In 1813 the first clearing was cut, between what is currently Monroe Street and the creek that flows under Washington Street, by Mr. Orrin Pitcher and a man named Waters. While working on this clearing they maintained a small hut at the current location of St. Mary's church. Then in 1815 Mr. Grove Hulbut bought three pieces of land from Joseph Ellicott of the New Holland Land Company with a promise to build a large log home suitable to accept travelers through the region.

There was a continual increase of town's people including the first school teacher Eunice Carpenter in 1817, and in this same year the New Holland Land Company sent Mr. Baker Leonard from Batavia to build a tavern in the town. It opened as a public house and connected with a store which was also the first in the village. In 1818 Dr. Alson Leavenworth came to Ellicottville, he was the only doctor from Erie County to the Pennsylvania State Line. After three years in the Village he built a hotel called the Crawford House. In 1820 the first jail and court house was under construction and Harvey B. Hayes was elected first constable. Mr. Hayes infant son was the first recorded death in the village.

In 1822 Staley N. Clarke succeeded David Goodwin in charge of the Holland Land Company branch office in Ellicottville. Mr. Clarke was elected Cattaraugus County Treasurer in 1824 and in 1829 he was at the first meeting to establish St. John's and then became one of the first Vestry Members. He went on to be elected to represent the 31st district in the 27th Congress of the United States in 1841. In 1827 Mr. Moses Beecher was transferred from the Holland Land Company Batavia Office to the Ellicottville Office. He also would become one of the first members of St. John's Vestry. Other founding members would be Asher Tyler agent for the Devereux Lands and Nicholas Devereux owner of this large section of land would be later instrumental in obtaining the bell for the newly built St. John's.

In 1835 Mr. Robert H. Shankland settled in the village and purchased the Ellicottville Republican which later became the Cattaraugus Republican Newspaper. Mr. Shankland was also one of the first members of St. Johns and a very close friend of the famous Horace Greeley of the, "go west young man" quote! Israel Day one of the first Vestry members was also one of the first Justices of the Peace of Ellicottville. The church was organized in the fall of 1829 and the first Vestry was appointed and the name of the church was selected.

On April 26, 1834, a meeting of the wardens and vestrymen of St. John's Church was called for the appointment of a building committee for the erection of a church edifice. By 1835 the Holland Land Company having decided it no longer was profitable to sell large tracks of land in the area sold off their remaining parcels to various people and companies who had large amounts of capital to purchase them. These new owners would then sell off the smaller plots at their leisure. During this divestment one of the corner lots in the village square was given to the St. John's congregation to use for building the first church in the village. The building of the church was completed in 1837, and little has changed since its completion.

The first congregation is made up the founding and sometimes famous villagers with family names of Shankland, Clarke, Colman, Saxton, Fox, Brown, Harmon, Staunton, Gregory, Chamberlain, Wright, Johnson, Beecher, Searle, McCoy, Tyler, Devereux, Phelps, Williams, Matteson, Walker, Senear, Miner, Chambers, Barber, Huntley, Jewett, and Furman. At the opening of the church the pews were originally deeded but after review of the statutes they were leased to members. These pews were boxed in as were most pews from that era, to allow families to conserve the heat from their warming pots they brought to church during the cold months. There was no heat in the church at that time.

After the completion of the church the congregation began to search for a bell they could both afford and one which would be large enough to meet the congregational requirements along with a time piece for the village. Nicholas Devereux was visiting New York and met an old acquaintance who was a ship captain who happened to have a large bell for sale. This was no ordinary bell. It was originally founded in Malaga Spain in 1708 during the reign of Philip V, while Anne was Queen of England. The bell had the inscription "Hail (I am the voice of the angel who sounds on high) Mary, full of grace." Since it was the angel Gabriel who saluted Mary the bell became known simply as Gabriel. This bell once struck was placed in a local monastery out side of Malaga, were it remained until the death of Ferdinand VII in 1833; contention arose over who was to hold the throne. Isabella II was supported by her mother the queen regent but Don Carlos relied on the Salic law which excluded women from succession.

During an outbreak of hostilities Don Carlos took refuge in the monasteries where Gabriel was located. A monk was said to have been killed while ringing Gabriel in alarm. The revolutionaries were routed and in the violence that ensued the monasteries were blown up with gun powder. The bells were sold to ship captains to use as ballast until he could sell them. One of these ships happened to be one that routinely sailed to New York and the captain was a friend of Mr. Devereux a member of St. Johns. The captain was asking $125 for the bell so Mr. Devereux contacted the congregation to ask for their approval but by the time they agreed to send the money the ship was on its way back to Europe. In 1838 the ship returned and the bell was purchased and placed on a barge up the Hudson to the Erie Canal.

John Hurlbut and Abraham Searle drove two team of oxen to Buffalo to meet Gabriel and bring her back to Ellicottville. The bell weighed in at 1300 pounds and had to have a clapper attached before it could be used. A member of the church William Beecher an itinerant blacksmith added the clapper at the blacksmith shop on Monroe Street. She was raised to her current place in the bell tower where she has remained since that time. During the early years of the village Gabriel was run at 6 a.m., 12 noon, and 9 p.m. as well as serving the village as a fire alarm, and for celebrations like New Years Eve and the Fourth of July.

Additional money was raised in 1853 to purchase a church organ for the price of $225; it was transported from Geneva for $10, and an additional $5 for setting it up and tuning. This organ remained until 1904 when the current organ, much larger with but of the same age was procured from a church in Main for the sum of $550. The new organ had to be pumped by hand not peddle as the old one had so a pumper had to be hired or a volunteer from the congregation would take on the chore. It was a chore because it was necessary to maintain the proper air pressure without making too much noise as one was pumping. Few members would volunteer to stand up and pump for the service so many times professional pumpers were hired at ten cents per service. This addition to the church was the last major change that took place. The church has stood pretty much unchanged with the exception of addition of a heating system and other modern conveniences such as electricity which now pumps the large pipes in the big organ.

The church has followed the demographics of Ellicottville as manufacturing took over from farming the membership grew up until the 1970's when tourism started replacing the manufacturers as dominant source of income. Then in the 1980s Ellicottville became less a home of permanent residents and slowly transitioned to that of a more transitional resident population. This lack of permanency roots within the community also meant the falling membership of the church. We currently have a membership of 14 and are constantly looking for more members and visitors to swell our vacant pews. This is a place of historical significance located in one of the most picturesque villages in Western New York with offerings for all seasons. We invite you to come and visit this historical site which still holds Sunday Services. You will be welcomed to our friendly church family we have been here almost as long as Ellicottville and hope to be here to serve our community long into the future.