page_title: Penn Yan, New York
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Penn Yan, New York / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Vineyard with Keuka Lake in background Image taken by me, released under GFDL Pollinator 03:07, 24 Jan 2004 (UTC)
context_page_description: Penn Yan is an incorporated village in Yates County, New York, United States. The population was 5,159 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Yates County and lies at the north end of the east branch of Keuka Lake, one of the Finger Lakes.
  The Village of Penn Yan is primarily in the Town of Milo, but a small section is in the Town of Benton. A smaller section is in the Town of Jerusalem. The Penn Yan Airport is south of the village. The name "Penn Yan" is a syllabic abbreviation of "Pennsylvania Yankee". It houses the Penn Yan Central School District.
context_section_description: 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 about a 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 14, 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.
caption: Vineyard near Keuka Lake, Penn Yan, New York
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