Caledonia 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 Livingston 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. The population was 4,154 at the 2020 census. The town contains the

village 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 v ...

Caledonia Caledonia (; ) was the Latin name used by the Roman Empire to refer to the forested region in the central and western Scottish Highlands, particularly stretching through parts of what are now Lochaber, Badenoch, Strathspey, and possibly as ...

. The town is in the northwestern part of the county and is southwest of Rochester. It is part of the Rochester metropolitan area.

History

The

Seneca people The Seneca ( ; ) are a group of Indigenous Iroquoian-speaking people who historically lived south of Lake Ontario, one of the five Great Lakes in North America. Their nation was the farthest to the west within the Six Nations or Iroquois Leag ...

long occupied much of present-day

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 ...

, Pennsylvania and Ohio. They had a village in this area called " Canawaugus" (or Conawagus); it was located on the west side of the

Genesee River The Genesee River ( ) is a tributary of Lake Ontario flowing northward through the Twin Tiers of Pennsylvania and New York (state), New York in the United States. The river contains several waterfalls in New York at Letchworth State Park and Roch ...

. The site has since been absorbed by the town of Caledonia. Chief

Cornplanter John Abeel III (–February 18, 1836) known as Gaiänt'wakê (''Gyantwachia'' – "the planter") or Kaiiontwa'kon (''Kaintwakon'' – "By What One Plants") in the Seneca language and thus generally known as Cornplanter, was a Dutch- Seneca ch ...

was born here around 1750 into the Wolf

clan A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, a clan may claim descent from a founding member or apical ancestor who serves as a symbol of the clan's unity. Many societie ...

of his Seneca mother. His father was a Dutch fur trader, John Abeel, whose family had been established in Albany. Cornplanter was known as a statesman as well as a war chief, and he was influential in inviting

Quakers Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestantism, Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally ...

to teach Seneca children on his land. The first European-American settlements did not take place until around the 1790s, after the Revolutionary War. The Seneca, as allies of the defeated British, were forced to give up most of their land to the United States. The first known permanent white settlement began in 1797. The town of Caledonia was established in 1803 as the "Town of Southampton," having previously been known as "Northampton." Settlers from

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

renamed it "

", the Latin name for Scotland, in 1806. Part of the territory of the town was used to form the town of Bellona in 1812; its name was changed to Le Roy ( Genesee County) in 1813. As the population increased, in 1819, another part of Caledonia was removed to form part of the town of

York York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...

. The town of Wheatland ( Monroe County) was formed from Caledonia in 1821.

Points of Historical Interest

* Caledonia Fish Hatchery, first fish hatchery in the United States; 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 ...

* Caledonia House Hotel, listed on the National Register of Historic Places * Clark-Keith House, listed on the National Register of Historic Places

Notable people

Governor Blacksnake Tah-won-ne-ahs or Thaonawyuthe (born before 1760, died December 26, 1859), known in English as either Chainbreaker to his own people or Governor Blacksnake to the European settlers, was a Seneca war chief and sachem. Along with other Iroquois w ...

(1700s-1859), Seneca war chief and leader, resided at Canawaugus *

Matt Cappotelli Matthew Lee Cappotelli (November 12, 1979 – June 29, 2018) was an American professional wrestler. After co-winning '' Tough Enough III'' with John Hennigan, he worked in Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW), the primary developmental territory for WWE. ...

(1979–2018), professional wrestler *

Paul Cook Paul Thomas Cook (born 20 July 1956) is an English musician, best known as the drummer and a founding member of the punk rock band the Sex Pistols. He is nicknamed "Cookie" by friends in the punk music scene. Early life and career Cook was ...

(1863–1905),

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

player *

(c. 1730s-1836), Seneca war chief and diplomat *

Seth Green Seth Benjamin Green ( ''né'' Gesshel-Green; born February 8, 1974) is an American actor. His film debut was '' The Hotel New Hampshire'' (1984), and he went on to have supporting roles in comedy films in the 1980s, including '' Radio Days'' ( ...

(1817–1888), pioneer in

fish farming Fish farming or pisciculture involves commercial breeding of fish, most often for food, in fish tanks or artificial enclosures such as fish ponds. It is a particular type of aquaculture, which is the controlled cultivation and harvesting of ...

, established the first

fish hatchery A fish hatchery is a place for artificial breeding, hatching, and rearing through the early life stages of animals—finfish and shellfish in particular.Crespi V., Coche A. (2008) Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Gloss ...

in North America at Caledonia in 1864 *

Handsome Lake Handsome Lake () (1735 – 10 August 1815) was a Seneca religious leader of the Iroquois people. He was a half-brother to Cornplanter (), a Seneca war chief. Handsome Lake, a leader and prophet, played a major role in reviving traditional re ...

(1735–1815), Seneca religious leader * Vivika Heino (1910–1995), noted ceramicist, born at Caledonia * Elizabeth Martha Olmsted (1825–1910), poet

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 ...

, the town has a total area of , of which are land and , or 0.57%, are water. The north town line is the border of Monroe County, and the west town line is the border of Genesee County.

New York State Route 5 New York State Route 5 (NY 5) is a state highway that extends for across the state of New York in the United States. It begins at the Pennsylvania state line in the Chautauqua County town of Ripley and passes through Buffalo, Sy ...

is an east–west route in the town.

US Route 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. ...

also crosses the southeast part of the town from west to east.

New York State Route 36 New York State Route 36 (NY 36) is a north–south state highway in the western part of New York (state), New York in the United States. The highway extends for from the New York–Pennsylvania border, Pennsylvania state line at Trou ...

, a north–south highway, intersects both of these highways. The

helps define the east town line.

Adjacent towns and areas

(

Clockwise Two-dimensional rotation can occur in two possible directions or senses of rotation. Clockwise motion (abbreviated CW) proceeds in the same direction as a clock's hands relative to the observer: from the top to the right, then down and then to ...

) * Wheatland * Rush; Avon *

Pavilion In architecture, ''pavilion'' has several meanings; * It may be a subsidiary building that is either positioned separately or as an attachment to a main building. Often it is associated with pleasure. In palaces and traditional mansions of Asia ...

; Le Roy

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 4,567 people, 1,671 households, and 1,268 families residing in the town. The population density was . There were 1,750 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the town was 94.11%

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 ...

, 3.50%

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 ...

, 0.37% Native American, 0.53% Asian, 0.07%

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 ...

, 0.18% from other races, and 1.25% 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 0.83% of the population. There were 1,671 households (out of which 39.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them), 61.3% 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, 9.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 24.1% were non-families. 19.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.73, and the average family size was 3.13. In the town, the population was spread out, with 28.1% under the age of 18, 7.1% from 18 to 24, 30.6% from 25 to 44, 23.4% from 45 to 64, and 10.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females, there were 100.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 99.0 males. The median income for a household in the town was $46,359, and the median income for a family was $50,607. Males had a median income of $37,287 versus $28,159 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 $19,611. About 3.6% of families and 5.0% 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 8.0% of those under age 18 and 0.8% of those age 65 or over.

Communities and locations in the Town of Caledonia

* Baker – A

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

in the northeast part of the town. *

– The village of Caledonia is near the north town line on NY-5 at the junction of NY-36. * Caledonia Fish Hatchery – A state fish breeding location by the north town line, north of Caledonia village on NY-36. * Canawaugus – A hamlet in the southeast part of town on NY-5. It was a former Seneca village. * Maxwell – A hamlet in the northeast part of the town. * Menzie Crossing – A hamlet northeast of Caledonia village near the north town line. * Taylor – A hamlet south of Caledonia village on NY-36. * Toggletown – A hamlet on the south town line, on US-20.

Community amenities

Caledonia's high school is Caledonia-Mumford Central School, or Cal-Mum. The school's athletic teams are known as the Raiders. The Caledonia Fire Department was established in 1887, existing until recently as both a rural fire commission and a village fire department. Currently the Caledonia Fire District is the elected body which provides oversight and for financial needs of the emergency operations. The fire department provides manpower for the fire district and holds social events and fundraisers for the benefit of the membership. In 2013 the Caledonia Fire Department responded to 233 calls for service. More information regarding the Caledonia Fire District can be found at caledoniafiredistrict.org and on Facebook. Ambulance services are provided by CHS Mobile Integrated Healthcare providing ambulance transport and advanced life support response. These services are available for both the village and town residents and currently housed at 3338 Caledonia-Avon Road.

References

External links

*
Brief history note for Caledonia

Big Springs Historical Society and Museum
{{DEFAULTSORT:Caledonia (Town), New York New York (state) populated places on the Genesee River Rochester metropolitan area, New York