Canastota, New York

Canastota is a village located inside the Town of Lenox in Madison County, New York, United States. The population was 4,084 at the 2010 census.

The village of Canastota is in the south part of the Town of Lenox. Canastota High School is located in the village.

History

Kniste Stota was the historic name of the village, a term used by the local Oneida Nation of the Iroquois Confederacy, meaning "cluster of pines near still waters". The village recently celebrated the bicentennial of its settlement by European-Americans. One early historic property is the Judge Nathan S. Roberts House, which dates to about 1820. Canastota is well known as an "onion growing" town that at one point was a large portion of income in the village.

The village was incorporated in 1835, but was reorganized in 1870. Located along the banks of the Erie Canal, which was completed through the Mohawk River valley by 1825, Canastota was a vibrant trading and commerce town during the mid-nineteenth century for a wide agricultural area. When the canal was superseded by construction of railroads, and later the New York Thruway, some canal towns were cut off from the main lines of commerce.