In 1858, the town was formed, or 'set off' from the Town of Duane, it was given the name originally assigned to the southern part of Duane in 1792 by the surveyors of the Macomb purchase that of a "town in England." It has no more significance now than it did then. Who among us when asked where we live answers "Brighton" The name we use in answer to that question is "Gabriels, McColloms, Paul Smiths or Rainbow Lake." Our history is the history of those communities and the people who settled them and whose descendants are still here.

The entrepreneurial spirit which made Gabriels a bustling commercial hamlet during the years when the San was operating still thrives. Brighton has many small successful businesses many of them home-based which offer a variety of services including child care, gifts and crafts, cleaning services, publishing support, automotive service, tree care and removal, camp caretaking, ironwork, sugaring and more. Perhaps the least changed features of Brighton are the many 'camps' which line the shores of Rainbow and Osgood and the St. Regis Lakes. And, there are still dedicated people farming the fields in Gabriels.