Penfield's History Series - Part One

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In 1795, a merchant and landowner named Daniel Penfield (1840) began purchasing land in the area - Township 13 Range IV. He moved his domicile to the area with the hopes of leveraging Irondequoit Creek 💦 to develop the region into a successful milling town. On March 30 1810, NYS state legislature split what was first referred to as Northfield and later the Town of Boyle (an area that comprised what is now Irondequoit, Webster, Brighton, Henrietta, Pittsford, Perinton and... Penfield). The split created two new towns Town of Boyle and Town of Penfield. So, in fact, Penfield can claim its fame as the first 🏆 of the seven east-side towns in the county to be established. So, while the Town of Webster now says it is "where life is worth living" - well, the Town of Penfield can kind of claim that it owned Webster in its early years (quite literally) and the Town of Penfield was "the first!" 

In 1810, the town's census was 210 households. By 1814, the population of Penfield was less than 2,000 people. The population remained about 3,000 until World War II. The area experienced significant growth in the 1950s and 1960s with a population count of about 24,000 in 1970. Today, the population is almost 40,000. 

Above are pictures of Daniel and Mary Fellows (1828) Penfield's resting place at the Oakwood Cemetery 🪦 on the corner of Baird Rd and Whalen Rd. 

Daniel Penfield was born April 25, 1759 in Guilford, Connecticut.

Daniel married Mary Fellows, the daughter of General John Fellows who was aide-de-camp to George Washington. Mary was born September 10, 1762 in Sheffield, Massachusetts. The Fellows family was a prominent family. After marriage, Daniel and Mary moved from Connecticut across the state border to Massachusetts. He ran a store, but that store was burned 🔥 down in Shay's Rebellion. Daniel moved his family to New York City and maintained a couple residences. His family lived in a 3-storied brick building in Manhattan, probably along-side other movers and shakers.

Daniel Penfield was a savvy businessman.

To entice his family to move out "west" to Penfield NY from their ritzy NYC lifestyle, Daniel Penfield built a beautiful 2 1/2 story frame house with two wings on what is now Penfield Road. Daniel spared no expense and unlike NYC, the house or "mansion" was placed among tall pine trees and locust trees. Of course, there was a white picket fence and gardens 🌹 to walk. When the beautiful home was completed, Daniel and Mary along with their African American slaves moved to the "Corners." The slaves resided in the back of the property closer to what is now Liberty Street. Daniel owned several slaves until slavery was abolished in NYS in 1827.

Today, the Daniel Penfield house is the building located at 1784 Penfield Road (Salon Enza). The two wings were eventually relocated. One wing was relocated up further on Liberty Street and later demolished. The other wing was moved across the street and is known as the Humphrey House 🏠 (now a restaurant). An elementary school friend of Neeraj was a dishwasher at the Humphrey House as a teenager. He tells me that there was a tunnel that went from the Humphrey House, underneath Penfield Road, and onto what was once the Yellow Rose Cafe! This makes sense because the tunnel 🚇 goes to Daniel Penfield's homestead. The tunnel has since been closed, but truly what a neat factoid!

Everybody knew Mr. (Sid) Ludwig, after all he was the town's Fire Chief for some time. Mr. Ludwig was Neeraj's 5th grade teacher. He remembers Mr. Ludwig carrying him on Mr. Ludwig's shoulders during lunch 🍛 - a lot of fun because Mr. Ludwig was a giant, and Neeraj was the opposite. Anyways, Mr. Ludwig's brother - John - was the owner of the Humphrey House in the 1990s. That's cool. Penfield was never a magnet for restaurants, but the Humphrey House was special. It attracted people from all over. A WWII pilot ✈️ named Bud used to dine at the restaurant as his "go to place." Owner John used to refer to Bud as the "Red Baron." Great history and memories of the Humphrey House!

In the 1790s, Daniel Penfield began purchasing land and more importantly water rights along what is now Irondequoit Creek. Unlike others who prospected the largely swampy lands, Penfield had the vision of using hydropower and mills to commercialize a variety of industries and encourage settlement. In fact, Daniel Penfield noticed the area where Irondequoit Creek drops 90 feet to what is now Channing H. Philbrick Park (before known as Linear Park). Penfield envisioned the rush of water 💦 from this area to be perfect for his mills. He built his first mill in 1800 and a series of more mills later. He worked with farmers in the area and accepted wheat and other farm products as mortgage payments - a form of payment that he became familiar with when Penfield lived in New York City. You can see why 1800-1840 was a time of tremendous growth in the area.

Spring 🌱 must have been his favorite season not only because of his birthday, but also because of the rains that powered his mills. He bought the water rights of Irondequoit Creek from Lake Ontario to what is now East Rochester. He erected several mills on these waterways.

It's very fitting that Daniel Penfield stands tall in the picture above with the Spring flowers glistening from the setting sun.

The Four Corners of Penfield was significant because Penfield Road was termed as "the road to the mills" where Five Mile Line Road (also a very important road of the town) crossed what is now Penfield Road. 

Daniel Penfield faithfully followed the development of his town and for 40 years was instrumental in its change from wilderness to productive farmlands. Today, Penfield has a similar motto, "a town of planned progress."

Daniel died in 1840 in his homestead.

The Fellows Family is quite possibly the second most noteworthy family in Penfield. Daniel Penfield married Mary Fellows in 1784, the daughter of General John Fellows (an aide-de-camp to George Washington during the Revolutionary War). 

Mary's bother, Henry Sr. Fellows (1858), moved to Penfield and lived at 1880  Penfield Rd (built in 1816, only a few years after the Town was founded). Henry Sr. served as Town Supervisor from 1817-1822. The Fellows family grew as they had 10 children. Henry Sr. built the home next door for his son John (1885) in 1868. These homes are situated at Four Corners, and within walking distance of Daniel Penfield's home. Henry Sr.'s farmhouse remained in the family for over 130 years, until 1949 when it was sold. 

Above are pictures of both homes. Today, we see the Fellows name all around town, including a road and a park where Neeraj used to play basketball. Not surprising, the Fellows Family rests at Oakwood Cemetery, and not far from Daniel Penfield's family lot. Interestingly, the Fellows lot sits right in the middle of one of the cemetery's lanes. Somebody must have paid a nice fee for that location. The second picture shows the Fellows Family lot and Penfield's lot in the distance.

Incidentally, one of Neeraj's childhood friends who he played basketball 🏀 with and nerf baseball ⚾️ with now resides in John Fellows old home. ;)

The intersection of Five Mile Line Rd and Whalen Rd was referred to as Strowger's Corner and named after John Strowger who was Daniel Penfield's first miller. His sons Samuel and William owned properties at the corner. The oldest tombstone in Oakwood Cemetery is that of John Strowger (1812). Huge history at this corner, and probably the second most historical intersection after our Four Corners. It remains a beautiful intersection today. Hipp Brook, a windy creek flows around the area and often you can see ducks or other wildlife at dawn or dusk.

The Hipp-Hutch House was constructed in 1804. John Hipp ran a sawmill at the time with the waters from the brook. The Bush-Fellows House (Horace Bush and Charlotte Fellows Bush) has a lot of history. You know the home. It is the pretty one with with the creek in the front yard. Of note, Charlotte Bush is Mary Fellows Penfield's sister. The home was constructed in 1821, but not always in its present location. It originally sat where the Charles Finney School is now located - about 1/2 mile south. The House was moved to its present location to allow for the land to be used for education needs.

Incidentally, the construction for the current school building began in 1906, and was once home to Penfield's grade school and high school, then Denonville junior high school and later New Covenant Fellowship and  Charles Finney School. An expansion at some time took place to house Penfield's post office 📫 in this grand structure.