Olive
Town
Location inUlster County and the state ofNew York.
Coordinates:41°57′N74°15′W / 41.950°N 74.250°W /41.950; -74.250
Country	United States
State	New York
County	Ulster
Area [1]
• Total	65.19 sq mi (168.85 km2)
• Land	58.45 sq mi (151.38 km2)
• Water	6.74 sq mi (17.47 km2)
Elevation	705 ft (215 m)
Population  (2020)[2]
• Total	4,226
• Density	65/sq mi (25/km2)
Time zone	UTC-5 (Eastern (EST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC-4 (EDT)
ZIP code	12461
Area code	845
FIPS code	36-54749
GNIS feature ID	0979307
Website	Town website

Olive is atown inUlster County,New York, United States. The town is west ofKingston, New York, and is inside theCatskill Park. The population was 4,226 at the 2020 census.^[3]

The town was settledcirca 1740. The town of Olive was established in 1823 from parts of the towns ofHurley,Marbletown, andShandaken. A limited edition 1973 commemorative plate, shown below, includes this text on the back:

The town of Olive, Ulster County, New York, was taken from Shandaken, Marbletown, and Hurley and erected by law on April 15, 1823. At that time a name was suggested for the new town by quoting the following verse from the Bible: 'and Noah sent out a Dove from the Ark and when the waters subsided she returned with an Olive leaf in her mouth.' 'Let us call it the Town of Olive.' The first town meeting was held on the second Tuesday in May 1824. The seal was adopted by the Olive Town Board on November 9, 1971. It was suggested by the Town Historian, Vera Sickler, and designed and executed by Mrs. Tisanne Gardner of Boiceville, N.Y.

The creation of theAshokan Reservoir in 1917 covered some of the communities of Olive. The reservoir is owned byNew York City and is part of the city's water system.

According to theUnited States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 65.1 square miles (169 km²), of which 58.7 square miles (152 km²) is land and 6.5 square miles (17 km²) (9.93%) is water.

As of thecensus^[7] of 2000, there were 4,579 people, 1,869 households, and 1,263 families residing in the town. The population density was 78 inhabitants per square mile (30/km²). There were 2,306 housing units at an average density of 39.3 per square mile (15.2/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 96.68%white, .61%African American, .17%Native American, .92%Asian, .17%Pacific Islander, .48% fromother races, and 0.96% from two or more races.Hispanic orLatino of any race were 2.51% of the population.

There were 1,869 households, out of which 29.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.4% weremarried couples living together, 7.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.4% were non-families. 24.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.43 and the average family size was 2.91.

In the town, the population was spread out, with 24.2% under the age of 18, 4.6% from 18 to 24, 26.6% from 25 to 44, 31.1% from 45 to 64, and 13.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females, there were 99.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 96.0 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $45,409, and the median income for a family was $50,931. Males had a median income of $33,125 versus $27,008 for females. Theper capita income for the town was $21,569. About 3.5% of families and 5.0% of the population were below thepoverty line, including 4.6% of those under age 18 and 3.6% of those age 65 or over.

The Nine Hamlets are:^[8]

• Ashokan – north of the reservoir onRoute 28, bordering the towns ofHurley andWoodstock.
• Brodhead – a remnant of a pre-reservoir hamlet located southwest of the reservoir, between West Shokan and Olivebridge.
• Boiceville – at the northwestern end of the reservoir onRoute 28.
• Brown's Station – on the eastern border of Olive, now mostly submerged under the reservoir.
• Krumville – southeastern corner of Olive, borderingSamsonville,Olivebridge and the town ofMarbletown.
• Olivebridge – south of the reservoir onRoute 213. Relocated from its pre-reservoir site on Esopus Creek. The area now called Olivebridge was formerly known as Tongore.^[9]
• Samsonville – the southwestern corner of Olive, bordering the town ofRochester.
• Shokan – north of the reservoir onRoute 28, west of Ashokan.
• West Shokan – south of Boiceville at the western end of the reservoir, bordering the towns ofShandaken andDenning to the west.

Other locations

• Ashokan Reservoir – the western end of the reservoir is inside the town.
• Brodhead's Bridge – a former railroad station submerged by the reservoir.
• Cold Brook – a former railroad station inBoiceville.
• Davis Corners – part ofOlivebridge, at the intersection of Ulster County routes 2A and 4.
• Olive City – a now-submerged hamlet between the original sites of Shokan and Ashton (a former hamlet in the town ofHurley, site of the Olive Branch station on the Ulster & Delaware railroad).^[10][11]
• Winchell – now part ofOlivebridge, borderingSamsonville andKrumville. Former site of a schoolhouse.

• Olive and Hurley Old School Baptist Church
• Ashokan Center

• McHugh, Melissa.Town of Olive (Images of America). Arcadia Publishing, 2024

• Town of Olive, NY
• The Catskill Archive - history of the Catskill Mtns.
• Olive Free Library
• Ashokan Center

• Towns in New York (state)
• Towns in Ulster County, New York
• Catskills
• Populated places established in 1740
• 1823 establishments in New York (state)

• Pages using gadget WikiMiniAtlas
• Use mdy dates from May 2024
• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Coordinates on Wikidata