Falconer is 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 ...

in Chautauqua 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 2,284 at the 2020 census. Falconer is within the town of Ellicott and is on the eastern edge of the city of Jamestown.

History

The area now known as Falconer was inhabited by the

Erie People The Erie people were an Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands historically living on the south shore of Lake Erie. An Iroquoian-speaking tribe, they lived in what is now western New York, northwestern Pennsylvania, and northern Ohio b ...

until the mid-1600s. Five years of war with the

Seneca Nation 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 ...

led to the Erie Nation's decimation; their people migrated and were absorbed into the Seneca community, who then inhabited this land. During the Revolutionary War, the thriving Seneca Nation sided with the losing British. In 1779, George Washington organized the

Sullivan Expedition The 1779 Sullivan Expedition (also known as the Sullivan-Clinton Expedition, the Sullivan Campaign, and the Sullivan-Clinton Campaign) was a United States military campaign under the command of General John Sullivan (general), John Sullivan duri ...

, a military campaign intended to weaken Loyalist an
Haudenosaunee
(Iroquois) communities. The Seneca signed the Treaty at Big Tree in 1797, surrendering most of their lands to the United States government. By White settlers, Falconer was originally called Worksburg, after Edward Work, who purchased the land from the

Holland Land Company The Holland Land Company was an unincorporated syndicate of thirteen Dutch investors from Amsterdam,Kirby, C.D. (1976). ''The Early History of Gowanda and The Beautiful Land of the Cattaraugus''. Gowanda, NY: Niagara Frontier Publishing Company ...

in August 1807. The first Falconer to own the land was Robert Falconer, who bought it from Edward Work in 1836. His son, Patrick, later consolidated his land holdings in the future village. In 1874 the community received its present name, after either William T. Falconer (1850–1915) or his father Patrick, who was on the board of directors of the Allegheny & Pittsburg Railroad and donated a large tract of land through town to the railroad concern. This resulted in the railroad line being routed through the middle of the community. Route 380 in the village retains the name "Work Street" after the town's founder (it also now serves as a

double entendre A double entendre (plural double entendres) is a figure of speech or a particular way of wording that is devised to have a double meaning, one of which is typically obvious, and the other often conveys a message that would be too socially unacc ...

as the village's various industrial sites are on the same road and thus many people "work" there). The village of Falconer was incorporated in 1891.

John Cheever John William Cheever (May 27, 1912 – June 18, 1982) was an American short story writer and novelist. He is sometimes called "the Chekhov of the suburbs". His fiction is mostly set on the Upper East Side of Manhattan; the Westchester suburbs ...

selected the village as the location for the fictional Falconer State Prison in his novel '' Falconer''.

Geography

Falconer is located in the eastern part of the town of Ellicott at (42.118908, -79.200207). It is bordered to the west by the city of Jamestown, while its eastern tip touches the border of the town of

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. The

Chadakoin River The Chadakoin River is a stream that is a tributary of the Conewango Creek. The Chadakoin lies entirely in Chautauqua County in Western New York in the United States. The stream drains an area of , covering much of Chautauqua County. The cree ...

, the outlet of

Chautauqua Lake Chautauqua Lake is located entirely within Chautauqua County, New York, United States. The lake is approximately long and wide at its greatest width. The surface area is approximately . The maximum depth is about . The shoreline is about of ...

, flows from Jamestown and passes through the village, meeting Cassadaga Creek to the northeast at Levant. The river system is part of the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...

basin via

Conewango Creek Conewango Creek is a tributary of the Allegheny River in Pennsylvania and western New York in the United States. The creek's drainage covers much of southeastern Chautauqua County, New York, and western Cattaraugus County, New York. The creek' ...

and the

Allegheny River The Allegheny River ( ; ; ) is a tributary of the Ohio River that is located in western Pennsylvania and New York (state), New York in the United States. It runs from its headwaters just below the middle of Pennsylvania's northern border, nor ...

. 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 village has a total area of , all land.

New York State Route 394 New York State Route 394 (NY 394) is a state highway located within Cattaraugus and Chautauqua counties in southwestern New York in the United States. Its western terminus is located on the shore of Lake Erie at an intersection with ...

(east-to-west) and Chautauqua County Route 380 (north-to-south) are the primary routes through Falconer. Access to and from Interstate 86 is available via exit 13, just east of the village. County Route 65 enters the village from the southeast. Falconer is unusual among villages in the area in that its speed limit is 25 miles per hour, the lowest of any village or town in Chautauqua County; Route 394 has a 35 mile-per-hour posted speed limit.

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 2,540 people, 1,109 households, and 699 families residing in the village. The population density was . There were 1,216 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the village was 97.8%

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 ...

, 0.6%

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 ...

, 0.5% Native American, 0.3% Asian, 0.1% from other races, and 0.7% 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 1.1% of the population. There were 1,109 households, out of which 29.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.5% 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, 11.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 37.0% were non-families. 31.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 15.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.29 and the average family size was 2.88. In the village, the population was spread out, with 24.0% under the age of 18, 7.4% from 18 to 24, 27.0% from 25 to 44, 21.6% from 45 to 64, and 20.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39.9 years. For every 100 females, there were 92.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 86.1 males. The median income for a household in the village was $32,222, and the median income for a family was $41,711. Males had a median income of $34,961 versus $21,250 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 village was $15,205. About 6.2% of families and 10.1% 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 13.1% of those under age 18 and 12.9% of those age 65 or over.

References

External links

Village of Falconer official website
{{authority control Villages in New York (state) Villages in Chautauqua County, New York