by David Crumb, Parma Hilton Historian
People often wonder how Parma roads were named. The general answer is easy – by the families who first settled on the road. In one case, Curtis Road was named for the Curtis family, an early group of settlers who arrived in the area via the newly opened Erie Canal. The more complex answer has to do with the history and settlement of the area.
When Braddock Bay Township (renamed North Parma in 1849) was first surveyed in 1796, the road going west from Braddock Bay and the Parma Greece Townline Road (now Manitou Road) was labeled North Parma Road. This road bisected the Canawaugus Trail, which ran from Route 5 and 20 near Avon all the way to Lake Ontario. It was a Seneca trail whose name meant “Stinking Waters” because of the sulfur springs nearby.
So, how did North Parma Road become Curtis Road? When the Erie Canal was opened from Albany to Brockport in 1823, settlers began moving west because of the rich farmlands near Lake Ontario. One of these early settlers was Philander Curtis from Camillus, NY, and records show that by 1825 he was in Parma. He had embarked in Camillus and, after three or four days, would have disembarked in Spencerport via an Erie Canal boat.
Although we have no record of how he arrived on North Parma Road, it seems his mission was to check out farmland in the Braddock Bay Township. He liked what he found, purchasing a 100-acre tract on North Parma Road at the corner of the current Lighthouse Road.
Because he had become executor of his father Zachariah’s estate in 1822, he was also responsible for taking on the family leadership and seeking additional land for his younger siblings.
By 1833, George, Chauncy, Leonard, and Elias Curtis had arrived and settled on the North Parma Road. From then on, more children reached their maturity and inherited or purchased more land. By 1900, James, Fred, Issac, Lois, Eli, Benjamin, Charles, and many others lived there. With so many Curtis family members living on this road, people began to refer to it as Curtis Road. It soon was listed on town maps and records, making it the road’s official name. At one time, Curtis was the most common name in town. The 1892 census recorded 64 individuals under the surname of Curtis. In 1905 and 1910, 14 Curtis families were listed in the Town of Parma. Today, the name has all but died out in this area, and the descendants of Zachariah of Camillus are mostly gone.
Because of the “new” Erie Canal, industrious, hardworking, and respectable pioneers left their homes in the east and began a good legacy in the lands they cleared, the families they raised, and the homes they built – several of which still stand today. Among them are the Chauncy Curtis home at 632 Curtis Road, the George Curtis home at the northwest corner of Curtis Road and Route 259, the Elias Curtis home at 307 Curtis Road, the Charles Curtis home at 304 Curtis Road, and the Philander Curtis, Jr. home at 204 Curtis Road.
Photos provided by the Parma Hilton Historian
