The American aviation industry began at the Curtiss factory once located on this site. Glenn and Lena Curtiss moved to the family home on this hillside after their marriage in 1898, and in 1904 Curtiss built a small factory behind the home for his growing bicycle and motorcycle business. Over the next several years he shifted his focus to aviation, designing and building lightweight engines for dirigibles and developing experimental airplanes while collaborating with aviation pioneers Thomas Baldwin and Alexander Graham Bell, who moved their aerial operations to Hammondsport to work with him. In 1909 Curtiss began producing powered aircraft for sale, and what started as a small motorcycle factory became a center of the American aviation industry. Employment at the site grew with Curtiss's company, reaching nearly 3000 in 1918. Beginning as a self-taught bicycle mechanic, Curtiss achieved national prominence as a pioneer aviator, the founder of the American aircraft industry, and the father of U.S. Naval Aviation.