By 1858, three hotels, numerous rental cottages, a bathing house, and a plant that bottled and sold the spring water, had been built. In 1820, an Army veteran, Captain John Polley, hoping to capitalize on the properties, opened a hotel and began to advertise them. Aside from the dairy farmers (and the blacksmiths, craftsmen, and shopkeepers who served them), the town boasted the Massena Springs, a pair of sulfur springs, one hot and the other cold, reputed to possess healing powers known to the Native Americans before European settlement. Up until the 1880s, the town was predominantly agricultural, mainly home to butter and cheese production. In 1928 it was the scene of the antisemitic Massena blood libel. The town suffered natural disasters in the 1944 Cornwall-Massena earthquake and in the January 1998 North American ice storm. The town and its village are named after André Masséna, a general and Marshal to Napoleon during the Napoleonic Wars. ![]() Lawrence county, but was not incorporated until 1802 when it was formed from the town of Lisbon. Massena was one of the first towns settled in St.
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