Hamburg ( ) is a

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

in Erie County,

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

, United States. As of the 2020 census, the town had a population of 60,085. It is named after the city of

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

, Germany. The town is on the western border of the county and is south of Buffalo. Hamburg is one of the Southtowns in Erie County. The

villages A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban village ...

and Blasdell are in the town. The town of Hamburg was founded in 1812 in Armor.

History

Historical evidence shows the area was settled originally by the

Erie people The Erie people were an Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands historically living on the south shore of Lake Erie. An Iroquoian-speaking tribe, they lived in what is now western New York, northwestern Pennsylvania, and northern Ohio b ...

. Around 1805 the settlement was known as "Barkerville", named after Zenas Barker, the postmaster. The earliest settlers were Nathaniel Titus and Dr. Ruth Belden in 1804, and the first landowner in the area was John Cummings, who built the first

grist mill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and Wheat middlings, middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that h ...

in 1806. The town of Hamburg was formed by government decree on March 20, 1812, from the (now defunct) town of Willink. The first town meeting took place on April 7, 1812, at Jacob Wright's tavern at Wright's Corners, which was renamed Abbott's Corners, and now Armor. One of the early noted activities of the town board that year was to place a $5 bounty on wolf hides, due to the complaints of the local settlers who were being bothered by them. In 1815, mail routes were established. The earliest settlers in the area were from

New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...

Germans Germans (, ) are the natives or inhabitants of Germany, or sometimes more broadly any people who are of German descent or native speakers of the German language. The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, constitution of Germany, imple ...

started arriving in the 1830s and set up many successful farms. On November 29, 1824, a meeting was held in Abbott's Corners at the home of early settler Seth Abbott. At a vote of those present, agreement was reached to form a library with the sum of $102. By 1850, the town was reduced by the formation of the towns of East Hamburgh and West Seneca. Around 1852, the

Erie Railroad The Erie Railroad was a railroad that operated in the Northeastern United States, originally connecting Pavonia Terminal in Jersey City, New Jersey, with Lake Erie at Dunkirk, New York. The railroad expanded west to Chicago following its 1865 ...

was built through the area. In 1868 the Erie County Fair came to the town and has been there since that time. In 1875, the weekly publication of the ''Erie County Independent'' began. This is now known as ''The Sun''. Telephone service in the area started in 1886. The village of Hamburg set itself off from the town in 1874 by incorporating as a village. Starting in 1890 and to support the growing regional steel industry, Polish and

Italians Italians (, ) are a European peoples, European ethnic group native to the Italian geographical region. Italians share a common Italian culture, culture, History of Italy, history, Cultural heritage, ancestry and Italian language, language. ...

began to arrive in the area. In 1897, a group of women known as the Nineteenth Century Club started a permanent free public library, known as the Hamburg Free Library. Until 1901 it was in various rented buildings. The Hamburg Free Library was moved into a Carnegie library on Center Street on November 8, 1915, where it remained until 1966 when the current library at 102 Buffalo Street opened. In 1898, the community of Blasdell set itself apart from the town by incorporating as a village. A trolley car system was established in the early 1900s. The Kleis Site, containing the remnants of a 17th-century Iroquoian village and burial ground, was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1979. In July 2012, Main Street in the village of Hamburg from Lake Street to Buffalo Street was granted state approval for nomination as a national historic district.

Geography

According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, , of which is land and , or 0.07%, is water.

Lake Erie Lake Erie ( ) is the fourth-largest lake by surface area of the five Great Lakes in North America and the eleventh-largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and also has the shortest avera ...

forms the western border of the town, and Eighteen Mile Creek forms the southern boundary.

Climate

Hamburg experiences a

continental climate Continental climates often have a significant annual variation in temperature (warm to hot summers and cold winters). They tend to occur in central and eastern parts of the three northern-tier continents (North America, Europe, and Asia), typi ...

(Köppen Dfb), heavily influenced by

lake-effect snow Lake-effect snow is produced during cooler atmospheric conditions when a cold air mass moves across long expanses of warmer lake water. The lower layer of air, heated by the lake water, picks up water vapor from the lake and rises through colde ...

from Lake Erie. It experienced a record 81.2 inches (206.25 centimeters) of snow November 16–18, 2022.

Demographics

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 56,259 people, 21,999 households, and 15,157 families residing in the town. The population density was . There were 22,833 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the town was 97.93%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 0.49%

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.20% Native American, 0.39% Asian, 0.01%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 0.38% from other races, and 0.60% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 1.56% of the population. There were 21,999 households, out of which 32.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.7% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 10.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.1% were non-families. 26.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.51 and the average family size was 3.07. In the town, the population was spread out, with 24.8% under the age of 18, 6.9% from 18 to 24, 28.6% from 25 to 44, 24.6% from 45 to 64, and 15.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females, there were 90.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 86.5 males. The median income for a household in the town was $47,888, and the median income for a family was $56,974. Males had a median income of $41,440 versus $27,602 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the town was $21,943. About 3.2% of families and 4.5% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 4.2% of those under age 18 and 6.9% of those age 65 or over.

Economy

The economy in the town is supported by a wide variety of sectors, including logistics, manufacturing, healthcare, commerce and education. In Blasdell, the

Ford Motor Company Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational corporation, multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. T ...

operates a stamping plant with over one thousand employees. Also along the waterfront is the Lake Erie Industrial Park, formed by the town's industrial development agency. This site includes the primary

FedEx Ground FedEx Ground Package System, Inc., also known simply as FedEx Ground, is an American Cargo#Road, ground package delivery company headquartered in Moon Township, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh. It is a subsidia ...

warehouse for the Buffalo metropolitan area, employing 300 people, and an Amazon, Inc. distribution center.

Arts and culture

The Erie County Fair has operated in Hamburg since 1868. Currently, the fair takes place at the Hamburg Fairgrounds. The Fair is situated on a plot of land near the village of Hamburg. The fair is produced by the Erie County Agricultural Society, and runs for twelve days in August. Since 1924, Strates Shows has operated the midway at the Fair. The Erie County fair is the third-largest

county fair An agricultural show is a public event exhibiting the equipment, animals, sports and recreation associated with agriculture and animal husbandry. The largest comprise a livestock show (a judged event or display in which breeding stock is exhib ...

in the United States. It is claimed that the 1885 Erie County Fair, or "Hamburg Fair" is the place at which the

hamburger A hamburger (or simply a burger) consists of fillings—usually a patty of ground meat, typically beef—placed inside a sliced bun or bread roll. The patties are often served with cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, bacon, or chilis ...

sandwich was invented. According to the legend, Frank and Charles Menches were food vendors at the 1885 Erie County Fair, and created a sandwich of use of ground beef, coffee, brown sugar and other ingredients, and sold with ketchup and sliced onions. They named the successful sandwich after the fair they invented it at. To this end, the annual Hamburg BurgerFest is held in Hamburg during the summer.

Sports

Sports teams in the town include the Frontier Falcons, representing Frontier Central High School, and the Hamburg Bulldogs, who represent Hamburg High School. The Red Raiders represent the St. Francis High School, a private, Franciscan/Catholic boys school. The Hawks represent Hilbert College, a private Franciscan/Catholic college in town. Hilbert has numerous NCAA division three sports teams including but not limited to basketball, football, women's hockey, soccer and lacrosse.

Parks and recreation

The Seaway Trail, a

National Scenic Byway A National Scenic Byway is a road recognized by the United States Department of Transportation for one or more of six "intrinsic qualities": archeological, cultural, historic, natural, recreational, and scenic. The program was established by Co ...

, travels through Hamburg on New York Route 5, along the Lake Erie shoreline. Woodlawn Beach State Park, on the shore of Lake Erie, was opened as a state park in 1996, and has been operated since 2011 by the town of Hamburg under a ten-year agreement with New York State.

Government

Hamburg is governed by a five-member town board. The town supervisor is Catherine Rybczynski. The town was founded in 1812.

Education

Early childhood education

, there were 10

preschool A preschool (sometimes spelled as pre school or pre-school), also known as nursery school, pre-primary school, play school, is an school, educational establishment or learning space offering early childhood education to children before they ...

s within the town, including 2 in the village of Blasdell.

Primary and secondary schools

The town of Hamburg is home to the Frontier Central School District, which is its primary

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...

school district A school district is a special-purpose district that operates local public Primary school, primary or Secondary school, secondary schools or both in various countries. It is not to be confused with an attendance zone, which is within a school dis ...

. The district serves students living outside of the village of Hamburg along the lake shore of the town, and is an independent public entity. Frontier was created in the 1950s, combining the Amsdell, Athol Springs, Big Tree, Blasdell, Lake View (Pinehurst), Shaleton, Wanakah (Cloverbank), and Woodlawn school districts dating to the 19th century. The district's offices are located at the Frontier Educational Center in Wanakah. The district serves over 4,500 students with its Big Tree, Blasdell, Cloverbank, and Pinehurst elementary schools, Frontier Middle School, and Frontier High School. In 2009, Big Tree Elementary School was recognized as a Blue Ribbon School. In 2020, '' Buffalo Business First'' ranked Frontier as the fifteenth-best performing school district in the

Western New York Western New York (WNY) is the westernmost region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. The eastern boundary of the region is not consistently defined by state agencies or those who call themselves "Western New Yorkers". Almost all so ...

region. Other districts serve Hamburg along the town's boundaries, including the Hamburg (village), West Seneca and Orchard Park central school districts. The Hamburg Central School District mainly serves students living within the village of Hamburg, but also serves students living in areas adjacent to it. Both Frontier and Hamburg Central are members of the Erie 1 Board of Cooperative Educational Services system. The

, West Seneca and Orchard Park central school districts serve the village and small portions of the town.

Higher education

Hilbert College is in Hamburg, north of the village of Hamburg.

Media

The town's weekly newspaper is the '' Hamburg Sun''.

Infrastructure

The New York State Thruway (

Interstate 90 Interstate 90 (I-90) is an east–west transcontinental freeway and the longest Interstate Highway in the United States at . It begins in Seattle, Washington, and travels through the Pacific Northwest, Mountain states, Mountain West, Great Pla ...

), U.S. Route 62,

US 20 U.S. Route 20 or U.S. Highway 20 (US 20) is an east–west United States Highway, 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 ...

, and NY Route 5 pass through the town. NY 75 runs through the village of Hamburg, temporarily concurrent with Route 62. U.S. 20A diverges from US 20 north of the village of Hamburg as both routes proceed east. Five bus lines operated by the

Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority The Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority (NFTA) is the public agency responsible for operating most public transportation services in the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area. The NFTA, as an authority, oversees a number of subsidiar ...

(NFTA) serve the town. A

park and ride A park and ride, also known as incentive parking or a commuter lot, is a parking lot with public transport connections that allows commuters and other people heading to city centres to leave their vehicles and transfer to a bus, Rail transport, r ...

facility is between NY 5 and NY 75 near Athol Springs.

Notable people

* Lucius Allen, former

Wisconsin State Assembly The Wisconsin State Assembly is the lower house of the Wisconsin Legislature. Together with the smaller Wisconsin Senate, the two constitute the legislative branch of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The Assembly is controlled by the Republican ...

member * Thomas L. Bunting, former U.S. congressman * Brendan A. Burns, U.S. Army major general * Tim Calkins, clinical professor of marketing and author * Eugene Asa Carr, U.S. Civil War general and

Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest Awards and decorations of the United States Armed Forces, military decoration and is awarded to recognize American United States Army, soldiers, United States Navy, sailors, Un ...

recipient *

Peter Case Peter Case (born April 5, 1954) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. His career is wide-ranging, from rock n' roll and blues, to folk rock and solo acoustic performance. Biography Early career Case was born in Buffalo, New York, B ...

, singer/songwriter, founding member of

the Nerves The Nerves were an American power pop trio, formed in San Francisco in 1974 and later based in Los Angeles, featuring guitarist Jack Lee (musician), Jack Lee, bassist Peter Case, and drummer Paul Collins (musician), Paul Collins. All three memb ...

and

the Plimsouls The Plimsouls were an American rock band known for their hit 1982 single "A Million Miles Away", which was featured in the movie '' Valley Girl''. History The band was formed in Paramount, California in 1978. They recorded two full-length al ...

, and noted musicologist * Clyde Brion Davis, author and journalist * Manly Fleischmann, Defense Production Administrator for the

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

, chairman of the Fleischmann Commission * Katharine Houghton Hepburn, feminist social reformer *

Kathy Hochul Kathleen Hochul ( ; ; born August 27, 1958) is an American politician and lawyer who has served since 2021 as the 57th governor of New York. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, she is New York's List of female ...

, governor of New York * E. Howard Hunt, author, CIA officer and

Watergate The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal in the United States involving the administration of President Richard Nixon. The scandal began in 1972 and ultimately led to Nixon's resignation in 1974, in August of that year. It revol ...

conspirator * John Huntly, former Wisconsin State Assembly member *

Jack Kemp Jack French Kemp (July 13, 1935 – May 2, 2009) was an American politician, professional Gridiron football, football player, and U.S. Army veteran. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party from New York, he served a ...

, 1996 Republican Party U.S. vice presidential nominee who lived in Hamburg. * Jim Kubiak, retired NFL quarterback (born in hamlet of Athol Springs) * Daniel N. Lockwood, former U.S. congressman * Howard J. Osborn, former Director of Security at the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...

* John R. Pillion, former U.S. congressman * Francis J. Pordum, former

New York State Assembly The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature, with the New York State Senate being the upper house. There are 150 seats in the Assembly. Assembly members serve two-year terms without term limits. The Ass ...

member (from Lake View) * Jack Quinn, President of Erie Community College, former U.S. congressman, former Town of Hamburg Supervisor * Jack Quinn III, former

member * Frank Resetarits, lacrosse player * Stephen J. Roberts, veterinarian, professor, polo player and coach * Erik Schlopy, former Olympic ski racer * Bob Schmidt, former pro football player * Jake Schum, NFL punter * Kevin Smardz, former New York State Assemblyman * Tom Telesco,

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

of the

Las Vegas Raiders The Las Vegas Raiders are a professional American football team based in the Las Vegas Valley, Las Vegas metropolitan area. The Raiders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC West ...

* Tom Toles, editorial cartoonist * Susan Walsh, former competitive swimmer * Joe Whelan, distance runner * Dave Wohlabaugh, retired NFL center * John Wrench, mathematician * Tommy Z, blues musician

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hamburg (Town), New York Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area Towns in Erie County, New York Towns in New York (state)