Southern Tier of New York | |
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Region | |
 Skyline ofBinghamton, New York | |
 Interactive map of Southern Tier of New York | |
| Country | United States |
| State | New York |
| Region | Upstate New York |
| Counties | Allegany,Broome,Cattaraugus,Chautauqua,Chemung,Chenango,Cortland,Delaware,Otsego,Schoharie,Schuyler,Steuben,Tioga,Tompkins |
| Major cities | Binghamton,Corning,Elmira,Hornell,Ithaca,Jamestown,Olean |
| Population (2024) | |
• Total | 1,013,290 |
| Time zone | UTC-5 (EST) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-4 (Eastern Daylight Time) |
| Area codes | 607,585,716 |
| Part ofa series on |
| Regions of New York |
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TheSouthern Tier is a geographic subregion of the broaderupstate region ofNew York State, geographically situated along or very near the state border withPennsylvania. Definitions of the region vary widely, but generally encompass counties surrounding theBinghamton,Elmira-Corning, andJamestownmetropolitan areas, along with the land of theSeneca Nation. This region is adjacent to theNorthern Tier of Pennsylvania, and both these regions together are known as theTwin Tiers.
Geographically, most of the Southern Tier resides in theAllegheny Plateau of theAppalachian Mountains, with the eastern areas of the region nestled in the western portion of theCatskill Mountains. A longtime home of theIroquois Confederacy, European settlers moved to the region after theAmerican Revolutionary War. The fertile yet hilly land, combined with sweeping river valleys, led the region to support a combination of manufacturing industries (including large companies such asIBM andCorning Inc.) and farming, but with less development compared to neighboring subregions of upstate. Since the 1950s, the area is often considered to be a part of theRust Belt, as manufacturing jobs have left the region.
As is the case with many regions in New York State, there is no legal definition of the Southern Tier, resulting a lack of consensus about which counties belong to the region. One of the broadest definitions of the Southern Tier is from theNew York State Department of State, which classifies the following 14 counties as members of the Southern Tier:[1]
This definition corresponds to the same 14 counties in New York State that are members of theAppalachian Regional Commission.Based on this definition, the Southern Tier partially overlaps with theWestern New York,Finger Lakes, andMohawk Valley regions.Less expansive definitions can vary widely, such as the eight-county region defined by the state'sEmpire State Development Corporation or the four-county region in the Encyclopedia of New York State.[2]
Much of the Southern Tier is inarea code 607, with the exception of Allegany, Cattaraugus, and Chautauqua Counties, which are inarea code 716 orarea code 585. As of 2023, the westernmost portion of the Southern Tier is located inNew York's 23rd congressional district, and the easternmost portion is located inNew York's 19th congressional district. The ZIP code prefixes 137 – 139 (Binghamton region), 147 (Jamestown region), and 148 – 149 (Elmira region) are set aside for the Southern Tier.
The Southern Tier is generally hilly without being mountainous (with the exception of the Catskill mountains). This can range from low rolling hills to more steep and rugged cliffs and valleys. The highest point in western New York isAlma Hill inAllegany County near the Steuben County line in the Southern Tier. Both theDelaware andSusquehanna rivers flow through the Southern Tier in their upper reaches, as does theAllegheny River in the western Southern Tier.
The Southern Tier makes up the northernmost portion ofAppalachia and lies on theAllegheny Plateau. It is defined on its western boundary by the Chautauqua Ridge in Chautauqua County, and including this ridge and extending eastward across the northern bounds of the region, the continental divide between theGreat Lakes and theMississippi River watersheds exists. TheEastern Continental Divide runs directly through the region, in Steuben County.
The Southern Tier is more geographically linked with Pennsylvania and the Susquehanna River valley, at its confluence with theChemung River, than it is with the remainder of New York State. Historically, the population of the Southern Tier came primarily from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, anddownstate New York ("Yorkers"). In contrast, the inhabitants of upper New York State came from New England ("Yankees").[3]: 11
The Southern Tier has long been home to the people of theIroquois Confederacy. There were major settlements along the Allegheny River in Cattaraugus County (which the Senecas acquired by defeating theWenrohronon during theBeaver Wars in 1638) and atPainted Post in Steuben County, at what is today the northeast side of Corning, New York. TheSeneca Nation has a reservation today along the Allegheny River and a headquarters atSalamanca. There are also native lands (with no current native residents) onCuba Lake in Allegany County.
The colonies that eventually became the states of New York,Massachusetts andPennsylvania all laid claim to the Southern Tier at various points in the 17th and 18th centuries, while not making any significant attempt to settle the territory.
The region was quickly settled by European descendants after the Revolutionary War, when settlers were again allowed west of the Appalachian divide. The Southern Tier shared in the economic growth of the early 19th century, but its hilly terrain made it less suitable to canal-building, and later, railroading, than the more-level corridor to the north between Albany and Buffalo. There was an attempt at aGenesee Valley Canal in the western half, and in the eastern half, theChemung andChenango Canals did connect theErie Canal to Elmira and Binghamton respectively. Beset by financial and technical difficulties, the latter two canals nonetheless were important catalysts for economic growth, and indeed for the construction of the railroads that would supplant them. Plans to connect these canals to thePennsylvania Canal system, thus making them much more than feeders to the Erie Canal, never came to fruition.
Railroads did arrive and theErie Railroad, which followed the water-level of the Allegheny, Susquehanna and Delaware watersheds, accelerated industrial progress in the region about the time of theAmerican Civil War. The railroad and available fuel from the region's dense forests attracted Corning Glass Works to Steuben County in 1868.
The region became home to prosperous farms and small factory towns (with the exception of larger Binghamton) during the first half of the 20th century. But declines in U.S. manufacturing hit the region hard and it suffered even more than other parts of upstateNew York and northernPennsylvania.
The region's addition to theAppalachian Regional Commission, often credited to the influence of U.S. Sen.Robert F. Kennedy, provided economic stimulus over the last forty years. Government funds built the Southern Tier Expressway and highway links to theNew York State Thruway, encouraged the growth of state colleges at Wellsville, Alfred and Binghamton and sought with mixed success to attract business interests relocating from theNew York Metropolitan Area and urban Western New York.
For two decades, the region has tried to remake itself as a tourist destination and relocation area for retirees from big Northeastern cities. Meanwhile, agriculture and manufacturing struggle to compete regionally and globally.
Binghamton University (the State University of New York-Binghamton) is one of theSUNY system's fourUniversity Centers. Other 4-year and graduate institutions within the core counties includeSt. Bonaventure University,Alfred University,Elmira College, andHoughton College. Technical and community colleges includeAlfred State College,Broome Community College,Corning Community College, and theState University of New York at Delhi. The region is also home to E.B.I. Career College, avocational school.
Institutions of higher learning outside the core counties includeCornell University,Hartwick College,Ithaca College, SUNY Colleges inCortland andOneonta,Jamestown Community College,Fredonia, andTompkins Cortland Community College.
TheSouthern Tier Expressway—Interstate 86 andNew York State Route 17 together—serves the Southern Tier. The highway is the region's major corridor and connects toU.S. Route 219 in Salamanca,Interstate 390 in Bath,Interstate 99 in Corning,U.S. Route 220 in Waverly, andInterstates 81 and88 in Binghamton.
The region is served by threeregional airports.Elmira-Corning Regional Airport has routes toAtlanta,Washington D.C.,Detroit, and several destinations inFlorida. TheGreater Binghamton Airport offersDelta Air Lines flights to Detroit.Chautauqua County-Jamestown Airport connects toPittsburgh viaEssential Air Service.
Bus service is provided along the entire I-86/NY 17 corridor byCoach USA'sShortline/Erie services from Jamestown to New York City andBuffalo, andTrailways connects the Southern Tier withBuffalo,Dubois (at the western end in Salamanca),Sunbury/Lock Haven (at Elmira), andSyracuse,Albany andHarrisburg (at Binghamton). A somewhat-unorganized network of municipally-operated public transportation services operate local and limited intercity bus services between Salamanca and Elmira.
Until the demise of long-distance passenger rail service in the United States in the 1950s and 1960s, theErie Railroad operated passenger trains in the region, withChicago, Illinois as the western terminus andJersey City, New Jersey as the eastern terminus, withferry connections toNew York City. The last Erie Lackawanna passenger train, the "Lake Cities", ran on January 6, 1970.
Amtrak currently does not serve the area. Proposals forhigh-speed rail in New York have included a route from Binghamton to New York City throughScranton, Pennsylvania: a route that could at least partially be upgraded for high-speed rail. As of 2011, the highest priority for high-speed rail projects in New York is in theEmpire Corridor, of which no part crosses the Southern Tier. The hilly terrain of the Southern Tier's I-86 corridor is not ideal for high-speed rail service, especially compared to the relatively flat and straight land in the Empire Corridor.
Government services are the largest employer in the area. Of second and declining importance is manufacturing. The region's manufacturing economy has suffered for decades, but factories are found in the region's larger communities. Fortune 500 materials makerCorning Inc. is headquartered in Steuben County. Broome County has a large high-tech industry and is the birthplace ofIBM andflight simulation. In addition, other factories in the region make military aircraft, televisions, furniture, metal forgings and machine tools.
The area includes the northern extent of theMarcellus Formation and natural gas. Crude oil and oil sands continue to be extracted from Southern Tier wells as they have for over a century.[4][5] There is significant debate about allowinghydraulic fracturing of the Marcellus Shale in the Southern Tier, which is currently banned in New York.
Cummins engine company has a large production facility located in Jamestown, NY. The Jamestown Engine Plant, established in 1974, is one of the top five heavy-duty diesel engine producers worldwide with production in recent years typically exceeding 100,000 engines annually. The JEP also remains one of the company's largest manufacturing facilities, as it accounts for 12 percent of Cummins' total engine production in 2012.[6]
Agriculture is also a major part of the economy. Leading products are dairy, vegetables, orchard fruit and wine grapes (the last of which typically grows only on the fringes of the Southern Tier, as the inland areas tend to not have a long enough growing season to support it). In addition, two prominentmicrobreweries, theSouthern Tier Brewing Company inLakewood, New York and the Ellicottville Brewing Company inEllicottville, operate in the western Southern Tier.
The western and northern edges of the Southern Tier are known asski country, and the hilly terrain (that forms acontinental divide known as the Chautauqua Ridge) is notorious for frequent and heavylake effect snow. As a result,Ellicottville has become a "ski town" with both the Holimont andHoliday Valley resorts in the vicinity; the two resorts draw numerous tourists, particularly fromCanada, for whichU.S. Route 219 provides easy access. At its peak in the 1960s, over a dozen ski resorts resided in the Southern Tier, many in Cattaraugus County, before most of them closed due to various assorted causes by the 1980s.
The Southern Tier is home to two professional symphony orchestras: theBinghamton Philharmonic in Binghamton and theOrchestra of the Southern Finger Lakes in Corning. Binghamton also has the Binghamton Youth Symphony and the Binghamton Community Orchestra.
TheTri-Cities Opera Company present full-scale operas in Binghamton.
Most of the Southern Tier is either served by the Elmira-Corning television market or the Binghamton television market. Cattaraugus and Allegany Counties are out of these stations' ranges, however, and are instead served by the Buffalo and Erie television markets. Two stations (more-or-less independentWVTT-CD andRetro Television Network owned-and-operated translatorWBUO-LD) are licensed to Olean but serve Buffalo in practice.
The Olean, Elmira-Corning, and Binghamton radio markets directly serve the Southern Tier, and the Ithaca market indirectly serves some of the area. Seven Mountains Media is the dominant broadcaster in Olean and Elmira-Corning.iHeartMedia andCumulus Media own station clusters only in Binghamton.
Notable newspapers include The Leader of Corning, the ElmiraStar-Gazette, the BinghamtonPress & Sun-Bulletin, Hornell Evening Tribune, the Wellsville Daily Reporter, theOlean Times Herald, theSalamanca Press,The Post-Journal of Jamestown, andThe Observer of Dunkirk. The Tribune, Reporter and Leader are all owned byGateHouse Media;Gannett Company owns the Star-Gazette and Press & Sun-Bulletin.
The Southern Tier has an eclectic history of sports. From 1979 to 2009 theLPGA Corning Classic was held at the Corning Country Club. Endicott's En-Joie Golf Course hosted a PGA Tour event, theB.C. Open, from 1971 until 2006. It then became theDick's Sporting Goods Open which is aPGA Tour Champions event still played each summer.[7] Binghamton has a AA baseball team, theBinghamton Rumble Ponies, and aFederal Prospects Hockey League franchise, theBinghamton Black Bears. Depending on the boundary definition,Watkins Glen International Speedway, aNASCAR andIndy Racing League sanctionedroad racing track, is located in the Southern Tier region.
From 2000 to 2017, Elmira had a professional ice hockey team in theElmira Jackals. They played in theUnited Hockey League from 2000 to 2007 and theECHL for the franchise's remaining years. The Jackals were replaced by a newFederal Hockey League franchise called theElmira Enforcers from 2018 to 2021.[8] The lastminor league baseball team in the Southern Tier west of Binghamton, theJamestown Jammers, relocated out of the area in 2016, ending an era in which theNew York–Penn League featured pro teams in Jamestown, Olean, Wellsville, Hornell, Corning, Elmira and Oneonta over the course of its history;collegiate summer baseball still thrives in the region in the form of theNew York Collegiate Baseball League andPerfect Game Collegiate Baseball League, both with multiple teams in the region, andTown Team Baseball also operated in the form of the Southwestern New York Men's Baseball League from 2014 to 2016. Only one major league franchise has ever resided in the Southern Tier: the professional basketball teamElmira Colonels, which played from 1952 to 1953.
The Appalachian portion of New York State ("Appalachian New York"), contains the following fourteen counties: Allegany, Broome, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Chemung, Chenango, Cortland, Delaware, Otsego, Schoharie, Schuyler, Steuben, Tioga and Tompkins. This region is most commonly known as New York's "Southern Tier."
Southern Tier travel guide from Wikivoyage