Henrietta is a town in Monroe County, New York, United States, and a suburb of the city of Rochester. The population of Henrietta was 47,096 as of the 2020 census, up from 42,581 in 2010. Henrietta is home to the Rochester Institute of Technology, the National Technical Institute for the Deaf and one of the largest retail shopping districts in Monroe County.
History
thumb|301x301px|Tinker Cobblestone Homestead (2022)
The first residents of present-day were Native Americans. Although no evidence of Native American villages has been found in Henrietta, numerous artifacts and skeletons have been unearthed by farmers and archeologists over the past 200 years. With the end of the American Revolution, several Iroquois tribes that had sided with the British were forced to leave Upstate New York. As a result, land became available for European settlers in the Finger Lakes and Genesee Valley regions.
The town of Henrietta was named after Henrietta Laura Pulteney, Countess of Bath in Great Britain. Her father Sir William Pulteney, 5th Baronet, a major British investor from the Pulteney Association, owned the land that became the town. Henrietta Pulteney never visited the United states. Pulteney eventually sold his holdings, which then passed through the hands of several American investors.
With the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825, Henrietta farmers gained access to the New York City market for their crops and the town prospered. In 1826, the Monroe Academy opened in Henrietta, becoming the first incorporated school in Monroe County.
After the end of World War II, the population of Henrietta rose from 3,000 to approximately 14,000 in ten years as suburban development grew around the city of Rochester. The opening of the New York State Thruway through Henrietta in 1954 made the town more desirable for commercial development. In 1968, the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) moved from Rochester to a new campus by the Genesee River in Henrietta. That same year, the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID) opened next to RIT.
In the 1980s, with the completion of Interstate 390 and the building of the Marketplace Mall, Henrietta was developed into one of the major retail shopping destinations in Monroe County.
Henrietta has the following listings on the National Register of Historic Places:
- Andrew Short House
- Antoinette Louisa Brown Blackwell Childhood Home
- Tinker Cobblestone Farmstead.
Geography
Henrietta is in southern Monroe County and is bounded by the following communities:
- The western border of Henrietta is the Genesee River. The west side of the river has the towns of Chili and Wheatland.
- To the north of Henrietta is the town of Brighton. The city of Rochester is north of Henrietta, but does not share a border with the town. Downtown Rochester is north of the center of Henrietta.
- To the east are the towns of Pittsford and Mendon.
- To the south is the town of Rush.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Henrietta has a total area of . Of this total, are land and , or 0.83%, are water.
Government
Henrietta's town government consists of a town supervisor and four town board members.
Other boards and commissions in Henrietta include the zoning board, planning board, conservation board, youth board, recreation commission, historic site committee, assessment board, and library board.
Demographics
As of 2020, the population of Henrietta was 47,096.
As of the 2005–2009 American Community Survey, the racial makeup of the town was 81.5% White, 7.9% African American, 0.27% Native American, 5.9% Asian, and 3.1% Hispanic or Latino and 1.4% other.