Bennington Town

Wyoming County, New York

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Bennington Town Hall is located at 905 Old Alleghany Road, Attica NY 14011.
Phone: 585‑591‑2157.

Neighborhoods

Beginnings [1]

In the spring of 1802, John Tolles, of Orwell, Vermont, started out to carve for himself a home in the far west. He fell in with Jacob Wright at the great bend of the Tonawanda, now Batavia. They pursued their journey together and located in the northeast corner of the present town of Bennington, thus becoming its first settlers. They each built a cabin, about half a mile apart. They cleared several acres, sowed wheat, and returned to the East for their families. They returned again to their new homes in February of 1803. During the following summer more settlers took up land nearby, some bringing with them horned cattle. Still more young families came to settle in the summer of 1804. Still more "land lookers" (as the pioneers were called in those days) began to come in the winter of 1804 and the spring of 1805. With them came improvements in almost everything pertaining to the town's welfare. By 1806 there were more than 20 families in the town, and the settlements began to present the appearance of an established place.

1806 saw the first tannery, shoe shop, and blacksmith shop. By now Baptist preachers were holding meetings. Chauncy Loomis moved here in 1807, settling in what would become Bennington Centre. Here he built a saw mill.

The Town of Bennington was incorporated in 1818.

  1. History of Wyoming County, N.Y., F. W. Beers & Co., 1880.

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