Glen Iris Inn began as the cliffside home of philanthropist William Pryor Letchworth above Middle Falls of the Genesee River in what is now Letchworth State Park. Drawn to the valley the Seneca called Sehgahunda, Letchworth bought land there in 1859 as a retreat from business life and named his estate Glen Iris after the Greek goddess of rainbows. Landscape architect William Webster designed ornamental grounds of trees and flowering shrubs around the house. In 1906, Letchworth gave his 1,000-acre estate to New York State, forming the core of the park, and in 1914 the house became a country inn.