- Portageville, New York
Portageville is a hamlet located in the Town of Genesee Falls in
Wyoming County, New York . The population was 859 at the 2000 census. Its name derives from the Native American canoists who would withdraw their craft from the river to avoid going over three waterfalls in theGenesee River gorge. They had to "portage" several miles to the site of present day Mount Morris where they could embark for the rest of the journey downriver.Portageville is the only named community in the Town of Genesee Falls.
The Genesee River Gorge with its scenic
waterfall s was formed after the original valley was buried in glacial debris from the lastice age and the river had to cut a new valley though theDevonian sedimentary rock of the area. It has also been called "The Grand Canyon of the East". The site has now been designatedLetchworth State Park and is a major tourist attraction, with the upper entrance at Portage.Geography
According to the
United States Census Bureau , the village has a total area of 26.6square mile s (69.0km² ), of which, 26.4 square miles (68.3 km²) of it is land and 0.2 square miles (0.6 km²) of it (0.94%) is water.The Genesee River passes by the community on the east side.
Demographics
As of the
census of 2000, there were 859 people, 308 households, and 232 families residing in the community. Thepopulation density was 32.6 per square mile (12.6/km²). There were 352 housing units at an average density of 13.3/sq mi (5.2/km²). The racial makeup of the area was 97.09% White, 0.12% African American, 0.23% Native American, 0.35% Asian, 0.00% from other races, and 2.21% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.81% of the population.There were 308 households out of which 40.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.2% were married couples living together, 10.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 24.4% were non-families. 16.9% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.79 and the average family size was 3.11.
In the hamlet, the population was spread out with 30.7% under the age of 18, 6.9% from 18 to 24, 28.4% from 25 to 44, 23.2% from 45 to 64, and 10.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females there were 101.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 100.3 males.
The median income for a household in the community was $32,500, and the median income for a family was $38,750. Males had a median income of $29,000 versus $18,846 for females. The
per capita income for the town was $13,717. 14.0% of the population and 9.2% of families were below the poverty line. Out of the total people living in poverty, 16.3% are under the age of 18 and 14.1% are 65 or older.ee also
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Portage (town), New York
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