SCHOHARIE

A short history of Schoharie

This area was long occupied by indigenous peoples; in the historic period, the Mohawk people, one of the Five Nations of the Haudenosaunee, or Iroquois Confederacy, dominated this territory, ranging up to the St. Lawrence River and east to the Hudson.

Although the English claimed New York province after taking control from the Dutch, the first European settlements in this area were by Palatine Germans in 1713, after the area was first explored in 1710/11. These Germans were among nearly 3,000 German Protestant refugees who sailed to New York in 1710, on ships arranged by Queen Anne's government. They were refugees from the religious warfare along the border with France, and also had suffered the loss of crops from an extremely harsh winter in 1709, when the Rhine River froze. The English believed the German settlers could help develop the colony and granted them land to the west of English settlements.

Most of the Palatine Germans worked off their passage for several years in two work camps established along the upper Hudson River on property of Livingston Manor, owned by Robert Livingston. When given land, they cleared and established farms. In 1723, 100 Palatine families from the 1710 immigration were granted land just west of Little Falls in the Mohawk Valley under the Burnetsfield Patent. Palatine Germans founded other settlements in the valley, as noted in names such as German Flatts and Palatine Bridge. These frontier settlements were vulnerable to attack, but served as a defensive line during the French and Indian War and the American Revolution.

Developed for agriculture, the Schoharie Valley was considered a breadbasket of the colony because of the amount of wheat produced even during the American Revolutionary War. Raids led by Joseph Brant and his Iroquois allies destroyed most of the buildings in the town of Schoharie.

Schoharie was first known as a district in Albany County before Schoharie County was organized. Established as a town in Albany County in 1788, it became the founding town of the newly created Schoharie County in 1795. In 1797, part of the town was used to form the towns of Blenheim, Broome, Cobleskill, and Middleburgh. Similarly, area for the towns of Esperance and Wright were removed from Schoharie in 1846 as settlement increased in other areas.

Schoharie has continued since its early settlement as a largely agricultural community. Cheesemaking and the dairy industry were important in the 19th century, when products were sold to New York City. Artisan cheesemaking and related trades have been of increasing importance since the late 20th-century.

On July 10, 1989, an F4 tornado, which was part of the July 1989 Northeastern United States tornado outbreak, tore through four counties and hit Schoharie. Schoharie was hit the worst by this tornado, and probably where most of the 20 injuries occurred. There were no deaths reported from the tornado.

On August 28, 2011, the Town of Schoharie was flooded by Hurricane Irene. Schoharie Creek rose to record levels, resulting in massive destruction of roads, homes, and businesses within the Town. Due to the devastation of what was classified as a 500-year flood, federal agencies such as FEMA and the National Guard were called in to assess damages and provide relief, shelter and assistance to affected residents. Many farms in the area suffered severe economic losses due to animals lost or drowned in flood waters, barns deemed unusable and fall harvest crops ruined.

The Becker Stone House, Becker-Westfall House, The Colyer House, Sternbergh House, and Westheimer Site are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Abraham Sternberg House was added in 2010 and Christian Hess House and Shoemaker's Shop in 2015.

Adapted (trimmed) from the Wikipedia article Schoharie, New York, revision 1377574338 by its contributors, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.