The Town of Pittsford is located in the southeastern portion of Monroe County approximately eight miles from the city of Rochester, New York.

The town is situated within the region subject to the Marquis de Denonville's expedition of 1600 French soldiers, 400 Canadian colonials, and 983 Native American allies in 1687, for the purpose of punishing the Seneca tribe, the foremost nation of the Iroquois Indian Confederacy, for their connection with the English and their interference in the lucrative French fur trade.

Oliver Phelps and Nathaniel Gorham of Connecticut settled with the state of Massachusetts for a title of land in western New York.

On July 8, 1788, Oliver and Nathaniel met with the Senecas and signed the Treaty of Buffalo Creek at Geneseo in Livingston County where the Indians gave up their title.

As Northfield, which was renamed Boyle in 1808 and again to Smallwood in 1813, was subdivided in the following years, a final split formed the towns of Pittsford and Brighton in 1814.

[5] The completion of the Erie Canal in 1825 led to increased development of the various towns in Western New York along its route.

In 1996 the "Greenprint Plan" was adopted to preserve open space from the encroaching development that had taken so much of the town's countryside since the 1960s.

The Greenprint involved the town's purchase of development rights to what was then two-thirds of Pittsford's remaining farmland.

Initiated and successfully carried through by Supervisor William A. Carpenter, with passage of the Greenprint, Pittsford became the first town in the State of New York to save open space by purchasing development rights.

In the years since, Pittsford's Greenprint has been recognized nationally and remains a frequently-cited example of successful open space preservation.

The two schools have a long-standing rivalry in basketball, culminating with the annual Rainbow Classic game held at the University of Rochester.

The Rainbow Classic was created in memory of Katelyn Pasley, who was treated at the Golisano Children's Hospital before she died.

[16][17] Pittsford's access to the Erie Canal was the main driver of commerce in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Powder Mill has a ski lift and a creek that is popular with trout fishermen, while Mendon Ponds includes a vast trail system and unique geology.

Oak Hill Country Club, located in Pittsford, hosted the 1995 Ryder Cup, the 1956, 1968 and 1989 United States Opens and the 1980, 2003, 2013 and 2023 PGA Championships.

The Xerox Classic was a golf tournament on the Nationwide Tour from 2005 to 2008 played in August at Irondequoit Country Club, also in Pittsford.

The NFL Buffalo Bills hold their summer training camp each August at St. John Fisher College.

Before the onset of rapid suburban development in the 1950s, Pittsford was a largely agricultural community with a distinct rural character, home to many family-owned farms.

Pittsford's Greenprint plan, described above, in 1996 preserved for future generations to come two-thirds of the remaining farmland in the Town.

The Town government remains committed to using planning techniques with a view toward conserving open space for the future.

Pittsford Volunteer Ambulance provides basic life support with trained emergency medical technicians.

Advanced life support services are provided by the Southeast Quadrant Mobile Critical Care Unit.