In June of 1950, one hundred and fifty people attended an open house at the Metropolitan hotel in Hemlock, in honor of the hotel’s 100th anniversary.
The proprietors were Mr. and Mrs. Haggerty who told that the building was constructed in 1850 by Aaron Doolittle of Hemlock in cooperation with Walter Hanchett, and that the hotel had opened with a ball on Memorial night of 1850.
Doolittle believed there would be much stage traffic coming to Hemlock from Rochester to enjoy the lake and its hotels. However, in 1852 NYS legislation was passed that released the Rochester-Hemlock Plank Road company from their obligation to complete the road. And about the same time the Erie Railroad put in tracks to Livonia further diminishing traffic to Hemlock.
Just after Doolittle had built the new part of the hotel his dreams of riches were shattered. The hotel changed hands several times in the next few years. Doolittle died in the fall of 1854 and is buried in the village cemetery in Hemlock NY.
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