Trumansburg, New York
Encyclopedia
Trumansburg is a village in Tompkins County
, New York
, United States
. The population was 1,581 at the 2000 census. The name is a variant spelling of the surname of the founder, Abner Treman. (The family routinely spelled it several different ways.) The village's application for a post office preserved one of them.
The Village of Trumansburg is within the Town of Ulysses
and is northwest of Ithaca, New York
.
.
The village was originally named "Tremaine's Village," after an early settler, Abner Tremaine (Tremain, Treman or Truman), who was granted the land for his service in the American Revolutionary War
. The village was built around a cascade on the creek that provided power for grain mills.
In the 19th century Trumansburg was dominated by Col. Hermon Camp, an officer in the War of 1812
who settled in what was to become the village. For many years he was the local postmaster, and founded a bank, now the Tompkins Trust Company, the largest bank in the county. His imposing and elegant Federal style house remains the largest in the village. The Hermon Camp House
was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
in 1973.
The village was incorporated in 1872.
In the latter half of the 20th century, as the quality of the road between Trumansburg and Ithaca improved and "country living" became more fashionable, the village became home to many faculty and staff at nearby Cornell University
and Ithaca College
, as well as many musicians. Between 1961 and 1970, Robert Moog
built electronic music equipment including Theremins and his famous synthesizers in a downtown storefront.
From 2004 to 2007, the mayor was John R. Levine
, the original author of "Internet for Dummies."
and a modest tourist destination, with restaurants, antique stores, and a theme park based on the widely known cartoon character GIR from Invader Zim.
Since 1973 the village's best known business has been the Rongovian Embassy to the USA, a bar and restaurant that frequently features local, national and international musical talent. Since 1991, the Finger Lakes GrassRoots Festival of Music and Dance
has taken place each July at the village fairgrounds and is hosted by nationally popular Trumansburg-based band Donna the Buffalo
. The village is also located along the Cayuga Wine Trail and is close to Taughannock Falls.
Other cultural resources include the http://www.trumansburglibrary.com Ulysses Philomathic Library
, a member of the Finger Lakes Library System, the Trumansburg Conservatory of Fine Arts, which offers concerts and music lessons, the Ulysses Historical Society Museum, with collections of local historical material, and the Trumansburg Central School District Foundation, which provides financial support for local educational programs.
Baptist, Catholic, Episcopalian, Methodist, and Presbyterian churches are located within the village, with a Baptist church and a meetinghouse of the LDS Church located just outside the village limits.
The Trumansburg Central School District consists of the Elementary School, Russel I. Doig Middle School, and Charles O. Dickerson High School
, all of which share a campus at 100 Whig Street. School and local athletic teams use the nickname the Blue Raiders.
According to the United States Census Bureau
, the village has a total area of 1.2 square miles (3.1 km²), of which, 1.2 square miles (3.1 km²) of it is land and 0.83% is water.
The village is located on the Trumansburg Creek (also known as Frontenac Creek) which arises on the ridge west of the village and empties into Cayuga Lake
at Frontenac Point. Trumansburg is in the northern part of Tompkins County with its northern boundary bordering Seneca County
. It is approximately 12 miles north of Ithaca, New York
on the west side of Cayuga Lake. The scenic Taughannock Falls State Park, featuring one of the highest waterfalls east of the Rocky Mountains
, is located just southeast of the village at the edge of Cayuga Lake.
, a state highway, enlarged and re-routed in 1961, that runs north to Waterloo
and south to Ithaca. Tompkins Consolidated Area Transit (TCAT) (Route 21) provides local bus service to Ithaca with connections to long distance bus and air service there.
In the 19th century, Trumansburg had a port at Frontenac Point, at the mouth of the Trumansburg Creek on Cayuga Lake. The lake is connected at its north end to the Erie Canal
via the Cayuga-Seneca Canal
. The docks, warehouses and hotels that made up the port have long since been torn down or have burned. Only scattered pilings remain, and the site is now a camp owned by the local Boy Scout council.
The Lehigh Valley Railroad
ran through Trumansburg between 13 September 1873 and October 1962, when the portion south to Ithaca was abandoned and most of the easements sold to the New York Gas & Electric Company (NYSEG). The portion north to Geneva was abandoned in 1967. In the last 15 years the state park system has bought back much of the right-of-way and is in the process of constructing a biking and hiking trail along the portion south to Ithaca. It is called the Black Diamond Trail, after the Lehigh Valley's premier passenger train that ran between New York City and Buffalo along the line (although not stopping in Trumansburg).
of 2000, there were 1,581 people, 682 households, and 424 families residing in the village. The population density
was 1,309.5 people per square mile (504.5/km²). There were 715 housing units at an average density of 592.2 per square mile (228.2/km²). The racial makeup of the village was 96.52% White, 0.76% African American, 0.06% Native American, 0.70% Asian, 0.57% from other races
, and 1.39% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.09% of the population.
There were 682 households out of which 33.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.5% were married couples
living together, 10.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 37.8% were non-families. 33.0% of all households were made up of individuals and 15.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.32 and the average family size was 2.97.
In the village the population was spread out with 26.9% under the age of 18, 5.9% from 18 to 24, 23.0% from 25 to 44, 28.6% from 45 to 64, and 15.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females there were 82.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 74.9 males.
The median income for a household in the village was $39,423, and the median income for a family was $58,194. Males had a median income of $41,167 versus $26,429 for females. The per capita income
for the village was $22,773. About 5.0% of families and 6.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 7.9% of those under age 18 and 7.7% of those age 65 or over.
Tompkins County, New York
Tompkins County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York, and comprises the whole of the Ithaca metropolitan area. As of the 2010 census, the population was 101,564. The county seat is Ithaca, and the county is home to Cornell University, Ithaca College and Tompkins Cortland Community...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The population was 1,581 at the 2000 census. The name is a variant spelling of the surname of the founder, Abner Treman. (The family routinely spelled it several different ways.) The village's application for a post office preserved one of them.
The Village of Trumansburg is within the Town of Ulysses
Ulysses, New York
Ulysses is a town located in northwest Tompkins County, New York, U.S.. The population was 4,900 at the 2010 census. The town was named after the hero of the Odyssey....
and is northwest of Ithaca, New York
Ithaca, New York
The city of Ithaca, is a city in upstate New York and the county seat of Tompkins County, as well as the largest community in the Ithaca-Tompkins County metropolitan area...
.
History
The village is located in the former Central New York Military TractCentral New York Military Tract
The Military Tract of Central New York, also called the New Military Tract, consisted of nearly two million acres of bounty land set aside to compensate New York’s soldiers after their participation in the Revolutionary War....
.
The village was originally named "Tremaine's Village," after an early settler, Abner Tremaine (Tremain, Treman or Truman), who was granted the land for his service in the American Revolutionary War
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
. The village was built around a cascade on the creek that provided power for grain mills.
In the 19th century Trumansburg was dominated by Col. Hermon Camp, an officer in the War of 1812
War of 1812
The War of 1812 was a military conflict fought between the forces of the United States of America and those of the British Empire. The Americans declared war in 1812 for several reasons, including trade restrictions because of Britain's ongoing war with France, impressment of American merchant...
who settled in what was to become the village. For many years he was the local postmaster, and founded a bank, now the Tompkins Trust Company, the largest bank in the county. His imposing and elegant Federal style house remains the largest in the village. The Hermon Camp House
Hermon Camp House
Hermon Camp House is a historic home located at Trumansburg in Tompkins County, New York. It was built in 1845-1847 and consists of a two story central block flanked by two slightly lower wings in the Greek Revival style. The main block is dominated by a full-height portico with six fluted Doric...
was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
in 1973.
The village was incorporated in 1872.
In the latter half of the 20th century, as the quality of the road between Trumansburg and Ithaca improved and "country living" became more fashionable, the village became home to many faculty and staff at nearby Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
and Ithaca College
Ithaca College
Ithaca College is a private college located on the South Hill of Ithaca, New York. The school was founded by William Egbert in 1892 as a conservatory of music. The college has a strong liberal arts core, but also offers several pre-professional programs and some graduate programs. The college is...
, as well as many musicians. Between 1961 and 1970, Robert Moog
Robert Moog
Robert Arthur Moog , commonly called Bob Moog was an American pioneer of electronic music, best known as the inventor of the Moog synthesizer.-Life:...
built electronic music equipment including Theremins and his famous synthesizers in a downtown storefront.
From 2004 to 2007, the mayor was John R. Levine
John R. Levine
John R. Levine is an Internet author and consultant specializing in email infrastructure, spam filtering, and software patents. He chairs the Anti-Spam Research Group of the Internet Research Task Force , is president of CAUCE , was a member of the ICANN At-Large Advisory...
, the original author of "Internet for Dummies."
The life of the village
Trumansburg was a milltown and commercial center for the agricultural community from its inception until the Second World War. Since the late 1940s it has become a combination of a bedroom suburb for IthacaIthaca, New York
The city of Ithaca, is a city in upstate New York and the county seat of Tompkins County, as well as the largest community in the Ithaca-Tompkins County metropolitan area...
and a modest tourist destination, with restaurants, antique stores, and a theme park based on the widely known cartoon character GIR from Invader Zim.
Since 1973 the village's best known business has been the Rongovian Embassy to the USA, a bar and restaurant that frequently features local, national and international musical talent. Since 1991, the Finger Lakes GrassRoots Festival of Music and Dance
Finger Lakes GrassRoots Festival of Music and Dance
Starting in 1991, the Finger Lakes GrassRoots Festival of Music and Dance is an annual festival held the second-to-last weekend of July in Trumansburg, New York, a small town ten miles north of Ithaca. The GrassRoots Festival, or simply GrassRoots, as it is known, draws nearly 20,000 visitors...
has taken place each July at the village fairgrounds and is hosted by nationally popular Trumansburg-based band Donna the Buffalo
Donna the Buffalo
Donna the Buffalo is a band from Trumansburg, New York. They play both originals and covers....
. The village is also located along the Cayuga Wine Trail and is close to Taughannock Falls.
Other cultural resources include the http://www.trumansburglibrary.com Ulysses Philomathic Library
Ulysses Philomathic Library
Ulysses Philomathic Library is a public library in the village of Trumansburg, New York which is located within the town of Ulysses. The town existed at the time the library was founded as a private association in 1811 but the village was not incorporated until 1872.Philomathic means “love of...
, a member of the Finger Lakes Library System, the Trumansburg Conservatory of Fine Arts, which offers concerts and music lessons, the Ulysses Historical Society Museum, with collections of local historical material, and the Trumansburg Central School District Foundation, which provides financial support for local educational programs.
Baptist, Catholic, Episcopalian, Methodist, and Presbyterian churches are located within the village, with a Baptist church and a meetinghouse of the LDS Church located just outside the village limits.
The Trumansburg Central School District consists of the Elementary School, Russel I. Doig Middle School, and Charles O. Dickerson High School
Charles O. Dickerson High School
Charles O. Dickerson High School is a public high school in Trumansburg, New York. It is part of the Trumansburg Central School District, and has an enrollment of approximately 485 students. The Principal as of 2010 is John Keong....
, all of which share a campus at 100 Whig Street. School and local athletic teams use the nickname the Blue Raiders.
Geography
Trumansburg is located at 42°32′26"N 76°39′36"W (42.540447, -76.660121).According to the United States Census Bureau
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...
, the village has a total area of 1.2 square miles (3.1 km²), of which, 1.2 square miles (3.1 km²) of it is land and 0.83% is water.
The village is located on the Trumansburg Creek (also known as Frontenac Creek) which arises on the ridge west of the village and empties into Cayuga Lake
Cayuga Lake
Cayuga Lake is the longest of central New York's glacial Finger Lakes, and is the second largest in surface area and second largest in volume. It is just under 40 miles long. Its average width is 1.7 miles , and it is at its widest point near Aurora...
at Frontenac Point. Trumansburg is in the northern part of Tompkins County with its northern boundary bordering Seneca County
Seneca County, New York
As of the census of 2000, there were 33,342 people, 12,630 households, and 8,626 families residing in the county. The population density was 103 people per square mile . There were 14,794 housing units at an average density of 46 per square mile...
. It is approximately 12 miles north of Ithaca, New York
Ithaca, New York
The city of Ithaca, is a city in upstate New York and the county seat of Tompkins County, as well as the largest community in the Ithaca-Tompkins County metropolitan area...
on the west side of Cayuga Lake. The scenic Taughannock Falls State Park, featuring one of the highest waterfalls east of the Rocky Mountains
Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains are a major mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in western Canada, to New Mexico, in the southwestern United States...
, is located just southeast of the village at the edge of Cayuga Lake.
Transportation
Trumansburg is bisected by NY Route 96New York State Route 96
New York State Route 96 is a northwest–southeast state highway in the Finger Lakes region of New York in the United States. The southern terminus of the route is at an interchange with NY 17 in the Southern Tier village of Owego, Tioga County. Its northern terminus is at a junction with...
, a state highway, enlarged and re-routed in 1961, that runs north to Waterloo
Waterloo (village), New York
Waterloo is a village in and the county seat of Seneca County, New York, United States. The population was 5,111 at the 2000 census. The village is named after the Waterloo in Belgium, where Napoleon was defeated...
and south to Ithaca. Tompkins Consolidated Area Transit (TCAT) (Route 21) provides local bus service to Ithaca with connections to long distance bus and air service there.
In the 19th century, Trumansburg had a port at Frontenac Point, at the mouth of the Trumansburg Creek on Cayuga Lake. The lake is connected at its north end to the Erie Canal
Erie Canal
The Erie Canal is a waterway in New York that runs about from Albany, New York, on the Hudson River to Buffalo, New York, at Lake Erie, completing a navigable water route from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes. The canal contains 36 locks and encompasses a total elevation differential of...
via the Cayuga-Seneca Canal
Cayuga-Seneca Canal
The Cayuga–Seneca Canal is a canal in New York, USA. It is now part of the New York State Canal System.The Cayuga–Seneca Canal connects the Erie Canal to Cayuga Lake and Seneca Lake. It is approximately long.-History:...
. The docks, warehouses and hotels that made up the port have long since been torn down or have burned. Only scattered pilings remain, and the site is now a camp owned by the local Boy Scout council.
The Lehigh Valley Railroad
Lehigh Valley Railroad
The Lehigh Valley Railroad was one of a number of railroads built in the northeastern United States primarily to haul anthracite coal.It was authorized April 21, 1846 in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and incorporated September 20, 1847 as the Delaware, Lehigh, Schuylkill and Susquehanna Railroad...
ran through Trumansburg between 13 September 1873 and October 1962, when the portion south to Ithaca was abandoned and most of the easements sold to the New York Gas & Electric Company (NYSEG). The portion north to Geneva was abandoned in 1967. In the last 15 years the state park system has bought back much of the right-of-way and is in the process of constructing a biking and hiking trail along the portion south to Ithaca. It is called the Black Diamond Trail, after the Lehigh Valley's premier passenger train that ran between New York City and Buffalo along the line (although not stopping in Trumansburg).
Demographics
As of the censusCensus
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
of 2000, there were 1,581 people, 682 households, and 424 families residing in the village. The population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...
was 1,309.5 people per square mile (504.5/km²). There were 715 housing units at an average density of 592.2 per square mile (228.2/km²). The racial makeup of the village was 96.52% White, 0.76% African American, 0.06% Native American, 0.70% Asian, 0.57% from other races
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
, and 1.39% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.09% of the population.
There were 682 households out of which 33.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.5% were married couples
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
living together, 10.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 37.8% were non-families. 33.0% of all households were made up of individuals and 15.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.32 and the average family size was 2.97.
In the village the population was spread out with 26.9% under the age of 18, 5.9% from 18 to 24, 23.0% from 25 to 44, 28.6% from 45 to 64, and 15.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females there were 82.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 74.9 males.
The median income for a household in the village was $39,423, and the median income for a family was $58,194. Males had a median income of $41,167 versus $26,429 for females. The per capita income
Per capita income
Per capita income or income per person is a measure of mean income within an economic aggregate, such as a country or city. It is calculated by taking a measure of all sources of income in the aggregate and dividing it by the total population...
for the village was $22,773. About 5.0% of families and 6.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 7.9% of those under age 18 and 7.7% of those age 65 or over.