Greece

History

Indigenous tribes had settled the area surrounding the Finger Lakes and moved northward to Lake Ontario, the Genesee River, Irondequoit Bay, and the ponds of Greece as early as 1300 AD. These people were Iroquoian tribes, early cousins of the Seneca, who traded with the Algonquin and Wendat (Huron) tribes. By about 1550 AD the Seneca, Mohawk, Oneida, Cayuga and Onondaga combined to form the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. (The Tuscarora would later migrate from the Carolinas and join the Confederacy.) They remained the dominant inhabitants of the region for the next 200 years. The first European to visit the area was the French explorer La Salle, who visited in 1669. French and British soldiers passed through on multiple occasions during this time period as the two colonial powers struggled for control of the region. European settlers began to arrive in the area in the late 1790s, after the land was formally purchased from the Seneca people. Following the conclusion of the American Revolutionary War in 1783, the new government was keen to enable its citizens to make use of the new vast regions to the west. In 1792, the first settlers in what would become the town of Greece arrived. William Hincher (a Revolutionary War veteran and a participant in Shays's Rebellion), his wife Mehitable, and their eight children built a cabin on the west bank of the Genesee River and purchased of land in present-day Charlotte in 1794. Following William's death in 1817, a deed was created between Mehitable and the United States government for the establishment of the Charlotte–Genesee Lighthouse on the property, which was constructed in 1822. In 1797, Kings Landing—the first European settlement and port west of the Genesee River—was established by the King and Granger families (natives of…

Geography

At the end of the last ice age, around 11,000 BCE, much of the land making up the town of Greece was covered by a prehistoric lake which was created by glacial ice sheets that prevented the lake from draining via the St Lawrence River as it does today. This lake, known as Lake Iroquois, was in essence an enlargement of present-day Lake Ontario. As the glaciers receded, the waters of Lake Iroquois began to drop to modern levels, leaving behind a ridge of land roughly from the current shoreline and rising to about above sea level, roughly above Lake Ontario. The soil deposited in these receded regions was rich and fertile for agricultural purposes. This ridge had long been used by Native Americans as a footpath and to this day it is the main thoroughfare of the town, known to locals colloquially as "the Ridge". Sometime between 1801 and 1804, anticipating that the Ridge would become a major thoroughfare, Abel Rowe opened a tavern on Ridge Road. For some time it was one of only two buildings on the Ridge between the Genesee River and Lewiston (on the Niagara River). During the War of 1812 the Ridge served as an important route for transporting troops and supplies across Western New York, and in 1813 New York State appropriated $5,000 for improvements to the roadway. In 1816, stagecoaches began traveling on Ridge Road and would continue to be a major mode of transportation for decades. More taverns and general stores sprang up, often near the hamlets that formed at various points along the Ridge. By the middle of the 19th century, Ridge Road was lined with prosperous farms and mansions such as the Todd Mansion (at the intersection of West Ridge Road and North Ave) and the Upton Mansion (present day Ridgemont Country Club). In the 1860s a portion of Ridge Road between…

Race & ethnicity

Largest nearby schools

• HILTON HIGH SCHOOL
  High · HILTON · 1,366 students · 11.8:1 ratio
• TRUE NORTH ROCHESTER PREPARATORY CHARTER SCHOOL
  Other · ROCHESTER · 1,301 students · 16.7:1 ratio
• BRIGHTON HIGH SCHOOL
  High · ROCHESTER · 1,243 students · 11.7:1 ratio
• EDISON CAREER AND TECHNOLOGY HIGH SCHOOL
  High · ROCHESTER · 1,233 students · 8:1 ratio
• CHURCHVILLE-CHILI SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL
  High · CHURCHVILLE · 1,192 students · 13.1:1 ratio
• IRONDEQUOIT HIGH SCHOOL
  High · ROCHESTER · 1,163 students · 12.1:1 ratio
• CHURCHVILLE-CHILI MIDDLE SCHOOL
  Middle · CHURCHVILLE · 1,156 students · 11.7:1 ratio
• SPENCERPORT HIGH SCHOOL
  High · SPENCERPORT · 1,142 students · 10.4:1 ratio