Alfred Village

Allegany County, New York

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Alfred Village hall is located at 7 West University Street, Alfred NY 14802.
Phone: 607‑587‑9188.

The Village is home to Alfred University, founded in 1836. Also in the village is Alfred State, a college of the State University of New York (SUNY), found in 1908.

Beginnings [1]

Alfred, once a part of the Pultneyville Estate of the 1788 Phelps and Gorham Purchase, was settled in 1807 by a group of Seventh Day Baptists seeking freedom to celebrate the Sabbath from sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday in strict adherence to Old Testament tradition. Primarily from Rhode Island and eastern New York State, the founding families included the Crandalls, Greenes, Maxsons, Stillmans, Burdicks, Langworthys, Coons, and Allens. The earliest and most prominent leader was Judge Clark Crandall from Petersberg (Berlin), Rensselaer County. The first public office held by Crandall was that of commissioner for the opening of roads in Alfred. He later served as supervisor of the town for two years and town clerk for three terms. He also represented the county in the state legislature in 1820-1821 and served as brigadier general in the state militia in 1820. In addition to his active public service, he also established the first industry in the area, the manufacture of wooden pails in Alfred Station.

By the end of the first quarter of the 19th century, Alfred was a prosperous, expanding community with flourishing mercantile concerns, including a bookstore, a ready-made clothing business, a carriage shop, a blacksmith shop, and a hotel. There were cheese box makers, an undertaker, a painter, a doctor and harness-makers. Industries included planing mills and a sash and blind factory.

  1. National Register nomination document, 1985, prepared by Nancy Todd, New York State Division for Historic Preservation, Alfred Village Historic District, National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places, Washington, D.C.

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