Schoharie County, New York

Schoharie County is a located in the  of. As of the, the population was 31,582. It is part of the Albany-Schenectady-Troy. The is. The name is from a  word meaning "floating driftwood."

History
When counties were established in New York State in, the present Schoharie County was part of. This was an enormous county, including the northern part of New York State as well as all of the present State of and, in theory, extending westward to the. This county was reduced in size on, by the creation of , and further on ,  by the creation of , both containing territory now in Vermont.

On, , what was left of Albany County was split into three parts, one remaining under the name Albany County. One of the other pieces,, contained the western portion (and thus, since no western boundary was specified, theoretically still extended west to the Pacific). The eastern boundary of Tryon County was approximately five miles west of the present city of, and the county included the western part of the and the area west of the West Branch of the. The area then designated as Tryon County now includes 37 counties of New York State. The county was named for, colonial governor of New York.

In the years prior to, most of the Loyalists in Tryon County fled to. In, following the peace treaty that ended the , the name of Tryon County was changed to to honor the general, , who had captured several places in Canada and died attempting to capture the city of , replacing the name of the hated British governor.

In, Montgomery County was reduced in size by the splitting off of from Montgomery. The actual area split off from Montgomery County was much larger than the present county, also including the present, , , , , , , , , , , , and part of and.

In, was one of three counties split off from Montgomery (the other two being , and ).

In, Schoharie County was created by joining portions of Otsego County and Albany County.

Notable residents

 * , 1796-1859, former governor of New York 1843-1845.
 * , 1913-1975, actor.
 * Araxi Dutton Palmer, 1918-, author and Armenian Genocide survivor.
 * Gary Hayes, 1956-, former Mayor, political activist.

Geography
Schoharie County is in central New York State, west of and southeast of.

According to the, the county has a total area of 1,622 (626 ). 1,611 km² (622 sq mi) of it is land and 11 km² (4 sq mi) of it (0.69%) is water.

Much of the southern portion of the county lies within the. Land rises in both directions quite rapidly from Schoharie Creek in the middle of the county. The Schoharie Creek is a northward-flowing tributary of the. The Schoharie Creek watershed spans an area of approximately 950 square miles. The course of Schoharie Creek includes two reservoir-dam systems. The Gilboa Dam and the Schoharie Reservoir are part of the New York City Water Supply System. The operates the Blenheim-Gilboa Dam and its reservoir to produce hydroelectric power.

The highest point is found at the summit of Huntersfield Mountain on the southern boundary with, 3,423 feet (1,043 m) above sea level. The lowest point is where the line meets, 520 feet (158 m) above sea level.

Adjacent Counties

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Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 31,582 people, 11,991 households, and 8,177 families residing in the county. The was 20/km² (51/sq mi). There were 15,915 housing units at an average density of 10/km² (26/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 96.62%, 1.28% or , 0.30% , 0.38% , 0.02% , 0.47% from , and 0.93% from two or more races. 1.86% of the population were or  of any race.

There were 11,991 households out of which 31.20% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.20% were living together, 9.30% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.80% were non-families. 25.80% of all households were made up of individuals and 11.70% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.49 and the average family size was 2.98.

In the county the population was spread out with 24.00% under the age of 18, 10.60% from 18 to 24, 26.20% from 25 to 44, 24.40% from 45 to 64, and 14.90% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 99.00 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 97.80 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $36,585, and the median income for a family was $43,118. Males had a median income of $31,725 versus $24,475 for females. The for the county was $17,778. About 7.90% of families and 11.40% of the population were below the, including 13.70% of those under age 18 and 8.60% of those age 65 or over.

Towns and Villages

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 * ==> Labels in parentheses show official political designation.