Elmira, NY news and local guide

The legislature created the Township of Chemung in 1788, and a settlement called Newtown grew where Newtown Creek meets the Chemung River. In 1792 it joined with the Wisnerburg and DeWittsburg settlements to form the village of Newtown, which took the name Elmira in 1808 at a town meeting at Teall's Tavern. Accounts of the name differ. One story says it honors the tavern keeper Nathan Teall's young daughter, though this has never been confirmed. An 1898 family history says it was named for the daughter of Matthew Carpenter in 1821, and another account says Carpenter, a legislator, named it for a lady friend. The City of Elmira, the Queen City, was incorporated in 1864. Elmira became a transportation hub of the Southern Tier as the southern terminus of the Chemung Canal, completed in 1833, and with the New York and Erie Railroad in 1849 and lines north in 1850 and south in 1854, which made it an Army training and muster point early in the Civil War. Sources Wikipedia: Elmira, New York