Origins of local history: From Indigenous and Newtown settlements to a girl named Elmira
As the Elmira historian, I've always felt that our city was short-changed when we changed our name from Newtown to Elmira. Had we kept the Newtown ...
As the Elmira historian, I've always felt that our city was short-changed when we changed our name from Newtown to Elmira. Had we kept the Newtown moniker, we could have a welcome to Newtown sign that would have said settled around 1788, instead of Town of Elmira town incorporated 1808, or City of Elmira incorporated 1864. The name change cut off 76 years. If we start from Native American history, Elmira dates to the autumn of 1730 when Red Jacket, the wise orator, sent couriers to the Five Nations and convened a council at Pine Plains (the Chemung County area), a well-known place of assembly near today's eastern end of Water Street and Interstate 86.