The area was first settled around 1792 and was originally called "Forks" or "Madison Forks" until the current name was adopted around 1835, after development of the Chenango Canal. It was named for the builder of the Chenango Canal. After canal transportation waned, railroad service helped community commerce.
Earlville became an incorporated village in 1887. The Earlville Historic District was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. The Earlville Opera House was listed in 1973 and houses a theater, two art galleries, an arts cafe, and an artisan gift shop.
Peaked at 1,050 in 1970; 774 people lived here in 2020.
16 censuses, 1870–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Earlville’s Wikipedia page.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Earlville in 1900
Passages that mention Earlville, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Madison county, state of New York1900 · page 549Read the page →
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Besides the Midland Railroad, the town has the Syracuse and Chenango Valley Railroad, which crosses from near the center of the west line to the village of Earlville, at the southeast corner. The old State road from the Chenango Vrilley to Syracuse, is the general course followed by this railroad. Of the two million dollars which this road cost, the town of Lebanon bears twenty-five thousand dollars in individual subscriptions ; and this, when the town is bonded
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Madison county, state of New York1900 · page 575Read the page →
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is the center of the highway at the grist mill, it being the point where four towns and two counties corner. These towns are: Smyrna and Sherburne, of Chenango, and ' Hamilton and Lebanon, of Madison County, At Earlville, within the town of Lebanon, is situated the Midland Railroad depot, the grist mill and a few houses. The Syracuse and Chenango Valley Railroad has its terminus at the Midland here. The admirable situation and the railroad facili-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Earlville, 1792 to 1970
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs 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 Wikimedia Commons (6), Wikipedia, 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.
1875
2009
2009
2009
