1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Medina (New York)

MEDINA, a village of Orleans county, in north-west New York, U.S.A., about 40 m. N.E. of Buffalo, and on Oak Orchard Creek. Pop. (1900), 4716, (857 foreign-born); (1905, state census), 5114; (1910) 5683. It is served by the New York Central & Hudson River railroad, by the Buffalo, Lockport & Rochester (interurban) railway, and by the Erie Canal. On Oak Orchard Creek and near the city are electric power plants, at the Medina Falls and at a large storage dam (60 ft. high) for water power, built in 1902. In the neighbourhood are extensive apple, peach and pear orchards; and vegetables, especially beans, are grown. There are valuable quarries of Medina sandstone, a good building-, paving- and flag-stone, varying in colour from light grey to brownish red, readily shaped and split, and less likely than limestone to crack or than granite to wear slippery; it was first found at Medina in 1837. There was a saw-mill on the creek near here in 1805, but the place was little settled before 1824, and its growth was due to the Erie Canal. It was incorporated in 1832.