Template:Wp-Catskill (town), New York-History

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The area of the town was purchased from the indigenous peoples in 1678, and the first settler was Derrick Teunis van Vechten, who built a house here in 1680. The town was established on March 7, 1788, as part of Albany County. When Greene County was formed on March 25, 1800, Catskill became part of the new county. The town was increased by an addition from the town of Woodstock in 1800, but was later decreased upon the formation of the towns of Cairo (1803) and Athens (1815). Catskill is the location of the story "Rip Van Winkle" by Washington Irving.

On July 23, 2003, an F2 tornado ripped across the town. The worst of the damage occurred at the Kiskatom flats. The tornado crossed over New York Route 32 and went past the Friar Tuck Inn, causing two mobile homes to flip over.

Thomas Cole, View on the Catskill, Early Autumn, 1837

File:Morning, Looking East over the Hudson Valley from Catskill Mountains.jpg Frederic Edwin Church, Morning, Looking East over the Hudson Valley from Catskill Mountains, 1848

File:Catskill, N.Y. LOC 75694756.jpg Perspective map of Catskill from 1889 by L. R. Burleigh with list of landmarks