New Lisbon, New York
Encyclopedia
New Lisbon is a town
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 Otsego County
Otsego County, New York
Otsego County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. The 2010 population was 62,259. The county seat is Cooperstown. The name Otsego is from a Mohawk word meaning "place of the rock."-History:...

, 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
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. The population was 1,116 at the 2000 census.

The Town of New Lisbon is in the west-central part of the county. It is north of the City of Oneonta
Oneonta, New York
Oneonta is a city in southern Otsego County, New York, USA. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, had a population of 13,901. Its nickname is "City of the Hills." While the word "oneonta" is of undetermined origin, it is popularly believed to mean "place of open rocks" in the Iroquois language...

.

History

The town was first settled around 1773, but most pioneers did not enter the area until after the Revolutionary War. It is mentioned that a cultivated apple orchard was found by early settlers on the west side of the Butternut Creek near Noblesville, presumably planted by Native Americans.

The town was made from part of Pittsfield
Pittsfield, New York
Pittsfield is a town in Otsego County, New York, United States. The population was 1,295 at the 2000 census.The Town of Pittsfield is on the west border of the county, northwest of the City of Oneonta.- History :...

 in 1806, but was then called "Lisbon." The name was changed to "New Lisbon" in 1808. Spafford's 1810 "Gazetteer" says "There are in all four or five grain-mills, seven saw-mills, a fulling-mill, and carding machine.There is one baptist meeting house and seven schoolhouses. The inhabitants are principally farmers, and their household manufactures supply the most of their common clothing. In 1810 the whole population was 1982." In 1878, the town is listed as having 26,899 acres, 21,619 of it improved, 5822 woodland, and 200 "other". Valuation $586,250 and equalized $459,973.

In 1878, Garrattsville contained two churches, three general stores, a hardware stores, saw and gristmill, hotel, wagon shop, and five blacksmiths. For a few years there was an annual fair held on the flat along the Butternut Creek at the south end of the hamlet before merging with the group holding one at Morris about 1886.

Noblesville in 1878 had one church, store, hotel, mill and blacksmith.

New Lisbon Centre listed as only having a church.

Stetsonville previously had a doctor, store, brickyard and wagon shop.
  • One of the notable industries was the Victor J. Warren hammer factory on the Butternut at Coles Rd., Garrattsville, of which it is said it once employed a hundred persons and every house in the hamlet was occupied by two families. Supplies were drawn in by oxcart from the Erie Canal to the north, and finished goods shipped out the same way. An employee named Anthony Slater was credited with a process for tempering cast steel, which was later sold by creditors along with all contents and machinery to the Maydole Hammer Co. of Norwich, NY. At least two Warren hammers exist, one of which is on display at the town hall.

  • Martin and Robert L. George built stationary steam engines at Noblesville/New Lisbon hamlet in the 1890s, only one of which is known to survive.

  • Artemas Holdredge, cheese manufacturer in Garrattsville, invented the concept of putting cheese in rectangular instead of round "wheel" boxes for easier shipping and shelf storage.

  • Emmons L. Peck of Carbondale, PA, built a wooden tramway around Gilbert Lake 1906-1909, moving nine million feet of logs using a homebuilt geared steam locomotive later reputed to have been dragged out on the lake ice and sunk by employees when the land was purchased for the state present park about 1927. (Lending evidence to the tale is the fact Peck abandoned a similar engine when through with operations on his next logging job on South Hill, Maryland, NY about 1912, later hauled out during war scrap metal drives).

  • The Persian Lamb Co. was an unsuccessful cooperative venture during World War I utilizing about a thousand acres of abandoned grazing land in the Welcome area to raise sheep imported for their skins, after the sheep died from pneumonia they switched to raising vegetables and beef but the stock shares ultimately became worthless.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau
United 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 44.7 square miles (115.8 km²), of which, 44.5 square miles (115.3 km²) of it is land and 0.1 square mile (0.258998811 km²) of it (0.31%) is water.

New York State Route 51
New York State Route 51
New York State Route 51 is a state highway in the central part of New York state. The highway runs generally in a southwest to northeast direction from the hamlet of Mount Upton to the village of Ilion...

 is a north-south highway in New Lisbon.

The West Branch of Otego Creek
Otego Creek
Otego Creek is a tributary of the Susquehanna River in central New York, USA.Otego Creek rises in the town of Otsego and flows south through Hartwick and Laurens, joining the Susquehanna in the western part of the city of Oneonta in the southernmost part of Otsego County....

 flows along the east town line. Butternut Creek flows across the western part of New Lisbon.

Demographics

As of the census
Census
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 1,116 people, 431 households, and 309 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 25.1 people per square mile (9.7/km²). There were 586 housing units at an average density of 13.2 per square mile (5.1/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 97.31% White, 0.90% African American, 0.18% Native American, 0.45% Asian, 0.45% from other races
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...

, and 0.72% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.34% of the population.

There were 431 households out of which 32.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 58.7% 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, 8.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 28.1% were non-families. 23.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.59 and the average family size was 3.04.

In the town the population was spread out with 25.4% under the age of 18, 6.4% from 18 to 24, 27.0% from 25 to 44, 27.2% from 45 to 64, and 14.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 96.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 97.6 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $33,750, and the median income for a family was $40,125. Males had a median income of $27,604 versus $22,500 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 $16,935. About 11.1% of families and 14.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 19.2% of those under age 18 and 6.3% of those age 65 or over.

Communities and locations in New Lisbon

  • Crystal Lake (originally "Turtle Lake" until developed as a resort in the 1930s) – A small lake in the northwest corner of New Lisbon.
  • Garrattsville – A hamlet
    Hamlet (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...

     named after early settler John Garratt, who was later taken captive during the American Revolution. The community is located on NY-51 at the junction of County Route 16, north of New Lisbon village in the northwestern part of the town. Until Dec. 2010 when closed for unexplained reasons, it had its own post office.
  • Gilbert Lake – A small lake inside Gilbert Lake State Park, originally a natural lake but enlarged several times as used to power various industries over the years it opened as a state park in 1929, and became an important CCC encampment that included a steel firetower. Originally known as Smith's Lake, for original owner and area land patent surveyor Richard Smith.
  • Gilbert Lake State Park
    Gilbert Lake State Park
    Gilbert Lake State Park is a state park in New York, USA. The park is in the foothills of the Catskill Mountains, north of Oneonta, New York. Most of the park is in the Town of New Lisbon in Otsego County, east of the community of New Lisbon....

     – A state park
    State park
    State parks are parks or other protected areas managed at the federated state level within those nations which use "state" as a political subdivision. State parks are typically established by a state to preserve a location on account of its natural beauty, historic interest, or recreational...

    located at the south town line.
  • Gill Hill – named for Englishman Mark Gill, whose abandoned homestead spurned ghost stories and legends of notoriety before burning and the land became a county reforestation area in the 1920s.
  • Gross Hill – An elevation in the northwest corner of New Lisbon.
  • Lake of the Twin Fawns – A small lake in Gilbert Lake State Park, north of Gilbert Lake.
  • Lena – A location on County Route 14 near the east town line.
  • New Lisbon (formerly "Noblesville") – A hamlet in the southwest corner of the town, located on NY-51 at the junction of County Route 12.
  • Stetsonville – A hamlet on NY-51 between New Lisbon village and Garrattsville. Named for founder John Stetson, carpenter and wagon builder.
  • Stevens Corners – A location in the northwest part of New Lisbon.
  • Welcome – A hamlet near the center of the town on County Routes 14 and 16.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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