When the first roads were laid out in this area about 1812, a road known as the Old Chautauqua Road passed north of the present village.  Soon another road known as the Jamestown Road ran through the village to Napoli and on to Jamestown.  Both roads were instrumental in bringing emigrants bound for the Ohio Reserve to the area.  Some stayed on attracted by the beauty of the hills and streams, the abundance of timber, game and fish, and waterpower for small mills.

Among those who settled on one of the four lots laid out by the Holland Land Company, which were to comprise the Village of Little Valley, were David Gregory, who came in 1819, William and Noah Hopkins in 1821 and Zuma Doolittle in 1822.

Lyman Lee, who had come to the township in 1821 form Connecticut, moved to the village in 1827.  He built the first frame house in the village on a spot not far from the inter section of Fair Oak and Rock City Streets.  Later Mr. Lee moved to a farm near Little Valley Center, and there Erastus Lee was born in 1843.  He came to the village and became one of the more prosperous merchants, his place of business occupying the building later known as Stoll’s Store.  He served the town as supervisor for two terms and built the Victorian style home on Erie Street.  A granddaughter, Ruth Lee Currie, occupies the residence.

The village grew slowly during the next 25 years.  A tavern was built on the site of the present Rock City Hotel by Benjamin Fuller.  This was afterwards known as the Howe Tavern and partially burned in the early 1860’s.  It was replaced by the present building in 1866 by J. Gano.  H. Ridout is given as the owner in 1874-75.

A hotel located at the corner of Erie and 6th Streets was first known as the Empire house and was operated by C.H. Titus.  At a later date it was taken over by George E. Drew who operated it under the name of the Exchange hotel.  The building was later made into apartments and has remained in the Drew family for several generations.

The first store in the village was opened some time after 1850 by Horace Howe.  It was located at the north corner of Fifth (Main) and Court Streets.  Howe also built a home across the street, which later burned.

Two doctor’s form New England settled in the village.  Dr. Daniel Bucklin from Vermont came in 1839.  He was followed in 1852 by Dr. Lyman Twomley from New Hampshire.

A post office was established before 1830, operating from the home of the Postmaster, Stephen Crosby.  In 1833, Cyrus Shepherd held the appointment.  The accrued postage for that year was reported as $32.80.  The office became a postal money order office on July 5, 1873.

One historian has said “The one enterprise of internal improvement which surpasses all others in importance to the Southern Tier Counties, particularly Cattaraugus, is the Erie Railroad.”  After several false tries and millions of dollars spent on alternate routes, the completion of the route was celebrated on May 15, 1851.  Little Valley was selected as a station.

An act was passed in 1865 to remove the County Seat from Ellicottville to a point on the railroad.  Anxious to procure the County Seat for Little Valley, the towns of Little Valley and Napoli voted at special town meetings to raise the sums of ten thousand and three thousand respectively to secure the location.  Additional amounts were raised by individual bonds to relieve the county of any expense in the removal.

A committee, appointed by the governor, selected Little Valley as the site.  The cornerstone was laid on August 22, 1867 and the building was ready for occupancy I 1868.  The five-acre lot for the building site was donated by the Hon. John Manley.