Danby Historian

Throughout its history Danby has been chiefly agricultural. The northern area of the town was first settled in 1795 by two families from Kingston, NY, named Yaple and Dumond who had lost their claim to land in Ithaca. Two years later, Dr. Lewis Beers from Connecticut formed another settlement in South Danby. In 1811 Prince de Plessis, an African American who gained his freedom by Revolutionary War service, settled here with his wife, Lement, and four grown children. Danby was originally part of the Watkins and Flint land purchase and incorporated as a town by an act of the New York State Legislature on February 22, 1811. Danby was in Tioga County until 1822 when it was transferred to Tompkins County. The Ithaca-Owego Turnpike was a toll road completed in 1810 created an important transportation link between Cayuga Lake and the Susquehanna River, opened the region to commerce. It became a state highway in 1841 and remains so today as Route 96B.

During the early 20th century, Danby developed a significant Finnish population as Finnish people left the lumber and mining camps of Michigan and Minnesota. Today the town has approximately 3,500 people spread across 53 square miles and clustered in two hamlet communities—Danby and West Danby.

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