Timeline

​All history is incomplete. We offer here a very limited view of the history of the place we call home. As the timeline approaches the point that you or your family enters the history of Phelps, you have a special story to add. It may show here or it may not. We invite you to add to the ever growing body of history that belongs to our town. You can submit your ideas using the Timeline Suggestion Form.

About 420 million years ago - Devonian period - the oldest evidence of life in our town.
About 2.5 million years ago - Pleistocene
About 13,000 years ago - First residents​ of Phelps
About 9000 years ago - Archaic Period
About 1000 years ago - Woodland Period
1783 - The Pre-Emption Line
​April 1st, 1788 - Phelps & Gorham Purchase deal was closed
1789 - Oliver Phelps and Nathanial Gorham
1789 - John Decker Robison first pioneer of "Phelps"
1790 - District Of Sullivan
1790 - Dr. Joel Prescott and Namesakes
 - Oaks Corners
1795 - Melvin Hill established when Jonathan Melvin purchased 800 acres
1796 - First Town Meeting
1796 - Town renamed "Phelps" in honor of Oliver Phelps
1841 - Railroad completed between Canandaigua and Seneca Falls, July 4th Phelps had a celebration to welcome the first train
1845 - First Baptist Church of Phelps constructed 
April 3rd, 1849 - Hannah Riney died 
1849 - Phelps Town Hall constructed??
1855 - Village Of Phelps incorporated 
1864 - Summer Fires Destroy North Side of Main Street
June 19, 1865 - Juneteenth. General Gordon Granger lived in Phelps as a child!
February 22, 1884 - Lysander Redfield donates Redfield Common to the people of Phelps
June 26, 1906 - Train wreck in Phelps
1909 - Village Hall on Church Street constructed??
April 10, 1910 - Orleans Community Fire - 21 buildings burned 
1911? - Fire destroys part of Town Hall Building 
1921 - Soldiers & Sailors WWI Memorial built 
March 12, 1931 - The demolition of the original Church Street St. Francis Church building begins in order to make way for the present church.
Early spring of 1931 - The St. Francis Church building that we know so well today takes shape from the ground up.
June 1931 - More footage of the construction of the present St. Francis Church, followed by incredible images of the Blessing of the Cornerstone ceremony (6:46​).
October 4, 1931 - Dedication of the present St. Francis Church.
1969 - Phelps Community Historical Society was formed 
197? - Main Street Bridge over Flint creek removed and rebuilt