It was called the Central Exchange Hotel because for years it catered to the stage traffic from Elmira to Auburn, and Cortland to Penn Yann. The Elm Grove Hotel around 1890 for the row of beautiful elm trees along the front of the inn. At that time it was known to be a stopping place for horse thieves and other no gooders.
Tall tails abound as to the capers which occurred here.
One is that in 1933, William Miller came to visit the current owners of the Inn, the Blanchard family. He told the family that when he was renovating the building, he found large sums of counterfeit money in the attic. Some years later dies for making the money were found in a nearby house. Lansing was dry by local option for some time. And finally, the story most talked about, is that of Rudolf, a notorious murderer, who was captured and confined at the inn.