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 |
|