Welcome to the new website of the Lyons Heritage Society. We are pleased to be able to use the site to fulfill our mission to “ gather, preserve, and make available historical records and materials relating to the Town of Lyons, to disseminate knowledge, to encourage research, and to promote the recognition and preservation of sites of historic value.”

This site was made possible by two grants. One of the funders is the Mary Hicks Preston Foundation of Phelps, New York. Many members and citizens know that Hiram and Leman Hotchkiss started the peppermint oil business in Phelps when they found they had bartered goods from their general store with farmers who eventually left them with 1200 pounds of oil that needed a market. The sale of the oil to a German firm led the brothers to move to a location next to the Erie Canal.
We thank the Mary Hicks Preston Foundation for their generous support.

The other funder is the Wayne County Community Endowment, of Rochester Community Foundation. The seed money for the WCCE was provided by the estate of Jeanette “Nettie” Bullis and has now grown to include a number of funds that support a wide range of organizations and philanthropic causes including scholarships for college-bound students. Organizations in the Lyons community have particularly benefitted from grants awarded by the Wayne County Community Endowment. Get more details at www.racf.org/Wayne.

We’d also like to thank our own Bob MacDuffie for his Lyons postcard collection, examples of which appear throughout the website.