Happy 226th Birthday -Lindley June 7th ,1790-June 7th, 2016

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Lindley from Stermer  Road


                                                     Looking East at Tioga River and Farms from Stermer Road

         On June 7th,1790, Col.Eleazer Lindsley, his wife Mary, several of his children, married daughters with their husbands and children, sons with their wives and children  plus the family slaves and several friends stepped ashore from the Tioga River onto land  that was to be their new home. This new home town would  the  first organized settlement  in Steuben County, New York  and would become Lindsleytown or Lindleytown or Lindley as it is known today.. It was located in New York State near the Pennsylvania State Line.

         Wouldn't these new settlers be surprised to see the changes that have taken place in the last 226 years.
           Tress were harvested from their farms to established flourishing lumber businesses followed by large fields of tobacco that were replaced by crops for the dairy farms that  developed. Today most of the dairy farms are gone ,but some crops are grown for commercial sales. 
            The large homes and  families have disappeared, but  the smaller families each have their individual house and lot. Without the need for farm laborers, most of the  working population  now finds  various types of employment in the surrounding communities of Corning/Painted Post or even Elmira.
            As the community grew, Joseph Miller's school for the first families became 10/11 one room schools  followed by the Elementary school with  the older children bussed to Corning/ Painted Post for their education.  Now there is no school and all children ride a bus to Erwin ,Painted Post or Corning.  
              History tells us that there were several local stores for groceries and merchandise with the owner sometimes acting as the Postmaster .Today there is  one Mini Mart that ,also sells gas located near the Pennsylvania State line where you can mail a letter even tho there is still a local Post Office open limited hours.
             The first  little dirt road that bisected the town along the Tioga River and that early settlers used to follow north along the Williamson Road  or Susquehanna Trail has now become a 4 lane Interstate Super Highway 99  with the former  US  15 Highway being used for local traffic on County Rt.115. 
             It is hard in a few short sentences to describe all the  many other changes over the years , but one of the first railroads -the 1839 Corning- Blossburg Railroad under a new name still makes trips to Painted Post . It is not as long and there are no coal cars, but it is still in business..
                                                          TIME MARCHES ON
           





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