Cayuga Heights, New York facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Cayuga Heights, New York
|
|
|---|---|
|
Village
|
|
 Cayuga Heights, New York
Location in New York
|
|
| Country |  United States |
| State |  New York |
| County | Tompkins |
| Incorporated | 1915 |
| Named for | Cayuga Lake |
| Seat | Marcham Hall |
| Area | |
| • Total | 1.77 sq mi (4.58 km2) |
| • Land | 1.77 sq mi (4.58 km2) |
| • Water | 0.00 sq mi (0.00 km2) |
| Population
(2020)
|
|
| • Total | 4,114 |
| • Density | 2,328.24/sq mi (899.07/km2) |
| Time zone | UTC-5 (Eastern (EST)) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-4 (EDT) |
| Zip Code |
14850
|
| Area code(s) | 607 |
| FIPS code | 36-13079 |
| GNIS feature ID | 0969981 |
Cayuga Heights is a small village in Tompkins County, New York, United States. It's a nice suburb located near Ithaca, New York. In 2020, about 4,114 people lived there.
The Village of Cayuga Heights is part of the Town of Ithaca. It is just northeast of the City of Ithaca and the main campus of Cornell University. Many professors and staff from Cornell University, including its president, live in Cayuga Heights.
Contents
History of Cayuga Heights
After the Revolutionary War, land in Upstate New York was given to soldiers. Some veterans received land in what is now Cayuga Heights. They started farms there.
In the early 1800s, Ithaca began to grow. It became a small city and an important port for trade. In 1865, Ezra Cornell started Cornell University. At first, students and teachers lived on campus or in Ithaca. But as the university grew, new homes were needed.
Developing the Village
New homes were built north of the Fall Creek gorge. Two trolley bridges were built across the gorge. A streetcar connected downtown Ithaca, Cornell, and the new homes.
In 1901, two local businessmen, Charles Newman and Jared Blood, bought almost 1,000 acres of farmland. They started the Cayuga Heights Land Company. They hired Harold Caparn, a landscape architect who designed the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. He planned the village with curving roads and lots of trees, making it feel like a park.
Cayuga Heights officially became a village in 1915. It started as a small area from the Ithaca city line to Upland Road. In 1924, Cayuga Heights Elementary School was built for the children living there.
Growth After World War II
After World War II, Cayuga Heights continued to grow. The Community Corners Shopping Center was built in 1947. It was a small shopping area for the people living in the village. In 1952, the village opened a plant to clean wastewater near Cayuga Lake.
The village did not want to become part of the larger City of Ithaca. Instead, it grew bigger on its own. In 1954, it added about 1.4 square miles of land from the Town of Ithaca. This expanded the village from Upland Road to the border of the Town of Lansing.
A large addition was built onto Cayuga Heights Elementary School in the late 1950s. In 1969, the First Congregational Church moved from downtown Ithaca to a new building. This new building was on the old site of the Country Club of Ithaca.
Modern Developments
Cayuga Heights was one of the first members of the Bolton Point Water System. This system provides clean water and opened in the mid-1970s. In 1980, Cayuga Heights Elementary School closed because fewer students were attending. However, it reopened in 1988.
In 1995, the last large open area in Cayuga Heights, called Savage Farm, was developed. It became Kendal at Ithaca, a community for retired people. Many retired Cornell University professors live at Kendal. For a long time, people joked that Kendal had the best physics department in the country. This was because Nobel Prize winner Hans Bethe and other famous physicists lived there.
On January 12, 2015, the village leaders of Cayuga Heights made an important decision. They agreed that freedom from domestic violence is a basic human right.
Geography of Cayuga Heights
Cayuga Heights is located at 42°27′59″N 76°29′19″W / 42.466338°N 76.488678°W. It is on the eastern side of Cayuga Lake. The land slopes down towards the lake. The highest point is about 900 feet near Community Corners. The lowest point is about 400 feet near the lake. Several streams and steep valleys cut through the village.
The United States Census Bureau says the village covers about 1.8 square miles (4.58 square kilometers). All of this area is land.
The village is at the southern end of Cayuga Lake. This lake is one of the famous Finger Lakes in New York. Cayuga Heights shares a border with the Village of Lansing to its north.
Natural Areas
Cayuga Heights has two examples of old-growth forests. These forests have very old oak and hickory trees.
- Palmer Woods is on the south side of the village, close to Cornell campus.
- Renwick Slope is on the far western part of the village, by Cayuga Lake.
Both of these natural areas are cared for by the Cornell Botanic Gardens.
Population and People
| Historical population | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Census | Pop. | %± | |
| 1920 | 179 | — | |
| 1930 | 507 | 183.2% | |
| 1940 | 651 | 28.4% | |
| 1950 | 1,131 | 73.7% | |
| 1960 | 2,788 | 146.5% | |
| 1970 | 3,130 | 12.3% | |
| 1980 | 3,170 | 1.3% | |
| 1990 | 3,457 | 9.1% | |
| 2000 | 3,273 | −5.3% | |
| 2010 | 3,729 | 13.9% | |
| 2020 | 4,114 | 10.3% | |
| U.S. Decennial Census | |||
In 2000, there were 3,273 people living in Cayuga Heights. There were 1,497 households. About 17.9% of these households had children under 18. The average household had about 2.10 people.
The population included people of different backgrounds. About 85.73% were White, 1.86% African American, and 8.95% Asian. About 3.57% of the population were Hispanic or Latino.
The median age in the village was 42 years old. This means half the people were younger than 42, and half were older.
Places to Visit
- Community Corners: A local shopping center.
- Kendal at Ithaca: A retirement community.
- Pleasant Grove Cemetery: A quiet cemetery.
- RaNic Golf Club: A golf course, formerly known as the Country Club of Ithaca.
- Sunset Park: A beautiful village park with stone arches. It offers great views of Ithaca College, the City of Ithaca, West Hill, and Cayuga Lake.
Education in Cayuga Heights
The village is part of the Ithaca City School District. Students in Cayuga Heights attend Ithaca High School for their high school education.
Famous People from Cayuga Heights
Many notable people have lived in Cayuga Heights:
- A.R. Ammons: A famous poet who won a National Book Award.
- Hans Bethe: A physicist and Nobel Prize winner.
- Pearl S. Buck: A writer and novelist who also won a Nobel Prize.
- Vernon and Irene Castle: A husband-and-wife dance team who were popular on Broadway and in silent films. They created the Castle Walk and helped make the Foxtrot dance popular.
- Dorothy Cotton: A civil rights activist who worked closely with Martin Luther King Jr..
- Peter Debye: A physicist and Nobel Prize winner.
- Richard Feynman: A physicist and Nobel Prize winner.
- Louis Agassiz Fuertes: An ornithologist, illustrator, and painter. He is known for his many beautiful bird artworks.
- Thomas Gold: An astrophysicist and professor at Cornell University.
- David Lee: A physicist and Nobel Prize winner.
- Vladimir Nabokov: An author famous for his novel Lolita.
- Roy H. Park: An entrepreneur and media owner who founded Park Communications.
- Carl Sagan: A famous astronomer and science popularizer. He won a Pulitzer Prize for his book The Dragons of Eden and hosted the TV series Cosmos.
- Kirkpatrick Sale: An author who writes about topics like local government, protecting the environment, and technology.
- Steven Strogatz: A mathematician and professor at Cornell University.
