The town of Ontario grew from land once claimed by the Iroquois in 1776 and included in Phelps and Gorham’s 1788 purchase of western New York, later sold in 1801 to Sir William Pulteney’s London Company. Its first settlers, Freeman Hopkins and his family, arrived from Massachusetts in 1806, built a log cabin on the lakeshore, and were soon followed by Peter Thatcher and other early residents; the town separated from Williamson as Freetown in 1807 and took the name Ontario in 1808. During the nineteenth century Ontario developed through salt making, iron production, mills, blacksmithing, stores, taverns, churches, schools, farming, and transportation improvements. Salt springs discovered by Noah Fuller in 1810 proved unprofitable, but iron ore found in 1811 became a major industry, expanding especially after the railroad arrived in the 1870s and continuing until about 1918, with a later paint mill closing in 1948. The first church was established in 1812, the first schoolhouse in 1816, and by 1895 Ontario had its first school teaching grades one through high school. The town took part in national conflicts, including the War of 1812, when Noah Fuller was captured by the British and later released, and the Civil War, when more than 250 men served for the Union and 48 did not return. Ontario’s fertile land and Lake Ontario’s influence made it especially suited to fruit farming, while dairy, grain, vegetable, muck-land, and sheep farming also became important. Transportation evolved from lakeshore travel and Ridge Road to stagecoaches, railroads, trolleys, and automobiles, helping industries and agriculture reach broader markets. Community life expanded through churches, Masons, Granges, scouts, business groups, fire companies, and schools. In the twentieth century Ontario saw enterprises such as mink ranching, the consolidation of school districts in 1949, the construction of the R.E. Ginna Nuclear Power Plant beginning in 1967 and opening for commercial operation in 1970, and the preservation of local history through the historical society organized in 1969.