The opening of the Erie Canal in 1825 saw the rise of western New York as the gateway to the West. The ease and economy of shipping by canal brought commerce and factories to many communities along the canal's route. Thus, the area that we now know as Fairport and Perinton boasted a disproportionate number of businesses in the mid- and late-nineteenth century.
In Perinton, Fairport, and the Erie Canal, you will meet Daniel DeLand, founder of the DeLand Chemical Works which, beginning in 1852, shipped by canal hundreds of barrels of the leavening agent saleratus and baking soda to markets in New York City and the West. You will find out the secret ingredient of Taylor's Oil of Life and will read its endorsement by Buffalo Bill Cody. You will see the Main Street lift-bridge, which was cited several times in Ripley's Believe It or Not, and Cobb's Preserving Company, which experimented and promoted the solderless can that revolutionized food storage in America.