{"nrhp_refnum":"87001897","name":"Hotchkiss, H. G., Essential Oil Company Plant","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"93--95 Water St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Lyons","county":"Wayne County","state":"NY","lat":43.062789990000056,"lon":-76.99628044199994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1987-11-02","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry","Commerce"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story frame commercial and industrial building at 93-95 Water Street in Lyons, Wayne County, New York, beside the Barge Canal and the old Erie Canal. It was built about 1885 (the form gives 1884 as the key date) on parts of an earlier building that burned in 1884.","why_significant":"The plant is tied to Hiram G. Hotchkiss, a Lyons entrepreneur who pioneered the essential oils industry in the United States. It was built beside the Erie Canal to store, bottle and ship peppermint, spearmint and other oils, recalling Wayne County's role as the nation's leading producer and shipper of essential oils. It is also one of the few historic canalside industrial resources left in Lyons.","narrative":"At 93-95 Water Street in Lyons, a two-story frame building beside the canal served for generations as the plant of the H. G. Hotchkiss Essential Oil Company. It was rebuilt about 1885 after an 1884 fire, reusing the foundation and framing of a mid-nineteenth-century tavern and brewery building on the site. The five-bay front has a double storefront, a decorative cornice and a painted wood parapet lettered with the company name. Inside, the office, bottle-washing room, case-packing room, filtering room and a concrete storage vault remain, along with an 1873 safe and original brass stencils. Hiram G. Hotchkiss began shipping peppermint oil from Wayne County in 1839 and moved to Lyons about 1841 for its canal access and mucky soils suited to mint. His oils won seventeen first prize medals at world exhibitions. The plant is listed for its role in the county's economy and for its link to Hotchkiss, and it is one of few canalside industrial buildings left in Lyons.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":"unknown","architectural_style":"Late 19th century frame commercial building with a double storefront, decorative cornice and wood cresting","criteria":[],"status_note":"The plant continues to serve in its original capacity; the form describes the building as occupied and in good condition, with a 1972 cement block loading dock addition.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:45.74961-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/87001897.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/87001897/04c69127d4-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/87001897/04c69127d4-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Jerrye &amp; Roy Klotz, MD","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:H._G._HOTCHKISS_ESSENTIAL_OIL_COMPANY_PLANT,_WAYNE_COUNTY,_NY.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Jerrye &amp;amp; Roy Klotz, MD</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:H._G._HOTCHKISS_ESSENTIAL_OIL_COMPANY_PLANT,_WAYNE_COUNTY,_NY.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"73001284","name":"Broad Street-Water Street Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/new-york/broad-street-water-street-historic-district-73001284/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75322908","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._G._Hotchkiss_Essential_Oil_Company_Plant","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5628242"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/wayne-county/hotchkiss-h-g-essential-oil-company-plant-87001897/"}