Montgomery County, New York

administration
US state :	new York
Administrative headquarters :	Fonda
Foundation :	March 12, 1772
Made up from:	Albany County
Demographics
Residents :	50,219  (2010)
Population density :	48.1 inhabitants / km 2
geography
Total area :	1,062.8 km²
Water surface :	18.9 km²
map
Website : www.co.montgomery.ny.us

Montgomery County is a county in the state of New York in the United States . At the 2010 census , Montgomery County had 50,219 residents and a population density of 47.3 people per square kilometer. The county seat is Fonda .

geography

Montgomery County is centrally located in the land area between Lake Champlain and the Great Lakes and essentially comprises a section of the valley of the Mohawk River , which flows from west to east and is also the largest watercourse in the area. The land is hilly, but without any notable elevations. The county covers an area of ​​1,062.8 square kilometers, of which 18.9 square kilometers are water.

Surrounding areas

Herkimer County	Fulton County	Saratoga County
Herkimer County		Schenectady County
Otsego County	Schoharie County	Schenectady County

history

Before the arrival of the first European settlers, what is now Montgomery County was part of the Mohawk territory ; it reached as far as the northern bank of the Mohawk River. The Mohawks were initially friendly towards the Dutch exploring the Hudson River from the south, because from 1609 the French explorer Samuel Champlain had allied himself with the Iroquois there on the northern border of the tribal area, which reached about half the height of the west bank of Lake Champlain Forts built along the northern and eastern borders of the Mohawk tribal area to protect French settlers from Indian raids. Missionaries, which took place from 1642/43 by a French Jesuit among the Mohawks, as well as the replacement of the Dutch colonists by the English, however, significantly softened this coalition. By October 10, 1678, a total of 10 Jesuits were active in the area and tried to tie the Mohawks politically to the French. Some of them were successful: in 1671 a large group of Indians moved from the then village of Caughnawaga in the Mohawk River valley to the Montreal area . Their settlement there still exists today as Kahnawake . In 1683 the area of ​​what is now Montgomery County was placed under the administration of the English Crown as part of what was then Albany County .

The advance of the European colonists and the progressive displacement of the local population, which was largely enforced by military means, led to warlike reactions from the Mohawks and the other tribes of the Five Nations. In the winter of 1692/93, for example, the Mohawk made an advance into the Mohawk Valley, which has since been populated by several colonists. Following the course of the river to its mouth, practically all individual farms and villages as well as two of the three existing military forts were destroyed, many settlers were killed and around 300 prisoners were taken to Canada from west to east.

Fort Klock (1991)

The military posts were then strengthened, the settlement of the area slowed down for some time, but continued. From 1703 there were large land sales by the governor of New York to settlers and development companies; In 1711, Fort Hunter, a heavily fortified military base at the mouth of Schoharie Creek , was established. The most important land sales in the area took place between 1730 and 1740; by 1762 the sales were essentially complete.

On March 12, 1772, the area was separated from Albany County under the name Tryon County (after William Tryon, the colonial governor). At that time, the area comprised a large number of other counties today, which were separated as administratively independent counties in the following years if the population figures of the corresponding areas made it appear sensible. For the time being, however, the colonists were still exposed to the raids of the native Mohawks, so that the number of colonists rose only slowly.

During the War of Independence (1775 to 1783) the area became a staging area for British and American troops; in the late summer of 1777 large numbers of British soldiers and allied Indians passed through the Mohawk Valley en route to Albany, where the main British forces were located. An attack by the American General Nicholas Herkimer on these passing troops led to a heavy defeat for the Americans; but the British were defeated at the Battle of Saratoga that fall of that year . In the summer of 1778 there were negotiations between representatives of the Five Nations, who were allied with the British, and General Schuyler, General LaFayette and Col. Dummer; the peace negotiations, however, failed to achieve sustainable success. In the winter of 1778/79 the tribes attacked again in the western Mohawk valley. They were answered by military strikes by American troops. The fighting between the Indians and the British on the one hand and the Americans on the other did not end with a military victory for the Americans until the summer of 1781, after almost every settlement in the valley had been attacked and mostly destroyed and almost every settler family suffered losses.

On April 2, 1784, the county was renamed Montgomery County (after Richard Montgomery , a general of the Revolutionary War and member of the Continental Congress).

After the end of the military conflict and the resulting pacification of the area, the population increased especially along the Mohawk and Hudson rivers. In 1789 Ontario County was spun off, in 1791 by Herkimer, Otsego and Toga Counties and in 1816 by Hamilton County. Montgomery County lost most of its area through these spin-offs and was only preserved as a heavily populated edge of the Mohawk River. The river was not only a gateway for settlers who pushed west into the plains between the Hudson River and the Great Lakes, but also a distribution channel for goods to the major ports on the east coast, especially New York. A large number of industries arose on the banks of the Mohawk River, which were expanded from 1819 through the opening of the Erie Canal, which took place in several steps until 1825, by opening up access to the ports of the Great Lakes in the east. From 1829 this development was promoted by the opening of various railway lines, which were later merged to form the New York Central & Hudson River Railroad . The main route ran in the area of ​​the county parallel to the Mohawk River; a branch line to the north was established in Fulton, which also connected the centers of Gloversville and Johnstown .

Due to the continued strong increase in population, another spin-off was planned, which made it necessary to relocate the previous county seat from Johnstown to Fonda in 1836 because the old county seat was in the newly formed county. This move, like the separation of Fulton County in 1838, caused some resentment, but this was ignored.

As of July 10, 1851, railways along the Erie Canal were no longer obliged to pay canal usage fees for goods transported. This made transport cheaper and led to a further increase in industrialization in the area, but also to the emigration of residents, especially to the centers of New York City and Buffalo on Lake Ontario, who also benefited from this cheaper transport route.

In the American Civil War between 1861 and 1864, Fonda became the central troop base for regiments from several surrounding counties. Fighting did not take place in the county.

Around 1870, after the end of the Civil War, the industrial centers relocated to the more navigable Hudson River in the east; Industrial areas relocated from the narrowing urban area of ​​New York City also settled there rather than on the Mohawk River. Major industries of the county's quarrying (gneiss) for construction purposes in Amsterdam and Florida; otherwise the dairy industry dominated (in 1865 there were 9 cheese factories in the county alone) and the production of fodder maize to feed the cattle.

The population structure of the county changed as a result. In neighboring Schenectady County settled an important plant and the headquarters of the new concern General Electric ; Supplier industry, agriculture and dairy farming, but also the pure position of residential areas now dominated the area. Only when the Group's headquarters moved away did the population decline. However, since the plant was preserved, there was no collapse in the economic structure: suppliers of all sizes still dominate the county today.

Schoharie Crossing State Historic Site on the Erie Canal

Three locations have National Historic Landmark status , the Erie Canal , Fort Johnson, and Fort Klock . 58 buildings and sites in the county are registered in the National Register of Historic Places (as of February 19, 2018).

Population development

Census Results - Montgomery County, New York

year	1700	1710	1720	1730	1740	1750	1760	1770	1780	1790
Residents										28,848
year	1800	1810	1820	1830	1840	1850	1860	1870	1880	1890
Residents	22.051	41,214	37,569	43,715	35,818	31,992	30,866	34,457	38,315	45,699
year	1900	1910	1920	1930	1940	1950	1960	1970	1980	1990
Residents	47,488	57,567	57,928	60,076	59,142	59,594	57,240	55,883	53,439	51,981
year	2000	2010	2020	2030	2040	2050	2060	2070	2080	2090
Residents	49,708	50.219

Cities and towns

In addition to the independent parishes listed below, there are several villages in Montgomery County , including the administrative headquarters of Fonda County .

Locality	status	Population (2010)	Total area [km²]	Land area [km²]	Population density [inhabitants / km²]	founding	Specialty
Amsterdam City	City	18,620	16.2	15.2	1,225.0	1885
Amsterdam Town	town	5,566	78.8	76.9	72.4	March 12 1793
Canajoharie	town	3,730	111.7	110.4	33.8	24 Mar 1773	originally founded as a district , named a town on March 7, 1788
Charleston	town	1,373	111.0	108.5	12.7	March 12 1793
Florida	town	2,696	133.1	129.8	20.8	March 12 1793
Glen	town	2,507	101.9	100.0	25.1	Apr 10, 1823
Minden	town	4,297	133.2	132.1	32.5	02nd Mar 1798
Mohawk	town	3,844	91.7	89.8	42.8	0Apr 4, 1837
Palatine	town	3,240	108.0	106.4	30.5	24 Mar 1772	founded under the name Stone Arabia ; renamed Palatine on March 8, 1773
Root	town	1,715	132.2	131.1	13.1	Jan. 27, 1823
St. Johnsville	town	2,631	45.0	43.6	60.3	Apr 18, 1838

literature

• John Homer French: Gazetteer of the State of New York . RP Smith, Syracuse, NY 1860, pp. 407 ff . (English, archive.org [PDF; 63.8 MB ; accessed on January 1, 2017]).
• Franklin Benjamin Hough: Gazetteer of the State of New York . tape 2 . A. Boyd, Albany, NY 1873, pp. 400 ff . (English, archive.org [PDF; 69.5 MB ; accessed on January 1, 2017]).

Individual evidence

1. ^ Montgomery County in the Geographic Names Information System of the United States Geological Survey
2. ↑ Listing of National Historic Landmarks by State: New York . National Park Service , accessed February 19, 2018.
3. ↑ Search mask database in the National Register Information System. National Park Service , accessed February 19, 2018.
4. ↑ Population 1790–2010 according to the census results
5. ↑ Population data from the 2010 US Census in the American Factfinder
6. ^ Franklin Benjamin Hough: Gazetteer of the State of New York . 2nd volume. A. Boyd, Albany, NY 1873, pp. 405 ff .

Web links

Commons : Montgomery County, New York  - Collection of Pictures, Videos, and Audio Files

Coordinates: 42 ° 54 '  N , 74 ° 26'  W