Editing Westmere, New York (section)

==History==
Westmere as a settled place is of recent origin, though being along the [[Great Western Turnpike]], built in 1799, it was always a place migrants passed through on their way from Albany and [[New England]] to the western frontier. A toll gate existed on the turnpike roughly where Highland Estates is located. Even before the [[Toll roads in the United States#History, funding through toll|turnpike]] was built, 300 wagons (and sleighs in the winter) passed through in 1796 what would later become Westmere. After [[World War I]], development began to encroach on the rural wooded area with mostly bungalows and cottages. This would accelerate in the post-war era after [[World War II]], and in the 1940s is when the name Westmere would be given to this area. Westmere was the fastest growing section of the town of Guilderland in this period.<ref name=Images>{{cite book | title = Guilderland, New York | publisher = Arcadia Publishing | author = Alice Begley and Mary Ellen Johnson | year = 1999 | isbn = 0-7385-0112-3 | pages = 22–28 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=I1jO4aXpQY4C&dq=mckownville&pg=PA9 | accessdate = 2010-02-14}}</ref>