As the WYRK Morning Show tours Grand Island today there's an unusual fact about its long history that most people, even those who live on the island, probably don't know.  At one time there was a grand plan to make Grand Island a huge city to be named Ararat.

The plan was hatched in the early 1800's after the British were defeated in the War of 1812.  England had been in control of all the islands in the Niagara River between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, but once the British had left, Iroquois Indians reclaimed the islands including what they called the Great Island, now known as Grand Island.

New York State approached the Indians and offered to buy the islands.  In exchange for $1000 in 1815, the Indians agreed.

A few years later Grand Island was surveyed and divided into lots for purchase.  It came to the attention of a New York City businessman that land on Grand Island was available.  Mordecai Manuel Noah was a writer, businessman and politician.  He was also the first Jew born in the United States to become nationally known.

Noah envisioned a grand city to be built on Grand Island where American Jews could call their homeland and where they could live and work side by side.  He purchased more than 2500 acres of land, nearly 1/5th of the island with plans to buy more.  He ordered a cornerstone monument to be inscribed with the words "Ararat, A City of Refuge for Jews, Founded by Mordecai Noah in September 1825 and in the 50th Year of American Independence."

The cornerstone was about as far as the City of Ararat ever got.  The city was never built because Jews weren't interested in moving to Grand Island.  That cornerstone is on display at the Museum of the Buffalo Historical Society.

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