Central New York

This article is about the Syracuse metropolitan area and surroundings, the more westerly of two regions known as "Central New York". For the more easterly definition, the New York tourism region formerly known as Central-Leatherstocking, see Central New York Region.

Central New York is a term used to broadly describe the central region of upper New York State, roughly including the following counties and cities:

Cayuga County Auburn
Cortland County Cortland
Herkimer County Little Falls
Madison County Oneida
Oneida County Rome, Sherrill (smallest city in New York) and Utica
Onondaga County Syracuse (largest city in the region)
Oswego County Fulton and Oswego
Tompkins County Ithaca
Otsego County Cooperstown

Under this definition, the region has a population of about 1,177,073, and includes the Syracuse metropolitan area. The total area of the above counties is 8,639 square miles, which is slightly smaller than New Hampshire.

Major newspapers in the region include the Oneida Daily Dispatch, Syracuse Post-Standard, Auburn Citizen, Ithaca Journal, and Utica Observer-Dispatch, as well as the alternative newsweekly Syracuse New Times.

The major colleges and universities in the region include Cornell University, Hamilton College, Le Moyne College, SUNY Oswego, Colgate University, SUNY Cortland, Utica College, Ithaca College, Syracuse University the SUNY ESF and SUNY IT

The region is served by several television stations based in Syracuse (including ABC affiliate WSYR-TV, NBC affiliate WSTM-TV, CBS affiliate WTVH, Fox affiliate WSYT and PBS member station WCNY-TV) and Utica (NBC affiliate WKTV, ABC affiliate WUTR and Fox TV affiliate WFXV).

Note: Tompkins County and Cortland County are often considered part of the region in New York State called the Southern Tier; the ski country demarcation line runs through Cortland County. Tompkins County, which features Ithaca at the end of Cayuga Lake, is also considered part of the Finger Lakes. Oneida County and Herkimer County are often considered part of the region in NYS called the Mohawk Valley, although the "Central New York" and "Mohawk Valley" definitions overlap and neither definition is mutually exclusive. Therefore Tompkins County, Cortland County, Oneida County and Herkimer County are only Central New York in the broader sense of the phrase "Central New York".

Only Onondaga County, Cayuga County, Oswego County and Madison County are always considered "Central New York".

The New York State Department of Transportation defines the Central/Eastern region as including the counties of Albany, Broome, Chenango, Columbia, Cortland, Delaware, Fulton, Greene, Herkimer, Madison, Montgomery, Oneida, Onondaga, Oswego, Otsego, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Schenectady, Schoharie, Sullivan, Ulster, and Washington, but does not commit itself to a definition of Central New York per se.[1]

History

During the early historic period, the Haudenosaunee or Five Nations successfully excluded Algonquian tribes from the region.

The Central New York Military Tract, land reserved from soldiers of the American Revolution, was located here. Many towns derived from the tracts have classical names.

Speech patterns

Many Central New Yorkers pronounce elementary as /ɛləˈmɛntɛri/ instead of the General American pronunciations of /ɛləˈmɛntəri/ and /ɛləˈmɛntri/. The r-colored vowels in documentary and complimentary follow suit.[2]

See also

References

  1. "Central/Eastern Region", New York State Dept of Transportation. Retrieved 25 January 2009.
  2. Dinkin & Evanini (2009): "An Eleméntàry Linguistic Definition of Upstate New York".

Coordinates: 43°00′N 75°48′W / 43°N 75.8°W