Exchange Street Historic District

Exchange Street in Attica, New York, runs south from Main Street toward the railroad tracks, and a two-block stretch of it forms a compact commercial and service district of about 3.92 acres. Fourteen buildings line the street, twelve of them contributing, with construction dates ranging from 1833 to 1910. They are two- to four-story brick and wood-frame buildings with stone lintels, keystones, corbelled brickwork and parapets. Uses have included hotels, saloons, stores, boarding houses and the Williams Opera House, built in 1879. The district reflects how the railroad shaped Attica after it arrived in the 1840s, bringing passengers who needed lodging, food and entertainment. Ten of the buildings went up after a fire in 1877 destroyed much of the central commercial area. Two buildings are noncontributing because of heavy alterations that reduced their historic integrity. Today the buildings house residences, shops, offices, a restaurant and the Erie depot.