Durham, New York
| Durham, New York | |
|---|---|
| Town | |
 Location in Greene County and the state of New York. |
|
| Coordinates: 42°23′N 74°9′W / 42.383°N 74.150°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | New York |
| County | Greene |
| Government | |
| • Type | Town Council |
| • Town Supervisor | William A. Carr, Jr (R) |
| • Town Council |
Members' List
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| Area | |
| • Total | 49.3 sq mi (127.6 km2) |
| • Land | 49.2 sq mi (127.6 km2) |
| • Water | 0.0 sq mi (0.1 km2) |
| Elevation | 925 ft (282 m) |
| Population (2010) | |
| • Total | 2,725 |
| Time zone | Eastern (EST) (UTC-5) |
| • Summer (DST) | EDT (UTC-4) |
| ZIP code | 12422 |
| Area code(s) | 518 |
| FIPS code | 36-21204 |
| GNIS feature ID | 0978913 |
Durham is a town in Greene County, New York, United States. The population was 2,725 at the 2010 census. The town was named after Durham, Connecticut, and is in the northwest corner of Greene County.
The land that would become the town was first settled around 1755 within Albany County. The town was established from part of the town of Coxsackie in 1790 as the "Town of Freehold". In the spring of 1800 Freehold became part of the newly formed Greene County. The town's name was changed to "Durham" in 1805, the town having been called informally "New Durham" by the many settlers from Connecticut.
Part of the town was lost in 1803 to form the new towns of Cairo, Greenville, and Windham. In 1836, the western part of Durham became the town of Conesville in Schoharie County.
The first documented visit to the Durham area was by Eliab Youmans, who had been commissioned to survey the Maitland patents in 1767. Undoubtedly explorers, hunters, and trappers preceded Youmans, but their travels were unrecorded. The patents were the first official parceling out of the largely unclaimed land and were the precursors to settlement. Eight patents have been identified for lands that were in, or partly in the town of Durham.
Historically, the Maitland Patent is the one most often cited, despite the fact that it was not one of the first grants. The grant, which was the first to lie exclusively in the future town of Durham, is historically significant as being the location for land described in the first known recorded lease in Durham and thus contains the first documentation for the initial settlement of the town. This patent of 5,000 acres (2,000 ha) was made to Colonel Richard Maitland, a British army officer of Scottish birth. The patent encompassed land that now includes the Oak Hill area as well as surrounding farmland leased by the earliest settlers. The first known lease was to Lucas DeWitt, dated May 3, 1774, for property in "DeWittsburg". The language of that lease suggests an occupation of the land by the earlier settlers, perhaps by 1771. In the early nineteenth century, Oak Hill matured into a vigorous industrial hamlet with highly productive mills and many fashionable homes.
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