Wayne County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 91,283. The county seat is Lyons. The name honors General Anthony Wayne, an American Revolutionary War hero and American statesman. The county is part of the Finger Lakes region of the state.

Wayne County is less than 50 miles west of Syracuse. Wayne County has been considered to be part of the Rochester, New York metropolitan area and lies on the south shore of Lake Ontario, forming part of the northern border of the United States with Canada.

Its location during the early westward expansion of the United States, on an international border and in a fertile farming region, has contributed to a rich cultural and economic history. Two world religions sprung from within its borders, and its inhabitants played important roles in abolitionism in the years leading up to the American Civil War. Nineteenth century War of 1812 skirmishes, Great Lakes sailing ship commerce and Erie Canal barge traffic have yielded to contemporary recognition as one of the world's most productive fruit growing regions. Wayne County ranks as New York's top apple producing county.

History

Prior to the arrival of Europeans, the land Wayne County encompasses was originally part of the Iroquois Confederacy, which had existed from around August 31, 1142. When counties were established in New York State on November 1, 1683, it became part of Albany County. Prior to its establishment, the territory that became Wayne County passed through successive administrative jurisdictions including Montgomery County (formed from Albany County in 1772), Ontario County (1789), and Seneca County (1804).

On April 11, 1823, Wayne County was formed by combining portions of Seneca and Ontario counties. The county was formed from the towns of Wolcott and Galen in Seneca County, and Lyons, Sodus, Williamson, Ontario, Palmyra, and Macedon in Ontario County. The first election for county officers was held on May 6, 1823, and the first court convened later that month in Lyons.

The first meeting of the county Board of Supervisors was directed to be held in October 1823 at the house of Henry L. Woolsey in Lyons. John S. Tallmadge served as the county’s first Surrogate and presided over its earliest court proceedings.

thumb|upright|"Mad Anthony" Wayne

Westward expansion

The first settlers of European extraction came to the region located along the Ganargua River, just west of present-day Palmyra. In 1788 the area became part of the Phelps and Gorham Purchase, a tract of land sold to Oliver Phelps and Nathaniel Gorham by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Sir William Pulteney, a British baronet and English land speculator, along with his partners in the Pulteney Association, purchased a of the former Phelps and Gorham Purchase in 1790.

The first westward road was one coming from near Utica to Geneva, and, with the building of the Cayuga Bridge in 1800, was the road chosen by nearly all of the westward travelers. This highway left the future Wayne County region somewhat isolated and settlers desiring to locate there came by way of streams and lakes lying to the north of the road. It was only a few years after that the "new road" came west, passing through the county, opening up the fertile Ganargua lands to easier settlement.

Sir William Pulteney selected Charles Williamson as land agent to develop the purchased . In 1792, Williamson, a Scotsman, came to the unsettled wilderness in upstate New York to develop the land by building roads, selecting sites for towns, dividing land into lots, and building gristmills, taverns, stores and houses.

Because of its shoreline and access to Sodus Bay, the region was vulnerable to naval raids. Local defense relied primarily on militia units drawn from Wayne and neighboring counties, as regular U.S. Army forces were concentrated at larger posts such as Sackett’s Harbor and Oswego. Yeo’s squadron had previously raided Oswego to the east and had withdrawn from an unsuccessful engagement at Rochester before attempting to secure provisions from Pultneyville.

An agreement was initially reached with local residents allowing British forces to take supplies without resistance. A dispute followed, however, and an exchange of gunfire ensued, including cannon fire from British vessels positioned offshore in Lake Ontario. In 1874 the first railroad appeared when the Lake Shore Railroad line opened and the center of trade moved south to Williamson and Pultneyville's significance as a commerce center sharply declined.

Religion: Wayne County and the Second Great Awakening

thumb|right|Kate and Margaret FoxWayne County played host to key events in the development of significant American religions during the country's Second Great Awakening period of the early 19th century. The Fox Sisters heard rappings from a dead peddler in Hydesville and spawned a movement that eventually garnered a million followers at its peak.

Palmyra became the birthplace of the Latter Day Saint movement in the 1820s.

Shakers in Wayne County

Sodus Bay also was the site of a community of Shakers from 1826 to 1836. The site provided convenient access to travel by water on the Great Lakes Ontario and Erie, for visits to Shakers who lived in Ohio. This site might also have been useful for abolitionists moving former slaves to freedom in Canada via the Underground Railroad.

The first Shaker leadership team, Elders Jeremiah Talcott and Eldress Polly Lawrence, along with their assistants John Lockwood and Lucy Brown, came to Sodus from the Shakers' parent community at New Lebanon, New York. With 72 converts during their first year, they soon had 200 acres under cultivation. By 1835, the community had grown to almost 150.

However, they learned in 1835 that a canal had been proposed to be dug through their land, and by New York state law, the canal company had the right to seize the property it chose. The Shakers responded by selling their land and 23 buildings to the canal company and moving inland to the 1,700 acres they purchased at Groveland, in Livingston County, New York. However, the canal was never built; two years later, the Shakers were asked to take their property back, but, having reestablished their village elsewhere, and knowing that the land could later be taken for the same purpose, they refused.

Several diaries and journals describing the Shakers' early years at Sodus and Groveland can be found at the Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, Ohio. These manuscripts are available on microfilm at more than 20 locations throughout the U.S.

Latter-day Saints (Mormons)

Wayne County is the birthplace of the Latter Day Saint movement and Mormonism. Founder Joseph Smith, whose family lived on a farm that straddled the line between Palmyra and Manchester, claimed to have been visited by God the Father and Jesus Christ in 1820, an event known as the First Vision. In 1830 the Book of Mormon was first published in the village of Palmyra by E.B. Grandin, in the present Book of Mormon Historic Publication Site.

Spiritualism and the Fox sisters

Spiritualists often set March 31, 1848, as the beginning of their movement. On that date, Kate and Margaret Fox, of Hydesville, reported that they had made contact with the spirit of a murdered peddler. What made this an extraordinary event was that the spirit communicated through audible rapping noises, rather than simply appearing to a person in a trance. The evidence of the senses appealed to practical Americans, and the Fox sisters became a sensation. Demonstrations of mediumship (seances and automatic writing, for example) proved to be a profitable business, and soon became popular forms of entertainment and spiritual catharsis. The Foxes earned a living this way, as did many others.

Civil War and Underground Railroad

thumb|right|Wayne County detail of 1885 atlasDuring the American Civil War Wayne County inhabitants were active in support of the Underground Railroad due to the area's proximity to slavery-free Canada. Wayne County also raised companies for multiple volunteer Union regiments, including the 33rd New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment, the 98th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment, the 111th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment, and the 9th New York Heavy Artillery Regiment. A detailed compilation of Wayne County’s Civil War participation, including enlistment records organized by town and casualty figures, was published in 1883 by local historian Lewis H. Clark, drawing on state muster rolls, adjutant general reports, and county records.

During the Civil War, men from Wayne served in the 111th New York Infantry, under Colonel Clinton D. MacDougall.

The 111th New York was present at, among others, the Battle of Gettysburg, the Battle of the Wilderness, the Battle of Cold Harbor and the Appomattox Campaign. During the Battle of Gettysburg, the 111th took the second highest casualties as a regiment of the entire battle.

Throughout the war, the regiment took a total of 1803 casualties, of which 158 were Killed in action, 557 were Wounded in action (490 of whom recovered to some extent), and 1088 Missing in action.

Erie Canal

The Erie Canal transits the southern edge of the county. The villages of Clyde, Lyons, Newark, Palmyra and Macedon all became homes to canal locks when the Albany to Rochester section of the canal opened on September 10, 1823. On that day these communities became part of a direct water-link between the eastern seaboard metropolises of New York City and Baltimore and America's expanding western frontier.

Agriculture and the Fruit Belt

Following the opening of the Erie Canal in 1823, agriculture became the dominant economic activity in Wayne County. Improved transportation reduced shipping costs and allowed farm products to reach eastern urban markets more efficiently. The fertile glacial soils of the region, combined with the moderating climatic influence of Lake Ontario, encouraged commercial fruit cultivation along the county’s northern towns.

By the mid-19th century, apple orchards, along with cherries, peaches, and pears, were being grown commercially in towns including Williamson, Ontario, and Sodus. Railroad expansion in the mid- to late-19th century further stimulated agricultural growth by allowing perishable produce to reach markets more rapidly than canal transport alone. Fruit packing houses, cold storage facilities, and cooperative marketing associations developed during this period to support orchard expansion.

By the early 20th century, Wayne County ranked among the leading apple-producing counties in New York State, a position it has frequently maintained. In addition to fruit cultivation, dairy farming, grain production, and vegetable growing remained significant components of the county’s rural economy throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Railroads and industrial development

Beginning in the 1850s, railroad lines supplemented canal traffic and gradually shifted commercial activity toward inland villages. Communities such as Newark, Lyons, and Clyde developed small manufacturing centers that included flour mills, foundries, canning operations, and agricultural equipment production.

The opening of the Lake Shore Railroad in 1874 reduced the commercial importance of smaller Lake Ontario ports such as Pultneyville as trade increasingly moved along rail corridors. By the late 19th century, the county’s economy was primarily agricultural, supplemented by localized industrial activity.

Twentieth-century developments

During the early 20th century, improvements in transportation, refrigeration, and mechanized farming further transformed the county’s agricultural economy. Cooperative fruit marketing expanded, and commercial food processing operations became more prominent.

Following World War II, mechanization reduced the number of small farms while increasing production efficiency. Residential development expanded along major transportation corridors, including U.S. Route 104. Tourism and recreational boating increased along Sodus Bay and the Lake Ontario shoreline during the mid-20th century.

Late 20th and early 21st century

In the late 20th century, Wayne County remained heavily agricultural, particularly in apple production. Agritourism, wineries, and farm markets became increasingly significant components of the local economy. Elevated Lake Ontario water levels in 2017 and 2019 prompted renewed attention to shoreline management and flood mitigation efforts.

Hoffman essays

Wayne County high school seniors are offered the opportunity to win a scholarship by The Augustus L. and Jennie D. Hoffman Foundation Scholarship Essay Program. Established in 1954 to encourage the study of local history, students research and write essays on some aspect of Wayne County history or civic affairs. Between its inception and 2007 over 600 essays have been submitted.

Nuclear power

On June 1, 1970, the Robert E. Ginna Nuclear Power Plant started commercial operation on the shores of Lake Ontario, just over the Monroe County line in the Town of Ontario.

The Ginna plant was the site of a minor nuclear accident when, on January 25, 1982, a small amount of radioactive steam leaked into the air after a steam-generator tube ruptured. The leak which lasted 93 minutes led to the declaration of a site emergency. The rupture was caused by a small pie-pan-shaped object left in the steam generator during an outage. This was not the first time a tube rupture had occurred at an American reactor but following on so closely behind the Three Mile Island accident caused considerable attention to be focused on the incident at the Ginna plant. In total, 485.3 curies of noble gas and 1.15 millicuries of iodine-131 were released to the environment.

Historical societies

In addition to the county historical society, there are a number of other historical preservation organizations. Most of these are town or village based.

  • Newark-Arcadia Historical Society
  • Butler Historical Preservation Society
  • Galen Historical Society
  • Historic Palmyra, Inc.
  • Lyons Heritage Society
  • Macedon Historical Society
  • Marion Historical Society
  • Ontario Historical & L.P. Society
  • Pultneyville Historical (please refer to Williamson-Pultneyville Historical Society)
  • Red Creek Historical Society
  • Rose Historical Society
  • Town of Sodus Historical Society
  • Sodus Bay Historical Society
  • Walworth Historical Society
  • Wayne County Historical Society
  • Williamson-Pultneyville Historical Society (www.w-phs.org)
  • Wolcott Historical Society

Law, government and politics

The county is governed by a Board of Supervisors, composed of the town supervisors from each of the county's fifteen towns. The board's chairman is selected from amongst the supervisors. The 2007 county budget was $154 million (~$ in ).

The county seat is the town of Lyons and bi-weekly board meetings are held in the Wayne County Court House in the hamlet. In August 2010, the board made history by convening outside of Lyons for the first time—at the Wayne County fairgrounds in Palmyra.

The Wayne Supreme & County Court (7th Judicial District) sits in Lyons and hears felony cases as well as a few civil cases; the Wayne County Drug Treatment Court also provides an opportunity for recovering drug addicts to work with each other and improve their lifestyles. Vehicle and traffic matters, small claims, evictions, civil matters and criminal offenses in Wayne County are heard in locally-funded town and village courts (collectively known as the Justice Courts).

Politics

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As of November 2013, Wayne County had a total of 56,589 voters registered (53,891 active, 2,698 inactive). Of those totals: 14,339 were registered as Democrats (13,574 active, 765 inactive); 23,144 as Republicans (22,338 active, 806 inactive); 3,035 as Independence (2,831 active, 204 inactive); 1,517 as Conservative (1,454 active, 63 inactive); and the rest as Greens, Libertarians, and other minor parties. In the 2010 gubernatorial election, Wayne County cast 12,126 Democratic votes for Andrew M. Cuomo, 9,552 Republican votes for Carl Paladino, 1,153 Independence votes for Cuomo, 2,489 Conservative votes for Paladino, 490 Working Families Party votes for Cuomo, and 401 Taxpayers Party votes for Paladino.

Wayne County has only voted for the Democratic presidential candidate once since the Republican Party was founded in 1854.

In the 2014 gubernatorial election, Wayne County cast 5,874 Democratic votes for Andrew M. Cuomo, 12,460 Republican votes for Rob Astorino, 306 Independence votes for Cuomo, 2,709 Conservative votes for Astorino, 289 Working Families Party plus 141 Women's Equality Party votes for Cuomo, and 642 Stop Common Core Party votes for Astorino.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (56%) is water.

Wayne County is in the western part of New York State, east of Rochester and northwest of Syracuse, on the south shore of Lake Ontario. Sodus Bay is located on the north shoreline of the county. Wayne is bounded by five other New York counties: the northern boundary is Lake Ontario with Canada on the opposite shore; the western boundary is Monroe County; and the eastern boundary is Cayuga County; the south boundary is shared with Ontario and Seneca counties.

The Clinton Formation, a band of red hematite across the county, led to a thriving iron industry during the 19th century. Furnaces were located in the Towns of Ontario and Wolcott.

Wayne County is included in the Eastern Great Lakes and Hudson Lowlands ecoregion, which extends along the south shores of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River to Lake Champlain, and south down the Hudson River. This region was glaciated during the last ice age, and contains prominent glacial features including till and drumlins, as well as the valleys containing the Finger Lakes. Part of the area was covered by Glacial Lake Iroquois, while regions further to the east were flooded under the Champlain Sea. At one point during the melting of the glaciers, the Great Lakes drained down the Hudson River to the Atlantic Ocean.

Adjacent counties

  • Cayuga County – east
  • Seneca County – southeast
  • Ontario County – south
  • Monroe County – west

Major highways

  • 20px New York State Route 14
  • 20px New York State Route 21
  • 20px New York State Route 31
  • 22px New York State Route 31F
  • 20px New York State Route 88
  • 20px New York State Route 89
  • 22px New York State Route 104
  • 22px New York State Route 104A
  • 22px New York State Route 286
  • 22px New York State Route 350
  • 22px New York State Route 370
  • 22px New York State Route 414
  • 22px New York State Route 441

National protected areas

  • Lake Ontario National Marine Sanctuary (part)
  • Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge (part)

Demographics