The cave was discovered in June 1872 by two boys named Peter Rutan and Henry Homer while they were hunting rabbits with their dog.

The dog chased a rabbit into a brush pile, where they then disappeared.

The boys returned home and told everyone about their discovery.

[1] In 1931, Don Bell, a lawyer from Bellevue, discovered a series of passageways and rooms in the cave which led to an underground river, called Ole' Mist'ry River, which is part of the vast groundwater system that underlies the surrounding region.

After two and a half years of improvement effort, the cave was renamed Seneca Caverns and opened to the public on May 14, 1933.