Timeline of town creation in Central New York facts for kids

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The towns and cities of Central New York were created by the U.S. state of New York as municipalities in order to give residents more direct say over local government. Central New York (consisting of the Syracuse Consolidated Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Utica-Rome Metropolitan Statistical Area) is a six county area–Cayuga, Herkimer, Madison, Oneida, Onondaga, and Oswego.

The entire area was nominally under the jurisdiction of Albany County from 1686 until the Royal Proclamation of 1763 but truly under the Iroquois Confederacy until 1777. The area was then nominally Tryon County from 1781 and effectively in 1784 when the county was renamed Montgomery, and then the area was part of Herkimer County from 1791.

The Military Tract of Central New York (1792).

In 1794 the western section of Herkimer County was split off as Onondaga County, and then in 1798 the northwestern section of Herkimer was removed as Oneida County and the southwestern section as Chenango County. Cayuga County was removed from Onondaga in 1799, Madison County from Chenango in 1806, and Oswego from Onondaga and Oneida in 1816.

The current towns of Herkimer, Oneida, and Madison counties are descended from the original districts and towns of Montgomery County; whereas the towns of Onondaga and Cayuga counties are descended from the towns erected by the state when Onondaga County was formed from the Military Tract in western Herkimer County which had previously been divided into townships for the purpose of surveying of lands to be sold to veterans of the US Revolutionary War.

New York experimented with different types of municipalities before settling upon the current format of towns and cities occupying all the land in a county, and all previous forms were transformed into towns (or divided into multiple towns) in 1788 when all of the state of New York was divided into towns. Some early forms of government in earlier years included land patents with some municipal rights, districts, precincts, and boroughs. Though originally intended to be mere “…involuntary subdivisions of the state, constituted for the purpose of the more convenient exercise of governmental functions by the state for the benefit of all its citizens” as defined by the courts in 1916 (Short v. Town of Orange), towns gained home rule powers from the state in 1964, at which time towns became "a municipal corporation comprising the inhabitants within its boundaries, and formed with the purpose of exercising such powers and discharging such duties of local government and administration of public affairs as have been, or, maybe [sic] conferred or imposed upon it by law.”

The following is a timeline showing the creation of the current towns from their predecessors stretching back to the earliest municipal entity over the area. The timelines only represent from which town(s) a particular town was created from and does not represent annexations of territory to and from towns that already existed. All municipalities are towns unless otherwise noted as patent, township, borough, district, or city.

Cayuga County

A map of the towns and villages in Cayuga County

Aurelius 1794

Auburn 1823-1848

Auburn City 1848

Brutus 1802

Sennett 1827

Throop 1859

Cato 1802

Sterling 1812

Conquest 1812

Ira 1821

Victory 1812

Jefferson 1802 (Mentz from 1808)

Montezuma 1859

Owasco 1802

Fleming 1823

Springport 1823

Scipio 1794

Venice 1823

Ledyard 1823

Sempronius 1799

Moravia 1833

Niles 1833

Milton 1794 (Genoa from 1808)

Locke 1802

Plato 1831 (Summer Hill from 1832)

Notes

[A] = A part of Montgomery County until 1791, then Herkimer County from 1791-1794, Onondaga County from 1794-1799, and Cayuga County from 1799 and thereafter.

[B] = A part of Onondaga County until 1799 thereafter Cayuga County.

[C] = A part of Cayuga County.

• Prior to the creation of Onondaga County the western section of Herkimer County was the Military Tract. This tract included present-day Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca counties, and parts of Oswego, Tompkins, and Wayne; and was divided into 25 townships for surveying purposes to provide land for veterans of the US Revolutionary War. Three more townships were created in order to settle all claims. Originally simply numbered, they latter received names, mostly classical Greek and Roman names. In creating Onondaga County in 1794 the state of New York combined the townships into 11 towns. Milton (17), Locke (18), Scipio (12), Sempronius (13), Cato (3), Brutus (4), and Aurelius (8) were the townships in present-day Cayuga County, which were combined in 1794 into the towns of Milton (Milton and Locke townships), Scipio (Scipio and Sempronius townships), and Aurelius (Cato, Brutus, and Aurelius townships).

Herkimer County

German Flatts District 1772-1788 (Kingsland from 1773)

German Flatts 1788

Frankfort 1796

Warren 1796

Columbia 1812

Litchfield 1796

Winfield 1816

Richfield 1792

Plainfield 1799

Otsego 1788

For further descendants see Otsego County.

For further descendants see Otsego County

Little Falls 1829

Little Falls City 1895

For further descendants see Oneida County

Schuyler 1792

Newport 1806

Kingsland Precinct 1772-1788 (German Flatts from 1773)

Herkimer 1788

Norway 1792

Fairfield 1796

West Brunswick 1823 (Ohio from 1836)

For further descendants see Oneida County

Union 1806 (Russia from 1808)

Wilmurt 1836-1896

Webb 1896

Stone Arabia Precinct 1772-1788 (Palatine from 1773)

Palatine 1788

Salisbury 1797

Manheim 1817

Canajoharie Precinct 1772-1788

Canajoharie 1788

Minden 1798

Danube 1817

Stark 1828

Notes

[A] = A part of Montgomery (Named Tryon County prior to 1784).

[B] = A part of Montgomery County until 1791, thereafter Herkimer County.

[C] = A part of Montgomery County until 1791, thereafter Otsego County.

[D] = A part of Otsego County.

[E] = A part of Montgomery County until annexed to Herkimer County in 1817.

[F] = A part of Herkimer County.

[G] = A part of Oneida County.

Madison County

Oneida 1896–1901

Oneida City 1901

Lincoln 1896

Sullivan 1803

Lenox 1809

DeRuyter 1798

Georgetown 1815

For further descendants see Oneida County

Stockbridge 1836

Whitestown 1788

Cazenovia 1795

Nelson 1807

Smithfield 1807

Fenner 1823

Paris 1792

Brookfield 1795

Hamilton 1795

Eaton 1807

For further descendants see Oneida County

Lebanon 1807

Madison 1807

Augusta 1798

Westmoreland 1792

Vernon 1802

For further descendants see Oneida County

Notes

[A] = A part of Montgomery County until 1791, Herkimer County from 1791 to 1798, then Oneida County from 1798.

[B] = A part of Herkimer County until 1798, Oneida County thereafter.

[C] = A part of Herkimer County until 1798, then Chenango until 1806, thereafter Madison County.

[D] = A part of Chenango County until 1806, then Madison County thereafter Oswego County.

[E] = A part of Oneida County.

[F] = A part of Madison County.

Oneida County

Utica, New York

For further descendants see Oswego County

Whitestown 1788

Utica 1817-1832

Utica City 1832

For further descendants see North Country

Steuben 1792

Leyden 1797

Boonville 1805

Ava 1846

Western 1797

Lee 1811

New Hartford 1827

Floyd 1796

Rome 1796-1870

Rome City 1870

Paris 1792

Sangerfield 1795

Bridgewater 1797

Kirkland 1827

Marshall 1829

For further descendants see Madison County

For further descendants see Madison County

For further descendants see Oswego County

Mexico 1792

Camden 1799

Orange 1807 (Bengal from 1808-1816, Vienna from 1816)

Annsville 1823

For further descendants see North Country

Augusta 1798

For further descendants see Madison County

Florence 1805

Verona 1802

Westmoreland 1792

Vernon 1802

Sherrill City 1916

For further descendants see Madison County

Kingsland 1772-1788 (German Flatts from 1773)

Herkimer 1788

Schuyler 1792

Trenton 1797

Deerfield 1798

Marcy 1832

For further descendants see Herkimer County

Norway 1792

Remsen 1798

Forestport 1869

For further descendants see Herkimer County

For further descendants see Herkimer County

Notes

[A] = A part of Montgomery County (known as Tryon County prior to 1784).

[B] = A part of Montomgery County until 1791, thereafter Herkimer County.

[C] = A part of Montgomery County until 1791, Herkimer County from 1791 to 1798, then Oneida County from 1798.

[D] = A part of Herkimer County until 1798, Oneida County thereafter.

[E] = A part of Herkimer County.

[F] = A part of Oneida County.

[G] = A part of Madison County.

[H] = A part of Herkimer County until 1798, then Oneida County until 1805, thereafter Lewis County.

[I] = A part of Herkimer County until 1798, then Oneida County until 1816, thereafter Oswego County.

[J] = A part of Oswego County.

• The city of Sherrill is considered in some circumstances of law to be a village under the jurisdiction of the town of Vernon.

Onondaga County

A map of the towns, villages, city, and Native American reservations in Onondaga County

Otisco 1806

Fabius 1798

Tully 1803

Spafford 1811

Pompey 1794

LaFayette 1825

Marcellus 1794

Onondaga 1798

Salina 1809

Geddes 1848

Manlius 1794

DeWitt 1835

Syracuse City 1847

Skaneateles 1830

Camillus 1799

Van Buren 1829

Elbridge 1829

Notes

• Prior to the creation of Onondaga County the western section of Herkimer County was the Military Tract. This tract included present-day Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca counties, and parts of Oswego, Tompkins, and Wayne; and was divided into 25 townships for surveying purposes to provide land for veterans of the US Revolutionary War. Three more townships were created in order to settle all claims. Originally simply numbered, they latter received names, mostly classical Greek and Roman names. In creating Onondaga County in 1794 the state of New York combined the townships into 11 towns. Pompey (10), Tully (14), Fabius (15), Manlius (7), Camillus (5), and Marcellus (9) occupied present-day Onondaga, and were combined as the towns of Pompey (Pompey, Tully, and Fabius townships), Marcellus (Camillus and Marcellus townships), and Manlius.

Oswego County

A map of towns and cities located in Oswego County

Minetto 1916

Oswego 1818

Lysander 1794

Hannibal 1806

Granby 1818

Fulton City 1902

Oswego City 1848

Whitestown 1788

Mexico 1792

Fredericksburgh 1811 (Volney from 1806)

Scriba 1811

New Haven 1813

Schroeppel 1832

For further descendants see Oneida County

Parish 1828

Palermo 1832

Williamstown 1804

Amboy 1830

Richland 1807

Albion 1825

Redfield 1800

Greenboro 1843-1848

Sandy Creek 1825

Constantia 1808

Hastings 1825

Orwell 1817

Boylston 1828

West Monroe 1839

Notes

[A] = A part of Montgomery County until 1791, Herkimer County from 1791 to 1798, then Oneida County from 1798.

[B] = A part of Herkimer County until 1798, then Oneida County until 1816, thereafter Oswego County.

[C] = A part of Oneida County.

[D] = A part of Oneida County until 1816, Oswego County thereafter.

[E] = A part of Oswego County.