THE MACHIAS TOWN BAND 

The Machias Town Band was formed about 1906 or 1908. It was composed of a group of men of the town with musical abilities and their own instruments. The band held a concert every Saturday night in the summer. Sometimes -the concert was held on the balcony of the Machias Hotel, sometimes on the lawn of the Town Hall, or on a pair of scales next to Tilden's Store but usually it was held on a plot of grass In the form of a triangle in the center of town where the traffic light is now located. The night they held the concert in the center of town young boys generally set up a raised platform on saw horses. 

For better visualization, imagine a large triangular plot of grass in the center of town, containing a pump for watering horses, a maple tree and a gas light of which there were four in the town. The road went around the triangle, and there was a crosswalk from the  hotel to Pete Snayczak' s residence. At this plot was the intersections of the Old Olean Road, the roads to Ellicottville and West Valley, Old North Road, now Mckinstry Rd, and the road to Delevan, hence a former name of Machias; Machias five corners. This was usually where the Town Band met and people from the area hitched up the horse and headed to town for a night's entertainment. 

MEMBERS OF THE MACHIAS TOWN BAND WERE: 

Dudley V, Armstrong - tenor horn 
Ray Very - baritone (made of silver)
 Edwin Stoll- slide trombone
 Hugh Nourse - Slide trombone
 Earl Kerr - Slide trombone
 Lyle Myers - alto horn, big bass horn, coronet
Elmer Loomis - snare drum
 Layton Snyder - coronet 
Edward Stady - alto horn 
Clark Snyder - Coronet John Fish 
Coronet Frank Roger - alto horn
 Deb Knox - bass horn 
Glenn House - Clarinet 

The above information was obtained from the Machias, New York, Chickasaw Sesquicentennial 1827-1977 book.