Welcome to the Nunda Historical Society's Village of Nunda Historical Walking Tour, a joint project of the Society and the "Be Well in Livingston County" Initiative.

The material below is designed to supplement the information found on the walking tour brochure available after March 1st in a box at the Nunda Historical Society pavilion.

This building began as one of several knife manufactories that existed in Nunda. The largest was the Woodworth Knife Works that once stood on Woodworth Lane. The large grinding wheel in the pavilion came from the Woodworth factory. Nunda made knives, including knife blades made at this building, are on display in the Nunda Museum.

Right: Our Historical Building as it looked in the 1930s when it was the Brown & Kleinhenz Garage.

Below: This photograph was probably taken in the late 1940s. M.E. Tunningley's Garage ( the present day Historical Building) is visible to the right. On the left is the Conesus Milk Producers' Cooperative Association plant which produced condensed milk for several decades. The plant was demolished around 1980. The building in the middle served as the Nunda Central School's bus garage. It is now owned by the Nunda Kiwanis Club. The organization also owns and operates Kiwanis Field which now occupies the fields seen in the upper half of the photograph.

Left: This postcard shows the row of buildings known as the Farmer's Exchange around 1905. W.Y. Robinson had purchased the drug and book store from Dr. J.V.D. Coon in 1902. The building partly visible on the left was once a bakery and is now part of the Nunda Family Pharmacy.

Note the changes that have taken place in the front of the brick Lake Building to the right. The present day stone front was added to the building when the Nunda Bank opened on the first floor just after WWI.

The school to the right was the Nunda High School as it looked around 1920. By this time original Nunda Academy (the section on the right) had been expanded to accommodate more public school students. At one time two district schools (one room schools) stood on the front lawn. The present day school was built around this building in 1938-39 and the old school was razed.

Above: This view was taken around 1910 from the Square looking north up State Street. The Livingston House is on the right. The building marked "Post Office" is now Kathy's Country Florist. Down the street you can see the Carter Memorial Building with its Civil War Statue on the top. The Union Block (Stop 10) is beyond.

Left and Right: These postcards show the building around 1908 . After WWI cannons were added beside the front staircase. We believe they were turned into scrap during World War II.

Although the proper name for this building is the Carter Memorial Building Or Hall, it is often referred to as the G.A.R. (Grand Army of the Republic) building or the American Legion Building.

Right: Employees of the Foote Company pose in front of their factory in September 1914. For many decades the company was Nunda's leading employer.

Below: This sign once created visitors entering the village on the State Road (Route 408). It depicts one of the Foote Brother's famous road paving machines that were shipped throughout the United States and Europe. During World War II these Nunda made machines were used in the construction of Allied airstrips.

Use these links for more images of the factory and workers.

This hand colored postcard shows the West Street Entrance to Oakwood Cemetery not long after the vault was built. West Street is to the far right. Note the size of the oak trees at the top of the hill. Just visible in the center of this image is the Nunda Soldiers' Monument, erected in 1897. The Monument was restored for the Cemetery's 150th anniversary in 2015.

Be sure to take the opportunity to explore these beautiful and historical grounds!

You will also find the B.P Richmond family on the 1872 map above - note how close it was to one of the locks on the Genesee Valley Canal. Although this section of the canal was not opened until 1851, work on the canal had started in 1836! In a letter dated August 23, 1839 Bradford Richmond complained "The canal progresses slowly in front of our house. They will not get to work on the lock before next summer and we shall have to climb over a bank of dirt...." Later the Richmonds would have been able to watch the canal traffic their front porch.

Bradford and his wife Anna are buried in the Richmond/Whitcomb Vault in Section OC2 of Oakwood Cemetery. The postcard shows the Richmond house (on the left) around 1910.

This real photo postcard shows the Gibbs house about 1920, when it was the home of the Fred Dake Family. Although the fancy iron work on the roof is gone, much of the ornamentation is still visible.

During canal days there was a bridge over the canal at the foot of Gibbs Street. Not far west of the intersection is a historical sign (recently restored by the Historical Society) marking the first of 17 locks that carried the Genesee Valley Canal out of the Keshequa Valley.