Rails, Rebellion, and Broken Promises - The Insurrection of Greenwood

In the 1870s, dreams of iron rails swept through western New York. The Rochester, Hornellsville, and Pine Creek Railroad—grandly abbreviated RH&PC—was supposed to connect Hornellsville to the Pennsylvania border, promising prosperity for the small towns along its path. Greenwood, Hornellsville, and West Union all pitched in, borrowing thousands of dollars to finance the venture. Greenwood alone raised $30,000—nearly $800,000 in today’s money—hoping to see trains full of passengers and goods steaming through its hills.

The company’s leaders, S.M. Alley and John M. Finch, ran operations from offices on Canisteo Street in Hornellsville. Crews graded sections of land, and for a time it seemed the tracks might soon follow. But then came the Panic of 1873—a nationwide financial collapse that bankrupted railroads, shuttered banks, and crushed the dreams of small towns like Greenwood. Work stopped abruptly. The RH&PC merged and re-merged with other lines, changing names like a snake shedding its skin—the Geneva, Hornellsville and Pine Creek Railway, then the Lake Ontario Southern—but the promised railroad was never completed. Not a single train ever arrived.

Yet the debts remained.

Greenwood’s townspeople were told they still owed the money they had borrowed to support the project. They were furious. “We’ve been robbed,” they said. They had “nothing to show for their bonds except a few miles of cheap grading.” The courts at first sided with the townspeople, declaring the bonds illegal. But in 1874, the New York Legislature overturned that ruling, making the debt binding once again. When the first tax—$8,000—was levied to pay it back, the people of Greenwood refused.

They weren’t just being stubborn. They truly believed they’d been defrauded. From 1878 to 1882, officials tried again and again to seize and sell property to cover the tax. Each time, citizens gathered—sometimes two hundred strong—to stop them. Men carried guns, revolvers, and pitchforks. They swore no one would buy a neighbor’s goods “stolen by the taxman.” At one attempted sale, martial music filled the air, and barrels of hard cider passed through the crowd. No one bid, and the collector backed down.

Word spread beyond Greenwood’s borders. Miners and oil workers from nearby Pennsylvania—some said even members of the secretive Molly Maguires—crossed the line to stand beside the townspeople. The sheriff, fearing for his deputies’ safety, telegraphed Albany for help. When no response came, he went in person to plead with Governor Alonzo B. Cornell.

On February 11, 1882, the Governor issued an extraordinary proclamation: Greenwood, New York, was officially “in a state of insurrection.” He ordered citizens to disperse, officers to restore order, and authorized the sheriff to summon the militia if necessary.

The tension broke a few days later. With armed deputies at his side, the sheriff managed to collect part of the tax—starting, heartbreakingly, with livestock belonging to widows and poor farmers. One widow’s horse sold for three dollars. No one would bid on a poor man’s cow. Bit by bit, the sheriff gathered enough to satisfy the state.

By summer, the Governor declared the insurrection over.

The railroad was never built. The tracks were never laid. But in Greenwood, the story lived on—a tale not of rebellion for rebellion’s sake, but of a small town’s defiance in the face of broken promises...

New York & Pennsylvania Railroad station in Greenwood. Note Wells Fargo sign, perhaps from about 1920

But, it finally was ...

In 1896, Greenwood obtained rail service from the New York & Pennsylvania Railroad, which used some of the Rochester, Hornellsville, and Pine Creek grading. From November 16, 1896, through June 1936, Greenwood was served by the NYP (and predecessors) as part of its Canisteo NY to Ceres NY (via Greenwood NY, Genesee PA, Oswayo and Shinglehouse PA) main line. Following severe floods in July 1935 the railroad was partially out of service and its abandonment in June 1936 was readily approved by the Interstate Commerce Commission which from an early date approved railroad abandonment to promote highway truck use.