Roads, Routes and Roundabouts
If you ask residents of the Towns of Wheatland, Chili, Ogden, and southern Parma what the main north/south road is that they share, the answer will most likely be Union Street or Route 259. Indeed that highway does extend from near the Monroe/Livingston County line to Lake Ontario. However, there are a variety of names it is known by now and some historic names that have changed over the years.
Let’s take a trip on it starting near that County line, at South Road in Wheatland and proceed northward thru the hamlet of Garbutt, once a train depot, up to North Road where it appears to end. But turning left and traveling a short distance, you will see a Union Street sign going to the right off North Road. However, it wasn’t always that, as the 1902 and 1924 County atlas maps for Wheatland and Chili labeled it as Braddock Bay Road.
Proceeding north about five miles, you would come to what is now called Chili Avenue or NY Route 33A, which intersection was historically named Buckbees Corners. From there we would go further on the Buckbees Corners-North Chili Road to North Chili at Buffalo Road (NY Route 33). A mile or so north of there we cross the Chili/Ogden Town Line Road (now West Side Drive).
From there the 1902 and 1924 Atlas maps for Ogden identify it as Union Street, but a 1928 County Road map calls it North Chili-Spencerport Road. North of Spencerport it was apparently Union Street again. However the 1902 and 1924 maps for Parma identify it as South Avenue, all the way from Hilton to Ogden-Parma Town Line Road although the 1928 map shows it as Union Street to Ridge Road and then Parma Corners-Hilton Road going north of the Ridge to Parma Center, from which it is again shown as South Avenue into Hilton.
When settlers purchased and occupied land they were initially responsible for maintenance of the right of way across their property but later the Townships took responsibility for that maintenance. As development increased and population grew, the County assumed responsibility for some roads and eventually the State determined that certain roads were important enough to be controlled by the State, at which time they were given State Route numbers. NY Route 259 now extends from Chili Avenue/Route 33A, north to the Lake Ontario State Parkway in Parma. An inquiry on March 7, with NYS DOT, as to when that occurred hasn’t been responded to as of this publication date.
That is the story of Union Street/Route 259 based on historical maps although Town historians may have other information. The next part of the story is to look at how this major roadway exists today. To do that we’ll reverse direction and travel south from the lake.
North Avenue starts at the lake and extends into Hilton where it is named Lake Avenue. The house numbers/mailing addresses start at the lake and increase going south up to the 600 block at the Hilton village line. At Tallwood Drive there are signs indicating that North Avenue is to the north and Lake Avenue is to the south, but the house numbers keep increasing upward into the Village to #655 and the next house is #369 Lake Avenue. Then they decline up to Main Street/West Avenue. Going up South Avenue from Main Street, the house numbers increase and continue all the way to Spencerport. But the road’s name is a different story.
At Burritt Road, 259 is identified as Parma Corners-Hilton Road and at Ridge Road (Parma Corners) it is called Hilton-Parma Corners Road but continuing south there is no street sign. That section is actually North Union Street, which is what the properties along there use as their address but any road signs along there only say it is Union Street.
The street numbers continue on to a point just north of Big Ridge/Canal Road. There they drop from the 2,500 block to 8, and then increase again going south, although the name is still North Union. A resident there told me they once received a post card from UPS apologizing for being unable to find their residence, although the address on the package was the same one they sent the card to. Amazingly, from Spencerport the street/house numbers continue to increase all the way to the 10,400 block at the end of Union Street in Wheatland. However, the road name from the Erie Canal south is South Union Street with the last such sign being at Colby Street and then it is just Union Street to its end.
Obviously the local folks and mail delivery people have it figured out, but no doubt the variety of names and signage errors can be problems for strangers and GPS systems that many drivers are now relying on to get to a destination.
Reputedly Union Street generally follows the trail our Native American brothers used to travel from the Avon/Caledonia area to Braddocks Bay, which is referred to as the Canawaugus Road for its entire length. Of course they did not have to be concerned with political jurisdictions or local names settlers attached to their hamlets. Times were simpler then.
