A Brief History of Perinton

Oliver Phelps and Nathaniel Gorham purchased 2.6 million acres of land in the wilderness of Western New York in 1788. The area had rich soil and abundant water power, both essential in luring farmers from the rocky hills of New England to the western frontier. William Walker of Canandaigua purchased 36 square miles of the land and hired his brother Caleb and his cousin Glover Perrin to survey the land and divide it into 66 equal lots. The area was known as Township 12, Range 4, in the governmental unit of Northfield.

Glover Perrin, his family, and his six siblings and their families settled in the same area, which became known as Perinton when it was officially established by the New York State Legislature on May 26, 1812. Other settlers soon followed, as word of the area's good farming traveled back east. Between 1800 and 1814, the Perinton census showed a growth in population from 71 to 821 people.

Because the earliest settlers were farmers, they settled in the flat areas of the town that were easily cleared, specifically in Egypt and Perinton Center (the intersection of Turk Hill and Ayrault Roads). Other settlers located near the area's streams, where they built mills. Early commercial ventures also included blacksmith shops, taverns, and inns. On April 6, 1813, the first town meeting was held in Cyrus Packard's tavern in Egypt, a thriving Perinton hamlet on the stagecoach road between Canandaigua and Rochester. Many of the current and future leaders of the town lived and farmed in Egypt. Packard, for example, was Perinton's first elected supervisor.