Editing Williamsville, New York (section)

==Geography==
[[File:Glen Falls WilliamsvilleNY Aug2021 TimLaFaveJr.jpg|thumb|alt=Glen Falls on Ellicott Creek in Williamsville NY, August 2021, with the moon overhead and a privately-owned spotlight illuminating the falls.|Glen Falls on Ellicott Creek in Williamsville]]

According to the [[United States Census Bureau]], the village has a total area of {{convert|1.2|sqmi|km2}}, all land.

[[Ellicott Creek]] flows through the village from south to north. The [[Onondaga Formation|Onondaga Escarpment]] runs through the village east to west. [[Glen Falls (New York)|Glen Falls]] marks the place where Ellicott Creek falls over the escarpment. An early name for Ellicott Creek was "Eleven Mile Creek".

Main Street is part of the east–west [[New York State Route&nbsp;5]] (NY&nbsp;5). American [[Surveying|surveyor]] [[Joseph Ellicott]] had the "Great Iroquois Trail", an ancient path from the [[Hudson River]] to [[Lake Erie]], improved. It was known as the "Buffalo Road" and, later, "Main Street". North Union Road, part of [[New York State Route 277|NY&nbsp;277]], is a major north–south road through the west end of the village. Transit Road, surveyed by Joseph Ellicott, was named for an important surveying instrument (a [[Level (instrument)#Variants|transit level]]). Transit Road marks the boundary between townships ([[Amherst, New York|Amherst]] and [[Clarence, New York|Clarence]], [[Cheektowaga (town), New York|Cheektowaga]] and [[Lancaster, New York|Lancaster]]), inter alia. Joseph Ellicott's surveys of western New York divided the [[Holland Purchase]] land into a grid of more or less square of townships with boundaries aligned north–south and east–west, a system related to the [[Public Land Survey System]] (PLSS) used in most of the rest of post-colonial America. In western New York, strict accordance to the PLSS was not required or followed, since the land was not federally owned, but had passed directly from the [[Seneca nation|Seneca]] Indians to land speculators such as the [[Holland Land Company]].

The [[New York State Thruway]] ([[Interstate 90 in New York|Interstate&nbsp;90]] or I-90) passes through the south part of the village and connects to [[Interstate 290 (New York)|I-290]]. A Thruway [[toll plaza]] located near the village has been a matter of controversy for years and recent proposals suggest it may be moved farther east.