Webster is a town in the northeastern corner of Monroe County, New York, United States. The town is named after orator and statesman Daniel Webster. The population was 45,327 at the 2020 census. The town's motto is, "where life is worth living."[3] The town contains a village also named Webster. It is located in the Rochester Metropolitan Area.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 35.5square miles (91.9km2), of which 33.5 square miles (86.8km2) is land and 2square miles (5.2km2) is water.[4]
Webster Park covers 550 acres (2.2km2) of the town's land along the Lake Ontario waterfront.[5]
As of the 2020 United States census, there were 45,327 people, 19,432 households, and 12,483 families residing in the town. The population density was 1,352.4 inhabitants per square mile (522.2/km2). There were 20,132 housing units at an average density of 600.4 per square mile (231.8/km2).[7] The racial makeup of the town was 89.2% White, 2.9% Black or African American, 0.0% Native American, 3.2% Asian, and 3.6% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 4.2% of the population.[6]
Among the 19,432 households, 27.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.9% were married couples, 7.0% were cohabitating unmarried couples, 13.9% had a male householder with no spouse/partner present, and 29.2% had a female householder with no spouse/partner present. 30.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 14.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.31 and the average family size was 2.86.[8]
In the town, the population was spread out, with 20.4% under the age of 18, 5.5% from 18 to 24, 23.7% from 25 to 44, 29.3% from 45 to 64, and 20.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 45.1 years as of 2021. For every 100 females, there were 90.4 males. [9]
In 2021, the median income for a household in the town was $81,345,[6] and the median income for a family was $108,065.[10] Males had a median income of $52,494 versus $33,943 for females. The per capita income for the town was $43,896. About 3.0% of families and 5.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 5.0% of those under age 18 and 7.2% of those age 65 or over.[6]
History
On July 25, 1837, orator and statesman Daniel Webster spoke to a gathering of Whigs in nearby Rochester about the economy. Whig farmers from North Penfield, who were part of Webster's audience, were so impressed by his eloquence that when they petitioned the state legislature for separate town status from Penfield, they chose to name it in his honor. On February 6, 1840, the northern part of Penfield was officially established as the town of Webster, with a population of 2,235.[11] Webster has its own museum dedicated to sharing the town's history with its citizens. The museum has many permanent historical displays and also features changing displays for different times of the year.
Webster's public schools are under the direction of the Webster Central School District (K-12). While all of its middle schools (Spry, Willink) and high schools (Thomas, Schroeder) are situated in the town of Webster, only five of its seven elementary schools (DeWitt Road, Klem North, Klem South, Schlegel Road, State Road) are.
Additionally, there are several privately run schools:
Hillside Children's Center Halpern Education Center (grades 6–12), secular
On May 15, 2005, Webster was awarded the title of "Number 1 Sportstown in New York" by Sports Illustrated. SI Publisher David Morris said that "Webster's commitment to finding creative and resourceful ways to enhance sports for the well-being of its community fits perfectly with the principles of our Sportstown program, as well as the overall mission of our anniversary celebration."
Webster is part of the section V (Five) New York State Public High School Athletic Association along with the rest of Monroe County, Wayne, Livingston, Yates, Seneca, Steuben, Wyoming, Genesee, Orleans and Allegany.
The Webster Schroeder High School football team has won three New York State Championships in Class AA (a designation based on number of students). At one point, they had a winning streak of 31 games. In the USA Today High School football Super 25, Schroeder was, at one time, ranked #21 in the nation. At least five Webster players have gone on to play Division 1 college football at Syracuse, Michigan and Colgate, among others.
In March 2008, the Webster Thomas High School hockey team, in only its sixth year of competition, won the New York State Championship in Division II, beating Thousand Islands by a score of 5-2. The Webster Thomas soccer team also has won the sectional title 3 years in a row and went on to the state finals in 2007. The soccer team has produced two division 1 soccer athletes both attending Colgate University. The men's lacrosse team won a sectional title in 2009 and has produced many division 1 athletes under Coach Rob Ruller. The women's Lacrosse team has also won a section V title in 2007.
Webster's sports facilities include two lighted stadiums, a hockey/soccer complex, an indoor track and an Olympic-size indoor pool.
Webster has several sports clubs including the Webster Cyclones (youth hockey), Webster Lacrosse Club, and Webster Soccer Association. The annual Webster Lakefront Classic, run by the Webster Soccer Association, is one of the largest soccer tournaments in the Greater Rochester area and takes place annually on Father's Day weekend.
Webster town hall
Webster is also home to a summer collegiate wood bat team, the Lake Ontario Ridgemen. The Ridgemen play in the New York Collegiate Baseball League. Their home games are played at Basket Road Stadium. The Ridgemen are run by an organization called Athletes in Action.
In 2014, the Webster Schroeder hockey team won the NYSPHSAA State Championship, beating Beekmantown by a score of 2–0.
Public safety
The Webster Police Department protects the citizens of Webster as a New York State Law Enforcement Accreditation Council agency. Dennis Kohlmeier is the current Chief of the Department. It consists of around thirty sworn officers.
Fire protection is covered by two agencies. On the west side of town, the West Webster Fire District provides fire protection. It is an all-volunteer department. Fire stations are located on Gravel Road, Backus Road, and Plank Road in Penfield.
The east of town, including the village, are protected by the North East Joint Fire District (Webster F.D.) It is an all-volunteer department, as it has been for over one hundred years. Fire stations located on South Avenue in the village, Phillips Road in the town and Plank Road in Penfield.
Ambulance service for the Town is provided by Webster EMS. North East Quadrant Advanced Life Support Inc. provides ALS care for all patients in need. Webster and West Webster fire departments provide EMS separate from ambulance depending on the severity of the call.
Homicides
On December 7, 2011, 15-year-old Michael Pilato poured gasoline over his house in Webster and set it on fire, killing his father and two brothers (16 and 12 years old) as his mother and teenage sister escaped with injuries. In June 2013, Pilato was convicted of second-degree murder, attempted murder, murder by arson, and arson; he was subsequently sentenced to life in prison.[12]
During the predawn hours of December 24, 2012, 62-year-old William Spengler ambushed volunteer firefighters from the West Webster Fire Department, shooting and killing two and seriously wounding two others as they arrived to put out a car fire on Lake Road. Investigators later determined the fire was started by Spengler.[13] Ultimately seven homes were destroyed because fire fighters were unable to extinguish the flames until the scene was made safe by law enforcement. Volunteer fire fighters Mike Chiapperini (also a lieutenant with the Webster Police Department) and Tomasz Kaczowka died at the scene. Theodore Scardino and Joseph Hofstetter remained hospitalized with serious injuries.[14] John Ritter, a policeman from nearby Greece, New York, happened to be in the area, and was injured by shrapnel.[15]
Spengler had armed himself with three guns: a .38-caliber revolver, a 12-gaugeshotgun, and a .223-caliber Bushmastersemiautomatic rifle outfitted with a flash suppressor.[14] Spengler had served 17 years in jail for manslaughter, having been convicted in 1981 of beating his 92-year-old grandmother to death with a hammer in 1980. He shot and killed himself as a SWAT team approached.[16] Later, human remains believed to be those of his elder sister, with whom he had feuded, were found in his house.[17] On December 28, 2012, 24 year-old Dawn Nguyen of Rochester, New York, was arrested and charged in connection with furnishing Spengler with certain weapons in his arsenal which were used in the ambush. In September 2014, she was convicted and sentenced to 8 years in prison.[18][19] The New York State Senate subsequently included a "Webster provision" in a gun control law passed in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, mandating life without parole for murderers of emergency personnel.[20]
Lou Gramm- born Louis Andrew Grammatico; May 2, 1950 - singer, songwriter, performer and lead singer of the rock band Foreigner. Gramm was inducted to the Songwriters Hall of Fame on June 13, 2013.
Avalon Estates – A neighborhood development located off Phillips Rd.
Lake Road – A neighborhood also known as Fieldcrest located on Webster's east side. It runs along the town's northeastern Lake Ontario shoreline.
Forest Lawn – A neighborhood in the northwest part of the town, on the shore of Lake Ontario.
Gallant Fox – A neighborhood at the end of Webster Rd. Near Hedges Nine Mile Point Restaurant and Bar and Mama Lor’s Restaurant.
Glen Edith – A location on the west side of the town, on the shore of Irondequoit Bay.
Oakmonte – A large neighborhood in the central-southern part of the town consisting of private homes, apartments, and town homes.
Parkwood – a smaller neighborhood with its main entrance off of Klem Road and directly across from Klem North Elementary School. This neighborhood also houses a community park that shares its name.
Union Hill– A hamlet on the Wayne County line at the intersection of NY-404 and Ridge Road.
Monroe County is a county in the U.S. state of New York, located along Lake Ontario's southern shore. As of 2022, the population was 752,035, according to Census Bureau estimates. Its county seat and largest city is Rochester. The county is named after James Monroe, the fifth president of the United States. Monroe County is part of the Rochester, NY Metropolitan Statistical Area. The county is part of the Finger Lakes region of the state.
Penfield is a town in Monroe County, New York, United States. The population was 39,438 at the 2020 census.
Perinton is a town in Monroe County, New York, United States. The population was 47,479 at the 2020 census.
Rochester is a city in the U.S. state of New York and the county seat of Monroe County. It is the fourth-most populous city and 10th most-populated municipality in New York, with a population of 211,328 at the 2020 census. The city forms the core of the larger Rochester metropolitan area in Western New York, with a population of just over 1 million residents. Throughout its history, Rochester has acquired several nicknames based on local industries; it has been known as "the Flour City" and "the Flower City" for its dual role in flour production and floriculture, and as the "Imaging Capital of the World" for its association with film, optics, and photography.
Brighton is a town in Monroe County, New York, United States. The population was 37,137 at the 2020 census.
East Rochester is a coterminous town and village located southeast of the city of Rochester in Monroe County, New York, United States. The town and village, home to 6,334 people at the time of the 2020 United States census, is bordered by Pittsford on the west side, by Perinton to the east, and by Penfield to the north. Most of the southern boundary is delimited by New York State Route 31F.
Irondequoit is a town in Monroe County, New York, United States. As of the 2020 census, the coterminous town-CDP had a total population of 51,043. Irondequoit is a suburb of the city of Rochester, lying just north and east of the city limits. The name is of Iroquois origin and means "where the land meets the water".
Pittsford is an incorporated town in Monroe County, New York. A suburb of Rochester, its population was 30,617 at the time of the 2020 census. Formerly part of the town of Northfield, Pittsford was settled in 1789 and incorporated in 1796. The village of Pittsford was incorporated in 1827. It was named by Colonel Caleb Hopkins, War of 1812 hero and subsequently Pittsford town supervisor, for the town of his birth, Pittsford, Vermont.
New York State Route 590 (NY 590) is a 4.98-mile (8.01 km) north–south freeway located in the eastern suburbs of Rochester, New York, in the United States. The route is a northward extension of Interstate 590 (I-590) that begins at the Can of Worms, an interchange between I-490, I-590, and NY 590 on the boundary between the town of Brighton and the city of Rochester, and ends at a roundabout with Titus Avenue in the town of Irondequoit. NY 590 is known as the Sea Breeze Expressway, a name derived from the small community of Sea Breeze located near the highway's former northern terminus at Culver Road near the southern shore of Lake Ontario.
New York State Route 104 (NY 104) is a 182.41-mile-long (293.56 km) east–west state highway in Upstate New York in the United States. It spans six counties and enters the vicinity of four cities—Niagara Falls, Lockport, Rochester, and Oswego—as it follows a routing largely parallel to the southern shoreline of Lake Ontario, along a ridge of the old shoreline of Glacial Lake Iroquois. The western terminus of NY 104 is an intersection with NY 384 in Niagara Falls, Niagara County, while its eastern terminus is a junction with NY 13 in the town of Williamstown, Oswego County. The portion of NY 104 between Rochester and the village of Webster east of the city is a freeway known as the Keeler Street Expressway west of NY 590 and the Irondequoit–Wayne County Expressway east of NY 590; from Williamson to Oswego, NY 104 is a super two highway.
New York State Route 441 (NY 441) is an east–west state highway in the eastern suburbs of Rochester, New York, in the United States. It extends for 12.55 miles (20.20 km) from an intersection with NY 96 in Brighton to a junction with NY 350 in Walworth. The route starts as a four-lane divided highway in Brighton and western Penfield, and gradually narrows to a two-lane undivided road as it heads away from the city of Rochester. NY 441 connects to Interstate 490 (I-490) in Brighton and intersects NY 250 in Penfield.
New York State Route 153 (NY 153) is a 3.03-mile (4.88 km) long north–south state highway located in the eastern suburbs of Rochester, New York, in the United States. The southern terminus of the route is at NY 96 in the village of Pittsford. Its northern terminus is at an interchange with NY 441 in the town of Penfield. Over the course of its routing, NY 153 passes through the towns of Pittsford, East Rochester, Perinton, and Penfield. NY 153 connects to Interstate 490 (I-490) twice in East Rochester by way of NY 31F and West Commercial Street.
New York State Route 404 (NY 404) is an east–west state highway located in eastern Monroe County, New York, in the United States. It extends for just over 10 miles (16 km) from an interchange with NY 590 in Irondequoit to an intersection with NY 104 on the Monroe–Wayne County line in the town of Webster. The route traverses the southern tip of Irondequoit Bay and passes through the village of Webster, where NY 404 intersects NY 250. Most of NY 404 passes through commercial areas; however, the western and eastern extents of the highway serve areas more residential in nature. The westernmost 3 miles (5 km) of the route is part of the Seaway Trail, a National Scenic Byway.
New York State Route 250 (NY 250) is a north–south state highway in the eastern portion of Monroe County, New York, in the United States. It extends for just over 16 miles (26 km) from an intersection with NY 96 in the town of Perinton to a junction with Lake Road near the Lake Ontario shoreline in the town of Webster. NY 250 passes through the villages of Fairport and Webster, where it meets NY 31F and NY 104, respectively. The highway is the easternmost north–south state route in Monroe County.
New York State Route 253 (NY 253) is a 10.83-mile-long (17.43 km) east–west state highway in Monroe County, New York, in the United States. The western terminus of the route is at NY 383 in the village of Scottsville. Its eastern terminus is at NY 65 in the town of Pittsford. NY 253 meets Interstate 390 (I-390) and connects to the New York State Thruway (I-90) in the town of Henrietta. The majority of NY 253 passes through either rural or residential areas; however, the midsection of NY 253 is located in a heavily commercial portion of Henrietta.
Ridge Road is a 121.5-mile (195.5 km) east–west road that traverses four counties in Upstate New York in the United States. The road begins adjacent to the Niagara River at an intersection with Water Street in the village of Lewiston, Niagara County, and passes through several towns, villages, and the city of Rochester before arriving at its eastern terminus at a junction with New York State Route 370 (NY 370) southwest of Red Creek, Wayne County. It is named for the rise atop which the road was built, a mound of sand and gravel that was formed when it was the shoreline of ancient Glacial Lake Iroquois. The ridge is often confused with the nearby Niagara Escarpment, which is much taller, geologic in origin, and lies a few miles to the south.
Irondequoit Bay is a large body of water located in northeastern Monroe County, New York. The bay, roughly 0.5 miles (0.80 km) wide and 4 miles (6.4 km) in length, is fed by Irondequoit Creek to the south and flows into Lake Ontario at its northern end. On average, the surface of Irondequoit Bay rests at 245 feet (75 m) above sea level and is 80 feet (24 m) deep at its deepest point a short distance north of the Irondequoit Bay Bridge carrying the six-lane New York State Route 104 over the bay.
Penfield High School (PHS) is a public high school in Penfield, New York, United States. It offers a comprehensive curriculum for students in grades 9–12.
The Rochester metropolitan area, denoted the Rochester, NY Metropolitan Statistical Area by the United States Census Bureau, is a metropolitan statistical area consisting of six counties in Western New York, anchored by the city of Rochester, New York. Many counties are mainly rural with various farming communities scattered throughout the metropolitan area. As of the 2020 census, the MSA had a population of 1,090,135. The Rochester MSA is the 4th largest MSA in New York state.
In the early morning of December 24, 2012, William Spengler, a 62-year-old man living in West Webster, New York, a suburb of Rochester, deliberately set his home and vehicle on fire. He then perpetrated a mass shooting, firing upon first responders. Spengler killed two firefighters, and injured two more and a police officer, before committing suicide. The badly burnt corpse of his sister was later found in his home.
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