LETCHWORTH PARK AND ITS PROPOSED DEVELOP 



MENT 



The Present Park 



Letchwortli Park is a tract of 1,000 acres on the Genesee 

 river, about fifty miles south of Rochester, which was given tc 

 the state in 1907 by the late Dr. William Pryor Letchworth, 

 the philanthropist, and is by law in the custody of the Amer- 

 ican Scenic and Historic Preservation Society. It lies on both 

 sides of the river for the distance of about three miles and in- 

 cludes a picturesque eroded gorge and the three famous Portage 

 Falls. The scenery ranks second only to that of Niagara Falls 

 in its class in the state of New York. The remarkable rock ex- 

 posures in the gorge have given the name of the Portage Group 

 to this geological formation wherever found. 



When Dr. Letchworth, then living in Buffalo, began in 1858 

 his acquisitions of property at Portage, an old saw-mill and the 

 debris of its operations disfigured the vicinity of the Middle 

 Fall, and the adjacent forests had been robbed of their best 

 trees. He removed the saw-mill, cleaned up the debris and re- 

 planted the trees, meanwhile gradually increasing his acquisi- 

 tions until he had the beautiful rural estate which, near the 

 close of his life, he gave to the state. On one of his first visits 

 to this place a rainbow spanned the gorge and led him to call 

 the place ' ' Glen Iris. ' ' After the state decided to call the park 

 Letchworth Park, the use of the name Glen Iris has been re- 

 stricted to the residence which he occupied and which is now 

 used for the accommodation of the public. The Glen Iris house 

 is on a plateau overlooking the Middle Fall, in the midst of ex- 

 tensive lawns adorned with majestic trees planted by Dr. Letch- 

 worth about sixty years ago. A miniature lake and a jet foun- 

 tain in its midst are fed from a reservoir on the hillside. 



In 1912-13 the American Scenic and Historic Preservation 

 Society, with funds left by Dr. Letchworth, built near the Glen 

 Iris mansion a stone library and museum building. It contains 

 Dr. Letchworth 's valuable collection of works relating to chari- 

 ties; and several thousand specimens illustrative of the primi- 

 tive arts of the North American Indian. 



On another elevation in the rear of these buildings is a forest 

 encircled plateau called the Council House Grounds, on which 

 stand two log buildings— one being an ancient Council House 

 of the Seneca Nation, and the other being the cabin in which 



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