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B−History
History · Gates

Gates dates to 1797, and 1 of its places is on the National Register

More historic than 53% of U.S. towns · #649 of 758 in New York. What drives it

Most of Gates was built recently: 9% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1970. Its Register listing is the Franklin Hinchey House. Below: maps from 1895 on and the census since 1820.

1797founded
1on the National Register
9%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Gates began

When was Gates founded?

1797

Gates dates its founding to 1797 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1820.

First census: 2,643 in 18202020 census: 29,167229 years

How historic is Gates?

B−

More historic than 53% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: Wikipedia. First post office: 1824.The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Gates’ History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Gates is more historic than 53% of U.S. towns, #649 of 758 in New York. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.

B−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Gates’ overall grade.
Founding era1797, from Wikipedia: founded 1776–1849, an older era than 75% of U.S. townsA−Homes built before 19408.9% of homes (±2.2) · typical NY town 26.6% · U.S. 8.4%C+National Register1 listing, 0.3 per 10,000 residents · typical NY town 12.3 · U.S. 2.4C+
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 53%
NewerOlder
New York towns of 2,500+ (758)Ahead of 14%

New York towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical New York town has 12.3 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Gates’ 0.3 sits below most of its state (20% of New York towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C to B. The pre-1940 share (±2.2 points) is firm at this size. Two sources give 1797.

Founding year: Wikipedia (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →

What stands out about Gates’ past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Gates are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Shrank, then grewLost two-thirds of its people between 1830 and 1920, then grew more than tenfold.Lost villages3 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Gates, and 4 old place names are still on the map.On the map since 18958 editions of the USGS map, 1895 to 1994. Watch Gates change.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Gates’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Gates’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Gates, census by census

05,00010,00015,00020,00025,00030,00018501900195020007,772 in 1830Low: 1,419

Lost two-thirds of its people between 1830 and 1920, then grew more than tenfold.

21 censuses, 1820–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Gates’ Wikipedia page.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Gates had its own post office from 1834 to 1915. Three other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Bates
1824–1827
Gates
1834–1915
Cold Water
1868–1962
South Gates
1876–1884
18201920today
Hamlets and corners on the map
ColdwaterGates CenterNorth GatesTressmar
Gone or out of use
Elmgrove ChurchchurchSchool Number 2school
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Gates
ElmgroveHoly Ghost

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

The story

How Gates came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Gates.

Read it all →

The town of Gates was organized in 1797 as "Northampton" in Ontario County. In 1808 the town was subdivided, and the part still called Northampton was renamed "Gates" and incorporated on April 1, 1813, in honor of General Horatio Gates. In 1821 Monroe County was formed, including the town of Gates. Parts of the town were later detached to form the city of Rochester and the town of Greece, both of which now border the town.

The Franklin Hinchey House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Gates, 1797 to 1980

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 18th century
  2. 1797
    FoundingGates is established
  3. 19th century
  4. 1824Post officeThe Bates post office opens
  5. 1827Post officeThe Bates post office closes
  6. 1834Post officeThe Gates post office opens
  7. 1868Post officeThe Cold Water post office opens
  8. 1889Born hereWilliam Beldue is born here
  9. 1895On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  10. 20th century
  11. 1915Post officeThe Gates post office closes
  12. 1962Post officeThe Cold Water post office closes
  13. 1980CensusPopulation peaks at 29,756
By decade

Gates, decade by decade

Today22 recent
To I-490 and NY531 Signs2018To I-490 and NY531 SignsNY531 East and I-490 Sign - Elmgrove Road2018NY531 East and I-490 Sign - Elmgrove RoadNY531 East Sign - Hareck Road2018NY531 East Sign - Hareck RoadNY531 East End at I-490 East West Signs2018NY531 East End at I-490 East West SignsI-490 East Sign - Near NY5312018I-490 East Sign - Near NY531I-490 East - Exit 9B - I-390 South2018I-490 East - Exit 9B - I-390 SouthI-490 East - Exit 9AB - NY390 I-390 Signs2018I-490 East - Exit 9AB - NY390 I-390 SignsWarrenHardingSchoolGatesNewYorkObliqueView2016WarrenHardingSchoolGatesNewYorkObliqueViewWarrenHardingSchoolGatesNewYorkFrontEntrance2016WarrenHardingSchoolGatesNewYorkFrontEntranceThomasEdisonSchoolGatesNewYorkObliqueView2016ThomasEdisonSchoolGatesNewYorkObliqueViewThomasEdisonSchoolGatesNewYorkFrontEntrance2016ThomasEdisonSchoolGatesNewYorkFrontEntrancePaulRoadElementarySchoolChiliNewYork2016PaulRoadElementarySchoolChiliNewYorkNeilArmstrongSchoolGatesNewYork2016NeilArmstrongSchoolGatesNewYorkGatesChiliSchoolDistrictOffices2016GatesChiliSchoolDistrictOfficesGatesChiliMiddleSchoolGatesNewYork2016GatesChiliMiddleSchoolGatesNewYorkGatesChiliHighSchoolObliqueView2016GatesChiliHighSchoolObliqueViewGatesChiliHighSchoolGymnasium2016GatesChiliHighSchoolGymnasiumGatesChiliHighSchoolFrontEntrance2016GatesChiliHighSchoolFrontEntranceFlorenceBrasserSchoolWestSideChiliNewYork2016FlorenceBrasserSchoolWestSideChiliNewYorkFlorenceBrasserSchoolSignChiliNewYork2016FlorenceBrasserSchoolSignChiliNewYorkFlorenceBrasserSchoolChiliNewYork2016FlorenceBrasserSchoolChiliNewYorkGates, New York community center2010Gates, New York community center
On the map

Gates on the map, 1895 to 1994

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Gates. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Gates on the 1895 USGS mapGates on the 1912 USGS mapGates on the 1920 USGS mapGates on the 1931 USGS mapGates on the 1952 USGS mapGates on the 1969 USGS mapGates on the 1971 USGS mapGates on the 1994 USGS map1895Rochester sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Gates.

On the National Register

1 historic place in Gates

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
1983
Franklin Hinchey House
Franklin Hinchey House
Buildings
Franklin Hinchey HouseBuilding

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Rochester123 historic placesA+North GatesIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townChili1 historic placeB−Greece5 historic placesA−Ogden2 historic placesB

Questions about Gates’ history

What year was Gates founded?

In 1797, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Gates’ post office opened in 1824, and the census of 1820 counted 2,643 people here.

How does Gates rank for history?

Gates is more historic than 53% of U.S. towns, #649 of 758 in New York. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.

What is on the National Register in Gates?

One place: the Franklin Hinchey House (listed 1983).

How old are the homes in Gates?

9% of Gates’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.2 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1970.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

From Wikimedia Commons (22), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.