Template:Wp-Penn Yan, New York-History

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The first frame dwelling at Penn Yan was built in 1799. The village became the county seat in 1823, when Yates County was created. It was incorporated in 1833.

The first settlers were chiefly followers of the Public Universal Friend, a religious enthusiast born in Cumberland, Providence County, Rhode Island, who obtained a large tract for a settlement (called Jerusalem in 1789) in the present Yates County, and founded the village of Hopeton on the outlet of Keuka Lake, approximately one mile from Seneca Lake. Many followers settled there, and lived there after 1790, but the community gradually broke up.

Penn Yan, the name of the village, is said to have been contrived from the first syllables of "Pennsylvania" and "Yankee", as most of the early settlers were from Pennsylvania and New England; the latter were known as Yankees. It became a trading center for the agricultural county, with mills for lumber, buckwheat and other grains. The village was the western terminus of the former Crooked Lake Canal.

In 1921, the Penn Yan Boat Company was founded by German immigrant Charles A. Herrman. It produced wooden and glass-fiber boats until 2001.

During the late 1800s and through the mid-to-late 1900s, Penn Yan and surrounding Yates County areas were home to a large number of dairy farms, many settled by Danish immigrants and their descendants. Even today, names such as Christensen and Jensen are common. Since the late 20th century, Old Order Mennonite and Amish families have settled and taken over farms in the region. Beginning in 1974, many families of the Groffdale Conference Mennonite Church moved to Yates County from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, seeking cheaper farmland. The Yates County Old Order Mennonites settlement is the largest horse-and-buggy community in the state of New York. There are also several Old Order Amish settlements in adjacent Steuben and Seneca counties, which were founded starting in 1979.

On May 13, 2014 heavy downpours caused severe flash flooding in the area, which ripped out roads as well as destroying at least one commercial building downtown as about five inches of rain fell over a few hours, considered to be at least a 100-year flood.

Historic properties

The Roderick M. Morrison House, Lake View Cemetery, Crooked Lake Outlet Historic District, Yates County Courthouse Park District, Sampson Theatre, United States Post Office, Charles Wagener House, and Penn Yan Historic District are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.