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The towns and cities of New York's North Country were created by the U.S. state of New York as municipalities in order to give residents more direct say over local government. The North Country consists of Clinton County, Essex County, Franklin County, Jefferson County, Lewis County, and St. Lawrence County. When counties were first formed in 1683 the entire area was theoretically under the jurisdiction of Albany County though actually wilderness inhabited by Native Americans, by 1764 most of the area became effectively controlled by Albany County. The state would sell off this land to settlers and speculators, most notably as part of the Old Military Tract (1786) to veterans of the US Revolutionary War and as Macomb's Purchase (1791) to Alexander Macomb. In 1772 the northern and western portions of Albany County was divided into two counties– Tryon and Charlotte. Tryon encompassed Lewis, Jefferson, and St. Lawrence counties along with the western section of Franklin; Tryon was renamed Montgomery in 1784. Charlotte encompassed Clinton, Essex, and the majority of Franklin County; the name of the county was changed to Washington County in 1784. In 1788 Clinton County was split from Washington, Essex was formed from Clinton in 1799 and Franklin was formed from Clinton in 1808. Montgomery County's North Country area went to Herkimer County on that county's formation in 1791, but western Franklin and eastern St. Lawrence were returned to Montgomery in 1797. In 1798 Lewis, Jefferson, and western St. Lawrence became part of the newly formed Oneida County from Herkimer in 1798, leaving only central St. Lawrence County as part of Herkimer. In 1801 the future St. Lawrence and Franklin counties which were portions of Montgomery, Herkimer, and Oneida were transferred to Clinton County; the next year in 1802 St. Lawrence was formed as a county. In 1805 both Lewis and Jefferson counties were formed from Oneida County.

In 1785, the township of Plattsburgh was formed in Washington County, and the next year all of Washington County was divided into townships, including the formation of Crown Point township which included all of future Essex County while Plattsburgh was expanded to include most of future Clinton County and Franklin counties. Towns in Franklin can all be traced back to Chateaugay, formed in 1799 a descendant of Plattsburgh. All the towns of Jefferson and Lewis counties can be traced back to Whitestown a town formed in Montgomery County in 1788. In 1801, a year before St. Lawrence County was formed the area of the county, which was 10 survey townships, was combined as the town of Lisbon, all towns in the county are descended from Lisbon.

New York experimented with different types of municipalities before settling upon the current format of towns and cities occupying all the land in a county, and all previous forms were transformed into towns (or divided into multiple towns) in 1788 when all of the state of New York was divided into towns. Some early forms of government in earlier years included land patents with some municipal rights, districts, precincts, and boroughs. Though originally intended to be mere “…involuntary subdivisions of the state, constituted for the purpose of the more convenient exercise of governmental functions by the state for the benefit of all its citizens” as defined by the courts in 1916 (Short v. Town of Orange), towns gained home rule powers from the state in 1964, at which time towns became "a municipal corporation comprising the inhabitants within its boundaries, and formed with the purpose of exercising such powers and discharging such duties of local government and administration of public affairs as have been, or, maybe conferred or imposed upon it by law.”

The following is a timeline showing the creation of the current towns from their predecessors stretching back to the earliest municipal entity over the area. The timelines only represent which town(s) a particular town was created from and does not represent annexations of territory to and from towns that already existed. All municipalities are towns unless otherwise noted as patent, township, borough, district, or city.

Essex County

Notes

Clinton and Franklin counties

Notes

St Lawrence County

Notes

• Ten survey townships were created within Oneida, Herkimer, and Montgomery counties in what is today St. Lawrence County, and in 1801 they were combined into one town called Lisbon and made part of Clinton County. In 1802 Lisbon became the county of St Lawrence and three more towns were split from the original Lisbon.

Lewis County

Notes

Jefferson County

Notes

See also

• Timeline of town creation in Downstate New York
• Timeline of town creation in the Hudson Valley
• Timeline of town creation in New York's Capital District
• Timeline of town creation in Central New York

References

General

• French, John H. (1860). Gazetteer of the State of New York. R. Pearsall Smith.

Specific

1. ^ Laws of the State of New York Passed at the Sessions of the Legislature Held in the Years 1785, 1786, 1787 and 1788, inclusive, Being the Eight, Ninth, Tenth and Eleventh, sessions. Vol. II. Weed, Parsons and Company/State of New York. 1886. p. 103 & 748. Retrieved September 13, 2010.
2. "Franklin County:History". Franklin County. Retrieved October 17, 2010.
3. "New York County Maps and Atlases". Genealogy, Inc. Archived from the original on September 1, 2010. Retrieved October 2, 2010.
4. ^ French, John H. (1860). Gazetteer of the State of New York. R. Pearsall Smith. new york gazetteer 1860.
5. "Governmental Units". John B. Deitz. Retrieved May 18, 2009.
6. The Colonial Laws of the State of New York From 1664 to the Revolution, Including the Charters to the Duke of York, the Commissions and Instructions to the Colonial Governors, the Duke's Laws, the Laws of Dongan and Leisler Assemblies, the Charters of Albany and New York and the Acts of the Colonial Legislatures from 1691 to 1775 Inclusive. Vol. V. James B. Lyon (State of New York). 1894. p. 383 and 395. Retrieved September 1, 2009.
7. The Colonial Laws of the State of New York From 1664 to the Revolution, Including the Charters to the Duke of York, the Commissions and Instructions to the Colonial Governors, the Duke's Laws, the Laws of Dongan and Leisler Assemblies, the Charters of Albany and New York and the Acts of the Colonial Legislatures from 1691 to 1775 Inclusive. Vol. II. John B. Lyon. 1894. p. 956.
8. Howell, George Rogers; Munsell, John H. (1886). History of the County of Schenectady, N.Y., from 1662 to 1886. W.W. Munsell & Company.
9. "Local Government Handbook" (PDF) (5th ed.). New York State Department of State. 2008. pp. 60 (PDF 64). Archived from the original (PDF) on December 25, 2010. Retrieved October 5, 2010.
10. ^ Seaver, Frederick J. (1918). Historical Sketches of Franklin County and its Several Towns with Many Short Biographies. J.B. Lyon Company. p. VII. santa clara 1888 waverly 1880 franklin county.
11. "Town of Tupper Lake". Northern New York American-Canadian Genealogical Society. Retrieved October 17, 2010.
12. Bailey, Jim. "City of Plattsburgh: City Historian". Archived from the original on November 14, 2010. Retrieved October 17, 2010.
13. Laws of the State of New York, Passed at the Ninety-First Session of the Legislature, Begun January Seventh, 1868, and Ended May Sixth, 1868, in the City of Albany. Vol. I. Van Benhuysen & Sons' Steam Printing House/State of New York. 1868. p. 715.
14. ^ Curtis, Gates, ed. (1894). "Our County and its People: A Memorial Record of St. Lawrence County, New York". The Brown History Company.
15. Laws of the State of New York, Passed at the One Hundred and Twenty-Fourth Session of the Legislature, Begun January Second, 1901, and Ended April Twenty-Third, 1901, in the City of Albany. Vol. II. J.B. Lyon Company/State of New York. 1901. p. 1827.
16. Curtis, Gates, ed. (1894). Our County and Its People: A Memorial Record of St. Lawrence County New York. D. Mason & Company, Publishers.
17. "Local Government Count" (PDF). New York State Commission on Local Government Efficiency and Competitiveness. p. 7.
18. Hough, Franklin B. (1883). "History of Lewis County, New York and its People". D. Mason & Co. Retrieved October 17, 2010.
19. "City of Watertown". Jefferson County NYGenWeb. Retrieved October 17, 2010.

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