Canisteo, New York
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Canisteo () 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 Steuben County, New York, United States. The population was 3,294 at the 2020 census. The name was taken from a former Native American village located there, and is
Iroquoian The Iroquoian languages () are a language family of indigenous peoples of North America. They are known for their general lack of labial consonants. The Iroquoian languages are polysynthetic and head-marking. As of 2020, almost all surviving I ...
in origin. The Town of Canisteo is in the western part of the county, southeast of
Hornell Hornell is a city in Steuben County, New York, United States. The population was 8,259 at the 2020 census. The city is named after the Hornell family, early settlers. The City of Hornell is surrounded by Town of Hornellsville. Hornell is about ...
. The town contains a
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 ...
also named Canisteo.


Etymology

The name "Canisteo" derives from the
Seneca language Seneca (; in Seneca, , or ) is the language of the Seneca people, one of the Six Nations of the (Iroquois League); it is an Iroquoian language, spoken at the time of contact in the western part of New York. While the name ''Seneca'', attested ...
and translates roughly to "board on the water".


History

The
Senecas 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 ...
had a major village here called "Kah-nis-ti-oh." Canisteo is rich in Indian lore. The first settlers arrived around 1788, making Canisteo one of the earliest locations occupied in the county. A large proportion of the first settlers of Canisteo were from Pennsylvania, since at the time access was primarily via the
Susquehanna River The Susquehanna River ( ; Unami language, Lenape: ) is a major river located in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, crossing three lower Northeastern United States, Northeast states (New York, Pennsylvani ...
; there were no direct links to Albany or New York City. The town was formed in 1796 at the time of the creation of the county and is one of its original towns.
A local writer, in the year 1811, in describing the town of Canisteo says, "it is miles long, north and south, by wide; its area is . The Canisteo River courses centrally across the town, and is boatable from
Arkport Arkport is a village in Steuben County, New York, United States. It is located in the town of Hornellsville, and is north of the city of Hornell. The population was 844 at the 2010 census. The name comes from the barges used to ship products t ...
to
Tioga Tioga may refer to: United States communities *Tioga, California, former name of Bennettville, California *Tioga, Colorado * Tioga, Florida * Tioga, Iowa * Tioga, Louisiana * Tioga, Michigan * Tioga, New York, a town in Tioga County *Tioga County, ...
, in the town of Painted Post. Boats descend the Canisteo laden with one thousand bushels of wheat. The settlements are of recent date, and still retain their first local names. At Hornell's Mills, on the Canisteo, is a ferry and a road of pretty extensive travel; here is located the Canisteo Post-office."
Products were shipped via the Canisteo, Chemung, and Susquehanna Rivers to the port of
Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...
.
Hornell Hornell is a city in Steuben County, New York, United States. The population was 8,259 at the 2020 census. The city is named after the Hornell family, early settlers. The City of Hornell is surrounded by Town of Hornellsville. Hornell is about ...
was originally a village in the town of Canisteo. From parts of Canisteo came, in whole or part, the Towns of West Union, Hartsville, Hornellsville (1820), Troupsburg (1808, 1818),
Greenwood Green wood is unseasoned wood. Greenwood or Green wood may also refer to: People * Greenwood (surname) Settlements Australia * Greenwood, Queensland, a locality in the Toowoomba Region * Greenwood, Western Australia, a suburb of Perth ...
(1827), and
Jasper Jasper, an aggregate of microgranular quartz and/or cryptocrystalline chalcedony and other mineral phases, is an opaque, impure variety of silica, usually red, yellow, brown or green in color; and rarely blue. The common red color is due to ...
(1837). The population of Canisteo in 1905 was 3,171. Residents of Canisteo settled Canisteo Township, Dodge County, Minnesota.


Living sign

The Canisteo Living Sign is the largest living sign in the world, noted by both
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and the Registry of Historical Places. It is by , and consists of
Scotch pine ''Pinus sylvestris'', the Scots pine (UK), Scotch pine (US), Baltic pine, or European red pine is a species of tree in the pine family Pinaceae that is native to Eurasia. It can readily be identified by its combination of fairly short, blue-gre ...
. The seeds for it were planted in 1934.


Business and industry

The original activities in the town of Canisteo were farming and lumbering; the
Canisteo River The Canisteo River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed August 8, 2011 tributary of the Tioga River in western New York in the United States. It drains a dissected pl ...
offered transportation for products. After arrival of the Erie Railroad in 1851, the Village of Canisteo was home to a variety of small manufacturers. In the early 21st century Canisteo was the administrative center of the Canisteo Wind Farm, producing electricity from southwestern Steuben County and adjacent areas.


Schools

The Town of Canisteo's schools are all located in the village of Canisteo.


One room schools

Canisteo's first school was a one-room school on Greenwood Street, across from the present Baptist Church. A schoolhouse was built in 1826. There were a variety of one-room schools around the township.


Canisteo Graded School

The oldest school building, School No. 1 on the 1873 Atlas map, also called Canisteo Graded School and Canisteo Union School, was a wooden frame building at 22 Fifth Street. It began as what would be called today an elementary school. In a news story on the best students of 1893–1894 we see that there were five teachers, all women, plus the male principal, who also taught. Each taught two grades in a single classroom, except for the third grade, which was evidently larger and split into two divisions, which occupied one room.
Kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cen ...
had its own room and two divisions. There were five classrooms, and 11th grade the highest. In 1900, a report on the "annual school meeting", held in the "union school building", reveals that the school would cost $7,947 () to run for the coming year, of which $4,495.32 () would be raised by tax. There were 54 voters at the meeting, which reduced the Board of Education from nine to five members. After its abandonment in 1914 when the Greenwood Street Elementary School was built, it became Strait's Mill, then a feed store, before being torn down about 1952 and replaced by a bus garage. Adjacent to it to the south, between Fifth and Sixth Streets, is the Rotary Field, which remained the venue for school sports until the 1990s, when new facilities were built on Purdy Creek Road.


Canisteo Academy

Canisteo Academy was the second high school, at the time called academies, in Steuben County (the first was the long-vanished
Addison Addison may refer to: Places Canada * Addison, Ontario, a community United States * Addison, Alabama, a town * Addison, Illinois, a village * Addison, Kentucky, an unincorporated community * Addison, Maine, a town * Addison, Michigan, a villag ...
Academy). It came into legal existence in 1868, and obtained funding to build a brick building on Greenwood Street, which opened in 1871. There was no similar school in Hornellsville (
Hornell Hornell is a city in Steuben County, New York, United States. The population was 8,259 at the 2020 census. The city is named after the Hornell family, early settlers. The City of Hornell is surrounded by Town of Hornellsville. Hornell is about ...
),
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, or Corning; in Hornellsville none appears in the records until St. Ann's Academic School, in 1894. To reach another academy from Canisteo one had to go northwest, to
Alfred, New York Alfred is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in Allegany County, New York, Allegany County, New York (state), New York, United States. The population was 4,896 at the 2020 census. The Town of Alfred has a Administrative divisions ...
, in
Allegheny County Allegheny County ( ) is a county in Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,250,578, making it the state's second-most populous county, after Philadelphia County. Its county seat and most populous city is Pit ...
. The Addison Academy was to the southeast. Canisteo Academy was founded by Rev. Lewis F. Laine (1806–1891). "It had a very creditable observatory, equipped with a large revolving telescope—the only one in the county." The
New York and Pennsylvania Railroad The New York & Pennsylvania Railroad (NYP) was a single track, shortline railroad running on a route described as east—west in the company's timetables, but closer to an arc: almost due south along Bennett's Creek from Canisteo through the ha ...
(1896–1916) crossed Academy St., where it stopped at a platform for student and teacher use. Students came from as far as Pennsylvania, at least . Some stayed during the week in
boarding house A boarding house is a house (frequently a family home) in which lodging, lodgers renting, rent one or more rooms on a nightly basis and sometimes for extended periods of weeks, months, or years. The common parts of the house are maintained, and ...
s. Students paid tuition until 1897, when it became a free public school. Tuition in 1874 was $10 per term. At that time the following subjects were offered, arranged by school department: Latin, Greek, German, French, and English language; arithmetic, algebra, and geometry;
natural philosophy Natural philosophy or philosophy of nature (from Latin ''philosophia naturalis'') is the philosophical study of physics, that is, nature and the physical universe, while ignoring any supernatural influence. It was dominant before the develop ...
(science), botany, geology, physiology, anatomy, and geography. They were not all taught in every term. In 1901,
Regents Exams In New York State, Regents Examinations are statewide standardized examinations in core high school subjects. Students were required to pass these exams to earn a Regents Diploma. To graduate, students are required to have earned appropriate cred ...
were given in
rhetoric Rhetoric is the art of persuasion. It is one of the three ancient arts of discourse ( trivium) along with grammar and logic/ dialectic. As an academic discipline within the humanities, rhetoric aims to study the techniques that speakers or w ...
,
civics In the field of political science, civics is the study of the civil and political rights and obligations of citizens in a society. The term ''civics'' derives from the Latin word ''civicus'', meaning "relating to a citizen". In U.S. politics ...
, economics,
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(Latin),
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(Latin),
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(Greek), and
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.
Principal Principal may refer to: Title or rank * Principal (academia), the chief executive of a university ** Principal (education), the head of a school * Principal (civil service) or principal officer, the senior management level in the UK Civil Ser ...
in 1894 was D. M. Estee, A.M., author of a textbook on government. A week-long Teachers' Institute was held at the academy during vacation periods. In 1892, it was held on January 11–15, and again on December 19–23.


Twentieth-century schools

An elementary school was built in 1914 just to the south of the academy, replacing the 5th Street building. In 1937, with consolidation of the town schools, the academy building was demolished, as was the Elementary School with the exception of the heating plant, in the rear. A new Canisteo Central School was constructed, attaching to the preserved heating plant portion of the elementary school, constructing a new front and main entrance facing Greenwood Street, connecting with the portion of the building occupying the academy site. This is today (2019) the Canisteo–Greenwood High School. An addition was constructed in 1949, containing a cafeteria, music rooms, and classrooms. In 1959, a new elementary school was constructed further south, at 120 Greenwood Street, including a competition swimming pool. In the vote authorizing the construction, the swimming pool was on the ballot separately, but both passed, the pool by a smaller margin. At present the building houses both the elementary and a middle school. In 2004, the Canisteo schools merged with those of Greenwood to form the Canisteo-Greenwood School District. Canisteo-Greenwood in 2017 is the only school in Steuben County that has an orchestra as well as a band. The only other orchestra, at Corning Northside in the much larger city of Corning, closed about 1990.


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 54.4 square miles (140.8 km2), all land. The
Canisteo River The Canisteo River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed August 8, 2011 tributary of the Tioga River in western New York in the United States. It drains a dissected pl ...
flows west to east through the northern part of the town.
New York State Route 248 New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, 1995 * "New" (Daya song), 2017 * "New" (No Doubt song), 19 ...
begins at
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 ...
in Canisteo village.


Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 3,583 people, 1,423 households, and 980 families residing in the town. The population density was . There were 1,704 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the town was 98.24%
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 ...
, 0.20%
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 ...
or
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 ...
, 0.17% Native American, 0.53% Asian, 0.25% from other races, and 0.61% 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 0.84% of the population. There were 1,423 households, out of which 30.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.5% were married couples living together, 9.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.1% were non-families. 26.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 13.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.52 and the average family size was 3.04. In the town, the population was spread out, with 26.2% under the age of 18, 7.7% from 18 to 24, 24.9% from 25 to 44, 25.8% from 45 to 64, and 15.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females, there were 93.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.2 males. The median income for a household in the town was $35,308, and the median income for a family was $41,859. Males had a median income of $32,225 versus $20,192 for females. The per capita income for the town was $15,162. About 8.8% of families and 11.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 11.9% of those under age 18 and 2.3% of those age 65 or over.


Communities and locations in the Town of Canisteo

*Adrian – A hamlet in the northeast part of the town, east of Canisteo village on County Road 119 (Canisteo River Road) by the Canisteo River. *Bennetts – A hamlet to the south of the village, on NY-248 and Bennetts Creek. A
flag stop In public transport, a request stop, flag stop, or whistle stop is a bus stop, stop or train station, station at which buses or trains, respectively, stop only on request; that is, only if there are passengers or freight to be picked up or drop ...
on the
New York & Pennsylvania Railroad The New York & Pennsylvania Railroad (NYP) was a single track, shortline railroad running on a route described as east—west in the company's timetables, but closer to an arc: almost due south along Bennett's Creek from Canisteo, New York, Cani ...
. *Bennetts Creek – A north-flowing stream entering the Canisteo River by Canisteo village. *Browns Crossing – A hamlet by the east town line on County Road 119 (Canisteo River Road) by the Canisteo River. * Canisteo – The Village of Canisteo, at the junction of Routes 36 (Main Street) and 248 (Greenwood Street), about one mile west of the Canisteo River, County Route 128 (older than NY Route 36), and the former
Erie Erie is a city on the south shore of Lake Erie and the county seat of Erie County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is the fifth-most populous city in Pennsylvania and the most populous in Northwestern Pennsylvania with a population of 94,831 ...
train line and depot. * Canisteo Center – A hamlet east of Canisteo village on County Road 119 (Canisteo River Road). The original village, until the railway station, over a mile to the north, was built in the mid-nineteenth century. *Carson – Another name for Canisteo Center (to avoid confusion with Canisteo) *Dead Man's Hole – A swimming area on the west bank of Bennetts Creek south of Canisteo village and east of NY 36. *Fall Creek A hamlet to the south of the village but north of Bennetts, on NY-248 and Bennetts Creek. A
flag stop In public transport, a request stop, flag stop, or whistle stop is a bus stop, stop or train station, station at which buses or trains, respectively, stop only on request; that is, only if there are passengers or freight to be picked up or drop ...
on the
New York & Pennsylvania Railroad The New York & Pennsylvania Railroad (NYP) was a single track, shortline railroad running on a route described as east—west in the company's timetables, but closer to an arc: almost due south along Bennett's Creek from Canisteo, New York, Cani ...
. *Gravel Run – A hamlet north of South Canisteo on NY-36. *Purdy Creek – An east-flowing stream entering Bennett's Creek by Canisteo village. "Purdy" is a regional, supposedly uneducated pronunciation of "pretty". *Rock Run – A location north of South Canisteo. * South Canisteo – A hamlet southeast of Canisteo village on NY-36.


See also

*
Glenwood Inn (Hornellsville, New York) The Glenwood Inn was "one of the best known summer resorts in this section of the state and Hornell's leading place of recreation". Glenwood Park was south of Hornellsville (after 1906, Hornell) and north of Canisteo (village), New York, Canist ...
* Hornell Traction Company


References


Further reading

* Steve Cotton, ''Canisteo'', Arcadia, 2013, . * Harlo Hakes, ed., ''Landmarks of Steuben County, New York'', Syracuse, 1896, "History of Canisteo, NY", consulted Oct 28, 2014. *


External links


Canisteo history/links

1857 map

1873 map
{{authority control 1796 establishments in New York (state) Towns in Steuben County, New York Towns in New York (state)