Madison County is a county located in the U.S.
state of New
York
. As of the
2000 census, the population was
69,441. It is named after
James
Madison, fourth
President of the
United States of America.
Its county seat is
Wampsville
.
Madison County is part of the
Syracuse, NY Metropolitan Statistical
Area.
History
When counties were established in New York State in 1683, the
present Madison 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.
The "Twenty Townships" west of the
Unadilla River, conveyed by the Oneida Indians in 1788.
Known as "Clinton's Purchase"
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 honor of 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,
Montgomery County was reduced in size by the splitting off of
Ontario
County
. 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
.
Herkimer
and Tioga Counties
were two of three counties split off from
Montgomery County (the other being Otsego
County
) in 1791.
Chenango
County
was formed in 1798 from parts of Tioga and Herkimer
Counties.
Finally, Madison County was created from Chenango County in
1806.
Geography
According to the
U.S.
Census Bureau, the
county has a total area of 662
square
miles (1,713
km²), of which,
656 square miles (1,699 km²) of it is land and
6 square miles (15 km²) of it (0.86%) is water.
Madison
County is located in west central New York State, east of Syracuse
, north of Binghamton
, and slightly north of due west from Albany
. Madison County contains the geographic
center of the state at Pratts Hollow in the Town of Eaton.
Oneida Lake
and Oneida Creek define
part of the northern boundary. Chittenango Creek defines part of the
western boundary.
Adjacent counties
Demographics
As of the
census of 2000, there were 69,441
people, 25,368 households, and 17,580 families residing in the
county. The
population density
was 106 people per square mile (41/km²). There were 28,646 housing
units at an average density of 44 per square mile (17/km²).
The racial makeup of the county was 96.49%
White, 1.32%
African American, 0.52%
Native American, 0.56%
Asian, 0.01%
Pacific Islander, 0.26% from
other races, and 0.84%
from two or more races.
Hispanic or
Latino of any race were 1.06% of the
population.
16.1% were of German,
15.6% English, 15.5% Irish, 12.1% Italian and 8.0% American
ancestry according to Census
2000. 95.6% spoke
English and 1.9%
Spanish as their first language.
There were 25,368 households out of which 33.60% had children under
the age of 18 living with them, 55.10% were
married couples living together, 9.70% had a female
householder with no husband present, and 30.70% were non-families.
24.50% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.30% had
someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average
household size was 2.55 and the average family size was 3.04.
In the county the population was spread out with 24.90% under the
age of 18, 12.00% from 18 to 24, 27.60% from 25 to 44, 23.00% from
45 to 64, and 12.50% who were 65 years of age or older. The median
age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 96.30 males. For
every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.80 males.
The median income for a household in the county was $40,184, and
the median income for a family was $47,889. Males had a median
income of $33,069 versus $25,026 for females. The
per capita income for the county was
$19,105. About 6.30% of families and 9.80% of the population were
below the
poverty line, including
10.50% of those under age 18 and 8.80% of those age 65 or
over.
Much of Madison County is rural.
However, Oneida and the other towns along
NY Route 5 are suburbs of Syracuse and Utica
, as is
Cazenovia.
Cities, Towns, and Villages
Note: in this context "
town" refers to a
political subdivision synonymous with
township rather than a small city.
The towns in southern Madison County originated from the
Twenty Townships ceded by the
Oneida tribe to the State of New York.
Adjacent counties and areas
Chenango
County is across the southern border. Onondaga
and Cortland
Counties form the western border.
Otsego
County forms a short boundary in the southeast corner of
Madison County. Oneida County
shares a long northeast border with Madison
County. Oneida Lake is the northern border with part of Oswego
County
on the opposite shore.
Education
See also
References
External links
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