Editing Cooperstown, New York (section)

===Settlement===
The village was developed within part of the Cooper Patent, which [[William Cooper (judge)|William Cooper]] &ndash; who later became a county judge &ndash; purchased in 1785 from Colonel [[George Croghan]], former Deputy to [[Sir William Johnson]], British Superintendent of Indian Affairs of the Northern District. The land amounted to {{convert|10000|acre|km2}}. William Cooper founded a village on [[Otsego Lake (New York)|Otsego Lake]]. His son, [[James Fenimore Cooper]], grew up in the frontier town. He later became a noted American author with ''[[The Leatherstocking Tales]]'', a series of novels that includes ''[[The Last of the Mohicans]]''.<ref>The Concise Oxford Companion To English Literature, Ed. Drabble & Stringer, 1990 pp125</ref>

Cooper established the village of Cooperstown in 1786, laid out by surveyor William Ellison.  At the time, the area was part of [[Montgomery County, New York|Montgomery County]]. It was incorporated as the "Village of Otsego" on April 3, 1807. The name was changed to "Village of Cooperstown" June 12, 1812, after the founder.<ref>{{cite book|date=1878 |title= History of Otsego County New York |url=https://archive.org/stream/cu31924074488366#page/259/mode/1up |publisher= Everts, and Fariss|page=260}}</ref> William Cooper was appointed as a county judge in the late 18th century and was elected to the state assembly from Otsego County.{{citation needed|date=August 2022}}

Cooperstown is one of only twelve villages in New York still incorporated under a [[Municipal charter|charter]], the other villages having incorporated or re-incorporated under the provisions of [[Administrative divisions of New York#Village|Village Law]].<ref name="villagehist">{{cite web|url=http://www.dos.state.ny.us/lgss/pdfs/Handbook.pdf#page=72 |title=Local Government Handbook - Village Government: Historical Development |format=PDF |pages=PDF page 72 |year=2008 |edition=5th |publisher=New York State Department of State |access-date=June 26, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090326101146/http://www.dos.state.ny.us/lgss/pdfs/Handbook.pdf |archive-date=March 26, 2009 }}</ref>

[[Image:Cooper-1 crop.jpg|thumb|center|650px|Cooperstown depicted on an 1890 panoramic map]]