Postcard view of Main Street, Canton, looking east from Grasse River bridge, ca. 1930

            Canton, New York is located at the foothills of the Adirondack mountains and eighteen miles from the Canadian boarder. The Town of Canton was first settled in 1801 by Stillman Foote, who traveled through the Champlain Valley from Vermont . The Town was officially incorporated in 1805, the Village on May 14, 1847.

            Canton has two colleges, St. Lawrence University, a four year liberal arts University and SUNY Canton College of Technology, which offers a wide variety of career-oriented bachelor’s, associate’s and certificate programs. Canton is also the County Seat of St. Lawrence County.

            The Town of Canton 's population, including college students is 11,000 during the school year and 8,000 when college is not in session. The Village's population during the school year is 6,400 and 2,200 in the summer.

            In past years, the area's industries were lumbering, cheese manufacturing and dairy farming. The largest employers at the present time are the Universities, County, Schools and Corning.

            Some notable personalities that were from Canton include Silas Wright, who was State Senator in 1823, and served as Governor of New York in 1844. Governor Wright's house serves as a museum and County Historian's residence.  J. Henry Rushton, born in 1843 in Edwards, N.Y., became known world wide for his cedar canoes, especially the Indian Girl model. Rushton had a display of his works at the Chicago Columbia World's Fair in 1893. That event opened the doors for this North Country woodsman and the orders poured in from all over the world. Another famous native son and man of the Adirondacks was Frederic Sackrider Remington, a great nineteenth-century "Western" artist. He immortalized the western frontier in oil and bronze. There is a museum of his works in the near-by town of Ogdensburg.