Little Valley (village), New York

Little Valley, New York
Village
The village's post office
Little Valley Location within the state of New York
Coordinates: 42°14′58″N 78°47′59″W / 42.24944°N 78.79972°W / 42.24944; -78.79972Coordinates: 42°14′58″N 78°47′59″W / 42.24944°N 78.79972°W / 42.24944; -78.79972
Country	United States
State	New York
County	Cattaraugus
Town	Little Valley
Incorporated	1870
Government
• Mayor	Norman Marsh
Area
• Total	1.0 sq mi (2.6 km2)
• Land	1.0 sq mi (2.6 km2)
• Water	0.0 sq mi (0.0 km2)
Elevation	1,598 ft (487 m)
Population (2010)
• Total	1,143
• Estimate (2016)[1]	1,113
• Density	1,100/sq mi (440/km2)
Time zone	Eastern (EST) (UTC−5)
• Summer (DST)	EDT (UTC−4)
ZIP code	14755
Area code	716
FIPS code	36-42829
GNIS feature ID	0955720
Phone exchange	938
Website	www.villageoflittlevalley.org

Little Valley is a village in Cattaraugus County, New York, United States. It is in the northwest corner of the town of Little Valley. The village population was 1,143 at the 2010 census,^[2] out of a population of 1,740 within the entire town. Little Valley is the county seat of Cattaraugus County and also the location of the county fair (held in August in the fairgrounds north of the village). The village is north of Salamanca.

The village's name is a relative comparison of two tributaries (the other being the neighboring Great Valley) of the Allegheny River.

History

Prior to 1868, the village of Ellicottville was the county seat, but the presence of a railroad line in Little Valley prompted a move. The village of Little Valley was incorporated in 1876. The railroad line shut down around 1990.

The Little Valley post office is the only village structure listed on the National Register of Historic Places.^[3] Ironically, the building is one of the newer buildings in the town, constructed in 1941. Several other buildings (such as the Civil War Memorial Building in 1911 and the former Little Valley Central School building in 1921, as well as many of the houses) are significantly older than the post office.

Ira Joe Fisher, a daytime television personality and weather reporter, spent most of his childhood in Little Valley.

Politics and government

The village is operated by a village board that consists of a mayor, a deputy mayor, and three trustees. All serve four-year terms, and most of the board is up for re-election on the same year, meaning that two to three years can pass without any village board seats up for election.

The mayor of Little Valley is Norman Marsh, a Republican. Marsh was re-elected through 2019 in an unopposed election in March 2015. The village board consists of a deputy mayor and three other trustees.

Public services

Fire service is provided through a local volunteer fire department, in operation since 1888. As of 2016, ambulance services are typically outsourced. Police services are provided directly by the Cattaraugus County Sheriff's Office.

Little Valley offers its own municipal electric service, through an affiliation with National Grid (formerly Niagara Mohawk), as well as municipal water, sewer and streets departments.

Geography

The village of Little Valley is located in the northwest part of the town of Little Valley at 42°14′58″N 78°47′59″W / 42.24944°N 78.79972°W / 42.24944; -78.79972 (42.249555, -78.799775).^[4]

According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of 1.0 square mile (2.6 km²). None of the area is covered with water.

Little Valley Creek, a tributary of the Allegheny River, flows past the northeast side of the village. A smaller creek, Lees Hollow, flanks Little Valley Creek on the southern side of the village.

State routes NY-242 and NY-353 converge at the village. County Routes 5 and 14 enter the village from the north.

Bus service is provided to the village by Coach USA (on its Jamestown to New York City line) and the Seneca Transit System (on its Buffalo to Highbanks line).

The Pat McGee Trail runs through Little Valley and has a major stop at a former rail depot (now a pavilion) in the village.

Demographics

As of the census^[6] of 2000, there were 1,130 people, 427 households, and 266 families residing in the village. The population density was 1,127.3 people per square mile (436.3/km²). There were 513 housing units at an average density of 511.8 per square mile (198.1/km²). The racial makeup of the village was 95.58% White, 1.86% Black or African American, 0.80% Native American, 0.09% from other races, and 1.68% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.77% of the population.

There were 427 households out of which 32.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 43.8% were married couples living together, 13.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 37.7% were non-families. 32.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 18.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.37 and the average family size was 2.99.

In the village, the age distribution of the population shows 25.0% under the age of 18, 9.6% from 18 to 24, 31.7% from 25 to 44, 18.5% from 45 to 64, and 15.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 110.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 107.1 males.

The median income for a household in the village was $28,750, and the median income for a family was $31,875. Males had a median income of $27,500 versus $20,962 for females. The per capita income for the village was $14,458. About 11.2% of families and 15.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 18.7% of those under age 18 and 7.4% of those age 65 or over.

Culture

Local commerce

Little Valley's main attraction is Little Valley Speedway, a half-mile dirt track used for stock car racing and demolition derbies during the summer, as well as being the site of the Cattaraugus County fair each August.

In 2001 the Little Valley Area Chamber of Commerce was founded. They host events such "Cheers to Little Valley" and sponsor "Christmas on Main Street".

No national chain franchises operate in the village of Little Valley (one, a Dollar General, does operate just outside its bounds). Its storefront businesses as of 2017 include a grocery store (a member of the Olean Wholesale Grocery cooperative), convenience store (part of the regional Crosby's chain), hardware store (operating under the Do it Best brand), two taverns, a laundromat, a regional bank, a credit union, a Chrysler automobile dealership, an auto repair and collision shop, two hair salons, and a boutique.

Media

Two radio stations, classic hits WGWE (105.9) and weather radio WWG32 (162.425), are licensed to the village. WWG32 is based in Cheektowaga, while WGWE has its headquarters in Salamanca. WGWE's tower is located about a mile south of the village atop Fourth Street.

Although listed as part of the Buffalo television market, since the 2009 digital TV transition, no broadcast signals reach Little Valley, and all television service must be purchased by subscription. Atlantic Broadband is the local cable provider.

Historical business

The cutlery industry was a major driver of the village of Little Valley's early economy. Cattaraugus Cutlery Company was the last surviving knife manufacturer in the village; it remained there until closing its doors in 1963, with its factory remaining standing and vacant until its destruction in a 2015 fire. W. R. Case & Sons Cutlery Co. was spun off from Cattaraugus in 1905, and that company remains in business, now based in Bradford, Pennsylvania.

Three weekly newspapers have operated out of Little Valley; the first was the Cattaraugus Republican (founded 1867, originally based in Ellicottville, but later acquired by the Salamanca Press), the second was The Little Valley Hub (operated from 1881 to 1964), and the most recent was the County Chronicle, which printed from 1992 to 2007, with some of the earlier years being based in Salamanca.

The town's last operating factory, a Bush Industries plant, closed in 2007.

Pirshlo, Inc., a regional franchisee of Uni-Marts and a proprietor of several other businesses (including the Chronicle), operated in the village from the late 1990s to 2007, when Pirshlo's owner, Lloyd Long, was arrested and later convicted of tax evasion in a dispute with the Seneca Nation of Indians.

Religion

Four churches operate within the village bounds: local branches of the United Methodist Church and Wesleyan Church, a congregational church, and a King James Only fundamentalist church. The village is also served by various churches surrounding the village in the towns of Little Valley and Mansfield.

The local Catholic Church, St. Mary's, closed in the late 2000s as part of the church's overall U.S. downsizing effort, and all of its congregation was directed to the identically named St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church in Cattaraugus. The Lutherans also had a church in the village that was closed shortly after the closure of St. Mary's.

Education

Public school students attend Cattaraugus-Little Valley Central School in Cattaraugus. Little Valley Central School operated in the village until 2000, shortly after voters approved a merger with Cattaraugus Central School. The district continued to operate an elementary school in the village until 2012, when it was controversially closed.

Grace Christian Academy operates a small private Christian school in the village.

Sports

Little Valley features teams in Little League Baseball and softball, as well as the Little Valley Panthers, a youth football organization. The Valley Thunder baseball club represented the village in Town Team Baseball in 2014, playing its games in Cattaraugus due to the lack of a regulation field in the village or town of Little Valley. The Thunder folded in 2015; that year, a slow-pitch softball team represented the village in a local league also based in Cattaraugus.

References

External links

• Village of Little Valley official website
• Little Valley Area Chamber of Commerce
• Little Valley on Facebook
• Fullervision, a site dedicated to local news for Little Valley