Program

NYS Historic

Subject

Building, People

Location

90 N Main St, Warsaw, NY 14569, USA

Lat/Long

42.741732, -78.132448

Grant Recipient

Warsaw Historical Society and The Gates House Museum

Charles T. Watkins was born in Kalamazoo County, Michigan on May 10^th, 1837. According to his obituary, he came to Genesee County, New York at age 13, and then moved to Warsaw, New York when he was 17. He began to learn the carriage and wagon manufacturing trade there. Muster rolls show he then enlisted in company K. 17^th New York Volunteer Infantry on May 24^th, 1861, and was discharged in 1863.

In 1876 the Letchworth Rifles, a company of the National Guard, were formed in Warsaw and Watkins served them as a 2^nd Lieutenant.  They were organized as a militia to contribute to “a sense of security against disorder” and competed in marksmanship competitions, participated in parades, and even performed as a band (The Western New-Yorker, October 26, 1876). Watkins won the Loving Cup in the 1879 marksmanship competition, with a score of 44. They were disbanded in 1882.

Charles T. Watkins built the New Watkins Hotel in 1891 and operated it until he sold it to the Warsaw Hotel Company in 1903 and retired. The Wyoming County Times described the hotel upon its opening as “beautifully finished in Georgia pine, equipped with all modern appliances for convenience and comfort, and will prove as pleasant an hotel as can be found in Western New York.” (June 11, 1891).