Westville Center, Franklin County, New York, United States
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- Westville Center
- Originally known as West Constable
West Constable - Unincorporated Populated Place
- 1829
- Westville was established in 1829, and was known as West Constable until it became its own town. The town is partially on the Canadian border. Westville was and is primarily a dairy farming community, with flat tillable fields and rich soil. Westville is in the St. Lawrence Valley. The Salmon River runs through Westville fields, where it widens as it approaches the St. Lawrence River in Quebec. Westville was a settled by Scottish settlers from Vermont and New England and was a traditional village, with Protestant churches and a town center. After the Civil War a large number of French-Canadians also moved to Westville for farming and to work in the various related agricultural businesses. Farming was a major business and many farms had tenement housing for workers who tilled the fields and harvested the crops. In the late 19th Century, Westville like most of the towns in the northern part of Franklin County, sprouted many fields of hops, only to disappear in the early 20th Century as the price of hops dramatically declined from its peak at the end of the 19th Century.
While the town still exists, Westville Center is only a shadow of the bustling community it once was. In the late 19th Century there were a range of businesses, including a sawmill, grist mill, both run by water as well as a starch mill, a butter factory and a number of stores and businesses, including a blacksmith shops. The picture below shows just how many businesses were once located here along the Salmon River.
You can listen to or read the transcripts of many of the people who lived in Westville at the end of the 19th and early 20th Cenuturies at the Reynoldstonnewyork website or visit the Westville History Archives and Museum in Westville itself. - 44.944766744° 56' 41.2"N-74.396022474° 23' 45.7"W
- Westville 1.6 mi. NW
- Fort Covington Center 3.3 mi. W
- Fay 4.4 mi. SE
- Constable 5 mi. E
- Trout River 5.4 mi. NE
- Malone 8.3 mi. SE
- Riverside 1.3 mi. NW
- Briggs Street 1.6 mi. N
- Pine Grove 1.7 mi. SE
- Coal Hill 2.3 mi. S
- Wylie 4.8 mi. S
- Saint Bridget's Roman Catholic 5.2 mi. NE
- Elmwood 5.4 mi. NW
- Saint Francis of Assisi 5.4 mi. E
- United Methodist 5.4 mi. E
- Southworth 5.6 mi. SW
- Saint Marys 5.9 mi. NW
- Dimmick 5.9 mi. SE
- 70 m
- 428018456
- Updated Jan 22, 2016