Welcome New Town Historian: Ellen Frank
Welcome New Town Historian: Ellen Frank
Ellicottville Native Appointed to Help Preserve Our History
When Mary Elizabeth Dunbar left Ellicottville to live with her family, the Ellicottville Town Historian post became vacant. Admittedly, Mary Elizabeth left behind big shoes, so it takes someone with energy and experience, with creds and with the ability to continue stimulating the community interest in our town and village’s history. Thankfully, Ellen Frank was in the wings, serving over the years in multiple capacities with the Ellicottville Historical Society.
On October 1st, Ms. Frank was appointed Town Historian by Town Supervisor Matthew McAndrew. The position is paid a small annual stipend by the Town and is renewed annually. One does not need to be a native of the town to become historian. In fact, Mary Elizabeth Dunbar was a native of Little Valley before she moved to Ellicottville to live out her days and to tirelessly serve the Ellicottville community. Ellicottville has had five historians since April 11, 1919, when New York Governor Al Smith signed the “Historian Law” into law. This was the first of its kind in the United States. Under this law every village, town, city, county, and municipality in NYS was required to have an appointed historian to document, preserve, interpret, and share the history of their communities. According to Ms. Frank, “It is part of the State’s commitment to ensure that New Yorkers will have access to quality educational experiences enriched by cultural heritage resources.”
Ellicottville’s first historian was Bula Johnson, one of the first members of the Ellicottville Historical Society which was formed in 1957. Lena Reynolds came next for a short time, followed by Sue Parson, then Lois Siggelkow who served for 18 years, followed by Mary Elizabeth Dunbar. “I have a group of strong women to follow in this new journey of mine,” says Ms. Frank.
Ms. Frank (nee Siriani) was born and raised in Ellicottville, graduating from ECS. After receiving her teaching degree, Ms. Frank taught the younger students in Salamanca for 33 years before she retired. Loving traveling and history, she visited all the museums/homes of the Presidents hailing from Ohio. (There are 8, even one with a modern Ellicottville connection - ask her about it.)
Presently, Ms. Frank gives presentations on different presidents’ homes or their museums. Having extensively toured Gettysburg and seeing it through the lens of an historian, she now gives presentations on Gettysburg and the people who survived the battle. Naturally, given the rich history of New York State and particularly Ellicottville and its connection to the Holland Land Company and Joseph Ellicott, Ms. Frank has given interesting and detailed talks on this history.
As Vice President of the Ellicottville Historical Society for the past 9 years, Ms. Frank developed and personally guided (sometimes in period costume) Historical Walking Tours around town, pointing out homes and interesting personal stories of the founders of Ellicottville. As for the founders, there is no getting away from her and her curious eyes - she even developed ghost tours, taking participants to the Jefferson Street Cemetery where many of those same people are buried, telling ghost stories along the way. It has been reported that mysterious floating orbs tend to appear at times during these ghost walks. On conversing with the new Town Historian, Ms. Frank assures us that these walks will continue. In addition, she will continue to plan and arrange field trips to interesting historical places in Western New York like this last year’s trip to the Roycroft campus in East Aurora. She further assures us that the free speaker series will also continue with guest speakers telling (or singing about) exciting and enlightening tales of historical events or places, often dressed in period costume.
In a museum report dated September 21, 1963, Bula Johnson noted that the Historical Museum was first opened to the public on April 27, 1961, with a few donated artifacts and several others on loan. The society chose to call the museum the “Historical Center,” and has been open to the public five months a year, each Saturday afternoon (and some special occasions) from 2:00-4:00pm since that time.
Ms. Frank gave some statistics about guests coming through the building to catch snatches of our history. In 2023 it was open to guests June 30th to November 3rd with 1,226 visitors signing the book. These included persons from 20 states stretching from Delaware to California, and 8 countries including Canada, Ukraine and Moscow.
Many items of historic interest have been added to the collection. Fifteen are on loan, thirty-one were given to the reference library and one hundred have been donated. Although interest is high to receive more items of historical significance for the archives, there is a problem with accepting them, until such time as the society has more space to safely house those historic treasures. One of dearest wishes of Ms. Frank and all who are involved with the Historical Society is to have a larger building, or perhaps another building in the village donated to expand the services and displays of the society. Presently, with their limited space, there is not even room for anyone to do research on the premises. Options are being reviewed in earnest.
The new board consists of Dawn Westfall, President; Gina Hensel, Vice President; Carolyn Bauer, Secretary; and Bob Ellis, Treasurer. These individuals, with the help of many dedicated volunteers, keep the doors open and programs available to the Ellicottville community.
After a discussion about where students went to school before the current school building was built, it occurred to Ms. Frank that she would like to hear from individuals in the community who attended classes in various homes or scattered buildings. Ms. Frank asked if we would put out her request to get information from the community and have it sent to her via USPS at 6538 Donlen Drive, Ellicottville, NY 14731, or email her at ellicottvilletownhistorian@gmail.com. She is developing a Facebook page as well - EllicottvilleTownHistorian - where people can contact her about anything related to the history of Ellicottville.
Congratulations Ellen Frank and may your term be long, productive, and enriching to both you and the entire Ellicottville community.