Ontario County, New York

Coordinates: 42°51′N 77°17′W / 42.85°N 77.29°W / 42.85; -77.29

Ontario County, New York
County of New York State
County of Ontario
Ontario County Courthouse in Canandaigua, 2014
Seal
Location in the U.S. state of New York
New York's location in the U.S.
Founded	1789
Named for	Lake Ontario
Seat	Canandaigua
Largest city	Geneva
Area
• Total	663 sq mi (1,717 km2)
• Land	644 sq mi (1,668 km2)
• Water	18 sq mi (47 km2), 2.8%
Population
• (2010)	107,931
• Density	168/sq mi (65/km2)
Congressional districts	23rd, 27th
Time zone	Eastern: UTC−5/−4
Website	www.co.ontario.ny.us

Ontario County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2010 census, the population was 107,931.^[1] The county seat is Canandaigua.^[2]

Ontario County is part of the Rochester, NY Metropolitan Statistical Area.

In 2006, Progressive Farmer rated Ontario County as the "Best Place to Live" in the U.S., for its "great schools, low crime, excellent health care" and its proximity to Rochester.

History[edit]

This area was long controlled by the Seneca people, one of the Five Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy, or Haudenosaunee. They were forced to cede most of their land to the United States after the American Revolutionary War.

When the English established counties in New York Province in 1683, they designated Albany County as including all the northern part of New York State, the present State of Vermont, and, in theory, extending westward to the Pacific Ocean. On July 3, 1766 Cumberland County was organized, and on March 16, 1770 Gloucester County was founded, both containing territory now included in the state of Vermont. The English claims were their assertion; the Five and then Six Nations of the Iroquois occupied and controlled most of the territory in central and western New York until after the Revolutionary War.

As New York was more heavily settled in the 18th century, the colonial government organized additional counties, but European settlement did not proceed very far west past Little Falls, New York, about halfway through the Mohawk Valley, until after the revolutionary war. This area was ostsenibly part of Montgomery County, renamed after the war for an American officer. Seth Reed, a Colonel in the Battle of Bunker Hill, moved here with his family as a pioneer between 1787 and 1795. See also Geneva (town), New York^[3]

Land-hungry settlers from New England swept into upstate and western New York after the Revolution, as nearly five million acres of new lands were available for purchase since the Iroquois were forced to cede most of their territories to the United States. Four tribes had allied with the British and were mostly resettled in Canada: the Mohawk, Onondaga, Seneca and Cayuga.

Transfer of what is now Ontario County to New York formally took effect in 1789, when native title was extinguished and the county was formally established to govern the lands of the Phelps and Gorham Purchase the year prior. The territory first organized as Ontario County was much larger than at present and ran south from the shore of Lake Ontario. As the area was settled, new counties were organized. The following counties were rapidly organized from this territory in the first decades after the war: Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Erie, Genesee, Livingston, Monroe, Niagara, Orleans, Steuben, Wyoming, and Yates counties, and parts of Schuyler and Wayne counties.

In 1796, Ontario County was divided and Steuben County was organized. In 1802, Ontario County was reduced when Genesee County was split off. The new county was originally very large, including the present Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Erie, Niagara, Orleans and Wyoming Counties and parts of Livingston and Monroe counties.

In 1821, portions of Genesee County were combined with portions of Ontario County to create Livingston and Monroe counties.

In 1823, a portion of Seneca County was combined with a portion of Ontario County to create Wayne County. The same year, a portion of Steuben County was combined with a portion of Ontario County to create Yates County.

Great Awakening[edit]

This frontier area was part of the evangelistic activities during the Second Great Awakening of the early 19th century, when Baptist, Methodist and Congregational preachers traveled and organized revivals and camp meetings. In addition, independent sects developed in central and western New York during this period, including the Church of Latter Day Saints and the Shakers.

Latter Day Saint movement[edit]

Joseph Smith, founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, lived in Manchester in the 1820s on the border with Palmyra. Several events in the early history of the movement occurred in Ontario County. Hill Cumorah in Manchester is where Smith said he discovered the Golden plates said to contain the writings later known as the Book of Mormon. Smith visited the hill each year on the fall equinox (September 22) between 1823 and 1827, and claimed to be instructed by the Angel Moroni. Smith said he was finally permitted to take the record on September 22, 1827. He published the Book of Mormon in Palmyra in 1830. The 110-foot (34 m) hill (which was then unnamed) is on the main road toward Canandaigua from Palmyra to Manchester (modern State Route 21); it was a few miles from Joseph Smith's home.

Since the 1930s The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has held the Hill Cumorah Pageant annually here. It regularly attracts thousands to its performances.^[4] The church also maintains a visitors' center at the hill, the Palmyra New York Temple, and the former Smith property and homes. The latter property straddles the border between Ontario and Wayne counties.

Geography[edit]

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 663 square miles (1,720 km²), of which 644 square miles (1,670 km²) is land and 18 square miles (47 km²) (2.8%) is water.^[5]

Ontario County is in western New York State, east of Buffalo, southeast of Rochester, and northwest of Ithaca. The county is within the Finger Lakes Region of the state.

Adjacent counties[edit]

• Wayne County - north
• Seneca County - east
• Yates County - south
• Steuben County - southwest
• Livingston County - west
• Monroe County - northwest

Major highways[edit]

Government and politics[edit]

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (August 2008)

Presidential Elections Results^[6]

Year	Republican	Democratic	Third Parties
2016	49.6% 26,029	42.3% 22,233	8.1% 4,265
2012	49.8% 23,820	48.3% 23,087	2.0% 946
2008	49.3% 25,171	49.2% 25,103	1.5% 746
2004	55.9% 27,999	42.2% 21,166	1.9% 945
2000	52.0% 23,885	43.0% 19,761	5.0% 2,303
1996	41.6% 17,237	46.2% 19,156	12.2% 5,046
1992	42.3% 18,995	35.8% 16,064	21.9% 9,830
1988	55.2% 21,780	44.0% 17,341	0.8% 314
1984	65.4% 24,507	34.3% 12,844	0.4% 143
1980	48.0% 17,036	40.8% 14,477	11.2% 3,993
1976	59.6% 21,118	39.6% 14,044	0.8% 279
1972	68.2% 23,828	31.5% 11,012	0.2% 81
1968	56.9% 17,114	38.9% 11,719	4.2% 1,265
1964	35.2% 10,847	64.7% 19,922	0.1% 15
1960	61.6% 19,654	38.4% 12,251	0.1% 26
1956	74.3% 22,317	25.7% 7,719
1952	71.2% 21,659	28.8% 8,763	0.1% 18
1948	63.5% 16,156	34.8% 8,852	1.7% 431
1944	64.0% 16,859	35.8% 9,437	0.3% 68
1940	67.2% 18,932	32.4% 9,110	0.4% 120
1936	65.5% 17,812	32.3% 8,787	2.3% 616
1932	61.7% 15,624	36.6% 9,273	1.7% 423
1928	65.3% 17,769	31.2% 8,491	3.5% 965
1924	66.7% 15,013	26.3% 5,933	7.0% 1,577
1920	66.2% 13,361	28.1% 5,678	5.7% 1,145
1916	56.8% 7,491	40.1% 5,286	3.1% 406
1912	39.9% 4,897	38.6% 4,734	21.6% 2,648
1908	58.7% 8,245	39.1% 5,484	2.2% 311
1904	59.4% 8,184	38.3% 5,283	2.3% 321
1900	56.5% 7,707	41.3% 5,641	2.2% 302
1896	56.3% 7,506	41.1% 5,485	2.6% 341
1892	50.1% 6,319	42.6% 5,376	7.3% 919
1888	53.2% 6,957	44.0% 5,753	2.9% 379
1884	51.5% 6,382	45.6% 5,643	2.9% 361

The county is governed by an elected Board of Supervisors, and uses the Board-Administrator system, hiring a professional County Administrator. The Board of Supervisors has twenty-one members: one is elected from each Town, two from the city of Canandaigua and three from the city of Geneva. As of 2004, the county government has over 800 full-time employees (augmented by another 360 seasonal or available part-time workers), and a budget of $136 million. The county is similar in its politics to much of the rest of rural upstate New York; its voters have tended to support Republican presidential candidates ever since that party was formed, and before that they supported the Whig Party.

However, in 1996, Ontario County voted for the Democratic presidential candidate for the first time since 1964 and only the second time since the Whig Party contested its first presidential election in 1836. In 2008, John McCain narrowly edged a victory over Barack Obama by less than one percent, while in 2012 Obama narrowly lost the county to Republican nominee Mitt Romney by a margin of 1.5 percent. In 2016 Republican nominee Donald Trump of NYC, NY won the county by 7.3% over Democratic nominee & Former US Sec of State & Senator from NY Hillary Clinton of Chappaqua, NY.

State and federal government[edit]

Office	District	Area of the county	Officeholder	Party	First took office	Residence
Congressman	New York's 23rd congressional district	Roughly, the east half of the county (Towns of Geneva, Gorham, Hopewell, Manchester, Naples (part), Phelps, Seneca)[7]	Thomas W. Reed II	Republican	2010	Corning, Steuben County
Congressman	New York's 27th congressional district	Roughly, the west half of the county (Towns of Bristol, Canadice, Canandaigua, East Bloomfield, Farmington, Naples (part), Richmond, South Bristol, Victor, West Bloomfield)[8]	Christopher C. Collins	Republican	2013	Clarence, Erie County
State Senator	54th State Senate District	Roughly, the northeast corner of the county (Towns of Canandaigua, Farmington, Geneva, Gorham, Hopewell, Manchester, Phelps, Seneca)[9]	Pam Helming	Republican	2017	Canandaigua, Ontario County
State Senator	55th State Senate District	All of the county not covered by the 54th district (Towns of Bristol, Canadice, East Bloomfield, Naples, Richmond, South Bristol, Victor, West Bloomfield)[10]	Rich Funke	Republican	2015	Fairport, Monroe County
State Assemblyman	131st State Assembly District	All[11]	Brian M. Kolb	Republican	2000	Canandaigua, Ontario County

Ontario County is part of:

• The 7th Judicial District of the New York Supreme Court
• The 4th Division of the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division

Demographics[edit]

Historical population
Census	Pop.		%±
1790	1,075		—
1800	15,218		1,315.6%
1810	42,032		176.2%
1820	88,267		110.0%
1830	40,288		−54.4%
1840	43,501		8.0%
1850	43,929		1.0%
1860	44,563		1.4%
1870	45,108		1.2%
1880	49,541		9.8%
1890	48,453		−2.2%
1900	49,605		2.4%
1910	52,286		5.4%
1920	52,652		0.7%
1930	54,276		3.1%
1940	55,307		1.9%
1950	60,172		8.8%
1960	68,070		13.1%
1970	78,849		15.8%
1980	88,909		12.8%
1990	95,101		7.0%
2000	100,224		5.4%
2010	108,085		7.8%
Est. 2017	109,899	[12]	1.7%
U.S. Decennial Census[13] 1790-1960[14] 1900-1990[15] 1990-2000[16] 2010-2013[1]

As of the census^[17] of 2000, there were 100,224 people, 38,370 households, and 26,360 families residing in the county. The population density was 156 people per square mile (60/km²). There were 42,647 housing units at an average density of 66 per square mile (26/km²). According to respondents' self-identification, the racial makeup of the county was 95.04% White, 2.06% African American, 0.22% Native American, 0.69% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.70% from other races, and 1.26% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.14% of the population. Based on self-identification, 17.9% were of German, 14.9% Irish, 14.8% English, 13.8% Italian, 7.3% American and 5.1% Dutch ancestry according to Census 2000. 95.6% spoke English and 2.3% Spanish as their first language.

There were 38,370 households out of which 32.80% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.00% were married couples living together, 9.90% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.30% were non-families. 24.70% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.10% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.53 and the average family size was 3.03.

In the county, the population was spread out with 25.40% under the age of 18, 8.30% from 18 to 24, 28.40% from 25 to 44, 24.80% from 45 to 64, and 13.20% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 95.60 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.70 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $44,579, and the median income for a family was $52,698. Males had a median income of $36,732 versus $26,139 for females. The per capita income for the county was $21,533. About 4.90% of families and 7.30% of the population were below the poverty line, including 9.10% of those under age 18 and 6.40% of those age 65 or over.

Communities[edit]

Cities[edit]

• Canandaigua (county seat)
• Geneva

Towns[edit]

Villages[edit]

Census-designated places[edit]

• Crystal Beach
• Gorham
• Hall
• Honeoye
• Port Gibson

Hamlets[edit]

• Border City
• Centerfield
• Cheshire
• Fishers
• Hall
• Hopewell Center
• Orleans
• Seneca Castle
• Stanley

See also[edit]

• List of counties in New York
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Ontario County, New York

References[edit]

Bibliography

• Turner, Eramus (1909). Pioneer History of the Holland Purchase of Western New York. Volume II.

Notes

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ontario County, New York.

• Ontario County - Official website
• Ontario County at Curlie (based on DMOZ)
• Best Place to Live in 2006 from the Progressive Farmer website
• History summary of Ontario County
• Ontario County history page