Geneva is a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

in Ontario County,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, United States. The population was 3,478 at the 2020 census. The actual source of the name is ambiguous. The Town of Geneva is in the southeastern part of the county and borders the City of Geneva. Geneva is known for being the home of the

New York State Agricultural Experiment Station The New York State Agricultural Experiment Station (NYSAES) at Geneva, Ontario County, New York State, is an agricultural experiment station operated by the New York State College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell University. In August 20 ...

run by

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

History

The town is situated in the territory of the historic

Seneca Seneca may refer to: People and language * Seneca (name), a list of people with either the given name or surname * Seneca people, one of the six Iroquois tribes of North America ** Seneca language, the language of the Seneca people Places Extrat ...

, who had an important village at

Kanadaseaga Kanadaseaga (aka Kanadesaga or Kanatasaka or Kanadasaga or Canasadego or Ganûndase?'ge? or Seneca Castle or Canadasaga), was a major village, perhaps a capital, of the Seneca nation of the Iroquois Confederacy in west-central New York State, United ...

("Seneca Castle"), at the north end of Seneca Lake. This village was fortified during the Colonial Period as a defense against the French and was later used as a British stronghold during the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...

. It was destroyed by the

Sullivan Expedition The 1779 Sullivan Expedition (also known as the Sullivan-Clinton Expedition, the Sullivan Campaign, and the Sullivan-Clinton Genocide) was a United States military campaign during the American Revolutionary War, lasting from June to October 1779 ...

. Post-revolution settlement began around 1788. The town was established from part of the Town of Seneca in 1872. Seth Reed and his family settled here and owned an 18-mile tract of land in Ontario County between 1787 and 1795 before becoming the earliest settlers of

Erie, Pennsylvania Erie (; ) is a city on the south shore of Lake Erie and the county seat of Erie County, Pennsylvania, United States. Erie is the fifth largest city in Pennsylvania and the largest city in Northwestern Pennsylvania with a population of 94,831 a ...

. Colonel Reed had been involved in the

Battle of Bunker Hill The Battle of Bunker Hill was fought on June 17, 1775, during the Siege of Boston in the first stage of the American Revolutionary War. The battle is named after Bunker Hill in Charlestown, Massachusetts, which was peripherally involved in ...

and the Canada campaign while serving in the

Continental Army The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies (the Thirteen Colonies) in the Revolutionary-era United States. It was formed by the Second Continental Congress after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, and was establis ...

in the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

. His latter experiences in this region of

may have attracted him to Ontario County and Geneva. In 1806, the village called Geneva began to set itself apart from the town and was incorporated as a village in 1812. A new charter making the Geneva a first class village was granted in 1871. The loss of this territory to the City of Geneva made the town the smallest in the county.

Geography

According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of the ...

, the town has a total area of 19.1 square miles (49.5 km²), of which 19.1 square miles (49.5 km²) is land and 0.0 square mile (0.0 km²) (0.05%) is water. The southern town line is the border of Yates County and the eastern town boundary is the border of Seneca County. Part of the town is on the northwestern shore of Seneca Lake, one of the

Finger Lakes The Finger Lakes are a group of eleven long, narrow, roughly north–south lakes located south of Lake Ontario in an area called the ''Finger Lakes region'' in New York, in the United States. This region straddles the northern and transitional ...

US 20 U.S. Route 20 or U.S. Highway 20 (US 20) is an east–west United States Numbered Highway that stretches from the Pacific Northwest east to New England. The "0" in its route number indicates that US 20 is a major coast-to-coast route. S ...

is an east-west highway, and NY 14 and 14A are north-south. NY 245 is an east-west highway in the south part of the town.

Demographics

As of the

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...

of 2000, there were 3,289 people, 1,416 households, and 900 families residing in the town. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical term.Matt RosenberPopul ...

was 172.2 people per square mile (66.5/km²). There were 1,532 housing units at an average density of 31.0 persons/km² (80.2 persons/sq mi). The racial makeup of the town was 93.65% White, 2.43%

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

, 0.06% Native American, 1.73%

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

n, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.52% from other races, and 1.58% from two or more races. 1.70% of the population were

Hispanic or Latino ''Hispanic'' and '' Latino'' are ethnonyms used to refer collectively to the inhabitants of the United States who are of Spanish or Latin American ancestry (). While the terms are sometimes used interchangeably, for example, by the United States ...

of any race. There were 1,416 households, out of which 24.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.9% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between t ...

living together, 6.6% had a woman whose husband does not live with her, and 36.4% were non-families. 31.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 16.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.32 and the average family size was 2.95. In the town, the population was spread out, with 22.1% under the age of 18, 5.1% from 18 to 24, 23.5% from 25 to 44, 28.9% from 45 to 64, and 20.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 45 years. For every 100 females, there were 93.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.6 males. The median income for a household in the town was $44,234, and the median income for a family was $58,350. Males had a median income of $39,186 versus $23,108 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or total income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. It is calculated by dividing the area's total income by its total population. Per capita i ...

for the town was $22,990. 3.4% of the population and 1.8% of families were below the poverty line. Out of the total people living in poverty, 3.6% were under the age of 18 and 0.0% were 65 or older.

Communities and locations in the Town of Geneva

* Billsboro – A hamlet on NY-14 on the shore of Seneca Lake, south of the City of Geneva. * Billsboro Corners – A

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

near the center of the town on County Road 6, west of Billsboro. *

Border City A border town is a town or city close to the boundary between two countries, states, or regions. Usually the term implies that the nearness to the border is one of the things the place is most famous for. With close proximities to a different cou ...

– A hamlet by the east town line, east of the City of Geneva. * Clarks Point – A projection into Lake Seneca north of Billsboro. * Kashong Point – A projection into Seneca Lake by the south town line. * Lenox Park – A hamlet west of the City of Geneva on US-20. * Pre-Emption – A hamlet northwest of the City of Geneva on County Road 4.

Notes

External links

Geneva area chamber of commerce

{{DEFAULTSORT:Geneva (Town), New York Rochester metropolitan area, New York Towns in Ontario County, New York 1872 establishments in New York (state)