DeRuyter was one of five towns formed before Madison County was created. It was established by a partition of the town of Cazenovia in 1798. The town is part of a region called "The Gore", a territory created by a surveying error.
Previous to 1795, DeRuyter was included in the town of Whitestown and was part of the "Lincklaen Purchase". "Tromp Township" was the original name given by John Lincklaen, an agent of the Holland Land Company, in honor of a fellow countryman, Admiral Maarten Tromp. The new town of DeRuyter was formed on March 15, 1798. Jan Lincklaen once again named it in honor of a fellow countryman, Admiral Michiel DeRuyter.
Sig Sautelle's Circus wintered and trained in DeRuyter from 1896 to the early 1900s.
Peaked at 2,009 in 1870; 1,276 people lived here in 2020.
21 censuses, 1820–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on DeRuyter’s Wikipedia page.
From the old history books
What they wrote about DeRuyter in 1872
Passages that mention DeRuyter, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Madison County, state of New York1872Read the page →
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readily dropped when this, with No. I and No. 6 of the Clinton purchase, became in 1795, a part of Cazenovia ; but when anact, was passed March 15th, 1798, authorizing the formation of the new town of DeRuyter, its inhabitants soon grew to be familiar with the illustrious title. At its formation under this act, it embraced its present limits, with Georgetown, in Madison County, and Lincklaen, Otselic, * German and Pitcher in Chenango County. Its population
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History of Madison County, state of New York1872Read the page →
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ship, to perpetuate the original name. This town extended from the north line of the reservation (center of Seminary street), southward a distance, to include four tiers of lots in the present town of DeRuyter ; Second, Tromp Township; after Admiral Von Tromp, renowned in the history of the Dutch Navy, for whom this loyal lover of noble men entertained a profound veneration. This Township embraced the remainder of the present town of DeRuyter and six and
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Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
DeRuyter, 1798 to 1899
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In 1798, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. DeRuyter’s post office opened in 1802, and the census of 1820 counted 1,214 people here.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia) and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
