This scene depicts a section of Sodus Point in the 1950s. In those days, it was a heavily industrialized area once known as Macyville, named after Sylvanus J. Macy, who built a bank here around 1874.

The scene is dominated by the Coal Trestle which shipped coal to Canada and various places on the Great Lakes. One of the coal ships (Fontana) is seen here being loaded. Initially constructed in 1852, it was expanded over the years until it became the behemoth depicted here with a length of 800 feet and a height of 6o feet. Route 14 went right under it! The coal trestle ceased operation in 1967 and burnt down in 1971.

The coal was shipped up from Pennsylvania on the Pennsylvania Railroad which acquired the Sodus Point and Southern Railroad Company in 1884, which was experiencing financial difficulties. For 34 years, Henry Zerbe (pictured in the inset) worked on the “Pennsy” RR , many of those years as an engineer. Henry is a long time resident of Sodus Point.

The other inset shows the Customs House. This building was constructed initially as a bank in 1874 by Sylvanus J. Macy. In subsequent years it served as both a Custom House and later as a Post Office. This grand old building sporting its distinctive architectural style known as “American Federal” was torn down in 2001. 

Depicted above the Customs House is the Malt House. The Sodus Point Malt House was originally built in 1880 and was locally owned and operated by Colonel E. Bloss Parsons. The original Malt House had barley delivered to it via small ships that came into Sodus Bay. It in turn supplied malt to breweries around the Lake Ontario shoreline. In 1936, the old Parsons Malt House was purchased by the Genesee Brewing Company of Rochester. This new malt house benefitted hundreds of Western New York farmers because Genesee used locally-grown barley. The new malt house opened in early 1938. Through the years, the malt house provided malt to be used in the Genesee Brewing Company’s beer. In 1986, the Genesee Brewery Malt House ceased operation. Today it is used for boat Storage by Katlynn Marina located across the street from the Malt House. 

The Coal Trestle, Pennsylvania Railroad, Customs House and Malt House provided jobs for generations in this community and hearkens back to a time when our town had a distinctive hard working, blue collar flavor.