The community was settled in 1816. The community was named after Isaac Otis, an early settler and local merchant.
A former sanitarium located near the village is now a New York state prison. The sanitarium became a boys' training school for the state, and served as such until some time in the 1970s, when it was transformed into a N.Y. State prison facility. A boys' training school was another name for a reform school for male juvenile delinquents.
Otisville was settled in 1816 by Isaac Otis, a merchant from New York, and named for him. There were but three houses on the upper street, and probably but little more than a dozen buildings comprised the entire village when the Erie Railroad was opened on November 3, 1846.
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History of Orange County, New York1881 · page 512Read the page →
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this, upon application by Messrs. Thomas White and Wm. Shaw, Lewis A. Scott, Esq., of New York, gave the promise of a deed for five acres of land on " The Plains," near the present village of Otisville, for the erection of a house of worship and other church purposes. The deed for this land was given ten years afterwards, in March, 1795, by the executors of Mr.
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The history of Orange County, New York1908 · page 763Read the page →
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In 1843 the road was operated as far west as Middletown, in 1846 to Otisville, and in 1848 to Port Jervis. The only portion of the territory thus traversed that was well adapted to the production of milk lay between Otisville and Greenwood (now Arden) a distance of thirty-one miles. The total amount of milk shipped ni 1842 averaged about fortyfive; in 1843, 275 cans, and in 1844 some 420 cans daily.
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History of Orange County, New York1881 · page 515Read the page →
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At Otisville there is the Catholic burial-ground in connection with the church. There is also a beautiful private cemetery on the hill back of Otisville.
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Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
By decade
Otisville, decade by decade
One decade in the archive so far: the 1920s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
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 (4), the Library of Congress (2), 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.
1920
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2022
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2008