WNY’s First “Fourth of July” in 1754…Part V Tag to Portage Road – French/Indian War

BeeLines - July 20, 2017

By Marybelle Beigh, Westfield Town & Village Historian

WNY’s First “Fourth of July” in 1754…Part V Tag to Portage Road – French/Indian War

This story was unearthed, while rummaging through the archived files at the Patterson Library a few years ago, looking for information about the building and use of the Portage Road for an earlier BeeLines series on this topic.

History

Early History

The first Europeans to visit Westfield were French explorers interested in finding a water route between the Great Lakes and Ohio River systems.