Essex, New York
Encyclopedia
Essex is a town
in Essex County
, New York
, United States overlooking Lake Champlain
. The population was 713 at the 2000 census. The town is named after locations in England.
The Town of Essex is on the eastern edge of the county. It is 17 miles (27.4 km) south-southwest of Burlington, VT which is on the other shore of Lake Champlain, 29 miles (46.7 km) south of Plattsburgh
, 86 miles (138.4 km) south of Montreal, Quebec, and 113 miles (181.9 km) north of Albany, NY. Essex is inside the Adirondack Park.
The region was first settled around 1765 with the intention of forming a baronial estate like those of the lower Hudson River
for landowner and investor, William Gilliland.
The town was formed from a part of the Town of Willsboro
in 1805. It was an important shipbuilding location and port, but that economy collapsed after 1849 with the beginning of railroad lines in the region.
The Essex Village Historic District
, the Essex County Home and Farm
, and the Foothills Baptist Church
are listed with the National Register of Historic Places
.
, the town has a total area of 37.6 square miles (97.4 km²), of which, 31.7 square miles (82.1 km²) of it is land and 5.9 square miles (15.3 km²) of it (15.62%) is water.
The Town of Essex borders at, its east town line, Lake Champlain
and the state of Vermont
.
New York State Route 22
is a north-south highway in Essex.
of 2000, there were 713 people, 302 households, and 202 families residing in the town. The population density
was 22.5 people per square mile (8.7/km²). There were 522 housing units at an average density of 16.5 per square mile (6.4/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 99.72% White, 0.14% Native American, and 0.14% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.14% of the population.
There were 302 households out of which 24.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 51.0% were married couples
living together, 9.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.1% were non-families. 27.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 12.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.35 and the average family size was 2.79.
In the town the population was spread out with 21.3% under the age of 18, 5.3% from 18 to 24, 23.8% from 25 to 44, 29.0% from 45 to 64, and 20.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 45 years. For every 100 females there were 105.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 98.2 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $37,596, and the median income for a family was $40,104. Males had a median income of $26,905 versus $19,583 for females. The per capita income
for the town was $20,087. About 10.8% of families and 11.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 15.1% of those under age 18 and 9.5% of those age 65 or over.
For twenty years the Essex Theatre Company, located near the ferry dock in the Masonic Lodge, has continuously produced stage plays and broadway musicals for summertime enjoyment - and also occasional winter entertainment programs.
Periodically there are adult education programs, such as a history lecture series, at the Whallonsburgh Grange.
. This became a year-round route in 1998.
This route is used by many residents for access to medical care, jobs, school, and shopping. While most years in the past decade the ferry service has run year-round, the ice-breaking ferries usually used on this route have been redeployed to Crown Point, NY to fill in for the Champlain Bridge
which was demolished in 2009.
The first ferry service in Essex began operation around 1790.
Amtrak
service is available in Westport, NY, twelve miles to the south.
. An important fully staffed hospital and full-service emergency room is at CVPH Medical Center
, in Plattsburgh, NY, approximately 35 miles away.
Town
A town is a human settlement larger than a village but smaller than a city. The size a settlement must be in order to be called a "town" varies considerably in different parts of the world, so that, for example, many American "small towns" seem to British people to be no more than villages, while...
in Essex County
Essex County, New York
Essex County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2010 census, the population was 39,370. Its name is from the English county of Essex. Its county seat is Elizabethtown...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, United States overlooking Lake Champlain
Lake Champlain
Lake Champlain is a natural, freshwater lake in North America, located mainly within the borders of the United States but partially situated across the Canada—United States border in the Canadian province of Quebec.The New York portion of the Champlain Valley includes the eastern portions of...
. The population was 713 at the 2000 census. The town is named after locations in England.
The Town of Essex is on the eastern edge of the county. It is 17 miles (27.4 km) south-southwest of Burlington, VT which is on the other shore of Lake Champlain, 29 miles (46.7 km) south of Plattsburgh
Plattsburgh (city), New York
Plattsburgh is a city in and county seat of Clinton County, New York, United States. The population was 19,989 at the 2010 census. The population of the unincorporated areas within the Town of Plattsburgh was 11,870 as of the 2010 census; making the population for the immediate, urban Plattsburgh,...
, 86 miles (138.4 km) south of Montreal, Quebec, and 113 miles (181.9 km) north of Albany, NY. Essex is inside the Adirondack Park.
History
Essex was part of a land grant made to Louis Joseph Robart by French King Louis XV. The land grant was lost after the British took over the region after 1763.The region was first settled around 1765 with the intention of forming a baronial estate like those of the lower Hudson River
Hudson River
The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...
for landowner and investor, William Gilliland.
The town was formed from a part of the Town of Willsboro
Willsboro, New York
Willsboro is a town in Essex County, New York, in the United States, and lies thirty miles south of the city of Plattsburgh. As of the 2000 census, the town population was 1,903...
in 1805. It was an important shipbuilding location and port, but that economy collapsed after 1849 with the beginning of railroad lines in the region.
The Essex Village Historic District
Essex Village Historic District
Essex Village Historic District is a national historic district located at Essex in Essex County, New York. The district contains 150 contributing buildings. It encompasses the historic core of the hamlet of Essex and primarily contains early-19th-century buildings...
, the Essex County Home and Farm
Essex County Home and Farm
Essex County Home and Farm, also known as Whallonsburg County Home and Infirmary, is a historic almshouse and infirmary located at Whallonsburg in Essex County, New York. The property include seven contributing buildings and one contributing site. The core of the complex is a homogeneous cluster...
, and the Foothills Baptist Church
Foothills Baptist Church (Essex, New York)
Foothills Baptist Church is an historic Carpenter Gothic church located at 2172 New York Route 22 in the Boquet section of Essex, New York, in the United States. Built in 1855 as St. John's Episcopal Church, it became the Union Church at Boquet Chapel in 1880, the Church of the Nazarene in 1949 and...
are listed with the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
.
Geography
According to the United States Census BureauUnited States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...
, the town has a total area of 37.6 square miles (97.4 km²), of which, 31.7 square miles (82.1 km²) of it is land and 5.9 square miles (15.3 km²) of it (15.62%) is water.
The Town of Essex borders at, its east town line, Lake Champlain
Lake Champlain
Lake Champlain is a natural, freshwater lake in North America, located mainly within the borders of the United States but partially situated across the Canada—United States border in the Canadian province of Quebec.The New York portion of the Champlain Valley includes the eastern portions of...
and the state of Vermont
Vermont
Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...
.
New York State Route 22
New York State Route 22
New York State Route 22 is a north–south state highway in eastern New York in the United States. It runs parallel to the state's eastern edge from the outskirts of New York City to a short distance south of the Canadian border. At , it is the state's longest north–south route and...
is a north-south highway in Essex.
Demographics
As of the censusCensus
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
of 2000, there were 713 people, 302 households, and 202 families residing in the town. The population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...
was 22.5 people per square mile (8.7/km²). There were 522 housing units at an average density of 16.5 per square mile (6.4/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 99.72% White, 0.14% Native American, and 0.14% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.14% of the population.
There were 302 households out of which 24.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 51.0% were married couples
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
living together, 9.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.1% were non-families. 27.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 12.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.35 and the average family size was 2.79.
In the town the population was spread out with 21.3% under the age of 18, 5.3% from 18 to 24, 23.8% from 25 to 44, 29.0% from 45 to 64, and 20.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 45 years. For every 100 females there were 105.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 98.2 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $37,596, and the median income for a family was $40,104. Males had a median income of $26,905 versus $19,583 for females. The per capita income
Per capita income
Per capita income or income per person is a measure of mean income within an economic aggregate, such as a country or city. It is calculated by taking a measure of all sources of income in the aggregate and dividing it by the total population...
for the town was $20,087. About 10.8% of families and 11.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 15.1% of those under age 18 and 9.5% of those age 65 or over.
Education and Culture
Most of Essex, NY is served by Willsboro Central School District, though Westport Central School District is also used. Additionally some travel across Lake Champlain to Vermont or drive north to Plattsburgh, New York for private school.For twenty years the Essex Theatre Company, located near the ferry dock in the Masonic Lodge, has continuously produced stage plays and broadway musicals for summertime enjoyment - and also occasional winter entertainment programs.
Periodically there are adult education programs, such as a history lecture series, at the Whallonsburgh Grange.
Public transport
Ferry service between Essex, NY and Charlotte, VT is provided by the Lake Champlain Transportation CompanyLake Champlain Transportation Company
The Lake Champlain Transportation Company provides car and passenger ferry service at four points on Lake Champlain in the United States. From 1976 to 2003, it was owned by Burlington, Vermont, businessman Raymond C. Pecor, Jr. who is Chairman of the company's board...
. This became a year-round route in 1998.
This route is used by many residents for access to medical care, jobs, school, and shopping. While most years in the past decade the ferry service has run year-round, the ice-breaking ferries usually used on this route have been redeployed to Crown Point, NY to fill in for the Champlain Bridge
Champlain Bridge (United States)
The Champlain Bridge was a long vehicular bridge in the United States that traversed Lake Champlain between Crown Point, New York and Chimney Point, Vermont. It was opened to traffic in 1929 as a toll bridge; the tolls were removed in 1987...
which was demolished in 2009.
The first ferry service in Essex began operation around 1790.
Amtrak
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak , is a government-owned corporation that was organized on May 1, 1971, to provide intercity passenger train service in the United States. "Amtrak" is a portmanteau of the words "America" and "track". It is headquartered at Union...
service is available in Westport, NY, twelve miles to the south.
Access to Medical Care
Essex, NY is in a rural area in the Adirondack Park, and so most of its access to medical care is via the ferry operated by Lake Champlain Transportation. The nearest emergency room is Elizabethtown Community Hospital, a 25-bed rural hospital with eight doctors on its active medical staff, which is a 17 mile drive. Further away, accessible via 20 minute ferry, is the emergency room of Fletcher Allen Hospital, a large, full-service hospital affiliated with the University of VermontUniversity of Vermont
The University of Vermont comprises seven undergraduate schools, an honors college, a graduate college, and a college of medicine. The Honors College does not offer its own degrees; students in the Honors College concurrently enroll in one of the university's seven undergraduate colleges or...
. An important fully staffed hospital and full-service emergency room is at CVPH Medical Center
CVPH Medical Center
The CVPH Medical Center is a hospital located in Plattsburgh, New York.Champlain Valley Physicians' Hospital was created in 1972 by the merger of the private Physician's Hospital with Champlain Valley Hospital, a charitable hospital operated by the Grey Nuns...
, in Plattsburgh, NY, approximately 35 miles away.
Communities and locations in Essex
- Beggs Point – Small point in the hamlet of Essex. Horseshoe nail and window sash factories where located here before burning down in the early 1900s. Now the town park with playground, fishing pier and boat launch. Sunrise religious services for Easter.
- Boquet River – Its southern branch flows northward through the western portion of the town.
- Boquet (formally West Essex or Wessex) – A hamletHamlet (place)A hamlet is usually a rural settlement which is too small to be considered a village, though sometimes the word is used for a different sort of community. Historically, when a hamlet became large enough to justify building a church, it was then classified as a village...
on NY-22 west of Essex. - Brookfield – A former hamlet in the western part of Essex settled in 1797 by mostly Morris County, NJ and Dutchess County, NY, farmers and bloomers. Cemetery still exists.
- Bluff Point – A point in the southeast portion of Essex hamlet. Lake depth drops to 100 ft off the cliff.
- Bull Run – The hill on south Main Street traveling in Essex hamlet
- Crooked S Hill – The hill west of Boquet after crossing the river. Named from the appearance of Jersey Street (County Road 12) as it twists up the hill.
- Grog Harbor – A shallow bay between Bluff Point and Cannon Point. Named when liquor smugglers had to dump their cargo.
- Canon Point – A shallow projection into Lake Champlain at Craterclub.
- Crater ClubCrater ClubThe Crater Club is a seasonal residential enclave on the shore of Lake Champlain approximately one mile south of Essex, New York within the Adirondack Park region. The club was originally developed as a summer retreat by the naturalist and outdoor writer John Bird Burnham in the early 1900s...
– A hamlet on the shore of Lake Champlain, south of Essex hamlet on County Road 9. - Essex (formerly "Elizabeth") – The hamlet of Essex on the shore of Lake Champlain at the junction of NY-22 and County Road 9. The hamlet is the location of the town government and is a ferry port to Vermont. The village was the first county seat of Essex County when it was formed in 1799 until 1807, when ElizabethtownElizabethtown (hamlet), New YorkElizabethtown is a hamlet in the town of Elizabethtown in Essex County, New York, United States. Many locals in the town, as well as those who surround the area call Elizabethtown, E-Town....
became the county seat. It was founded about 1765. The Essex Village Historic DistrictEssex Village Historic DistrictEssex Village Historic District is a national historic district located at Essex in Essex County, New York. The district contains 150 contributing buildings. It encompasses the historic core of the hamlet of Essex and primarily contains early-19th-century buildings...
encompasses many of the historic buildings. - Essex Station (also known as Merriam Station) – A location southwest of Essex hamlet on NY-22.
- Sandy Beach – A private small sand beach in the northeast part of Essex hamlet.
- Split Rock Point – The easternmost extension of the town into Lake Champlain.
- Whallonsburg – A hamlet in the south part of the town on NY-22. It was founded about 1770. before a fire in the early 1900s, the hamlet produced furniture and other wood products.
- Whallons Bay – A bay of Lake Champlain in the southwest part of Essex. The town beach is located here. Governor Pataki owns a home in Whallon's Bay.
Notable residents
Some notable Essex, NY residents, past and present, include:- Sid CoucheySid CoucheySid Couchey is an American comic book artist best known for his illustration work on the Harvey Comics characters Richie Rich, Little Lotta and Little Dot. His style is known for big, friendly faces and a sharp sense of visual humor....
(May 24, 1919 – ), an American cartoonist. - George HearnGeorge HearnGeorge Hearn is an American actor and singer, primarily in Broadway musical theatre.-Early years:Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Hearn studied philosophy at Southwestern at Memphis, now Rhodes College before he embarked on a career in the theater, training for the stage with actress turned acting...
(born June 18, 1934), an American actor. - Sergeant Frederick JarvisFrederick JarvisSergeant Frederick Jarvis was an American soldier in the United States Army who served with the 1st U.S. Cavalry regiment during the Apache Wars...
(1841 – April 8, 1894), an American soldier and Medal of Honor recipient. - Steven KelloggSteven KelloggSteven Kellogg is an author and illustrator who has contributed over 90 books for children. He is best known for writing books about animals, for which he credits his grandmother ....
, children's book author. - Salim (Sandy) Bonnor Lewis, born January 27, 1939, moved with his family to Essex in 1980, an American investment banker, arbitrageur, merger-maker, founded in 1980 a general partnership, S B Lewis & Company, a member firm of the New York Stock Exchange, originated and closed, negotiating for both sides, the tax free merger of American Express and Shearson Loeb Rhodes, received a presidential pardon from President Clinton on his last day in office - the only pardon of an NYSE member firm chief executive in Wall Street history, see http://sblewis.net, known for litigation that forced the Adirondack Park Agency to contribute $71,690.28 to the farm's litigation cost for government behavior deemed unworthy by Acting Supreme Court Judge Richard B. Meyer in a series of decisions now bedrock in New York State law that allows a farm within the park to build to house farm workers without Park Agency involvement. see http://sblewis.com - the subject of the biographical The Year They Sold Wall Street, by Tim Carrington, Houghton Mifflin, 1985, ed. Nan Talese, he and his wife own and operate Lewis Family Farm, Inc., Essex, New York, the largest farm in the county.
- John L. MerriamJohn L. MerriamJohn L. Merriam was a Minnesota banker, politician and Speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives, representing St. Paul...
(February 6, 1825 – January 12, 1895), a Minnesota banker, politician and Speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives. - George PatakiGeorge PatakiGeorge Elmer Pataki is an American politician who was the 53rd Governor of New York. A member of the Republican Party, Pataki served three consecutive four-year terms from January 1, 1995 until December 31, 2006.- Early life :...
(born June 24, 1945), the 53rd Governor of New York. - Henry H. RossHenry H. RossHenry Howard Ross was an American lawyer and politician from New York.-Life:...
(May 9, 1790 - September 14, 1862), a U.S. Representative from New York. - Peter C. SchultzPeter C. SchultzPeter C. Schultz, Ph.D., is co-inventor of the fiber optics now used worldwide for telecommunications. He is retired President of Heraeus Tenevo Inc., a $200 million technical glass manufacturer specializing in fiber optics and semiconductor markets, and retired Chief Technical Officer North...
, co-inventor of the fiber optics. - Eugene Franklin Skinner (September 13, 1809 – December 15, 1864), a pioneer.
- Reuben WhallonReuben WhallonReuben Whallon was a U.S. Representative from New York.Born in Bedminster, New Jersey, Whallon attended the common schools.He moved to Argyle, Washington County, New York....
(December 7, 1776 - April 15, 1843), a U.S. Representative from New York.