Little Valley is a

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

Cattaraugus County Cattaraugus County (locally known as Catt County) is a county in Western New York, with one side bordering Pennsylvania. As of the United States 2020 census, the population was 77,042. The county seat is Little Valley. The county was created ...

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 and as the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US st ...

, is the location of the

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 exhibit ...

(held in August in the fairgrounds north of the village). The village is in the northwest corner of the town of Little Valley, which is north 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 ...

. The village population was 1,084 at the 2020 census, out of a population of 1,740 within the entire town. The village's name is a relative comparison of two tributaries (the other being the neighboring Great Valley) of the

Allegheny River The Allegheny River ( ) is a long headwater stream of the Ohio River in western Pennsylvania and New York (state), New York. The Allegheny River runs from its headwaters just below the middle of Pennsylvania's northern border northwesterly into ...

History

Prior to 1868, the village of Ellicottville was the county seat, but the presence of a railroad line in Little Valley prompted a move. The village of Little Valley was incorporated in 1876. The railroad line shut down around 1990. The Little Valley post office is the only village structure listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

. The building is one of the newer buildings in the town, constructed in 1941 as project of the

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, i ...

. Several other buildings (such as the Civil War Memorial Building in 1911 and the former Little Valley Central School building in 1921, as well as many of the houses) are significantly older than the post office.

Ira Joe Fisher Ira Joe Fisher (born October 31, 1947, Salamanca, New York) is an American broadcaster, poet, and educator.. The winner of two regional Emmys, he currently presents Speaking Fearlessly seminars and teaches at UConn and Mercy College. He was the ...

, a daytime television personality and weather reporter, spent most of his childhood in Little Valley.

Politics and government

The village is operated by a village board that consists of a mayor, a deputy mayor, and three trustees. All serve four-year terms, and most of the board is up for re-election in the same year, meaning that two to three years can pass without any village board seats up for election. The mayor of Little Valley is Jim Bowen, an independent. Bowen upset Norman Marsh, the longtime incumbent Republican mayor, in an election in March 2019; Bowen's term as mayor runs through March 2023. The village board consists of a deputy mayor and three other trustees, all elected at-large.

Public services

Fire service is provided through a local volunteer fire department, in operation since 1888. As of 2016, ambulance services are typically outsourced. Police services are provided directly by the Cattaraugus County Sheriff's Office. Little Valley offers its own municipal electric service, through an affiliation with National Grid (formerly Niagara Mohawk), as well as municipal water, sewer, and streets departments.

Geography

The village of Little Valley is located in the northwest part of the town of Little Valley at (42.249555, -78.799775). 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 village has a total area of , all land. Little Valley Creek, a tributary of the

, flows past the northeast side of the village. A smaller creek, Lees Hollow, flanks Little Valley Creek on the southern side of the village. Another creek without a name flows through the middle of the Village. Historical records and maps do not indicate a name for this creek. State routes

NY-242 New York State Route 242 (NY 242) is a state highway that runs across Cattaraugus County, New York, in the United States. Although signed as an east–west route, it takes a more northeast–southwest course across the county from N ...

and NY-353 converge at the village. County Routes 5 and 14 enter the village from the north. Bus service is provided to the village by

Coach USA Coach USA, LLC is a holding company for various American transportation service providers providing scheduled intercity bus service, local and commuter bus transit, city sightseeing, tour, yellow school bus, and charter bus service across the ...

(on its Jamestown to New York City line) and the Seneca Transit System (on its Buffalo to Highbanks line). The

Pat McGee Trail The Pat McGee Trail is a rail trail in Cattaraugus County, New York, United States, named for Patricia McGee (1934-2005). Background Pat McGee was an area legislator of Cattaraugus County who lived in Franklinville, New York, 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 1,130 people, 427 households, and 266 families residing in the village. The population density was 1,127.3 people per square mile (436.3/km²). There were 513 housing units at an average density of 511.8 per square mile (198.1/km²). The racial makeup of the village was 95.58%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...

, 1.86%

Black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have o ...

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 ...

, 0.80% Native American, 0.09% from

other races Other often refers to: * Other (philosophy), a concept in psychology and philosophy Other or The Other may also refer to: Film and television * ''The Other'' (1913 film), a German silent film directed by Max Mack * ''The Other'' (1930 film), a ...

, and 1.68% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to Vic ...

Latino Latino or Latinos most often refers to: * Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America * Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States * The people or cultures of Latin America; ** Latin A ...

of any race were 1.77% of the population. There were 427 households, out of which 32.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 43.8% were married couples living together, 13.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 37.7% were non-families. 32.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 18.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.37 and the average family size was 2.99. In the village, the age distribution of the population shows 25.0% under the age of 18, 9.6% from 18 to 24, 31.7% from 25 to 44, 18.5% from 45 to 64, and 15.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females, there were 110.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 107.1 males. The median income for a household in the village was $28,750, and the median income for a family was $31,875. Males had a median income of $27,500 versus $20,962 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 village was $14,458. About 11.2% of families and 15.5% 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 t ...

, including 18.7% of those under age 18 and 7.4% of those age 65 or over.

Culture

Local commerce

Little Valley's main attraction is the Cattaraugus County Fairgrounds, the site of the annual county fair each August, as well as an annual "Freedom Daze"

Fourth of July Independence Day (colloquially the Fourth of July) is a federal holiday in the United States commemorating the Declaration of Independence, which was ratified by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, establishing the United States ...

motorsports festival, horse shows and other miscellaneous events. In 2001 the Little Valley Area Chamber of Commerce was founded. They host events such "Cheers to Little Valley" and sponsor "Christmas on Main Street". No national chain franchises operate in the village of Little Valley (one, a Dollar General, does operate just outside its bounds). Its storefront businesses as of 2018 include a convenience store (flagship of the regional Crosby's chain), hardware store (operating under the

Do it Best Do It Best Corp., formerly known as Hardware Wholesalers, Inc. (HWI), is a member-owned hardware, lumber, and building materials cooperative based in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Do it Best Corp. is the second-largest co-op in the industry approaching $ ...

brand), two taverns, a laundromat, a regional bank, a credit union, a

Chrysler Stellantis North America (officially FCA US and formerly Chrysler ()) is one of the " Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan. It is the American subsidiary of the multinational automoti ...

automobile dealership, an auto repair and collision shop, a Progressive insurance agency, two hair salons, and a boutique. The local grocery store, originally an A&P in the 1960s and locally operated as Brooks Market from 1972 to 2017, went out of business during the

retail apocalypse A retail apocalypse is the closing of numerous brick-and-mortar retail stores, especially those of large chains worldwide. It began around 2010, and was severely exacerbated by the mandatory closures during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2017, over ...

in January 2018; it was replaced by a grocery/convenience store relocating from Salamanca later that year, which closed in August 2019. Ellicottville Brewing Company operates a

microbrewery Craft beer is a beer that has been made by craft breweries. They produce smaller amounts of beer, typically less than large breweries, and are often independently owned. Such breweries are generally perceived and marketed as having an emphasis o ...

in a Little Valley factory.

Media

One radio station,

weather radio A weather radio is a specialized radio receiver that is designed to receive a public broadcast service, typically from government-owned radio stations, dedicated to broadcasting weather forecasts and reports on a continual basis, with the routine we ...

WWG32 (162.425), is licensed to the village. WWG32 is based in

Cheektowaga Cheektowaga () is a town in Erie County, New York, United States. As of the 2020 census, the town has grown to a population of 89,877. The town is in the north-central part of the county, and is an inner ring suburb of Buffalo. The town is the ...

. It has been off-air for an unknown length of time. WGWE operated from 2010 to 2021, and intermittently in 2022, from a tower south of the village. Current plans are for the station to eventually move out of Little Valley. Little Valley is part of the Buffalo television market. Due to the hilly terrain, strong

rooftop A roof ( : roofs or rooves) is the top covering of a building, including all materials and constructions necessary to support it on the walls of the building or on uprights, providing protection against rain, snow, sunlight, extremes of temper ...

directional antenna A directional antenna or beam antenna is an antenna which radiates or receives greater power in specific directions allowing increased performance and reduced interference from unwanted sources. Directional antennas provide increased performance ...

e are required to receive over-the-air television since the digital transition in 2009.

Breezeline Breezeline (previously Atlantic Broadband) is the trade name for the United States operations of Cogeco Communications, constituting the 8th largest cable operator in the United States, based on the number of television service customers served. ...

is the local cable and high-speed Internet provider.

Historical business

The

cutlery Cutlery (also referred to as silverware, flatware, or tableware), includes any hand implement used in preparing, serving, and especially eating food in Western culture. A person who makes or sells cutlery is called a cutler. The city of Sheffie ...

industry was a major driver of the village of Little Valley's early economy. Cattaraugus Cutlery Company was the last surviving knife manufacturer in the village; it remained there until closing its doors in 1963, with its factory remaining standing and vacant until its destruction in a 2015 fire. W. R. Case & Sons Cutlery Co. was spun off from Cattaraugus in 1905, and that company remains in business, now based in

Bradford, Pennsylvania Bradford is a city in McKean County, Pennsylvania, McKean County, Pennsylvania. It is located close to the border with New York (state), New York state and approximately south of Buffalo, New York. Bradford is the principal city in the Bradford, ...

. Three weekly newspapers have operated out of Little Valley; the first was the ''Cattaraugus Republican'' (founded 1867, originally based in Ellicottville, but later acquired by the

Salamanca Press The ''Salamanca Press'' is a newspaper serving Cattaraugus County, New York. Based in the city of Salamanca, the paper is owned by Bradford Publishing, which also publishes the Bradford Era and the Olean Times Herald. The newspaper focuses on the ...

), the second was ''The Little Valley Hub'' (operated from 1881 to 1968), and the most recent was the ''County Chronicle'', which printed from 1992 to 2007, with some of the earlier years being based in Salamanca. The Crosby's

convenience store A convenience store, convenience shop, corner store or corner shop is a small retail business that stocks a range of everyday items such as coffee, groceries, snack foods, confectionery, soft drinks, ice creams, tobacco products, lottery ticket ...

chain was founded in Little Valley in 1966, where its first store opened. The store was sold to a Lockport-based company in 2006, which used the Crosby's name for all of its stores after the purchase. Crosby's continues to have a store in Little Valley; its original location, a

Quonset hut A Quonset hut is a lightweight prefabricated structure of corrugated galvanized steel having a semi cylindrical cross-section. The design was developed in the United States, based on the Nissen hut introduced by the British during World War I ...

, has since been decommissioned. Bush Industries operated a factory in the village until it closed in 2007. Pirshlo, Inc., a regional franchisee of

Uni-Mart Uni-Mart was a Pennsylvania-based company that owned, operated and franchised numerous convenience stores in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States (US). In 2008, the company operated 283 convenience stores and gas stations in the US state ...

s and a proprietor of several other businesses (including the ''Chronicle''), operated in the village from the late 1990s to 2007, when Pirshlo's owner, Lloyd Long, was arrested and later convicted of tax evasion in a dispute with the Seneca Nation of Indians.

Religion

Four churches operate within the village bounds: local branches of the

United Methodist Church The United Methodist Church (UMC) is a worldwide mainline Protestant denomination based in the United States, and a major part of Methodism. In the 19th century, its main predecessor, the Methodist Episcopal Church, was a leader in evangelical ...

and

Wesleyan Church The Wesleyan Church, also known as the Wesleyan Methodist Church and Wesleyan Holiness Church depending on the region, is a Methodist Christian denomination in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, South Africa, Namibia, Sierra Leone, L ...

, a

congregational church Congregational churches (also Congregationalist churches or Congregationalism) are Protestant churches in the Calvinist tradition practising congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its ...

, and a

King James Only The King James Only movement asserts the belief that the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible is superior to all other translations of the Bible. Adherents of the King James Only movement, mostly members of Conservative Anabaptist, Conservativ ...

fundamentalist church. The village is also served by various churches surrounding the village in the towns of Little Valley and

Mansfield Mansfield is a market town and the administrative centre of Mansfield District in Nottinghamshire, England. It is the largest town in the wider Mansfield Urban Area (followed by Sutton-in-Ashfield). It gained the Royal Charter of a market tow ...

. The local

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

, St. Mary's, closed in the late 2000s as part of the church's overall U.S. downsizing effort, and all of its congregation was directed to the identically named St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church in Cattaraugus. The

Lutherans Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched ...

also had a church in the village that was closed shortly after the closure of St. Mary's.

Education

Public school students attend Cattaraugus-Little Valley Central School in Cattaraugus. Little Valley Central School operated in the village until 2000, shortly after voters approved a merger with Cattaraugus Central School. The district continued to operate an elementary school in the village until 2012 when it was controversially closed. The former school building is currently used by the county for offices it cannot accommodate at the county center; the former school's alumni association maintains a small museum in one of the rooms. Grace Christian Academy operates a small private Christian school in the village.

Sports and recreation

Little Valley features teams in

Little League Baseball Little League Baseball and Softball (officially, Little League Baseball Inc) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization Town Team Baseball Town Team Baseball is a variety of amateur baseball played in the United States. In Town Team baseball, sometimes also called townball, the teams represent either a given city or town, or a commercial enterprise which sponsors the team. Usually a ...

in 2014, playing its games in Cattaraugus due to the lack of a regulation field in the village or town of Little Valley. The Thunder folded in 2015; that year and the next, a slow-pitch softball team represented the village in a local league also based in Cattaraugus. The village supported the Little Valley Panthers youth football squad. Through 2014, the team played and practiced in Little Valley; in 2015, it was forced to move its games to Cattaraugus, and in 2016, the team was merged with Cattaraugus's. The village has three public parks: a small unnamed park in the center of the village, Bicentennial Park on the village's west side adjacent to the County Center, and Eric Peters Memorial Park on the east side of the village. Memorial Park encompasses a public swimming pool, a walking trail, beach volleyball court and Little League Baseball diamond. The Lyle Underwood Memorial facility includes a weight room and, when weather permits, an ice skating pond.

References

External links

Village of Little Valley official website

Little Valley Area Chamber of Commerce

Little Valley on Facebook
{{authority control Villages in New York (state) County seats in New York (state) Villages in Cattaraugus County, New York