Liberty, New York

History...

The town of Liberty was created from the Town of Lumberland in 1807 and became the fourth town in the county. The town of Callicoon was taken off, and a part of the Town of Thompson added in 1842, and a part of the Town of Rockland added in 1849. The first permanent white settlement was made by Eleazer Larabee from Stonington, CT, who came to Liberty from the Town of Neversink in 1794. Larabee constructed the first sawmill in the town, located at the outlet of Brodhead Pond (now Revonah Lake), where the initial settlement, known as the Blue Mountain Settlement, in the town was located. Subsequent settlements were in the present Village of Liberty, in Liberty Falls (now the hamlet of Ferndale), the hamlet of Parksville, the hamlet of Stevensville (now Swan Lake) and the hamlet of Robersonville (now White Sulphur Springs). The Town of Liberty furnished 303 men for the army during the Civil War. Liberty was amongst the many towns to benefit from the boom in Sullivan County hotels during the 1950s. After many of the hotels left, the town was left without a stable economic footing, and has since suffered from lack of jobs.

Geography...

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 80.7 square miles (209.0 km²), of which, 79.6 square miles (206.2 km²) of it is land and 1.1 square miles (2.8 km²) of it (1.36%) is water.........

Demographics...

As of the census of 2000, there were 9,632 people, 3,711 households, and 2,263 families residing in the town. The population density was 121.0 people per square mile (46.7/km²). There were 5,350 housing units at an average density of 67.2 per square mile (25.9/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 83.70% White, 9.19% Black or African American, 0.37% Native American, 1.43% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 3.76% from other races, and 1.54% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 10.90% of the population.

There were 3,711 households out of which 30.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 42.7% were married couples living together, 13.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 39.0% were non-families. 32.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 13.6% 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 3.08.

In the town the population was spread out with 24.7% under the age of 18, 7.6% from 18 to 24, 27.4% from 25 to 44, 23.5% from 45 to 64, and 16.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females there were 95.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.2 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $32,022, and the median income for a family was $37,689. Males had a median income of $31,088 versus $24,655 for females. The per capita income for the town was $17,565. About 12.1% of families and 17.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 19.0% of those under age 18 and 11.4% of those age 65 or over.......