Danby 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 Tompkins 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 3,457 at the 2020 census. The town is in the southern part of the county and is south of the city of Ithaca.

History

The

Cayuga people The Cayuga ( Cayuga: Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫʼ, "People of the Great Swamp") are one of the five original constituents of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois), a confederacy of Native Americans in New York. The Cayuga homeland lies in the Finger Lakes re ...

, one of the Six Nations of the

Haudenosaunee The Iroquois ( ), also known as the Five Nations, and later as the Six Nations from 1722 onwards; alternatively referred to by the Endonym and exonym, endonym Haudenosaunee ( ; ) are an Iroquoian languages, Iroquoian-speaking Confederation#Ind ...

, occupied the land at the head of Cayuga Lake for centuries. Indigenous peoples were largely forced out of Upstate New York by the Sullivan-Clinton Expedition in 1779. The land that would become the Town of Danby was a part of the Watkins and Flint Purchase, a 336,380 acre patent granted by New York State to numerous eastern investors in 1794. Danby's first European-American settlers, including Isaac and John Dumond and Jacob and Joseph Yaple, arrived in 1795. The town of Danby was created from the town of Spencer on February 22, 1811. Danby was part of Tioga County until 1822 when it was annexed by Tompkins County. In 1839, a part of the town of Caroline was added to Danby, and part of Danby was lost to the town of Dryden in 1856. The Ithaca-Owego Turnpike was completed through Danby in 1811, connecting Cayuga Lake with 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 ...

. Today, Route 96B generally follows the same route and continues to provide an important connection between Ithaca and Binghamton and communities downstate.

Notable people

* Prince and Lement Duplex,

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 ...

Revolutionary War veteran and his wife who moved to Danby from

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

in 1811 * William Grant Egbert, violinist and founder of the Ithaca Conservatory of Music in 1892, which would later become

Ithaca College Ithaca College is a private college in Ithaca (town), New York, Ithaca, New York. It was founded by William Egbert in 1892 as a Music school, conservatory of music. Ithaca College is known for its media-related programs and entertainment program ...

, was born in Danby * Wilson Greatbatch, engineer and inventor from Buffalo, who held more than 325 patents, lived in Danby during his education at

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

in the late 1940s * Samuel Parker, presbyterian minister who was ordained at the Danby Federated Church in 1812; author of ''Parker's Exploring Tour Beyond the Rocky Mountains'', an account of his 1835 trip to the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (PNW; ) is a geographic region in Western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though no official boundary exists, the most common ...

Geography

Tompkins County is often included in the

Finger Lakes Region The Finger Lakes are a group of eleven long, narrow, roughly north–south lakes located directly south of Lake Ontario in an area called the ''Finger Lakes region'' in New York, in the United States. This region straddles the northern and tra ...

of New York State, but is sometimes included in the Southern Tier Region. The physical geography of Danby mirrors this duality as the drainage divide between the Susquehanna River and

Lake Ontario Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. The Canada–United Sta ...

runs across the town. Generally, waters in the northern and western portions of the town flow north into

Cayuga Lake Cayuga Lake (, or ) is the longest of central New York's glacial Finger Lakes, and is the second largest in surface area (marginally smaller than Seneca Lake) and second largest in volume. It is just under long. Its average width is , and i ...

, Lake Ontario, and the St. Lawrence River, while waters in the southeastern portion of the town flow south into the

and

Chesapeake Bay The Chesapeake Bay ( ) is the largest estuary in the United States. The bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula, including parts of the Ea ...

. Danby is situated along the northern edge of the

Allegheny Plateau The Allegheny Plateau ( ) is a large dissected plateau area of the Appalachian Mountains in western and central New York, northern and western Pennsylvania, northern and western West Virginia, and eastern Ohio. It is divided into the unglacia ...

, part of the

Appalachian Mountains The Appalachian Mountains, often called the Appalachians, are a mountain range in eastern to northeastern North America. The term "Appalachian" refers to several different regions associated with the mountain range, and its surrounding terrain ...

. The town is characterized by three primary land forms: * The deep north-south valley of Cayuga Inlet in the western part of the town * The western slopes of the Sixmile Creek valley in the northeastern part of the town * A highland plateau in the central portion of the town rising in the north to Ithaca's South Hill and narrowing in the south into the valley of Willseyville Creek Elevations range from approximately 450 feet above sea level where Cayuga Inlet crosses the northern town line, to about 1230 feet at Town Hall in Danby Hamlet, to just over 1800 feet at Dawes Hill in the southwestern part of the town and Roundtop in the southeastern part of the town. The dramatic hill and valley lands of Danby have sometimes been referred to as the 'Danby Highlands'. 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 is land and (0.33%) is water.

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 2010, there were 3,007 people, 1,187 households, and 830 families residing in the town. There were 1,264 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the town as 93.65%

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 ...

, 2.69%

, 0.17% Native American, 1.06% Asian, 0.43% from other races, and 2.00% 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 1.70% of the population. There were 1,187 households, out of which 33.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.6% 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, 8.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.0% were non-families. 21.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 5.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.53 and the average family size was 2.94. In the town, the population was spread out, with 24.5% under the age of 18, 6.7% from 18 to 24, 30.0% from 25 to 44, 28.9% from 45 to 64, and 9.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females, there were 103.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 98.2 males. The median income for a household in the town was $50,348, and the

median income The median income is the income amount that divides a population into two groups, half having an income above that amount, and half having an income below that amount. It may differ from the mean (or average) income. Both of these are ways of unde ...

for a family was $52,303. Males had a median income of $34,181 versus $30,136 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 $23,078. About 3.9% of families and 5.1% 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 5.0% of those under age 18 and 2.8% of those age 65 or over.

Communities and locations in Danby

* Danby - a hamlet in the central part of the town * West Danby - a hamlet in the southwestern part of the town *South Danby - a small hamlet in the southeastern section of the town *Caroline Depot - an area in the northeastern part of the town, on the border with Caroline, that was a hamlet in the 19th and early 20th centuries *Jennings Pond - a portion of Buttermilk Falls State Park located in the central part of the town, near Danby hamlet *Point O' Rocks – a location in Danby State Forest, near the intersection of Michigan Hollow and Bald Hill Road *Bald Hill - an area in the central part of the town, between Danby and West Danby hamlets, that was a community in the 19th and early 20th centuries. This area is now part of Danby State Forest. *White Hawk – An

ecovillage An ecovillage is a traditional or intentional community that aims to become more socially, culturally, economically and/or environmentally sustainable. An ecovillage strives to have the least possible negative impact on the natural environment ...

that is to the south of Ithaca.

Transportation

New York State Route 96B (Danby Road) runs north-south through the central portion of the town, generally along the route of the 1811 Ithaca-Owego Turnpike. New York State Routes 34/ 96 runs north-south through the western portion of the town, through the valley of the Cayuga Inlet. A

Norfolk Southern Railway The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States. Headquartered in Atlanta, the company was formed in 1982 with the merger of the Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway. The comp ...

branch line between Sayre, PA and Ludlowville, NY runs through the western portion of the town, through the valley of the Cayuga Inlet. This railroad was built in 1871 as the Ithaca & Athens Railroad and later become part of the

Lehigh Valley Railroad The Lehigh Valley Railroad was a railroad in the Northeastern United States built predominantly to haul anthracite, anthracite coal from the Coal Region in Northeastern Pennsylvania to major consumer markets in Philadelphia, New York City, and ...

. There was a depot in West Danby, on the north side of Station Road, east of the tracks. Passenger service to West Danby ended in the 1940s and passenger service on this line ended in 1961. A former branch line of the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad ran across the far northeastern part of the town, along the border with the Town of Caroline. This was originally built in 1834 as the Ithaca and Owego Railroad, one of the first in the United States. The line originally included two inclined planes to descend into Ithaca. These were rebuilt as a switchback railroad and leased to the DL&W in 1855. The line was abandoned in 1956. The Finger Lakes Trail crosses the town east-west through the Danby State Forest.

References

External links

Town of Danby

(site down 2017) {{Coord, 42, 21, 08, N, 76, 28, 51, W, type:city_region:US-NY, display=title Towns in Tompkins County, New York Towns in New York (state) Populated places established in 1811 1811 establishments in New York (state)