Poland, Herkimer County, New York

Poland is a village in Herkimer County, New York, United States. The population was 508 at the 2010 census.

The Village of Poland is at the town line shared by the Town of Newport and the Town of Russia. The village is 16 miles north of the county seat in Herkimer and is northeast of Utica. The village is home to the Poland Volunteer Fire Company which has the largest fire protection district in New York State. Poland Central Schools, one of the largest school districts in New York State is also based in the town as is Poland Central School.

History
Poland was briefly called Maple Valley & Russia Flats when it was first settled around 1800 on land owned by Samuel Wright. The first post office, established in 1838 in the hotel at the corner of Main & Case Streets, was known as Danielsville, after Nahum Daniels who owned a large amount of land in the village. The first Postmaster, Joseph Benchley soon changed the name because of the confusion with Dansville in western N.Y. The simplest explanation for the name Poland is that is located adjacent to & southwest of Russia, just like Poland in Europe.

In 1869 there were 200 residents & approximately 60 buildings. By the 1880s there was a church, store, hotels, grist and saw mill, tannery sash & blind factory, wagon shop, 2 blacksmith shops, cheese box factory, cabinet shop, & a bootjack & ladder manufacturer & house building was booming. By 1906, there were more than 150 buildings even after 2 disastrous fires.

Poland was incorporated May 10, 1890 with Charles Bowen as the first President (Mayor).

Geography
Poland is located at 43.22611°N, -75.06139°W (43.226178, -75.061521).

According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of 0.53 square miles (1.4 km²), of which, 0.52 square miles (1.4 km²) of it is land and 1.85% is water.

West Canada Creek flows past the south side of the village. Poland is at the junction of Routes NY-8 and NY-28.

Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 451 people, 192 households, and 126 families residing in the village. The population density was 842.2 people per square mile (322.5/km²). There were 202 housing units at an average density of 377.2 per square mile (144.4/km²). The racial makeup of the village was  96.67% White, 0.22% African American, 2.66% Asian, and 0.44% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.00% of the population.

There were 192 households out of which 28.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.6% were married couples living together, 9.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.9% were non-families. 28.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 14.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.35 and the average family size was 2.84.

In the village the population was spread out with 23.7% under the age of 18, 7.5% from 18 to 24, 27.1% from 25 to 44, 25.3% from 45 to 64, and 16.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females there were 94.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 88.0 males.

The median income for a household in the village was $38,750, and the median income for a family was $45,455. Males had a median income of $27,426 versus $22,159 for females. The per capita income for the village was $17,938. About 8.5% of families and 11.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 18.9% of those under age 18 and none of those age 65 or over.