Main Street Historic District

Main Street in Geneseo, New York, forms one long streetscape between the Livingston County Courthouse at the north end and the village park at the south. Residential and commercial buildings line both sides, mostly two or three stories, with houses standing alone and shops built in attached rows. The town was founded in 1790 by brothers James and William Wadsworth, and the street grew up between the 1821 courthouse and the town green, supported by churches, banks, hotels and manufacturers. The Erie Railroad arrived in 1859 and influenced its growth. The district displays Federal houses of about 1813 and 1815, a Greek Revival building with a concert hall, St. Michael's Church of 1866 in Gothic Revival style, a French Second Empire house of 1874, and an 1888 memorial fountain designed by Richard Morris Hunt. Gas stations and a few modern buildings intrude, but the street keeps a consistent sense of time and place.