Kill Buck is 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 ...

in Cattaraugus 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 community is located along

New York State Route 417 New York State Route 417 (NY 417) is an east–west state highway located in the Southern Tier of New York in the United States. It begins at exit 20 of the Southern Tier Expressway ( Interstate 86 or I-86 and NY 17) i ...

and U.S. Route 219 Business, sharing its western border with the eastern border of the city of

Salamanca Salamanca () is a city in western Spain and is the capital of the Province of Salamanca in the autonomous community of Castile and León. The city lies on several rolling hills by the Tormes River. Its Old City was declared a UNESCO World Heritag ...

. Kill Buck is named after Daniel Kill Buck (or, by another source, Dave Kill Buck), who was a mayor of the community during its days as a

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 ...

village. Kill Buck is roughly evenly divided, with the northern half of the hamlet within the jurisdiction of the town of Great Valley and the southern half within the bounds of the

Allegany Indian Reservation Allegany Reservation (Uhì·yaʼRudes, B. ''Tuscarora English Dictionary'' Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1999 in Tuscarora) is a Seneca Nation of Indians reservation in Cattaraugus County, New York, USA. In the 2000 census, 58 percent of t ...

; Routes 219 and 417 roughly demarcate the dividing line. The town of Great Valley maintains a separate fire hall and public park facilities for Kill Buck. Kill Buck has an estimated population of 650 according to the

Rand McNally Rand McNally is an American technology and publishing company that provides mapping, software and hardware for consumer electronics, commercial transportation and education markets. The company is headquartered in Chicago, with a distribution c ...

2021 atlas.

History

Kill Buck was once a sprawling Seneca community, extending to cover much of what is now the southeast corner of the city of Salamanca before the city was incorporated in 1913. It was alternately spelled "Killbuck," but a late 20th-century controversy over the spelling eventually settled upon spelling it as two separate words. It was established in 1818. Kill Buck has a

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...

with ZIP code 14748, which opened on December 28, 1837. On July 1, 1992, the post office relocated to an office at the post office in Salamanca after the building in Kill Buck it was sharing, a general store, abruptly closed. (The proprietor of the store and Kill Buck postmaster since 1975, Bill Costello, had also overseen the closure of the post office in nearby

Red House, New York Red House ( Seneca: ''Jóë́’hesta’'') is a town in Cattaraugus County, New York, United States. As of the 2020 census, the town population was 30, making it the least populous town in the state. The town is on the south edge of Cattaraugus Co ...

—also inside a Costello-owned store—in the 1960s.) The Postal Service has returned to Kill Buck in a standalone building. The hamlet's public school closed in 1971.

References

Hamlets in Cattaraugus County, New York Hamlets in New York (state) Iroquois populated places {{CattaraugusCountyNY-geo-stub