The H.G. Hotchkiss Building
By Donna Comella
July 24, 1988
The pleasing scent of peppermint lingers in the air almost 150 years after Hiram Gilbert Hotchkiss founded the Essential Oil Company.
Last Friday (June 24, 1988), a dedication ceremony was held at the Lyons building to commemorate its placement on the National Register of Historic Places.
When you enter the "Peppermint Office" four generations of Hotchkiss
presidents decorate the wall - Founder H.G. Hotchkiss; his son H.G. 
Hotchkiss, Jr.; his grandson H.G. Hotchkiss, and his
greatgranddaughter Anne Dickerson Hotchkiss.
Hotchkiss founded the company in 1839. Within 20 years, the company was producing nearly one-third of the nation's peppermint (for candy manufacturers and pharmaceuticals). The oil won awards in Paris and London - and although the peppermint is no longer grown in fields around Lyons, it is still packaged and, processed at the 59 Water Street building.
Over 50 people stood at the site while Anne Hotchkiss was honored and congratulated by Congressman Frank Horton, Ann Parks, Senator Paul Kehoe, and Robert Gonet.
Parks, of the Landmark Society of Western New York, originally nominated the building for the Register almost nine years ago. Gonet, of the Finger Lakes Region of the New York State Parks and Recreation Department, presented a certificate to Miss Hotchkiss. She was given an American Flag by Horton and a state flag by Kehoe.
Following the ceremony, Miss Hotchkiss (pictured)
allowed a brief tour of the building. A reception at the Wayne County Museum followed
the tour, opening a new exhibit of the Hotchkiss Company and the county's peppermint
industry. Many items featured in the exhibit are from the collection of Newark resident
and exhibit coordinator Christopher Davis.
(Editor's Note: As of this posting in 1997, Anne D. Hotchkiss remains a resident of Lyons and serves as Grand Marshal each summer during Peppermint Days. In June 1990, the building ceased to be used for peppermint processing/packaging. Presented as a gift from Miss Hotchkiss, the building now belongs to Wayne County, and is being considered for renovations for museum display and offices for the Wayne County Historian.)
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