Erie County Information
Erie County, NY was created in 1821 from Niagara County. It is bordered on the west by Lake Erie and the Niagara River and contains 1,071 square miles.
The larger portion of Erie County was part of the Holland Purchase. The first major settlements in the county were in and around Black Rock and Buffalo, in about 1795. Following the end of the War of 1812 the Erie area was rappidly settled. The county was created in anticipation of Buffalo being the western terminus of the Erie Canal. The 1820 census showed that enough people were living in the southern half of Niagara County to justify teh creation of Erie the following year. The Canal was completed in 1825, the same year that Mordecai M. Noah attempted to plant a "Gathering of Israel" on Grand Island in Tonawanda Township (see map).
By 1850 the population of the county was a little over 100,000, with its chief city, Buffalo, inhabited by 42,000 residents.
The townships created between 1830 and 1840 were: