Tavern at the County Seat

Niagara County Bicentennial

Warren’s Corners is another cross-road community shared by two towns: the Town of Lockport and Town of Cambria. Located at the junction of Townline and Stone Road on Ridge Road (Route 104), this now-quiet corner very nearly became the county seat.
The first settler, John Forsyth, came in 1805 and died in 1812, leaving a young widow behind. Sergeant Ezra Warren, a solder looking for deserters, stayed at Mrs. Forsyth’s tavern, After the War of 1812, he returned and married her, giving the crossroads his name. When a decision was made to move the county seat from its temporary home in Lewiston, Ezra wined and dined the commission formed to decide the site of the county seat in order to influence the decision. The idea was to have the seat in one of the settlements along Ridge Road, the busiest road east from Lewiston and Niagara Falls. Two commissioners had decided to place the county seat in Warren’s Corners. Unfortunately, one of the two men died and the remaining commissioners could not agree. With the Erie Canal being surveyed through Lockport, the decision was made to award the county seat to Lockport. Today, Warren’s Corners is a quiet crossroads, belying the fact that it once could have been the center of the county.