Waterboro, New York

Waterboro, New York is located in Upper State New York, and is now a little used train stopping point.

The Bamberg, Ehrhardt & Waterboro Railroad mentions this stop a few times in various search engines.

Waterboro was once a flourishing village in Chautauqua County. Waterboro was founded in 1803 by two men known as Mulky and Hasbrook. They brought families from Eastern Vermont and settled on Conewango Creek and built a dam and saw mill. Later a grist mill was built 200 feet below the saw mill. In 1805 B R Stebbins built the first hotel on the southeast side of Conewango below the dam. Mr. Bartlett built another hotel where Interstate 86 intersects now. In 1815, Waterboro had 3 stores and the population was 1200 people. From 1803-1820 Waterboro was a main stopping point for travelers from Jamestown, NY. A road pushed over the hills to Randolph in Cattaraugus County.Another road was built down the southeast bank of Conewango to Kennedy. This road was abandoned in 1822.

In 1820 during a very dry summer, the saw mill caught on fire. This fire spread rapidly and burned 400 buildings to the ground in Waterboro.After the fire only four houses were left. These belonged to the Janlian, Haight, Hasbrook, and Smith families. While people were trying to rebuild, a scarlet fever epidemic broke out in which many died. Fear seized the survivors and they tore out the dam. A cemetery of 10 acres had been laid out in which 400 people were buried. The last people to be buried in the cemetery were members of the Seekins family. The village was never rebuilt and was only a small settlement later. Some people moved to Kennedy. Two more saw mills were built after Waterboro was wiped out, but they only operated for a short time.

sources

Waterboro written by Mrs. Thomas P Mattison of Kennedy, NY Richard Wright ed News Bulletin May 1958 Topic of luncheon delivered by Evelyn Crandall 1984