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.
History
For the history of Hamilton County prior to 1816 see Montgomery County,
New YorkOn 1816-04-12, Hamilton County was created by partitioning 1,800 Square Miles from Montgomery County , but due to low population it remained unorganized and administered from Montgomery County, N.Y. until it was recognized as sufficiently organized for self-government on 1838-01-01. The organization process was completed by Summer of 1847.
On 1860-04-06, Fulton County was partitioned, with 10 Square Miles of land in
Sacandaga Park transferred to Hamilton County.
On 1915-05-24, land was swapped between Hamilton and Essex counties, with Hamilton ceding
Fishing Brook Mountain for
Indian Lake. Hamilton gained an additional 20 Square Miles, whereas Essex County lost 30 Square Miles. This left Hamilton with its present size of 1,830 Square Miles
The former town of Gilman was dissolved in 1860. The original county seat was Sageville, now part of Lake Pleasant.
Geography
Hamilton County is in the north 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.
Adjacent counties
Demographics
As of the
census 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.
Government and Politics
The county is the most consistently Republican of New York State. In the last 23 Presidential elections the Republican candidate only lost once, that loss being when
Barry Goldwater failed to win a single county in the state. In the
2008 U.S. Presidential election,
John McCain carried Hamilton County by a 26.9% margin over
Barack Obama, with Obama winning statewide by a virtually equal margin over McCain. Thus Hamilton gave McCain the highest margin of victory in the state.
In state elections it was the only county to be won by
Howard Mills over incumbent
Chuck Schumer in the
2004 U.S. Senate election. It also voted for
John Faso over
Eliot Spitzer for Governor in
2006, and for
John Spencer 55.5%-42.1% over incumbent
Hillary Clinton for the
U.S. Senate in
2006.
Towns, villages, and other locations
- Sabattis (formerly Long Lake West - abandoned railroad/hamlet)
- => Label in parentheses indicates official political designation.
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.
See also
