In 1811, when Niagara County was still a wilderness frontier, a few people saw the potential for this area and settled here. One of them was James Van Horn, Sr. who bought a gristmill on Eighteen Mile Creek in what is today the hamlet of Burt. Two years later the British burned the gristmill during the War of 1812. It was rebuilt on the same location and in 1823 Van Horn built the impressive brick home that still stands today. The home became the setting for many events including the founding of the Town of Newfane in 1824. Over the next forty years, the Van Horns added a sawmill, a woolen mill, a distillery and a store to their operations on the creek.

James Van Horn had two sons, James Jr. and Burt. In 1836 James Jr. married his first wife Malinda. In January 1837 she gave birth to a baby boy named for his father. Shortly after the baby’s birth, Malinda died and was buried in the family cemetery on the property. For years it was rumored that Malinda haunted the mansion. James Van Horn Jr. remarried and continued operating the mills. His brother Burt was elected to Congress in 1860 as a Lincoln Republican. In 1876 the Rome, Watertown and Ogdensburg Railroad (the “Hojack” line) was cut through and a Post Office was established. The name “Burt” was chosen for the hamlet in honor of U.S. Senator Burt Van Horn.

Disaster struck in February 1883 when a thaw caused an ice jam on Eighteen Mile Creek destroying the Van Horn Mills and wiping out the railroad bridge across the creek. A train was flagged down and stopped before it plunged into the icy water. By April the Van Horns were rebuilding the mills. In 1910 they sold the mansion and it went through a series of owners. For ten years, from 1949 to 1959, the home operated as the “Green Acres” Restaurant. In the 1960s and 1970s it was converted into apartments and was later purchased by Noury Chemical, which had previously purchased much of the original farmland. In 1987 it was donated to the Newfane Historical Society. The mansion has been restored to its circa 1900 appearance and is open to the public on Sunday afternoons from 2 to 4 p.m.

Douglas Farley, Director
Erie Canal Discover Center
24 Church St.
Lockport NY 14094
716.439.0431
CanalDiscovery@aol.com
www.NiagaraHistory.org