History
Deacon John Adams of Alford, Massachusetts is credited with being the founder of the Town of East Bloomfield. In the spring of 1789, Deacon Adams purchased the Bloomfield tract from the Phelps-Gorham Purchase. In the spring of 1789, Deacon Adams with a party of 24 hardy souls settled in the Bloomfield area and by the end of 1790 sixty five people, twenty of them women, had settled in Bloomfield.
Town records show that the first official meeting of the Town of Bloomfield Board was on April 5, 1796. The first Town Supervisor was Amos Taft and the Town Clerk was Jared Boughton.
Town Government
A Town Supervisor acts as the administrator of the Town and represents the interests of the Town on the Ontario County Board of Supervisors. There is an election held for this position every two years. The Town Board consists of five members; the Town Supervisor who is elected for two years and four additional members each elected for a four year term. Town Board meetings are held twice each month. The Town Clerk handles the State licensing requirements. The Planning Board is a seven member board appointed to seven year terms by the Town Board. They meet twice a month to review site plans, subdivisions, and grant special use permits. The Zoning Board of Appeals is a five member board appointed to five year terms. They meet once a month to hear petitions for zoning variances. The Town Assessor estimates the value of property within the limits of the Town. Two school districts serve the residents of the Town, Victor and East Bloomfield School Districts. The Town has three polling districts for elections. According to the 2000 census, the Town’s population is 3361.
Town of East Bloomfield Fun Facts
The Town of East Bloomfield was where the Northern Spy Apple was originated by Oliver Chapin on Boughton Road in 1800.
Agriculture has been the mainstay of East Bloomfield since our first settlers arrived here and Eber Norton grew the first wheat of the township on his Mud Creek farm. By 1795, there were two flour mills, two saw mills and a distillery on Mud Creek. The flour from Genesee Country Wheat was recognized as being the best in the world and was in demand in New York City, London, England and elsewhere. No better flour could be found than that marked Genesee Flour-Bloomfield.
General John Fellows and Augustus Porter, the well known surveyor and later Ontario Judge, built the first saw mill about 1790 on Mud Creek. Eber Norton was repairing ox yokes and making wooden farm implements on his Mud Creek farm at about the same time. West of Mud Creek in about 1790 Nathaniel Norton built a distillery and opposite the distillery, in 1797, Anson Munson built a tannery. Joel Steele erected the first grist mill in the township, just off County Road 30 on Mud Creek in 1795. This was the start of industry in East Bloomfield. In the early part of the nineteenth century, there were three clock factories, two gun shops, three wool carding and cloth dressing machines, seven distilleries, two tanneries, and several blacksmiths, coopers, potash factories and cabinet makers.
Town of East Bloomfield Personalities
Deacon John Adams was credited with being one of the first settlers of East Bloomfield He purchased from Oliver Phelps and Nathaniel Gorham, a tract of land in Township 10, 4th range, later known as Bloomfield.
General Michah Brooks is credited with being the first teacher in Bloomfield in 1796. The first log school was built in the area of Gauss Road and State Rt. 5 & 20.
Captain Timothy Buell, who fought in the Revolutionary War, moved to Bloomfield in 1799 and purchased land on County Road 30, which to this day is still owned by the Buell Family
Benjamin Gauss was one of Bloomfield’s 1789 pioneers, who was also a veteran of the Revolutionary war. His farm was located on what is now known as Gauss Road. He is credited with helping to survey several townships surrounding East Bloomfield into lots and helping to harvest the first wheat crop in the Town.
Dr. Daniel Chapin is referred to as the pioneer doctor of Bloomfield. He arrived in 1790 and lived in the Village of East Bloomfield until 1805. It was said he would leave his bed anytime of night and travel miles to attend the sick with only the light of a torch.
The First Bank was founded in 1878 in the Village of East Bloomfield. The founders were Henry W. Hamlin and Joel Steele. The Hamlin family continued to operate the bank until 1967 when it merged with the Canandaigua National Bank and to this day the Hamlin Family is still heavily involved in the Canandaigua National Bank.