USA > New York > Monroe County > Brighton > Sesquicentennial History of the Town of Brighton, Monroe County, New York, 1814-1964 > Part 1
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SESQUICENTENNIAL HISTORY OF
The Town of Brighton
1814-1964
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SESQUICENTENNIAL HISTORY OF
The Town of Brighton
MONROE COUNTY . NEW YORK
1814-1964
288
Published by The Sesquicentennial Committee Planned and edited by Helen Reynolds Williams Illustrations . Douglas Howland History . William S. Akin Designed and printed by The Case-Hoyt Corporation
BRIGHTON SESQUICENTENNIAL COMMITTEE
GENERAL CHAIRMAN: Mr. Andrew D. Wolfe VICE CHAIRMAN: Mrs. Frank Gannett
EXECUTIVE SECRETARY: Mrs. Gordon L. Bangs
SCHOOLS: Mrs. Frank Gannett
ORGANIZATIONS: Mrs. Saul Frankel
TEMPLES AND CHURCHES:
Mrs. Morton Baum
STORES: Mr. Theodore J. Altier
PIONEERS-LANDMARKS:
Miss Cora Warrant
Mrs. Grover W. Strong
FINANCE; Mr. Philip Liebschutz
PUBLICITY: Mr. Harry Watts
NEWSLETTER: Mrs. David B. Jennison
STONE-TOLAN HOUSE:
Mrs. Edward H. Cumpston
OPENING MEETING: Mr. Edward P. Curtis
Mrs. William Warren
RECEPTION FOLLOWING MEETING: Mrs. F. Ritter Shumway
TOURS: Mrs. Ernest C. Whitbeck, Jr .. Mrs. David Fulton
YOUNG PEOPLE: Mrs. Schuyler Townson
GRAND BALL: Mrs. Rudolph Angell Mrs. Wilmot V. Castle, Jr.
OUTDOOR DISPLAYS:
Mr. Donald Hershey
INFORMATION BOOTH: Mrs. John Shirley
BOOKLET: Mrs. George R. Williams
SOUVENIRS: Mr. William Harper Mrs. Russell Sibley
PARADE: Mr. Carl N. Guldenschuh, Chairman Mr. Samuel A. Cooper, Jr., Vice Chairman
BARBECUE: Mr. Lee McCanne
EVENING PROGRAM:
Mr. and Mrs. John Kitchen Mr. and Mrs. James Duffus
EXHIBIT: Mrs. Grover Strong
HISTORICAL ADVISOR: Mrs. Claude Schmitt
GENERAL COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
Mr. Leonard Boniface Mr. Joseph W. Adams Miss Jean C. McCurdy
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-Ar A. P .- 19 DA
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION 5
THE PURPOSE OF THE SESQUICENTENNIAL 6
CALENDAR AND SCHEDULE OF EVENTS 7
A HISTORY OF BRIGHTON
8-23
DATELINE OF THE HISTORY OF BRIGHTON
24
HISTORICAL HOUSE TOUR INFORMATION
25
1964 TOUR OF HOUSES WITH MAP
26-27
STONE-TOLAN HOUSE 28
MR. AND MRS. MITCHELL JOSSEM 29
CLOVER STREET SEMINARY 30
AMASA DRAKE HOUSE 31
MR. AND MRS. BERNARD SCHILLING
32
THE CRITTENDEN HOUSE
33
MR. AND MRS. HARRY RICE, JR.
34
NUMBER NINE SCHOOLHOUSE 35
MR. AND MRS. RAYMOND QUICK 36
MR. AND MRS. WILLIAM S. ROBY, JR. 37
MR. AND MRS. MARO S. HUNTING 38
MANOR HOUSE
39
MR. AND MRS. WILLIAM S. LITTLE 40
(continued)
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 64-23372
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TABLE OF CONTENTS (continued)
MR. AND MRS. ARNOLD B. SWIFT 41
WARRANT HOMESTEAD 42
MR. AND MRS. MAURICE L. GILLESPIE 43
MR. AND MRS. RICHARD E. VAN DE CARR 44
LANDMARKS OF EARLY BRIGHTON 45-46
BRIGHTON TOWN OFFICIALS
47
BRIGHTON POLICE DEPARTMENT
48
BRIGHTON FIRE DEPARTMENT
49-50
WORLD WAR II VETERANS
51
BRIGHTON SCHOOLS
52
CHURCHES AND TEMPLES
53
POPULATION GROWTH
54
BRIGHTON OFFICIALS
55-56
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INTRODUCTION
It is a special and cherished privilege to be supervisor of the Town of Brighton during this Sesquicentennial year.
Ours is a wonderful community, and the Sesquicentennial is bringing out many of its unusual aspects, many of which may not have been as readily apparent as they are now.
Our town is the fruit of the labors of many devoted individ- uals over 150 years of history. For many years it was largely rural in character. In the past generation it has become one of America's most beautiful suburban towns.
But always it has had a special character.
The success of these Sesquicentennial celebrations is proving that.
As one long concerned with the government of our com- munity, I would like to pay special tribute to all of the hun- dreds of persons who over the years have participated in our town government. Certainly the success of the community is owed in large measure to their devoted efforts.
Also, I would like to pay tribute to all of you who have devoted so much time and energy to this Sesquicentennial cele- bration. You have done a wonderful job, and the town govern- ment, as well as all Brighton residents, are most grateful to you.
Sincerely, LEONARD A. BONIFACE Supervisor
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THE PURPOSE OF THE SESQUICENTENNIAL
BY ANDREW D. WOLFE, General Chairman
A sesquicentennial should be a time of looking forward as much as it is a time for looking at the past.
This is especially so in Brighton. Our past is so colorful and so full of nota- ble personalities and notable accomplishments that an anniversary of this sort could turn into many months of self-congratulation.
This has not been the aim of the Sesquicentennial committee.
Our objective has been to prepare our citizens, especially our younger citizens, for the challenges of the present and the future by giving them insight into the great challenges met and overcome by Brighton residents of other eras.
Brighton is an unusual community. Surely its homes, its streets, its churches, and its schools make it one of the most favored communities in the United States. Its citizens, who have come from literally every country and every cul- ture in the world, have rich resources of mind and spirit.
These great gifts of Providence have carried with them great responsi- bilities - responsibilities which have been met by Brightonians in each gen- eration. From the earliest years - through the Civil War, the Industrial Revolution, and the challenges of the 20th century - Brighton townspeople have been distinguished by an unusual sense of civic responsibility.
Our Sesquicentennial should be fun for all town residents. And it should give us an opportunity to know our neighbors better by working with them and enjoying ourselves with them.
But it should also give all of us a heightened sense of courage and responsi- bility for the civic and national tasks of the years ahead.
If the Sesquicentennial can do this, all the hundreds of people who have worked to make it a success will be well repaid.
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CALENDAR AND SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
April 5 Rally and pageant entitled "A Town Is Born" Sunday at 4:00 p.m. Brighton High School Auditorium A reception in honor of the descendants of early Brighton settlers immediately following
June 27 and Historic House Tour (See Page 25) June 28 Saturday and Sunday . 12:30-5:30 p.m. Tickets on sale at the Sesquicentennial Booth in Howard Johnson's Parking Lot, Twelve Corners
July 1 Young People's Party Wednesday evening from 8 p.m .- 11 p.m. Brighton High School Athletic Field (in case of rain it will be held in Brighton High School Gym) No charge . Prizes . Refreshments, 5¢ per glass All High School Students cordially invited The Chessmen - Joe Dean as M.C. Other bands
July 2 Grand Ball
Thursday Evening from nine 'til one p.m. Temple B'rith Kodesh on Elmwood Ave. opposite Town Hall . Tickets $1.00 Ray Mckinley's Glen Miller Orchestra
July 4 Saturday 2:30-Parade starting at Home Acres; Reviewing Stand, Twelve Corners; Band and Drum Corps Concert immediately following on High School Field 5:30-Barbecue-High School Field 7:00-Fire Dept. Demonstration 7:30-Band Concert
8:00-Helicopter Demonstration
8:45-Greetings
9:00-Band and Fireworks
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IRONDEQUOIT
SCHIVYSTR IN 1669, LASALLE 1797- TRYONA LANDED HERE.
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An Historical Map of the Town of Brighton
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GENESEE RIVER
WATERHOW
A HISTORY OF
Brighton
The modern Brighton, one of America's most beautiful suburban residential communities, has blossomed in the past 50 years from a small, semi-rural town with scattered farms and a few large suburban homes, into a diversified, complex community with 30,000 residents.
The history of this community stretches back more than 300 years, and in 1964 it is celebrating the 150th anniversary of its organization as a town.
Similar in many ways to other well-established suburban communities throughout the United States, it nevertheless is unusual in two major respects - its unusual physical beauty and its long tradition of civic responsibility and social concern.
For generations the area occupied by the town has been admired for the beauty of its gently rolling countryside, its gardens, and its orchards. And from its earliest days Brighton people, despite a normal preoccupation with making their livelihood, have turned outward with an awareness of problems of regional and national scope. With continuing, deep-seated idealism, they have sought to come to grips with the larger problems of the nation.
If, in later years, many of its residents have been persons of station and substance, the community's leaders have shown consistent social awareness and civic responsibility. From the days of the Abolition movement down to the present era, its residents have been consistently identified with progressive leadership in business and industry, in education, in social service, and in the arts. The history of the town, in a formal sense, began in the 17th century when Europeans started to explore the southern shores of Lake Ontario and
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the Irondequoit Valley which were in the domain of the Senecas, most power- ful of the Five Nations of the Iroquois Confederation. Algonquin tribes had roamed the woods and waterways in earlier times, but had been no match for the toughest fighters in North America, the Senecas. The Senecas lived sociably, cultivating beans, pumpkins and maize, hunting deer, and trapping beavers.
The Irondequoit Valley served as a transportation hub for the Iroquois. One of the most important overland routes from the East to the Ohio Valley ran through the area. Present-day Rich's Dugway and the corner of Highland and Monroe Avenues today recall the East-West trail. Another network of trails ran north and south, converging at the Indian Landing on Irondequoit Creek. The Landing was the seaport for the Seneca nation. From the Landing, Indian parties bent on war or trade made their way to and from the center of the Seneca nation near Honeoye Falls.
Another landmark of the Senecas was the Council Rock, located at what is now the corner of Council Rock Avenue and East Avenue, where, according to tradition, they gathered for councils. It was dedicated in 1919 to the mem- ory of the Nun-da-wa-o-no, the Great Senecas' Keeper of the Western Door.
At the coming of the first white settler to the town, the rock stood under a great elm tree beside the old Indian trail leading from Canandaigua Lake to
Council Rock
the Genesee Falls. When the Indians met at their council rock, pioneer inn- keeper Orringh Stone took their weapons from them so that no one would be injured while they were under the influence of "fire water."
In the 17th century the white man came in fair numbers to the Irondequoit Valley. While English and Dutch colonists busily cleared land for settlement along the Eastern seaboard, French explorers, trappers, and missionaries car- ried the Cross and the flag along the Western Waters. In the second decade of
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the century Samuel de Champlain sent Etienne Brulé to explore Lake Ontario. Whether he viewed the Irondequoit remains questionable, but his map, never- theless, showed the bay. As early as 1626 French missionaries were here. They maintained missions in the area almost continuously for over half a century. In the Fall of 1669 the Sieur de La Salle, greatest of French explorers, came into Irondequoit Bay with nine canoes and thirty-four men. Leaving his canoes on the bank of the creek, in what is now Ellison Park, he tramped to the Seneca Village in search of a treaty to protect the beaver trade of his Huron allies from Iroquois assaults.
The Senecas remained impervious to the efforts of La Salle and French mis- sionaries to woo them into an alliance against the English. In 1687 the French resorted to force to crush the power of the Senecas. The leader of a punitive expedition was René de Brisay, the Marquis de Denonville, one of the wealth- iest men in France and experienced in fighting Turkish barbarians on the European frontier. His invasion force moved up the bay to the Seneca strong- hold at Totiakton. He inflicted widespread damage, but failed to destroy the town or the power of the Indians. He did, however, antagonize them to the point where they turned to the English.
Not until 1721, when Peter Schuyler, Jr. established a fort, did the English take positive steps to counter French economic and military threats in the
Fort Schuyler
Irondequoit Bay area. A small English exploration party had been to the area in 1667, but made no settlement. Robert Livingston, Secretary of Indian Affairs for New York, suggested in 1700 that the English build a fort at Iron- dequoit, but his proposal fell on deaf ears. Only when the French built a trading post on Lake Ontario, near present-day Sea Breeze, did the English show concern for the area. In 1720 New York Governor William Burnett instructed Peter Schuyler, Jr. to: "Make a settlement or trading house either
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at Jerundequat, or any other place this side of Cederahqui Lake (Ontario), upon land belonging to the Sinnekes."
Schuyler arrived at Irondequoit Creek in the Fall of 1721 with nine other men. A picturesque vista unfolded before them. A French missionary there the same year described the valley: "a pretty river winds between two fine meadows, bordered with little hills, between which we discovered valleys which extend a great way. The whole forms the finest prospect in the world, bounded by a great forest of high trees." Schuyler selected a spot at the Indian Landing for the fort. He occupied the log fort, a replica of which stands there today, for less than a year, abandoning it when he realized that the French outpost on the lake was only an insignificant trading post.
Until after the American Revolution the Genesee-Irondequoit territory
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Allyn's Creek 1872
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BARNS
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remained free of white settlers. But in 1779 General John Sullivan's expedi- tion broke the power of the once proud Senecas and made settlement safe. Two New England land speculators, Oliver Phelps and Nathaniel Gorham, secured title to the Genesee Country in 1788. Hard pressed financially, they rapidly opened the territory to settlement.
Hardy New Englanders, imbued with the Puritan ethic of hard work and frugality, poured into the Genesee Country to carve out a new life on the frontier. John Lusk, an energetic son of Massachusetts, was in the vanguard. He arrived with his son Stephen and Seely Peet, a hired man, in 1789. They came from Schenectady: the elder Lusk took an ox sled while the other two drove cattle, following an Indian trail via Onondaga Hollow, Skaneateles, Cayuga Lake, and Canandaigua, the jumping off point. The first year they built a cabin near Irondequoit Bay, cleared twelve acres of land, planted a crop of wheat, and trapped. In the Spring they returned East to bring their families and guide other settlers to the new lands.
Not all those who came found the wilderness to their liking. Captain Timothy Allyn of Groton, Connecticut, was such a man. He purchased 500 acres of land along the stream bearing his name, and then built a log cabin at the corner of Allyn Creek Road and East Avenue. After one Summer he moved to the more civilized town of Geneva.
Those who stayed began rapidly to mold a civilized community similar to the ones from which they had come. In 1796 the widely scattered settlers east of the Genesee River organized the town of Northfield. Renamed Boyle in 1808, it included the present towns of Brighton, Pittsford, Henrietta, Perin- ton, Irondequoit, Penfield, and Webster, and Rochester east of the Genesee River.
The most promising section of Northfield appeared to be the Indian Land- ing, apparently the most favorable spot for a commercial town. Salmon Tryon, a land speculator from Ballston, saw the possibilities of the site. He divided the area into town lots and sold it to John Tryon for $3,500 in 1797. The new proprietor arrived the following year. He built a store and opened it for business when Augustus Griswold arrived with five sleigh loads of goods from Schenectady. Among the goods sold in his store were furs, farm prod- ucts, liquor, and such commodities as potash, salt, and flour. This was a general store and was operated under the name of Tryon and Adams. Barter for furs, and bear and deerskins was the principle means of exchange, particularly with the Indians. Stephen Lusk started a tanning and shoemaking business, Asa Dayton, who had settled before John Tryon arrived, opened the first tavern in Tryon. John Lusk and Oliver Culver, who arrived in 1800, were also among the early settlers. Tryon took on the aspect of a rough and tumble frontier town. As a shipping center it rivalled the lower Genesee.
Oliver Culver, who in 1811 built the schooner "Clarissa" on the Roswell
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Hart farm (corner of East Avenue and Clover Street) and towed it to the Landing, described the early trade: "They received and shipped to Canada a large quantity of ashes, pot and pearl, and other products from Bloomfield, Lima, and other sections of the country that was being cleared up." In 1804 a grist mill was built by Noah Smith for Tryon and Adams on Allyn's Creek (west bank about 20 rods from the New York Central embankment) using the mill stones from the Ebenezer Allen mill at the Genesee Falls.
In 1825 Isaac Barnes either took over this same mill or built a new one, again using the Allen mill stones. These stones were later placed in the wall of the west corridor on the second floor of the Monroe County Court House.
John Tryon died in 1808, and in spite of his resourceful efforts along with those of Culver and the others, Tryon declined until it ceased being a ship- ping center.
As the town of Tryon faded from the scene, the economic and political center of the Irondequoit region shifted slightly westward to the main road from Canadaigua to the Genesee Falls. The old political unit of Boyle, minus Penfield and Perinton, its name changed to Smallwood, had outlived its use- fulness. In late March, 1814, the town of Smallwood was divided into two sections: Brighton and Pittsford (including Henrietta). Thus these sister towns were organized at the same time. As originally organized, Brighton, named for an English beach resort, contained 66 square miles (42,240 acres), and stretched from Irondequoit Bay to the Genesee River, and from Lake Ontario to the township of Henrietta.
On April 5, 1814, the residents of Brighton held the first town meeting at Orringh Stone's Tavern. Built in 1790* the tavern was located on the portage trail from Irondequoit to the Genesee River, close to the Senecas' Council Rock. Later its choice location on the Canandaigua-Rochester Road made it a well known stopping point for travelers. The town's founding fathers who gathered there met in the 25 by 30-foot main room of the rough hewn post and plank building.
The business at hand was the election of the first town officials. For Super- visor they chose the former explorer turned farmer and entrepreneur, Oliver Culver. Other officers were: Town Clerk, Nehemiah Hopkins; Assessors, Orringh Stone, Ezekiel Morse, Solomon Gould; Commissioners of Highways, Sylvester Cowles, John Hatch, Jesse Taintor; Overseers of the Poor, Ezra Rogers, Rufus Messinger; Constables, Enos Blossom, David Buck; Inspectors of School Districts, Enos Stone, Jobe C. Smith; Pathmasters, Rufus Messinger, Philip Moore, William Moore, Robert M. Girdon, Solomon Gould, Isrel Salter, James Scofield, Orringh Stone, John B. Lee, and Joseph Coldwell.
The first supervisor, Oliver Culver, probably epitomized the values and
*Peck History of Rochester p. 78.
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ideals of the early settlers. Like most of the settlers he had a New England background. Born in East Windsor, Connecticut, he moved to Orwell, Ver- mont, before migrating to New York. A venturesome youth, he set out on his own at the age of 18, joining a party which stopped at Irondequoit Bay. Culver returned to the bay area in 1800 and went to work in John Tryon's store. After four years with Tryon, the young Culver had saved enough money to go into business for himself. After a profitable trading venture to the out- post at Cleveland, Ohio, he returned to Brighton, married Alice Ray of Pitts- ford, built a superb home that stands today on East Boulevard, and settled down to farming. An uneducated man, Culver respected learning and strove to improve his educational shortcomings. In 1802 he helped build a log schoolhouse near the Landing, and then, although 24 years old, he attended the school taught by a clerk in Tryon's store. Culver could not be content with farming. His youthful spirit and business acumen dictated otherwise. Always close to the water, his interest turned to boats. He launched his first boat at the Landing in 1811, and with the opening of the Erie Canal he built the first packet boat on this section of the waterway and soon expanded his enterprise to a fleet of boats. In politics he remained active, serving as super- visor again in 1838-1841 and in 1844.
From their New England heritage the Brighton settlers maintained a devo- tion to religion and education which left an indelible mark on the community. In 1816 the Reverend Solomon Allen formed a Sunday school upon his arrival in Brighton. The following year a Congregational Church was organ-
Original Drawing of Brighton Presbyterian Church located in the Brighton Cemetery in 1820.
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ized in the Orringh Stone house with Allen as pastor. After meeting in both the schoolhouse (corner of East and Winton) and the Stone house for the next four years, in 1820 the congregation constructed a church at what is now the end of Hoyt Place, next to the Brighton Cemetery. The building cost $4,000 and was of red brick, painted brown. In 1872, the original building having burned down six years previously, the church moved to a new home on its present site in East Avenue and became the Brighton Presbyterian Church. The Baptists, equally popular on the frontier, organized the First Baptist Church of Brighton in 1817, with their first meeting place in Deacon Graves' barn. This became the First Baptist Church of Rochester. More than a century later, the church, following the trend to the suburbs, moved back to Brighton!
Brighton could not disregard the growing community at the Falls of the Genesee. Beginning in 1823 when the village of Rochesterville crossed to the east side of the river, annexing 357 acres, Brighton's territory shrank continuously. In 1834 and 1874 the bulk of Rochester east of the Genesee was taken from Brighton. And in 1839 the town of Irondequoit was sepa- rated from Brighton.
With the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825, the town's economic center of activity, as well as the population, moved to Brighton Village. For three decades the Village, around the intersection of Winton Road and East Avenue, was a roaring canal town. A post office opened in 1817 with James Holden postmaster. William Perrin and Justus Yale opened stores; Louis Wilcox and William C. Bloss ran taverns, and Israel Blossom opened a public house there in the 1820's. In 1842 Thomas Caley opened a blacksmith shop destined to remain there until 1948. A description is found in the Monroe County Directory (1869-70): "The Village of Brighton situated in the north-east part of the town, contains a church, a hotel, and 30 houses. It is a station on the canal and the N.Y.C.R.R., where the two branches of the east unite."
Listed in the Rochester Public Library Newspaper Index are records of three powder mill explosions so we conclude that there were at least three powder mills operating before 1850. The three listed are Marshfield Parsons, Fairbanks and Conley, and Brighton Powder Mill.
Aside from Brighton Village, most of the township remained rural. Again from the Monroe County Directory (1869-70) : "It is an interior town, lying upon the east bank of the Genesee, a little east of the county. Its surface is gently rolling and inclines gradually toward the north. The deep valley of Irondequoit Bay is on the north-east border. Its streams are small brooks flowing into the Genesee and Irondequoit. The soil is sandy loam in the east and a clay loam upon the river. Near the center are extensive beds of gypsum, formerly yielding a large amount of this article. Gardening is extensively carried on, and vegetables, to a large amount, are furnished for the Rochester
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Brighton Village 1872
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