The Story of Western New York's Oldest Home By Heath J. Szymczak [FN1] A. SUMMARY OF HISTORIC SIGNIFICANCE 1. Introduction Ransom Tavern was the first home in the oldest town in what would later become Erie County. [FN2] When it was built in 1799, the United States of America was just 23 years old. It was used as a tavern, the first office of the Holland Land Company, a town meeting hall, a post office, and was later used as a Masonic lodge. Given its central location between Buffalo and Batavia on the primary travel route of the time, it was an oasis in the wilderness for numerous pioneer travelers. It has direct ties to several significant national and local historic personages and events, including the War of 1812 and the founding of Buffalo, Clarence, and Amherst. Joseph Ellicott lived there in 1801 and it was one of the only homes that he specifically identified by name on his famous “Morris Purchase Map” in...