In 1795, Zalmon Disbrow first began clearing the forest on what was later the Dr. Gardner Welles Farm, Military Lot 97, 350 feet west of this spot. On Sept. 30, 1796, the first stage left Utica for Geneva, passing here on Oct. 2. The War of 1812 gave impetus to the erection of taverns along this Albany to Buffalo Road, with Rikers Tavern standing on the hill obliquely opposite. During open season, mail was scheduled from Utica to Geneva in 16 hours. On June 8, 1825, General Lafayette passed here enroute to Boston, where he laid the cornerstone of Bunker Hill Monument on June 17. Waterloo developed flour mills that shipped as high as 100 barrels of flour per load to Tidewater, Albany, adjoining this place on the east. Seneca Patchen, the famous trotter, was also foaled here. Joseph Wright first raised northern tobacco here, employing among others Henry Douglas, or “Pompey Smash,” a giant Negro born in slavery at Rose Hill, Seneca County, N.Y. In 1863, Frederick C. Brehm, Highway Commissioner, changed the course of Black Brook from the foot of this hill to its present location. The present road was built in 1927 by Cleveland and Sons Co. of Brockport, N.Y.