Updated on Apr 13, 2021
Ellington is a town in Chautauqua County, New York, United States. The population was 1,643 at the 2010 census.
The first settler arrived circa 1814. The town of Ellington was formed on April 1, 1824 from the town of Gerry, and Cherry Creek was taken off on May 4, 1829. On September 8, 1865, a 4 hour rainstorm produced a flood that damaged much of the town. It carried away nearly all the bridges, and threatened destruction of the village. The hotel and Baptist Church were reportedly swept into the street. The first religious services were held at the house of James Bates in 1817 by Rev. Daniel Hadley.
Ellington is located on the eastern edge of Chautauqua County, bordered by Cattaraugus County to the east. It is northeast of Jamestown, the largest city in Chautauqua County. According to the United States Census Bureau, Ellington has a total area of , of which , or 0.04%, is water.
U.S. Route 62 passes east-to-south through the town, and New York State Route 83 passes through the northeast of the town parallel to Conewango Creek, a tributary of the Allegheny River.
Ellington is south of the town of Cherry Creek and north of the town of Poland. To the west is the town of Gerry. On the east is the town of Conewango in Cattaraugus County.
As of the census of 2000, there were 1,639 people, 568 households, and 440 families residing in the town. The population density was 44.8 people per square mile (17.3/km2 ). There were 636 housing units at an average density of 17.4 per square mile (6.7/km2 ). The racial makeup of the town was 98.35% White, 0.18% African American, 0.67% Native American, 0.12% Asian, 0.06% from other races, and 0.61% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.61% of the population.
There were 568 households, out of which 36.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 66.9% were married couples living together, 6.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 22.5% were non-families. 16.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 7.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.88 and the average family size was 3.25.
In the town, the population was spread out, with 28.4% under the age of 18, 7.7% from 18 to 24, 29.5% from 25 to 44, 23.8% from 45 to 64, and 10.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females, there were 100.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 102.9 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $36,300, and the median income for a family was $41,058. Males had a median income of $28,000 versus $21,842 for females. The per capita income for the town was $15,790. About 9.3% of families and 12.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 17.1% of those under age 18 and 12.7% of those age 65 or over.
Every year on the first Friday, Saturday, and Sunday of August, the town hosts it famous "Ellington Town Picnic". The picnic has activities such as a woodcutting contest, cake contest and auction, pet show contest, baby contest, horseshoe throwing contest, BBQ, square dance and music, and on Saturday at 10:00 PM the town has a brilliant fireworks show near the north east side of the town park on Saturday night of the picnic at 10:00 PM. This picnic has been going year after year except during the World Wars since 1912 to present day making it the oldest small town picnic in America.
More about CONEWANGO VALLEY under "Town Info"
This page uses material from the Wikipedia article Conewango Valley, New York , which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.