Wayland’s a nice village. Steuben County being as big as it is, if you live in Corning or Addison, you may never have gotten there. But I have, frequently, and I like it.
*Wayland’s a village in the larger town of the same name. It’s in potato country, and it’s almost the last thing in Steuben before you cross into Livingston County and North Dansville. Like 13 of the 14 incorporated cities and villages in Steuben County, it was on the Erie Railroad. That transportation link helped make the communty, along with the fact that Route 15 rides straight through, on its way from Rochester down to Virginia.
*A little later, though, the DL&W Railroad would lay its route to the south of the village, and even later yet Interstate Route 390 would be run within a stone’s throw of that rail line. The Erie line, and Route 15, each became less significant. The village, now set back a mile or two from the main routes, was no linger as vibrant as it had been – the fate of almost all the old market towns that served surrounding farm lands.
*Right by the 390 exit, and the old DL&W depot, is Gunlocke, which for generations has been a mainstay of Wayland’s fortunes, making high-quality chairs and other furniture.
*In the village itself I’m leading a historic walk on June 7, meeting in the historical society museum (100 South Main Street) at 4 PM. One of the spots we’ll be taking in is Bennett’s, founded almost a century ago, the oldest Buick dealership in the world, and still a very busy business. The Bennett brothers started the operation after they got back from World War I.
*Also a sign of those fast-paced postwar days is the 1922 American Legion on North Main. Originally an organization for Great War veterans, the Wayland post celebrated modern times by including a movie theater when they built the place.
*Several churches along the walk give us a picture of the community’s religious and ethnic history. Two church edifices on Route 15 – United Methodist and Lighthouse Wesleyan – actually started out as homes for German-speaking congregations. The Seventh-Day Adventists have a more modern home on Third Street. Their denomination grew out of religious upheaval in upstate and western New York, back in the 1840s. Sacred Heart is the home for area Catholics, again largely German in the early days.
*Not far from the church is the old village hospital, to which victimes were rushed after a 1943 train wreck near Gunlocke killed 29 people.
*Besides the Legion, North Main is also home to interesting commercial blocks, while 19th-century homes are sprinkled throughout the village. A much more modern place is the Gunlocke home (now a funeral home), and the 1973 Gunlocke library. The library’s modern design is elegantly executed in wood, stone, and glass, but the wood and stone also lend it dignity and link it to the past. Of course, the wood links it to the Gunlocke company, too.
*Wayland is home to Wayland-Cohocton High School, and Way-Co’s most famous alumnus is perhaps Bill T. Jones ’70. He was three years old when he came to Wayland in a family of migrant farm workers. After going on to SUNY Binghamton Mr. Jones went into dance, for which he received a MacArthur “Genius” Grant. Since then he’s also received Kennedy Center Honors, numerous honorary degrees, and membership in the Steuben County Hall of Fame. I recently found a photo of sophomore “Billy” Jones as Marcellus in “The Music Man,” going into his star turn to teach River Citizens how to dance the Shipoopi.
*Anyhow, we’d be happy to have you join us on our free historic walk. As I said, we’re meeting at Wayland Historical Society Museum, and if the weather’s bad, the walking tour will become a museum tour. So you win either way.