Ledyard 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 ...

Cayuga County Cayuga County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 76,248. Its county seat and largest city is Auburn. The county was named for the Cayuga people, one of the Native American tribes in the Iroq ...

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 1,654 at the 2020 census. The town was named in honor of Revolutionary War General Benjamin Ledyard, an early settler of the town. Ledyard is on the western edge of the county and is southwest of Auburn. Ledyard’s principal population center is the Village of Aurora.

Wells College Wells College was a private liberal arts college in Aurora, New York, a village in the Finger Lakes region of the state. From its founding in 1868 until it became coeducational in 2005, Wells was a women's college. The college maintained acad ...

was founded as a college for women in 1868 in the Village of

Aurora An aurora ( aurorae or auroras), also commonly known as the northern lights (aurora borealis) or southern lights (aurora australis), is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly observed in high-latitude regions (around the Arc ...

. It announced its permanent closure in 2024.

History

The south part of Ledyard was in the New York Military Tract, and the northern part was originally a reservation designated for the

Cayuga tribe 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 regio ...

. The first settlers arrived around 1789. It was then part of the town of Scipio, one of the original towns of the Military Tract. The town of Ledyard was established in 1823 as part of a division of towns from the original town of Scipio. The North Street Friends Meetinghouse was 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 ...

in 2005.

Notable person

Henry Wells Henry Wells (December 12, 1805 – December 10, 1878) was an American businessman important in the history of both the American Express Company and Wells Fargo & Company. Wells worked as a freight agent before joining the express business. Hi ...

, founder of

Wells Fargo Wells Fargo & Company is an American multinational financial services company with a significant global presence. The company operates in 35 countries and serves over 70 million customers worldwide. It is a systemically important fi ...

and

American Express American Express Company or Amex is an American bank holding company and multinational financial services corporation that specializes in payment card industry, payment cards. It is headquartered at 200 Vesey Street, also known as American Expr ...

, was from Aurora.

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 is land and , or 25.67%, is water. The town is on the eastern shore of

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 ...

, in the

Finger Lakes 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 (state), New York, in the United States. This region straddles th ...

region. The western town line is the border of Seneca County.

New York State Route 34B New York State Route 34B (NY 34B) is a north–south state highway located within Tompkins County, New York, Tompkins and Cayuga County, New York, Cayuga counties in Central New York in the United States. Its northern terminus is locat ...

and

New York State Route 90 New York State Route 90 (NY 90) is a north–south state highway in the Finger Lakes region of New York in the United States. All but five of the route's are located in Cayuga County, with the remaining situated in Cortland County. ...

are north-south highways in Ledyard.

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 1,832 people, 608 households, and 423 families residing in the town. The population density was . There were 886 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the town was 95.96%

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 ...

, 0.71%

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 ...

, 0.38% Native American, 1.31% Asian, 0.55% from other races, and 1.09% 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 1.15% of the population. There were 608 households, out of which 30.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 59.0% 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, 8.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.4% were non-families. 24.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.5% 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 3.03. In the town, the population was spread out, with 20.4% under the age of 18, 21.3% from 18 to 24, 22.2% from 25 to 44, 23.0% from 45 to 64, and 13.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females, there were 71.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 65.2 males. The median income for a household in the town was $42,857, and the median income for a family was $51,842. Males had a median income of $31,719 versus $24,750 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 $18,231. About 1.9% of families and 3.4% 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 1.6% of those under age 18 and 2.4% of those age 65 or over.

Communities and locations in Ledyard

– The village of Aurora is on NY-90 and the shore of Cayuga Lake. *Barbers Corners – A location in the northeast of Ledyard. *Black Rock – A hamlet west of Ledyard. *Chapel Corners – A location southeast of Aurora. *Cooneys Corners – A location in the northern part of Ledyard. *Ellis Point – A projection into Cayuga Lake by Levanna. *Ledyard – The hamlet of Ledyard is on the town line in the southwest of the town on NY-34B. *Levanna – A hamlet on NY-90 by the shore of Cayuga Lake, north of Aurora. * Long Point State Park is south of Aurora village. *Prospect Corners – A location southeast of Aurora. *Stony Point – A projection into Cayuga Lake north of the state park. *Turney Corners – A location southeast of Aurora. *Willets – A hamlet on the shore of Cayuga Lake, south of the state park.

References

External links

Town of Ledyard official website
{{authority control Towns in Cayuga County, New York Towns in New York (state)