Penfield, NY

In 1795, Daniel Penfield began purchasing land here in Township 13 Range IV and began building mills in 1800 along the falls area of Irondequoit Creek to encourage settlement. Population grew rapidly, and in 1810, this township and the adjoining township to the north, Township 14, were designated by the New York State Legislature as the Town of Penfield.

Penfield was the first of the seven east-side towns in the county to be established. By 1814, the census count was 1,874 residents, and it had reached approximately 5,000 people by 1840 when Township 14 was set off as the Town of Webster. The resultant population figure of around 3,000 remained fairly constant for almost a century, until World War II.

With the decline of milling in the mid-1800s, the principle industry in our community was agriculture. The Four Corners, where Five Mile Line Road crossed "the road to the mills" (Penfield Road), was the business and residential center of the town, but it did not become an incorporated village.

Suburban development escalated sharply during the decades of the 1950s and 1960s, and the population count reached 23,732 in 1970. The present count is estimated at around 36,000, and with burgeoning growth of the nation's economy, suburban communities are once again experiencing rapid growth and development.