Steuben County Fun Facts

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The Finger Lakes region is chock-full of rich history and culture.

In this series I’m sharing with you all the firsts, important historical events, notable individuals, world records, and occasional quirky roadside attractions I come across in my explorations, organized by county.

Here are some fun facts about Steuben County. For random facts about the other 13 Finger Lakes counties, check here: Cayuga, Chemung, Cortland, Livingston, Monroe, Onondaga, Ontario, Schuyler, Seneca, Tioga, Tompkins, Wayne, Yates.

I know I’m only scratching the surface of all the cool things to know, so please tell me interesting facts to add! You can comment below or send me a message.

And make sure you subscribe to the Finger Lakes Family Fun email list or follow on Instagram, where I’ll be sharing my latest discoveries.

Steuben County Basic Facts

Population: 93,584

County seat: Bath

Origin of name: Baron van Steuben, Prussian military officer who fought on the American side in the American Revolutionary War

Tourism site: corningfingerlakes.com

Bath

County Fair

(Photo: Walter Baxter, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

Bath boasts the oldest continually running county fair in the United States. It was first held in 1819 with horse races and prizes given in nine agricultural categories.

For current dates and more agricultural fun, visit this listing of state and county fairs in the Finger Lakes.

Corning

Glass

Corning is known for glass. It boasts the amazing Corning Museum of Glass with 45,000 objects, and the first light bulbs were hand-blown by the Corning glass company for Thomas Edison in the 1890s (later the company developed an automated process, producing 15,000 bulbs an hour). Corning is also responsible for inventing fiber optic cable in the 1960s and 70s.

Rockwell Museum of Art

Albert Bierstadt painting — Painting by Albert Bierstadt, one of the artists featured at the Rockwell Museum (Photo: Albert Bierstadt, via Wikimedia Commons)

The Rockwell Museum of Art is the site of the most comprehensive collection of Western Art east of the Mississippi. Housed in the former Corning City Hall and once home to the horse-draw fire department in the early 1900s, it is upstate New York’s only Smithsonian Affiliate.

Hammondsport

Glenn Curtiss

Motorcycling and aviation pioneer Glenn Curtiss was born in Hammondsport in 1878. He is considered the founder of the U.S. aviation industry. Other feats include winning the first international air meet in France in 1909 and completing the first long-distance flight (from Albany to New York City) in the United States in 1910. Learn more at the Glenn H. Curtiss Museum.

Dr. Konstantin Frank

Finger Lakes vineyard Seneca Lake — (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

Born in 1899 in Odessa, Ukraine, Dr. Konstantin Frank is considered the “Father of Vinifera.” Having earned a Ph.D. in viticulture, he immigrated to the U.S. in 1951 and proved that European vitis vinifera grapes could be grown even in Upstate New York’s cold temperatures, thanks to his grafting techniques. Dr. Konstantin Frank winery is still run by the Frank family and has the oldest Riesling, Chardonnay, and Pinot Noir vines in the Eastern United States.

More fun facts

There are more fun facts on this Explore Steuben site.

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Steuben County Basic Facts