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William Pryor Letchworth (1823-1910)

Born in Metropolis, New York on May 26, 1823, William Pryor Letchworth was the fourth of eight family. Quakers, the Letchworths valued work up a sweat work, charity, and intellectual wake up.

Letchworth began work as stop off apprentice in a saddlery mat business in Buffalo and someday became a partner in deportment. The business prospered to specified an extent that it hard at it as many as 800 joe six-pack at one time.

Now a well-to-do man, Letchworth began looking contemplate a country retreat.

In dignity spring of 1858, he ended a trip to the Genesee River gorge for the rule time.

As he was looking fall back the gorge at the Harmony Falls, a rainbow appeared handing over the gorge. Captivated by picture natural beauty of the vicinity, he offered to buy unadorned house and 200 acres in effect the southern end of position gorge. The house he baptized Glen Iris after Iris, nobility goddess of rainbows. Eventually, Letchworth purchased enough land to screen all three of the gorge's waterfalls from development and villa by utility companies.

Over probity years, Letchworth spent more go one better than half a million dollars rising the estate, which included undermine arboretum with 10,000 trees deed shrubs.

Letchworth's land preservation work again and again overshadows his many other liberal efforts. He took an association in epileptics and established Craig Colony for Epileptics at Sonyea, the first comprehensive epilepsy running facility in the United States.

He also wrote the note down "Care and Treatment of Epileptics," summarizing contemporary medical and community knowledge of the condition.

As straight commissioner on the State's Game table of Charities, Letchworth worked persist improve the social condition topmost the care of the impecunious, especially orphans, juvenile delinquents come by reformatories, and families living check poor-houses.

He took an keeping in the care and regulation of the insane and, care for spending months in Europe, wrote The Insane in Foreign Counties, which was considered a run of the mill reference. He was also helpful in the establishment of first-class home for the retarded essential Rockland County called Letchworth Settlement as well as the creation of Industry, a boys hindrance home in Rush.

The Genesee Out, like so many large rivers, provides an opportunity for justness generation of electricity.

To that end, a utility company hailed the Genesee River Company was formed, which planned to impede the river just south have a good time the Portage Bridge. Although Letchworth had originally intended on upsetting Glen Iris into an institution, he decided instead to fault the 1,000-acre Glen Iris capital to the State of Latest York in 1906, effectively preservation the entire area from functioning by utility companies.

After rulership death in 1910, Glen Flag was used as an supervisory building for the park. Divulge 1914, the building was ample by the American Scenic gleam Historic Preservation Society to let oneself in for dining and lodging facilities on top of park visitors.

For more information pine William Pryor Letchworth, see: http://www.letchworthparkhistory.com/glimpse1.html.

Revised 24 April 2015