Livingston County, New York

History

When counties were established in New York State in 1683, the present Livingston County was part of Albany County. This was an enormous county, including the northern part of New York State as well as all of the present State of Vermont and, in theory, extending westward to the Pacific Ocean. This county was reduced in size on July 3, 1766 by the creation of Cumberland County, and further on March 16, 1770 by the creation of Gloucester County, both containing territory now in Vermont.

On March 12, 1772, what was left of Albany County was split into three parts, one remaining under the name Albany County. One of the other pieces, Tryon County, contained the western portion (and thus, since no western boundary was specified, theoretically still extended west to the Pacific). The eastern boundary of Tryon County was approximately five miles west of the present city of Schenectady, and the county included the western part of the Adirondack Mountains and the area west of the West Branch of the Delaware River. The area then designated as Tryon County now includes 37 counties of New York State. The county was named for William Tryon, colonial governor of New York.

In the years prior to 1776, most of the Loyalists in Tryon County fled to Canada. In 1784, following the peace treaty that ended the American Revolutionary War, the name of Tryon County was changed to Montgomery County in order to honor the general, Richard Montgomery, who had captured several places in Canada and died attempting to capture the city of Quebec, replacing the name of the hated British governor.

In 1789, Ontario County was split off from Montgomery. The actual area split off from Montgomery County was much larger than the present county, also including the present Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Erie, Genesee, Livingston, Monroe, Niagara, Orleans, Steuben, Wyoming, Yates, and part of Schuyler and Wayne Counties.

Genesee County was created by a splitting of Ontario County in 1802. This was much larger than the present Genesee County, however. It contained the present Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Erie, Niagara, Orleans, Wyoming, and portions of Livingston and Monroe Counties.

Livingston County was formed from Genesee and Ontario Counties in 1821.

Livingston County is home to the State University of New York, College at Geneseo (now SUNY Geneseo)

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 640 square miles (1,700 km²), of which 632 square miles (1,640 km²) is land and 8.5 square miles (22 km²) (1.3%) is water.

Livingston County is located in the Finger Lakes region, south of Rochester and east of Buffalo.

Letchworth State Park in partly in the western part of the county. The Genesee River flows northward through the county.

The Rochester and Southern Railroad (RSR) traverses the county from Greigsville south through Mount Morris to Dansville.

Adjacent counties

Government and politics

Livingston County is governed by a 17–member legislature headed by a chairman.

Representation at other levels of government

Livingston County is part of:

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 64,328 people, 22,150 households, and 15,349 families residing in the county. The population density was 102 people per square mile (39/km²). There were 24,023 housing units at an average density of 38 per square mile (15/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 94.04% White, 3.01% African American, 0.27% Native American, 0.76% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.85% from other races, and 1.04% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.27% of the population. 22.5% were of German, 17.7% Irish, 14.3% Italian, 12.8% English and 7.0% American ancestry according to Census 2000. 95.8% spoke English and 2.0% Spanish as their first language.

There were 22,150 households out of which 34.00% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.80% were married couples living together, 10.00% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.70% were non-families. 23.10% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.40% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.60 and the average family size was 3.05.

In the county, the population was spread out with 23.40% under the age of 18, 14.20% from 18 to 24, 28.90% from 25 to 44, 22.10% from 45 to 64, and 11.40% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females there were 100.70 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 99.00 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $42,066, and the median income for a family was $50,513. Males had a median income of $36,599 versus $25,228 for females. The per capita income for the county was $18,062. About 5.80% of families and 10.40% of the population were below the poverty line, including 9.70% of those under age 18 and 6.50% of those age 65 or over.

Hamlet

Notable people