Chemung County is located in the Southern Tier Region of New York State. The name comes from pioneers who named it after a Native American Village that was destroyed during the battle of Newton. The county was named back in 1779 and was being settled as early as 1784. The county seat is named Elmira and has been referred to as the Soaring Capital mostly due in part to the national sailplane competitions that have been hosted there as far back as 1930. The county also has many signs referring to Mark Twain Country because of the many years the author spent living and writing in the area. The County of Chemung, State of New York, was incorporated by Act of the State Legislature as a County of the State of New York by Chapter 77 of the Laws of 1836 on March 29, 1836, being taken from the western county Tioga. The county currently has a population of 88,830 according to the most recent census data. 44,171 of the residents are male and 44,659 are female. The current racial make up consists of 76,771 White, 5,828 African American, 1,057 Asian, 233 American Indian, 20 Hawaiian, 549 other, and 2,372 identified by two or more races.
When looking into the patterns over the last 10-20 years. The population in the Chemung County Area has been on the decrease from approximately 95,000 in 1990 to 91,000 in 2000 to 88,000 in 2010. Some of these differences I can see is the population of 50-64 years old grew but the population of 35-49 year olds lessened over the period from 2000-2010. When digging a bit further I realized that the county has actually been decreasing in population since the 1980 Census being from that area I know exactly what caused that significant drop in population. In 1972 a flood seriously affected the county of Chemung. And more floods after that one. June 23, 1972 – During the Hurricane Agnes Flood, the Tioga, Canisteo, and Chemung Rivers all carried more water than they had ever carried before, resulting in complete chaos. Water rolled over dikes and floodwalls; retaining walls were hurled out of the way. Many areas were demolished, bridges were lost, trailers floated down the rivers, and buildings disappeared. 30 feet of water covered the village of Painted Post. The force of the water was so great that the walls of buildings were literally hurled inward. Approximately 2% of the entire land area in the region was under water. Property damage in the three counties was about three quarters of a billion dollars. There were 23 fatalities in Steuben County.
September 22-28, 1975 – Hurricane Eloise caused another big river flood with over 700 buildings damaged and some destroyed.
January 27, 1976 – Ice jams in Gang Mills, Addison, and Chemung.
February 17, 1976 – Flooding in Big Flats, River Road closed in South Corning.
June 19-20, 1976 – “Fathers’ Day Flood” (caused by severe thunderstorms) resulted in $6 million of damage in Chemung and Steuben Counties.
February 26, 1977 – Ice jams caused localized flooding in Bath, Cameron, and Rathbone, with water in streets and basements.
September 25, 1977 – 7.34 inches of rain caused flooding in Kanona, Bath, and Prattsburg, with flooded cellars throughout the region.
March 21, 1978 – Roads flooded in South Corning, Erwin, Cameron Mills, Big Flats, and Ashland. August 11, 1978 – Flash flooding in northern Steuben County and Yates County washed out a road and a bridge.
After the 1970 census the population fell from 101,000 to 97,000 and made for the first decline in population since Chemung was named a county in the 1840’s. Population has continued to fall since that point in time. In 2006 5% of the population moved to other counties some within NY and 2.5% to other states outside of NY. The births from 1990-1999 were 12.6 per every 1000 but fell to 11.7 per every 1000 from 2000-2006. The deaths were 10.4 per every 1000 in both years 1990-1999 and 2000-2006. The infant deaths were 6.8 per every
