Van Etten, NY

Van Etten is a Chemung County town in the county's northeastern corner, northeast of Elmira and beside the Tioga and Tompkins County lines. Cayuta Creek runs through a broad, mostly rural valley, while the town center gathers at NY 34 and NY 224. That intersection once joined the Lehigh Valley Railroad and Southern Central Railroad, and the rail crossroads helped give the center its shape. The former Village of Van Etten merged with the town in 2018, so one municipal government now covers the village streets and the surrounding farms, camps, and retreats.

Van Etten Library occupies the municipal building at 6 Gee Street and has served the community in some form since 1923; the current location dates to a 1969 renovation. The town's current outdoor map includes the 25-acre Van Etten Wildlife Marsh, a wetland overlook where sandpipers, herons, and occasional great egrets appear. Churches, an elementary school, a bank, a post office, and a few shops line the former village center. Van Etten's small-town rhythm is split between a compact crossroads and a large rural town around it.