October 22, 2000 In this evening's 15-minute viewing of Danny Schisler's videotaped interview with Cora Gushee in early May, 2000, these are some of the things they talked about regarding our early Town of Porter history. During the years after the War of 1812-from around 1815 to 1840-Youngstown grew rapidly. During those years the hamlet of Ransomville was also growing. The Curtiss family of Ransomville had been in that area since prior to 1820 [settled in 1819]. [The Ransom family had settled in that area around 1829] Gilbert Curtiss was an early tavern/inn keeper in Ransomville. And in the early years of Youngstown there were about four taverns doing a thriving business-similar to today's number of taverns! Both Youngstown and Ransomville eventually had cold storage buildings to store the abundant supply of fruit that continues to be grown in this area. For the most part the cold storage businesses were run by people who owned shares in them, but at some time they may have been private enterprises. One of the people who was important to the establishment of the cold storage business in Youngstown [in 1931] was [Louis] Silberberg who had a farm in this area [and also was a successful merchant in Niagara Falls]. Regarding Fort Niagara, prior to the time of the Civil War the fort was almost abandoned and there was only one soldier stationed there. He was Sargent [Louis] Leffman. He and his family lived in what is called the "castle" [or in a wooden building nearby that has long since been torn down]. He eventually purchased a lot on Main Street in Youngstown across from St. John's Episcopal Church [which he helped found-he donated the land where it now stands.] In the later 1800s, Youngstown saw a greater growth. By the 1890s the large Hotel Eldorado had been built and a thriving Opera House had been established. Much of the money that supported such culture came from very successful local farmers and from successful merchants such as [Bradley] Davis, [his son-in-law, Nelson] Haskell, and [his other son-in-law, Albert] Dutton. Other merchants were [David] Burge [in the leather and shoemaking business], [William] Hutchison [dry goods and groceries], [Lewis] Beals [owned lake vessels and had a grain business] and [William] Eaton [son-in-law of Lewis Beals]. Although they were successful merchants, they also owned large farms in the area around Youngstown. Farming was definitely profitable. The reason for Youngstown's growth had much to do with its location. It had an advantage because of the importance of nearby Fort Niagara, it was on the banks of the Niagara River, and because of the river it had easy access to Niagara-on-the-Lake in Canada as well as Toronto. The traffic between Youngstown and Niagara-on-the-Lake began early and [James] Marshall was one of the early ferry owners who operated his ferries out of where [George] Wagner used to live-on the river bank below where the present gazebo is on Main Street in the village. The Wagners were commercial fishermen [and for several generations afterward]. They shipped a great quantity of fish by railroad out of the village well before and after the turn of the century. vee