Mexico | |
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Town | |
Town of Mexico | |
Location in Oswego County and the state of New York. |
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Coordinates: 43°27′21″N 076°12′20″W / 43.45583°N 76.20556°WCoordinates: 43°27′21″N 076°12′20″W / 43.45583°N 76.20556°W | |
Country | United States |
State | New York |
County | Oswego |
Area | |
• Total | 46.99 sq mi (121.7 km2) |
• Land | 46.27 sq mi (119.8 km2) |
• Water | 0.72 sq mi (1.9 km2) |
Elevation | 397 ft (121 m) |
Population (2010) | |
• Total | 5,197 |
• Density | 110/sq mi (43/km2) |
Time zone | Eastern (EST) (UTC-5) |
• Summer (DST) | EDT (UTC-4) |
FIPS code | 36-46822 |
GNIS feature ID | 979211 |
Mexico is a town in the northeast part of Oswego County, New York, United States. The population was 5,197 at the 2010 census. The town contains a village also named Mexico.
Mexico has been referred to as the "Mother of Towns", as the original town as enacted by separate acts of 1792 and 1796 comprised an area that would eventually form six separate counties (Onondaga, Cortland, Oneida, Lewis, Jefferson, and Oswego). These six counties today contain a total of 84 separate towns that were once included in the original Town of Mexico.
NY 69 passes through the town of Mexico and comes to an end in the village of Mexico, where it intersects with NY 104 (Main Street). U.S. Route 11 also passes through the town.
The first Mexico (a proposed county), with all the surrounding towns, was originally created from Town of Whitestown, Herkimer County, New York, on April 10, 1792 by the State Land Commissioner. It was to include present day Oswego and Jefferson Counties. The original organization of the proposed Mexico County and a town of that name was abandoned for a time. In December 1794, George Frederick William Augustus Scriba purchased and patented a large tract of land; subsequently becoming a second Mexico, hence the Village of Mexico and the Town of Mexico.
George Scriba also later opened roads traveling from Mexico Bay and Mexico Point from what is now Mexico Point State Park to present-day Constantia, as well as a highway to present-day Oswego.