Le Roy, or more commonly LeRoy, 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
Genesee 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 7,662 at the time of the
2020 census. The town is named after one of the original land owners, Herman Le Roy. The town lies in eastern Genesee County. Within the town is 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 ...
of
Le Roy. The
Jell-O
Jell-O (stylized in all caps) is an American brand offering a variety of powdered gelatin dessert (fruit-flavored gels/jellies), pudding, and no-bake cream pie mixes. The original gelatin dessert ( genericized as jello) is the signature of ...
gelatin dessert was invented and first manufactured in Le Roy.
History
The area was first settled in 1793. The town of Le Roy was established in 1812 as the "Town of Bellona" from part of the town of
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 ...
(
Livingston County). The name was later changed to "Le Roy" in 1813, after New York City merchant and land speculator Herman LeRoy.
The
Jell-O
Jell-O (stylized in all caps) is an American brand offering a variety of powdered gelatin dessert (fruit-flavored gels/jellies), pudding, and no-bake cream pie mixes. The original gelatin dessert ( genericized as jello) is the signature of ...
gelatin dessert was invented and first manufactured in Le Roy, and the
Jell-O Museum is located in the town.
General Foods
General Foods Corporation was a company whose direct predecessor was established in the United States by C. W. Post, Charles William (C. W.) Post as the Postum Cereal Company in 1895.
The company changed its name to "General Foods" in 1929, a ...
closed the Jell-O factory in 1964 and relocated to
Dover, Delaware
Dover ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and the List of municipalities in Delaware, second-most populous city of the U.S. state of Delaware. It is also the county seat of Kent County, Delaware, Kent County and the princ ...
.
Le Roy was the home of
Calvin Keeney, who was the first breeder to successfully produce a stringless
green bean
Green beans are young, unripe fruits of various cultivars of the common bean ('' Phaseolus vulgaris''), although immature or young pods of the runner bean ('' Phaseolus coccineus''), yardlong bean ( ''Vigna unguiculata'' subsp. ''sesquipedali ...
.
Le Roy also has a 100-inch tall, 290 lb.
replica of the Statue of Liberty located on Wolcott Street on the banks of Oatka creek.
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 42.2 square miles (109.2 km), all land.
The east town line is the border of
Monroe
Monroe or Monroes may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Monroe (surname)
* Monroe (given name)
* James Monroe, 5th President of the United States
* Marilyn Monroe, actress and model
Places United States
* Monroe, Arkansas, an unincorp ...
and
Livingston counties.
Oatka Creek, a tributary 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 ...
, flows northward through the town and was a source of water power for early mills. The
New York State Thruway
The New York State Thruway (officially the Governor Thomas E. Dewey Thruway and colloquially "the Thruway") is a system of controlled-access toll roads spanning within the U.S. state of New York. It is operated by the New York State Thruway ...
(
Interstate 90
Interstate 90 (I-90) is an east–west transcontinental freeway and the longest Interstate Highway in the United States at . It begins in Seattle, Washington, and travels through the Pacific Northwest, Mountain states, Mountain West, Great Pla ...
) passes across the northern part of the town. The western terminus of
Interstate 490 is also here.
The town rests atop the
Onondaga Formation
The Onondaga Limestone is a group of hard limestones and dolomites of Devonian age that forms geographic features in some areas in which it outcrops; in others, especially its Southern Ontario portion, the formation can be less prominent as a lo ...
which forms an escarpment that faces north and runs east/west, just north of the village. The
limestone
Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...
rock is highly
fossil
A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...
iferous, of
Devonian
The Devonian ( ) is a period (geology), geologic period and system (stratigraphy), system of the Paleozoic era (geology), era during the Phanerozoic eon (geology), eon, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the preceding Silurian per ...
age, and extensively
quarried
A quarry is a type of open-pit mining, open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock (geology), rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some juri ...
. It is used for road building as crushed rock, and for the
manufacture
Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of the
secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to a r ...
of
portland cement
Portland cement is the most common type of cement in general use around the world as a basic ingredient of concrete, mortar (masonry), mortar, stucco, and non-specialty grout. It was developed from other types of hydraulic lime in England in th ...
. In the eastern part of the town is a community named Lime Rock.
Demographics
At the
2000 census there were 7,790 people, 3,037 households, and 2,034 families in the town. The population density was . There were 3,219 housing units at an average density of . The
racial makeup of the town was 96.01% White, 1.87% Black or African American, 0.27% Native American, 0.44% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.21% from other races, and 1.19% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino people of any race were 0.78%.
Of the 3,037 households 31.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.3% were married couples living together, 9.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.0% were non-families. 26.9% of households were one person and 11.3% were one person aged 65 or older. The average household size was 2.49 and the average family size was 3.04.
The age distribution was 25.2% under the age of 18, 6.9% from 18 to 24, 29.4% from 25 to 44, 23.5% from 45 to 64, and 15.1% 65 or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females, there were 93.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.9 males.
The median household income was $39,690 and the median family income was $49,189. Males had a median income of $36,810 versus $23,024 for females. The per capita income for the town was $19,342. About 3.8% of families and 5.6% 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 10.8% of those age 65 or over.
Communities and locations in the town of Le Roy
*Fort Hill – 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 northwest part of the town, north of Le Roy village on Route 19. It is the site of a prehistoric Native American village.
*
Le Roy – a village on Route 5 and Oatka Creek
*
Le Roy Airport (5G0) – a small general aviation airport east of the village on Route 5
*Lime Rock – a hamlet on Route 5 near the eastern town line, east of Le Roy village
2011 illness outbreak
Beginning in August 2011, 14 students (13 girls and one boy) from the LeRoy Junior-Senior High School began reporting perplexing medical symptoms including verbal outbursts,
tic
A tic is a sudden and repetitive motor movement or vocalization that is not rhythmic and involves discrete muscle groups. Tics are typically brief and may resemble a normal behavioral characteristic or gesture.
Tics can be invisible to the obs ...
s, seizure activity and speech difficulty.
In mid-January, five days after a community meeting in which the New York State Department of Health stated their diagnosis could not be revealed publicly due to privacy concerns, two of the girls appeared on
NBC's ''Today Show'' to discuss their frustration with not getting adequate answers.
The next day, Laszlo Mechtler, a neurologist treating most of the girls, was given permission to share the diagnosis of
conversion disorder
Conversion disorder (CD) was a formerly diagnosed psychiatric disorder characterized by abnormal sensory experiences and movement problems during periods of high psychological stress. Individuals diagnosed with CD presented with highly distressin ...
and
mass psychogenic illness
Mass psychogenic illness (MPI), also called mass sociogenic illness, mass psychogenic disorder, epidemic hysteria or mass hysteria, involves the spread of illness symptoms through a population where there is no infectious agent responsible for c ...
. Unsatisfied with the investigation's results, the girls and their parents spoke out publicly against their diagnosis, stating they believed the situation warranted further scrutiny from outside sources. Alternative medical theories were suggested, including
Tourette syndrome
Tourette syndrome (TS), or simply Tourette's, is a common neurodevelopmental disorder that begins in childhood or adolescence. It is characterized by multiple movement (motor) tics and at least one vocal (phonic) tic. Common tics are blinkin ...
and
PANDAS
Pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorders associated with streptococcal infections (PANDAS) is a controversial hypothetical diagnosis for a subset of children with rapid onset of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) or tic disorders. Sy ...
, which Mechtler and his team ruled out.
Erin Brockovich
Erin Brockovich (née Pattee; born June 22, 1960) is an American paralegal, consumer advocate, and environmental activist who was instrumental in building a case against Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) involving groundwater contamination ...
, noted environmental activist, was called to town to investigate
environmental pollution
''Environmental Pollution'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal covering the biological, health, and ecological effects of environmental pollution. It was established in 1980 as two parts: ''Environmental Pollution Series A: Ecological and Biologi ...
from the
1970 Lehigh Valley Railroad derailment as a possible cause.
During this time, many of the girls appeared in the local and national media, as well as posting on social media. As this happened, the illness spread to 20 individuals. Eventually, as doctors encouraged their patients to stay away from the media and the media attention died down, many of the girls' symptoms improved. By the end of the school year in June, one girl was diagnosed with Tourette syndrome, and most of the girls who received treatment for conversion disorder were healthy in time for graduation. No environmental causes were found after repeated testing around the school and surrounding areas of town.
Bartholomew, Wessely and Rubin questioned in 2012 whether interaction on social media (
Facebook
Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...
,
Twitter
Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...
, YouTube and Internet blogs) contributed to mass
psychogenic illness when the adolescent girls reported tic-like movements.
Bartholomew ''et al'' reported twitching epidemics in the US as early as 1939, and wrote that the Leroy outbreak was the "third recorded school outbreak of conversion disorder with motor disturbances to occur in the USA since 2002", but the first in which reports of affected individuals spread via social networks.
[
]
Notable people
* Seth M. Gates, former U.S. congressman from New York
* Ruth Webster Lathrop, physician, medical college professor in Philadelphia
* Dorothy Layne McIntyre
Dorothy Arlene Layne McIntyre (27 January 1917 – 30 August 2015) was an African-American aviator and educator. In 1940, she became the first African-American woman to receive a pilot's license from the Civil Aeronautics Authority.
Biography ...
, first African-American woman to receive a pilot's license from the Civil Aeronautics Authority
The Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) was an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the federal government of the United States, formed in 1940 from a split of the Civil Aeronautics Authority and abolished in 1985, that regulated A ...
* Erin K. O'Shea
Erin K. O'Shea is an American biologist who is president of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI). In 2013, she was named HHMI's vice president and chief scientific officer. Prior to that, she was a professor of molecular and Cellular Biology ...
, President of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) and Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology and Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Harvard University
* Pearle Bixby Waite, native Le Roy man who invented the modern recipe for JELL-O. His wife is noted for coining the name. Jell-O 1-2-3.
See also
* Marion Steam Shovel (Le Roy, New York)
References
External links
Town website
Le Roy Town, Genesee County, New York Genweb Project
{{authority control
Towns in Genesee County, New York
Towns in New York (state)
Onondaga limestone