Hamilton County, New York

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Hamilton County, New York
Map
Location in the state of New York
New York's location in the U.S.
Statistics
Founded	1816
Seat	Lake Pleasant
Area - Total - Land - Water	1,808 sq mi (4,683 km²) 1,720 sq mi (4,455 km²) 87 sq mi (225 km²), 4.84%
Population - (2000) - Density	5,379 3/sq mi (1/km²)

Hamilton County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. It is named after Alexander Hamilton, the only member of the New York State delegation who signed the United States Constitution in 1787 and later the first United States Secretary of the Treasury. Its county seat is Lake Pleasant. It is one of only two counties that lie entirely within the Adirondack Park (Essex is the other). It is the least populated of New York's 62 counties and is also the most sparsely populated county in the eastern half of the United States, with a population density of just over 3 people/sq mi.

1 History
2 Geography
- 2.1 Adjacent counties
3 Demographics
4 Towns, villages, and other locations
5 County information
6 See also
7 References
8 External links

[edit] History

For the history of Hamilton County prior to 1816 see Montgomery County, New York

In 1816, Hamilton County was created by splitting it off from Montgomery County, but was not completely organized as a county until 1847 due to low population. The former town of Gilman was dissolved in 1860. The original county seat was Sageville, now part of Lake Pleasant.

[edit] Geography

Hamilton County is in the central part of the state, northwest of Albany. It lies entirely within Adirondack Park and consists mostly of publicly owned parkland.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 1,808 square miles (4,682 km²), of which, 1,720 square miles (4,456 km²) of it is land and 87 square miles (226 km²) of it (4.84%) is water.

The snowfall in Hamilton County averages 100 inches per year^{[citation needed]}.

[edit] Adjacent counties

Franklin County, New York - northeast
Essex County, New York - northeast
Warren County, New York - east
Saratoga County, New York - southeast
Fulton County, New York - south
Herkimer County, New York - west
St. Lawrence County, New York - northwest

[edit] Demographics

As of the census^[1] of 2000, there were 5,379 people, 2,362 households, and 1,558 families residing in the county. The population density was 1/km² (3/sq mi); both the total population and population density rank lowest in the state of New York. There were 7,965 housing units at an average density of 5 per square mile (2/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 97.73% White, 0.45% Black or African American, 0.26% Native American, 0.15% Asian, 0.06% Pacific Islander, 0.67% from other races, and 0.69% from two or more races. 1.06% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. 16.9% were of Irish, 15.7% German, 15.2% English, 10.9% French, 7.3% American and 5.7% Italian ancestry according to Census 2000. 97.5% spoke English and 1.7% French as their first language.

There were 2,362 households out of which 23.60% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.70% were married couples living together, 6.70% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.00% were non-families. 29.60% of all households were made up of individuals and 13.70% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.24 and the average family size was 2.74.

In the county the population was spread out with 19.70% under the age of 18, 5.20% from 18 to 24, 24.20% from 25 to 44, 30.90% from 45 to 64, and 20.00% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 45 years. For every 100 females there were 100.00 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 99.40 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $32,287, and the median income for a family was $39,676. Males had a median income of $29,177 versus $21,849 for females. The per capita income for the county was $18,643. About 6.00% of families and 10.40% of the population were below the poverty line, including 10.50% of those under age 18 and 8.70% of those age 65 or over.

[edit] Towns, villages, and other locations

Arietta (town)
Benson (town)
Blue Mountain Lake (hamlet)
Hope (town)
Indian Lake (town)
Inlet (town)
Lake Pleasant (town)
Lake Pleasant (hamlet)
Long Lake (town)
Raquette Lake (hamlet)
Morehouse (town)
Sabattis (formerly Long Lake West - abandoned railroad/hamlet)
Speculator (village)
Wells (town)

=> Label in parentheses indicates official political designation.

[edit] County information

Because Hamilton County is entirely within the Adirondack Park, it has a low population of year-round residents, but this population increases at least fivefold during summer months.

Tourism is almost the sole industry of the county. Another large sector is employment by government agencies, including the school districts. There is no agriculture due to the short growing season and the potential for frost during every month. Logging, retail sales, and a few small industries contribute to the economy.

The county is perennially the most Republican of New York State^{[citation needed]}, being the only one to be won by Howard Mills during the 2004 Senate election. It also voted for John Faso for Governor, and for John Spencer for the Senate in 2006^{[citation needed]}.