5 Main Street

This large wooden structure at 5 Main Street was known as the “Old Bolt House.” It was originally a foundry for the manufacture of agricultural implements built by E. W. Hudnut and Elias and Chauncey Metcalf about 1855. This building was the scene of constant activity and made Geneseo famous as a manufacturing site all over the world. About 1861, Harvey Baker bought out the Metcalf interest and associated himself with Mr. Hudnut. Shortly after this, the building was leased for the manufacture of reapers. The business failed in two years and the shop was taken over for the manufacture of croquet sets, which were sold all over the country.

Mr. Hudnut remained in the building doing sawing and other jobs. The croquet business moved west and so did Mr. Hudnut. He later returned and ran a sawmill here for a few years, retiring in 1886. In 1890, he tore the back part of the building down and converted the front into a two-family residence, which he sold to James E. Johnson in 1899. In 1906, it was sold to Mrs. Eva Bolt who for years used it as a rooming house for students. In 1911, she made an addition to the rear and made other repairs. Her heirs sold the building to Richard and Virginia Eddy in 1959. Huge beams and a bricked-over foundry oven are still visible in the basement.