The Seneca believed the water's mineral characteristics had health benefits long before the white settlers arrived. In 1821, Richard Wadsworth was the first white man in Avon to build a showering box and promote the curative properties of the sulfur water. The reputation of Avon Springs grew throughout the 19th century, peaking just before the Civil War era. Guests sought health cures as well as relaxation and recreation opportunities in the Genesee Valley. By about 1900, most of the numerous hotels and spas were gone. Nunda and Dansville also boasted mineral springs and attracted travelers from around the world to enjoy the medicinal effects of water therapy. Most well-known was the sprawling resort in Dansville operated by Dr. James C. Jackson, a leading holistic health advocate and abolitionist. Jackson is credited with inventing Granula, America's first cold breakfast cereal, and along with Dr. Harriet Austen, endorsed exercise and less constraining clothes for women. The resort stayed in the Jackson family until the early 1900s. During World War I, the sanitarium was used by the federal government as a hospital for wounded soldiers. In 1929, body-builder Bernarr Macfadden bought the facility and named it the Physical Culture Hotel. His larger-than-life personality and national magazine with the same name boosted the popularity of the place into the 1950s. The only Shaker colony in western New York began moving from Sodus, Wayne County, New York to the hamlet of Sonyea in Groveland in 1836. The Shakers practiced celibacy, agrarian communal living, and self-sufficiency. The Groveland site was convenient as a stopping place for Shakers traveling between their western societies in Ohio and their parent village at New Lebanon, New York. The 1,700 acre farm, with its fertile flatlands and the access to the Genesee Valley Canal benefited the Shakers’ cottage industries. They made flat brooms, dried apples, dried sweet corn, and fancy goods such as sewing boxes. Groveland's Shaker population peaked with 148 members in 1836. In 1857, they had 130 members, which shrank to 57 in 1874. Shaker membership everywhere had diminished to the point where the society had to begin consolidating its population at fewer sites. In 1892, the remaining 34 Groveland members moved to the North Family of the Shaker community at Watervliet, New York. After the Shakers left Groveland, State of New York paid the Shakers $115,000 for the buildings and 1,800 acres of land at Groveland, for the Craig Colony for Epileptics.