Massena is a village in St. Lawrence County, New York, United States. The population was 10,936 at the 2010 census. The village is named after André Masséna, one of Napoleon's generals. The Village of Massena is at the southwestern town line of the Town of Massena, with a small southeastern section of the community spilling into the Town of Louisville, and a tiny portion in the Town of Norfolk. The village is located near the northern county border.
History
The village was first settled circa 1803. Part of its early growth was based on neighboring medicinal springs. André Masséna was one of the original eighteen Marshals of France created by Napoleon. Massena is the hometown of Baseball Hall of Fame member Bid McPhee, who was born there in 1859. Voice actor Hal Smith spent a significant part of his early years living in Massena. He graduated from the Massena High School in 1936. In 1928, Massena was the site of a blood libel against its small Jewish community. Its history has been recorded by the town's longstanding newspaper, The Courier-Observer, formerly named The Massena Observer. And in The Incident at Massena, a 1978 book by historian Saul S. Friedman. Throughout the mid 20th century, Massena experienced enormous growth due to the construction of the Franklin D. Roosevelt power project and the Eisenhower locks which helped connect the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes via the St. Lawrence River. Massena established itself as the manufacturing center of St. Lawrence county with Aluminum Company Of America plant, Reynolds Metals plant and a General Motors Powertrain plant. The Alcoa East plant was temporarily idled in 2009, but began to restart pot lines in January 2011. The village has experienced a decline in population in recent decades largely due to its eroding industrial base and incomes. The unemployment and crime rates for the village had doubled in the past decade. The village tax rates have gone up 52 percent since 2004. The government blames it on growing employee union increased pay demands and pension funds. Many of the Main Street's storefronts of downtown remain vacant. Some of the abandoned buildings along Water Street have been torn down as well. Various vacant homes throughout the town have burned or also been torn down. Furthermore, the St. Lawrence Centre Mall, once a thriving shopping center, has seen nearly 90% of its stores close their doors at the mall, while many simply left the town altogether. The crime rate of Massena has gone up dramatically in the past 10 years with a current war on drugs being fought by former police chief and current village mayor Tim Currier. An effort to change the community into a productive and positive direction has been started since 2013. The Robinson Bay Archeological District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.
By 2012 industrial employment had declined and there were 10,357 people in the town, down from 16,021 in 1970. As of the census of 2000, there were 13,121 people, 2,510 households, and 3,454 families residing in the town. The population density was. There were 5,880 housing units at an average density of. The racial makeup of the town was 96.80% White, 0.30% Black or African American, 1.25% Native American, 0.41% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.18% from other races, and.02% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.83% of the population. There were 5,510 households out of which 39.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 36.1% were married couples living together, 12.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 37.3% were non-families. 31.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 13.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.98 and the average family size was 3.67. In the town, the population was spread out with 23.7% under the age of 18, 7.1% from 18 to 24, 27.3% from 25 to 44, 23.2% from 45 to 64, and 18.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females, there were 88.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 84.7 males. The median income for a household in the town was $28,391, and the median income for a family was $32,696. Males had a median income of $38,484 versus $18,819 for females. The per capita income for the town was $15,111. About 16.9% of families and 28.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 25.4% of those under age 18 and 10.8% of those age 65 or over.
