. H. Webster, 1890, cost of ice will be about 50¢ per week, and twenty dollars per year. If the freight Is high we will have to sell accordingly. We have about 70,000 ton stored in ice houses on the East side of Lime Lake, two-thirds belonging to Co-operative and Markham Ice which we will sell in Buffalo this summer. We have added storage for 15,000 ton in our ice house and will have about 45, 000 ton. We will ship ice every day, five or six carloads in April and by May 1st. we will be shipping fifteen cars. All ice is shipped away in refrigerator cars in the “summer ice train”, to storage in other cities for their use. Not only does the ice go to Buffalo but also to Cleveland , Lockport and other cities as there is no good ice elsewhere. Lime Lake ice is superior to other ice because It is made from pure spring water. Lime Lake is about 1160′  higher than Lake Erie and about 300 ‘ higher than Lake Chautauqua. I believe it is the highest lake in New York State, west of the Adirondacks. We gave up cutting ice in Buffalo years ago as there was so much sewage and oil in the Lake Erie water and the uncertainty of Lake Erie freezing, some times the ice was not thick enough to cut. The only place we could cut was inside the breakwater and because of its impurity it could not be used for consumption but only for cooling ice. This year we will use about forty horses, forty men in Buffalo and twenty Lime Lake people,” ( March 27, 1891) 

Other notes: E. Webster and son working 30 horses at clearing off the ice. Co-operative Ice Co. is using about 12 horses. There is a total of about 100 men and 60 horses helping to clear the ice field. 500 to 600 men will begin to cut ice 10″ thick, and 12 more men will be employed in the ice houses. Thursday 1891, large chunks of ice cleared and sold from Markham’s Ice House. 200 men are at work. 

February 13, 1891: Up to last week, 536 carloads, about 11,000 ton were removed from Lime Lake at the charge of $3500.00. 60,000 ton are being stored to ship to Buffalo next summer.  Cost to load each car is about one dollar. 

“The Silver Lake Ice Co. expects to begin cutting ice the first of the, week. Over 200 men are employed by the two ice companies at the foot of the Lake. The ice averages eleven inches in thickness .” 

“The first ice house was built about 1880 by Newton and Armstrong for the Webster Ice company of Buffalo. It was destroyed by fire. A second ice house was built by W. L. Markham and a third by the Citizens Ice Co. of Buffalo on the site now occupied by the Pavilion at the park, about 1888. Three more ice houses were built by the Webster Ice Co. in 1890, 1892, and  1896 so that the total capacity of the ice harvest per year was approximately 145,000 tons. These ice houses were later razed,” 

The above information was obtained from the Machias, New York, Chickasaw Sesquicentennial 1827-1977 book.