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Waverly, Tioga County, New York
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==History== In earlier times, this territory was a prime location for [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Native American]] travel, trade, and warfare because of its strategic location a valley surrounding the [[confluence]] of two rivers along the New York state border where the mouth of the [[Chemung River]] empties into the [[Susquehanna River]] as it turns southward into [[Pennsylvania]]. This locale was likely occupied by the [[Susquehannock]] people for several centuries before European pathfinders discovered this place. ===European settlement=== French explorer [[Étienne Brûlé]] was probably the first European to visit the area, meeting with the Susquehannocks and travelling down the Susquehanna River in 1615. In the wake of the [[Beaver Wars]] of the mid-Seventeenth Century, the area came firmly under the control of the [[Iroquois]], until the [[Sullivan Expedition]] during the [[American Revolutionary War]] broke their power. The [[Battle of Newtown]] (August 29, 1779), the only major battle of that expedition, occurred approximately {{convert|13|mi|km}} west of the current location of Waverly. John Shepard was one of the more prominent early white settlers, buying {{convert|1000|acre|ha}}, including all of what would become Waverly, and building a mill on the banks of [[Cayuta Creek]] in 1796.<ref name="tiogahistory.org">{{Cite web|url=http://www.tiogahistory.org/Site/Barton.html|title = Barton}}</ref> The settlement would soon become known as Milltown, just across the border in Pennsylvania. A second mill site on the creek north of the border would soon be known as '''Factoryville''', now East Waverly. An adjacent smaller community named Villemont also became established. At the beginning of the railroad age the community began to thrive. From 1849 to 1851, the [[Erie Railroad#New York .26 Erie Railroad|New York & Erie Railroad]] reached the vicinity, opening a rail connection eastward to [[New York City]] via [[Binghamton]], and westward to [[Lake Erie]] via [[Elmira, New York|Elmira]]. In 1854, Waverly was incorporated as a [[Administrative divisions of New York#Village|village]].<ref name="tiogahistory.org"/> Waverly increased its viability and became an important railroad junction, when construction of the [[Lehigh Valley Railroad]] from [[Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania]] reached northward to this village in 1869 and effectively linked both railway operations. This also helped spur the economic development of Waverly's southern neighbor [[Sayre, Pennsylvania]], home to Lehigh Valley Railroad's locomotive yard and shops. At the height of the railroad age, approximately 41 trains entered the village per day and the population of the village was nearly triple what it is today. ===19th century=== [[File:Black_Diamond_Express_1898.jpg|thumb|The Black Diamond Express competed head to head with famous named trains of the Pennsylvania Railroad, New York Central, Delaware and Hudson and Erie Railroad for the Great Lakes and Chicago passenger revenues.]] [[File:Black_Diamond_Express_on_Lehigh_Valley_bridge_Athens,_Pa.JPG|thumb|The Black Diamond Express crossing the Susquehanna bridge in [[Athens, PA]], just a few miles to the south, and part of the greater town.]] [[File:Black_Diamond_Express_at_Sayre_Pa._pre_1907.JPG|thumb|The yard in Sayre and Waverly were main hubs; the full coal bunkers on this express shown stopped suggest the engine was just swapped for a new engine and crew, a faster operation than coaling and watering a tender. Named Express trains did not dawdle for any reason. Like the turn around today of an airliner, dining, beverages, cleaning and other hotel and maintenance services all took place as fast as was possible.]] In May 1870, a Waverly banker named Howard Elmer, along with Charles Anthony and James Fritcher, bought the Pine Plains area between Waverly and Athens. Elmer convinced [[Asa Packer]] to locate a new [[railroad]] repair facility on the Pine Plains for the expanding [[Lehigh Valley Railroad]], which was making a push north from [[Duryea yard|Duryea at the Lackawanna]] to connect to the [[Erie Railroad]] at Waverly to achieve a market share in the much coveted New York City-Great Lakes sweepstakes. Robert Heysham Sayre, president of the [[Pennsylvania Railroad|Pennsylvania and New York Railroad]], helped cement the deal. The town was named in his honor. Sayre was incorporated on January 27, 1891. The town would become famous for its extensive [[rail yard]] (still appreciably large today at half the peak size) and more famous for the railroad repair shops and steam locomotive repair and manufacturing shops situated in the town, which employed thousands. ===20th century=== In 1904, when the locomotive shops were built at Sayre, the main shop building was believed to be the largest structure in the world under one roof, but held that title for only a brief time. The railroad founded as a coal rail road in 1855 to connect the [[Coal Region]] operated through traffic up the Susquehanna to Elmira and points north and west from 1870 until 1976, but maintenance facilities were shifted away before that with the switch away from anthracite steam locomotives to diesels post-[[World War II]]. With the decline of the steam railway industry, business commerce and supporting industries have shifted away from the valley while jobs and population have also declined since 1940; the railroad dependent rust belt towns beginning the process sooner because of dieselization of railroads.<ref>[[Diesel-electric locomotive]]s can be operated for tens of thousands of miles with light routine maintenance checks by only 1-2 crew and an occasional yard worker performing adjustments, while steam locomotives needed dedicated work by 5-6 men each evening laboring each night in engine sheds to lubricate, tighten, clean out, and refire the iron horse for the next morning's run.</ref> The largest celebration in the village was held on August 26, 1910; the Old Home Celebration lasted four hours and packed the streets with spectators. Several factories of historical significance contributed to a flourishing period in Waverly's development. They included the Hall-Lyons furniture factory which was located on Broad Street and the [[Manoil Manufacturing Co.]] whose prominence as a toy company, especially from 1937 to 1941 when it produced [[hollow cast|hollow-cast]] [[toy soldiers]], sometimes called dime store soldiers, along with toy airplanes and cars, was located on Providence Street. Businesses in and around Waverly in the 20th century included the Spencer Glove Company and the ''Waverly Sun'' newspaper, both owned by Hart I. Seely and located in Waverly; the Tioga Mills, Inc., a feed mill company and [[Agway]] (Country Foods Division) of [[Syracuse, New York]], as a pet food plant. Others are the Food and Drug Research Laboratories, the State Line Auto Auction and O’Brien's Inn, known for its scenic view of the Chemung Valley. The J. E. Rodeo Ranch operated during the 1940s and 1950s in [[Barton, New York|Barton]]. [[Grace Episcopal Church (Waverly, New York)|Grace Episcopal Church]], the [[United States Post Office (Waverly, New York)|United States Post Office]], [[Waverly Village Hall (Waverly, New York)|Waverly Village Hall]], and former [[Waverly Junior and Senior High School|Mary W. Muldoon High School]] are listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]].<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|2009a}}</ref> Waverly is located<ref name="GR1">Sayre is located at {{coord|41|59|1|N|76|31|15|W|type:city,inline}} (41.983567, -76.520845) - {{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/geographies/reference-files/time-series/geo/gazetteer-files.html|publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]]|access-date=April 23, 2011|date=February 12, 2011|title=US Gazetteer files: 2010, 2000, and 1990}}</ref> in a river valley in the [[Allegheny Plateau]] just north of the confluence of the [[Susquehanna River|Susquehanna]] and [[Chemung River|Chemung]] rivers, along with [[Athens, Pennsylvania]], [[South Waverly, Pennsylvania]], and Waverly. Together, these small towns make up the greater area known as the Penn-York Valley, which includes locations in both [[New York (state)|New York]] and [[Pennsylvania]]. There is no physical border between the towns, and the grid of streets and avenues blend seamlessly from one town to another.
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