Scio, NY

Scio is a census-designated hamlet in the Town of Scio, in Allegany County’s Genesee River valley. NY 19 passes through the settlement, with County Roads 9 and 10 meeting nearby at River Street and Vandermark Road. Wellsville is about four miles south, and Interstate 86 is about eight miles north. The Genesee, Knights Creek, and Vandermark Creek give the hamlet a water-and-road geography that is easy to recognize once you are in the valley.

Joseph Knight, a Revolutionary War minuteman from Oneida County, was the first settler recorded here in 1805. Knights Creek carries his name and joins the Genesee near Scio. The Town of Scio was formed in 1823 from Angelica, then later gave up pieces of its territory as nearby towns were created. The CDP is the primary settlement in that larger town, with farms, wooded hills, and smaller hamlets such as Knights Creek and Petrolia spreading beyond it. Scio’s 2020 CDP population was 525. Its story is a classic Southern Tier one: a river valley, a state route, and a town that grew outward in pieces.