Pendleton, New York

The town of Pendleton was set apart in 1827 from part of the town of Niagara. Sylvester Pendleton Clark, one of the first settlers, gave his name to several locations in the town and eventually to the town itself. Clark served in the American Revolution and became an innkeeper and postmaster.

Starpoint Central school was established in 1956. It was named Starpoint because the new school system serviced the entire area of Pendleton, parts of Cambria, Lockport, Wheatfield and Royalton. Starpoint is at the center of the 5 point star of municipalities. It is located on Mapleton Road and provides education for grades K to 12. It currently services about 5300 families over a 115-square-mile (300 km²) area. Expansion of the schools has taken place in recent years to accommodate an increase of school population.

Up until recently, Pendleton has been primarily an agricultural community. It now is rezoning much of its land area for residential subdivisions and business. The population of Pendleton continues to grow as more residential development takes place.

Pendleton has an all-volunteer fire company serviced by Wendelville Fire company.

In March 2010, Sir Benjamin Ruppert, Esq., of the Western New York Residency Evaluation Committee, nominated Pendleton for "Best Place to Grow Up in America."[3]

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 27.4 square miles (71 km²), of which 27.2 square miles (70 km²) is land and 0.3 square miles (0.78 km²) (0.95%) is water.

The south border of the town is Tonawanda Creek, which forms the border between Niagara County and Erie County. The Erie Canal passes through the eastern part of the town, where it connects to Tonawanda Creek.

As of the census[5] of 2000, there were 6,050 people, 2,116 households, and 1,724 families residing in the town. The population density was 222.6 people per square mile (85.9/km²). There were 2,162 housing units at an average density of 79.5 per square mile (30.7/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 98.5% White, 0.4% African American, 0.2% Native American, 0.3% Asian, 0.00% Pacific Islander, 0.03% from other races, and 0.6% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.6% of the population.

There were 2,116 households, out of which 39.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 72.4% were married couples living together, 6.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 18.5% were non-families. 14.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 6.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.85 and the average family size was 3.19.

In the town, the population was spread out, with 27.6% under the age of 18, 5.9% from 18 to 24, 30.0% from 25 to 44, 25.1% from 45 to 64, and 11.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females, there were 100.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 99.2 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $60,625, and the median income for a family was $63,342. Males had a median income of $46,175 versus $33,466 for females. The per capita income for the town was $23,651. About 3.9% of families and 4.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 6.5% of those under age 18 and 2.8% of those age 65 or over.

• Sylvester Pendleton Clark, founder of Pendleton
• Richard Crowley, former US Congressman
• Patrick Higgins, UTEP Miners offensive coordinator
• Walter Koppisch, former NFL player
• Timothy McVeigh, domestic terrorist who was convicted for the Oklahoma City bombing. He attended Starpoint High School.
• Joyce Carol Oates, famous writer who was also a resident of Pendleton.
• Ed O'Neil, retired NFL player, current football coach

• Official website