Have you ever been to Corning? No, not THAT Corning. The OTHER Corning. The ORIGINAL Corning.
Once upon a time, Europeans called this the Painted Post Country. When Steuben County was created in 1796, Painted Post got official standing as one of six “supertowns” created at the same time. From these six Towns came the 32 Towns and two Cities of today’s Steuben, plus parts of five newer counties.
In 1836 a much-reduced Painted Post changed its name to Corning, after giving birth to Campbell, Hornby, Erwin, Lindley, and Caton. (Just to cloud matters a little more, a new Village in Erwin took the name Painted Post when it was incorporated in 1860.)
When the CITY of Corning was created in 1890, it was legally separated from the Town (taking almost 80% of the population) and immediately began to overshine its namesake parent.
Which is a shame, because the Town of Corning has a lot to offer on its own.
The Town of Corning completely surrounds the City. This can be a little had to see sometimes because of the Corning “megalopolis” – the urban sprawl that starts with unincorporated Gang Mills, then through the official Villages of Painted Post and Riverside, through the City itself, and culminates in the Village of South Corning.
In New York, incoporated Villages remain a part of their Town, so Riverside and South Corning, both incorporated in the 1920s, are in Corning Town. Much of what we think of as the City of Corning is actually in the Town, or even in the Town of Erwin.
Many of the Town offices are in South Corning, which was formed from the communities of Brown’s Crossing and Mossy Glen. The Village is also home to most of Hope Cemetery, and to St. Mary’s Cemetery and St. Mary’s Orthodox Cemetery. Where the Catholic and Orthodox Cemeteries come together is a monument to some 20 glassworkers killed in an 1891 train wreck in Ravenna, Ohio, on their way back to the Corning area.
Besides the two Villages, Gibson, Denmark, and East Corning are part of the Town. The stretch along the Chemung River was once known as Little Flats, with Big Flats farther downstream.
Corning Community College is in the Town of Corning, as are Spencer Crest Nature Center and the Houghton Land Preserve, not to mention the new Corning Hospital.
Post Creek, Narrows Creek, and Cutler Creek all flow down through the Town from the north to empty into the Chemung River, while Bailey Creek runs through the Town from the south. I’m open to correction, but I believe that the “Christ is the Answer” sign is in the Town of Corning.
A boulder in the Town of Corning designates the Pre-Emption Line, from which much of western New York was surveyed back in the early days of the republic.
Corning Town has always been a vital link in the chain of transportation. The Chemung River, Chemung Feeder Canal, Erie Railroad, DL&W Railroad, and an interurban trolley line followed the natural lay of the land, as did what we now call Routes 352 and 415, which follow the tracks of Indian trails. More modern times have also brought in I-86.
Of course, those rivers and creeks also wrought devastation in the floods of 1935, 1946, and 1972.
The Imperial Club of distant memory was in the Town of Corning, and so is Corning Country Club, which hosted the L.P.G.A. Corning Classic for many years. Tobacco was once an important product, but the Town has no state forests or state game lands. Over 6000 people call it home. Don’t overlook it.