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Town & Village of Andover

ca.1960 photo by Wittie

East Side of Andover's Main Street shown from the air........

Allegany County, NY

• Town Officials List

(History Below submitted by Bill Greene; copyright©Bill Greene 2003)

A Brief Andover History

            Andover is situated in the foothills of the Allegheny  Mountains amid the green hills of southeastern Allegany County.  

            The first settlement of the Town of Andover was made in 1796 at Elm Valley by Nathanial Dyke and Stephen Cole.  Daniel Cole, son of Stephen Cole was the first white child born in Allegany County in 1797.  The first burial was that of Zeniah Dyke at Elm Valley, who died January 21, 1798. 

            Other pioneer families from this area included the families names of Baker, Caple, Adams, Hann, Howland and Williams. 

            The Town of Andover was formed from Independence in 1824 and a portion of Wellsville was annexed in 1855.  It has an area of 23,785 acres. 

            The name of the town was first suggested by James Adams whose childhood home was in Andover, Vermont.  He and his family moved from Vermont the same year this town was formed.  As the first town meeting was also called in 1824, the name, Andover, apparently was adopted then.  

            A majority of the early settlers came from the New England states.

              The Village of Andover was once known as “Bakerstown” which is not strange when we discover we owe much of our early development to the Baker family.

              The first inhabitants of the village were Alpheus, Thaddus, and Joseph Baker, who settled here in 1807.  Together with their large families and the accumulation of 200 acres of land, the growth of the village commenced.

              Another great contributor to the growth of Andover was the Erie Railroad.  When the “Erie” came through Allegany County in 1851 is was just what this area needed.

              For years the Erie Station was the center of Andover activities with everything coming into the town by rail, and a vast amount of farm produce, cattle, and ice being shipped from here, all handled by the “Erie”.

              Andover has always been a patriotic town.  We have soldiers from the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812 buried here, but they moved here after the wars.  Andover sent 265 men into the Civil War, 11 into the Spanish American War, 3 into the Philippine War, 11 into the Mexican Border War, 113 men into World War I, 341 men and women into World War II, 153 men and women into the Korean War.  No number on the Viet Nam War.  We have over 320 veterans buried in our 18 cemeteries.

              The dairy farm was back bone of the early settlers.  The industrial revolution didn’t start in till the first of the 20^th century.  The farms lasted for over 150 years until they ceased to exist.  Only 2 or 3 farms are left in Andover.

              When the industrial revolution started Andover was right there with the best.  There were two knife factories, an enamel plant, an stamping plant, a soap manufacturer, a tannery, a silk mill, 3 or 4 cheese factories, were opened .   There were 3 banks, 2 department stores, 4 grocery stores, a cigar maker, 3 hardware stores, 2 opera houses, 3 hotels, a china factory along with a numerous other shops and stores.

              At the end of the 21^st century they were all gone.  Today a majority of the people that live in Andover work in the other nearby communities.

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ANDOVER HISTORY

FROM THE GAZETTEER AND

BUSINESS DIRECTORY OF

ALLEGANY COUNTY, N.Y.

FOR 1875

Submitted by William A. Greene   2007

          Andover was formed from Independence, on January 28, 1824.  A part was re-annexed to Independence that same year, and a part for Wellsville was taken off November 22, 1855.  The first town meeting was held at the house of Luther Strong, March 2, 1824, and the following named officers were elected: Thaddeus Baker, Supervisor; Amherst Kingsbury, Town Clerk; Caleb Kingsbury, Hazard P. Clark and Luther Strong, Assessors; Joel Norton, Ichabod Babcock and Horace Mallory, Commissioners of Highway; Joseph Clark and Caleb Kingsbury, Overseers of the poor; Luther Strong, Barnabas Reid and Asa S. Allen Commissioners of Common Schools; Asa S. Allen, Barnabas Reid and John S. Baker, Inspectors of Common Schools; Roswell Adams, Collector; Roswell Adams and Jacob Clark Constables.

          The town lies upon the east border of the county, south of the center, and contains 23,756 acres.  The surface is very hilly and still retains some of the original pine forest.  Dykes Creek flows west through the central part, receiving several small tributaries, the principal of which is Elm Creek.  The soil is chiefly a heavy loam, resting on hardpan, and is best adapted to grazing.  The manufacture of pine lumber was for many years the leading pursuit, but that has vastly diminished.  Dairying is the chief branch of agriculture.

          The Erie Railroad enters the town near the center of the north line, and runs south to Andover village, where it deflects to the west, and leaves it near the center of the west line.

          The population of the town in 1870 was 1,873, all of whom were white, 1,618 native and 255 foreign.

          Andover is centrally located on Dykes Creek and on the Erie Railroad, and is nicely laid out, the streets crossing each other at right angles.  It contains five churches, a graded school, which employs four teachers and has about 200 scholars in attendance, twenty stores of various kinds, three hotels, a printing office (the Andover Advertiser, a Republican journal, established in 1868 and published weekly by E. S. Barnard.) a gristmill, tannery, cabinet shop, planning and turning mill, three wagon shops, one foundry, five blacksmith shops, a liver stable, cheese factory, woolen mill and about 850 inhabitants.

          William Richardson & Company tannery, located in the Village of Andover, gives employment to about eighteen persons and tans about 500 pieces per week.

          Elm Valley (formerly known as Shoemakers Corners) is a hamlet situated on Dykes Creek and the Erie Railroad near the west line of the town, and contains a wagon shop, paint shop, blacksmith shop and some six houses.

          Settlement was commenced in 1796 by Stephen Cole, who came from Tioga Co. PA., and located at Elm Valley.  He took up a farm and lived on it the rest of his life. Daniel Cole, his son, who was born February 18, 1797, was the first white child born in the town and the first white male child born the county.  He remained upon the farm on which he was born till his death at the age of a little over seventy-three years.  James Dyke, from Tioga Point, PA., settled in the same locality and about the same time that Cole did, indeed their settlement was so nearly contemporaneous that doubts are expressed as to which came first.  Benjamin Brookings and John T. Hyde, from Vermont, settled near the same place soon after.  Families by the name of Holliday, Henderson and Converse were also early settlers.  Alpheus Baker came with his family form Granville, Washington Co., in July 1807, and stopped temporarily two miles west of Andover village.  He built a log house on the site of Andover village, which was the first erected there, and the following March he moved into it. He was the first settle in that village.  Thaddeus Baker, from the town of Poultney, VT., came to the site of Andover village Jne 20, 1807, having previously been employed by the Poultney estate to survey the towns of Almond and Andover.  While surveying Andover he took up 400 acres of land on the site of the village.  Having finished the survey he returned to Vermont, sold out, and moved here, coming the entire distance with an ox team and lumber wagon.  He first moved into a log house about two miles west of the village, and in the summer of 1808 he removed to a new log house he had built on his lands in the village.  He lived upon this farm the rest of his life. He was the first justice of the peace and the first postmaster in the town.  Seth Baker, his brother, came with him from Vermont and settled two miles west of the village.  Joseph Baker and his wife and seven children and Joseph Woodruff and his wife and three children settled in the town on October 15, 1810; and Reuben Castle and his wife, in 1812.  Robert Boyd moved in from Canandaigua in 1819, and settled in the western part, on lot 40.  When he came in, the nearest store was at Hornellsville, and there was only one there.  Hazard P. Clark came from Brookfield, Madison Co., in 1820, and took up a farm in the south part, where he remained till his death.  John S. Baker moved in from Genoa, Cayuga Co., in 1823, and took up a farm in the northeast part, where he still lives. John Swink, from Northumberland Co., PA., settled in the eastern part in February of the same year. James Adams settled in the northern part, July 11, 1824.  He came from Rutland Co., VT., with an ox team and lumber wagon, bringing with him his wife and two small children, the journey occupying twenty-four days.  He took up a farm of 123 acres, on which he is still living at the advanced age of 85 years.  He still retains much of his physical vigor.  Though the date of his settlement is comparatively recent, the country at that time was quite new, but few improvements having been made. Andover village, he says, then contained bur one frame and three log houses.  One authority says that Nathaniel Dyke built the first framed house and barn in the town at Elm Valley; and another that the former was built by Stephen Cole about 1817 or 1818, and the latter by Willard Adams, in 1818, both at Elm Valley.  Asa S. Allen built the first framed house in the village.  The first school was taught by Lois Strong, in her father’s house, about 1819.  The first schoolhouse a log structure was erected at the village about 1822 or 1823. Isaac Dyke and Pamela Gilson contracted the first marriage in 1802.  The oldest burying ground in the town is at Elm Valley.  The first white person who died in the town is buried there.  The oldest graves are those of Zeriah Dyke, who died January 21, 1798, aged 10 months and 5 days; Lydia Dyke, who died August 2, 1801, aged 2 years 5 months and 2 days; and Lecttey or Leotty Dyke, who died March 6, 1803, aged 6 months and 6days.  They are all daughters of James and Phebe Dyke.  The tombstones, which are common flat stones and were probably obtained in the immediate vicinity, are still standing, and the inscriptions, though dim, are still legible.  The latter are distinct, but probably were not executed by a hank skilled in the art.  The remains of Daniel Cole, the first white child born in the town, are interred there.

          The first religious services were held at the house of Mr. Dyke, by Rev. Silas Hubbard, in 1808; and the first church (Congregational) was formed by Rev. Hubbard, July 14, 1824.

          The First Baptist Church of Andover was organized with twelve members, December 31, 1829, by Philip Wardner, Samuel Rush, Ambrose Coats and others.  The church edifice, which will seat 200 persons, was erected in 1853, at a cost of about $3,000, the present value of the church property.  The first pastor was Elder V. Bemus; the present one is Rev. F. F. Shearer.  The number of members is about ninety-eight.  (Information furnished by Mr. Daniel S. Bradley)

          The First M. E. Church of Andover was organized with eleven members, by Rev. Samuel Nichols, the first pastor, in 1840, in which year their first house of worship was erected.  The society has built two houses and have sold both of them.  They are now building a new one, which is designed to seat 700 persons and cost $10,000.  The present pastor is Rev. ------ Cook. (Information furnished by Mr. Jason Hunt.)

          St. John’s Catholic Church at Andover, was organized with about 300 members, by Rev. John Tohey, the first pastor, in 1856, in which year their church edifice, which will seat about 350 persons, was erected at a cost of about $800.00.  The present number of members is about 600, and the present pastor is Rev. Philip Kensella.  The church property is valued at $2,000.  (Information furnished by Mr. James O’Leary)

          The First Seventh Day Baptist Church of Andover was organized with 43 members, by Rev. A. H. Lewis, the first pastor, in 1870.  Their house of worship will seat 300 persons.  It was bought of the Methodists in 1871, for $3,000, the present value of church property.  The pastor is Rev. T. W. Williams. The number of members is the same as at its organization. (Information furnished by Mr. William B. Clark)

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