TOMPKINS COUNTY 



This county lies in the central part of the state, in the southern 

 part of the Finger Lakes region. It has an area of 804,640 acres. 

 The extent from north to south is approximately 24 miles, and 

 from east to west about 20 miles. 



The population is shown in the following table: 

 TorrLATiON by Cities akd Townships 



(Census of 1915) 



Ithaca (city)* 16,750 Lansing 2,612 



Caroline 1 , 676 Xewfield 1 , 647 



Danby 1,230 Ulysses 2,613 



Dryden 3 , 556 



Enfield 1,057 Total 36,535 



Groton 3, 501 = 



Ithaca 1,89? 



* Ithaca is the county scat. 



HISTORICAL ASSOCIATIONS 



This county was formed from Cayuga and Seneca in 1S17, and 

 named in honor of Daniel D. Tompkins, then governor of the 

 state. All of Tompkins County, except the three southern towns, 

 was included in the military tract. With the exception of the 

 Jesuit fathers, who established a mission in this section, the raid- 

 ing expedition of Sullivan in 1770 was the first intrusion of white 

 men into that part of the wilderness which lay at the head of 

 Cayuga Lake. 



In 1788 eleven men left Kingston, Ulster County, with two 

 Delaware Indians for guides, to explore the country west of the 

 Susquehanna with the intention of securing a future home. They 

 returned without making a location. The following year three 

 of their number visited the district and selected 400 acres, the 

 west line of which ran through what is now the city of Ithaca. 

 In the valley were several Indian clearings, of which for many 

 years after the first settlement it was the custom for the whole 

 neighborhood to avail themselves. Here they planted corn prin- 

 cipally, thinking it could not be raised on the higher ground. 



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