Lindley-Presho Area History
Lindley is a town in southern Steuben County, New York, United States. The town was named after the early settler Eleazer Lindsley [Lt. Colonel Eleazer Lindsley was born in 1737 in Morristown, New Jersey. In 1789, at the conclusion of the Indian Treaty in Canandaigua , New York in which Lindsley had been invited to participate, he purchased Township 1,Range 2 in the County of Ontario. This settlement was known as Lindleytown or Lindsley. He moved to Steuben County, NY in 1790. In later years, the "s" was dropped and the town today is known as Lindley. Colonel Lindsley was associated with "The New York Genessee Land Company " and surveyed lands on the east side of Seneca Lake. The land was to be divided into large farms with lake frontage. Lindsley died in 1794.]In 1837, Lindley was formed from Erwin. Lumbering was extensively pursued. The area was mostly covere with forests.
An 1873 map shows a business center where Morgan Creek Road and the old Susquehanna Trail met. There were 2 sawmills, 2 stores, a school, a Blacksmith Shop, a Post Office, and several homes. A newspaper article describes a fire in the Sash and Blind Factory located in that area about this same time. The homes of two prominent residents at that time-- Col. Morgan and Col. Moore still exist. On the East end of the Lindley Bridge, there was a RR depot and another store. Time and floods have eliminated many of these structures.
For many years, Lindley Road was a section of U.S. Rt. 15. The New York State section of U.S. 15 started at Lawrenceville, Pennsylvania and Lindley, New York State Line. The highway followed the present Steuben County Route 115 and the Kuhl Road to the Watson Creek Road. From there, it followed along the Tioga River until it reached the Narrows or “Rocks. Then the road went north to Painted Post and ended in Rochester, New York. Due to the proximity of the Tioga River, there were frequent floods and closing of the road. In 1953/4, U.S. Rt.15 was moved west away from the Tioga River to the present location (6/23/2013). (Relocation started at the north end of U.S. Rt.15 near the Stowell Hill Road and continued south to Lawrenceville, Pennsylvania.) The abandoned section along the Tioga River from the Morgan Creek (which was relocated in 1953, also) to the Watson Creek Road was renamed Lindley Road. The road south of Watson Creek Road became the Kuhl Road. In 2014, this section was designated as Interstate I99 in New York State by Governor Cuomo.
An 1873 map shows a business center where Morgan Creek Road and the old Susquehanna Trail met. There were 2 sawmills, 2 stores, a school, a Blacksmith Shop, a Post Office, and several homes. A newspaper article describes a fire in the Sash and Blind Factory located in that area about this same time. The homes of two prominent residents at that time-- Col. Morgan and Col. Moore still exist. On the East end of the Lindley Bridge, there was a RR depot and another store. Time and floods have eliminated many of these structures.
A 1910 postcard shows a store, the “Old Town Hall Building which served as not only Town Hall but as a Post Office and a Grange Hall- (that was used at times for Church Meetings, Community Meeting Room for plays, etc and in 1954 a wedding reception), homes and a Blacksmith Shop. One building shown in the picture was a Tavern that would become known as the Green Shingles Inn which burned in 1939. This was rebuilt and in 1954 moved across the nearby fields to its present location to be more accessible to traffic on the relocated highway.
From the 1920’s to the 1950’s-60’s, there had been 3 stores with gas stations, the schoolhouse with its ball field, the Town Hall/Post Office/Grange, Veteran’s Honor Roll for WWII, the Town Highway Garage and at one time a Cheese Factory. The DEC Monitoring Station of the Tioga River is still located near the bridge. One of the stores re-located in 1953-54 to the building next to the present Town Hall. The Town Hall/Post Office was relocated to the present location after the 1972 flood. The Grange was disbanded and the building sold about 1974. In the 1972 flood, one store was demolished and the schoolhouse washed away.
The Wetlands were established near the location of the Central Schoolhouse in conjunction with the construction of the Interstate Highway I99. At South end of the new Steuben County Rt.115 is the Lindsley Burying Ground with the graves of the first settler-- Col. Lindsley and the graves of many of the first people who came to Lindley with him. At the north end of this County Road is the Presho Cemetery with the grave of Thomas Presho for whom that hamlet is named. It seems fitting to keep these two names as a name for the road.
In 2014, Lindley and Presho were combined to recognize both hamlets when the LP School, Fire Department, LP Little League Teams and the LP Historical Society were being named and perhaps, the Senior Citizens group. A precedent to include towns at both ends of a Lindley road is Tannery Creek Road, also known as the Lindley-Caton Road. Lindley no longer has a school in the town and this is my way of letting the residents learn about the town where they live.
Communities and other locations in the Town of Lindley
- East Lindley – A hamlet by the east part town line on County Road 120 and Tannery Creek.
- Lawrenceville – A hamlet on the south town line is a continuation of a larger community with the same name in Pennsylvania (See: Lawrenceville, Pennsylvania) Actually, a suburb of Lawrenceville, Pa that is in NY.
- Lindley – The hamlet of Lindley is near the center of the town on US Route 15 and the east bank of the Tioga River.
- Presho – A hamlet in the north part of the town on US Route 15 and on the west bank of the Tioga River.
Lindley Presho Hist. Soc. [Lindley-Presho History]
Wikipedia.org [Lindley History]
Lindley-Presho Historical Soc. [Lineldy Rt 15 History]
Facebook: Town of Lindley
Facebook: Lindley-Presho Historical [Site]
books.google.com [books on Lindley]
Facebook: Lindley-Presho Historical [Site 2]
Lindley-Presho School History
In 1873, there was a school in Lindley where the Morgan Creek Road and the old Susquehanna Trail met. It was washed away by one of the many floods in the area from the Tioga River overwelming its river banks.![1827 School [now gone]](../images/history/schools/Lindley-1837School-gone-now.jpg)
Lindley-Presho was one of two elementary schools closed by C-PP in 2010 as the district began consolidating its schools due to declining enrollment. The Lindley-Presho students were shifted to Erwin Valley Elementary.
Source:
Lindley-Presho Historical Society
Lindley-Presho Historical Society [end of era]