History

Brighton's first residents were native Americans, members of the Seneca tribe of the Iroquois Confederacy. Their trails crossed the Genesee country, connecting Lake Ontario with the Genesee River. Settlers coming to the area after the Revolutionary War used these same trails to search out land for purchase.

The young town continued to thrive, buoyed by the influx of pioneer farmers. In 1814 the population of Brighton was 2860. Nine years later, however, when the village of Rochesterville outgrew its 100-acre lot on the west side of the Genesee, it crossed the river, annexing 257 acres of Brighton territory and reducing the Town's population by 30%. Rochester continued to appropriate land from Brighton throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Perhaps the most controversial annexation occurred in 1905 when Rochester acquired the village of Brighton, an area near the intersection of present-day Winton Road and East Avenue.

Early in the twentieth century, Brighton's extensive farm tracts began to give way to the suburban housing that would characterize the Town throughout the 1900s. Several factors contributed to this transformation. The influx of immigrants to the city of Rochester in the second half of the nineteenth century coupled with large-scale urban industrial development contributed to the noise and crowded living conditions in the city. Those who were able purchased property in the country, accessible by private vehicle. At first this privilege of commuting to work and shopping in the city was reserved to the very wealthy, the captains of industry.