Arkport, NY

Arkport is a Steuben County village on the eastern bank of the Canisteo River, north of Hornell, with 745 residents in the 2020 census. Christopher Hurlbut founded the village in 1797, and its name came from the river trade that made Arkport the head of navigation for flat-bottomed “arks.” Farmers loaded crops, livestock, potash, and timber onto locally built boats for the trip toward Baltimore until the Erie Canal shifted freight patterns around 1825.

Railroads arrived around 1851, and State Route 36 now follows the village’s main north-south line. The Canisteo Valley’s fertile muckland, old homes, village streets, and river launches keep the agricultural setting close at hand. The village still follows that bend between river valley fields and the higher roads toward Hornell. The local historical society preserves the ark yards, river, and railroad story, while Hornell supplies the nearby city connection. Arkport is a New York village whose name remembers a vanished cargo route and the river that made the route possible.