AN OVERVIEW
The Village of Bergen is located in the east-central
section of the Town of Bergen which is in the northeast corner
of the County of Genesee, State of New York. The Town of Bergen
was part of the Triangle Tract and the 100,000 Acre Tract or the
Connecticut Tract in the Morris Reserve. It was also part of the
towns of Northampton and Murray. In 1813 Bergen was erected from
the town of Murray.
Byron was part of Bergen until 1820.
The Bergen area was opened up in 1801 when a road
was hacked through the thick "Northwoods" from LeRoy to Lake Ontario.
A colony of 60 families from the State of
Connecticut
settled the area from Fort Hill to Black Creek from 1805-1810.
The first store was a mile south of Route 33 on Route 19 on the
east side of the road. The first group of stores was located from
the intersection of Lake Rd. (rt. 19) and Route 262 to the intersection
of Rt. 19 and the Scottsville Road (Rt.33A). This area was called
Buell's Corner, later Bergen Corners or High Bergen.
After the railroad came through in 1836 an area
was laid out around the intersection of Lake Road (Route 19) and
the railroad for businesses and houses. It was called Wardville
after the Levi Ward family who laid it out. It was also called
Cork, after the Irish who settled there while and after the
building
of the railroad, and Lower Bergen.
The two areas were soon connected by residences
and churches. This area, along with the surrounding residences
was incorporated in 1877 as the Village of Bergen.
Fire destroyed the business area around the railroad
tracks in 1866 and again in 1880. The Village Board passed an
ordinance requiring that all structures in this area should be
built of brick or stone or wrought iron. Due to the building material
and better fire fighting equipment, another in 1906 destroyed
only some of the buildings on the west side of the street. A fire
in 1932 leveled some of the buildings on the east side of the
street. Since then fires in individual buildings have caused some
alteration of the façade of the buildings.
The west side of the district south of the railroad
is on the National Register due to its 1880 wrought iron store
fronts, transom windows and probably, also, because of the famous
family who founded "Wardville". Some of the family went on from
Bergen to the Rochester area and were also primary developers
of that area.