Lisbon, New York

Lisbon, New York
Map highlighting Lisbon's location within St. Lawrence County.
Map highlighting Lisbon's location within St. Lawrence County.
Lisbon, New York is located in New York
Lisbon, New York
Lisbon, New York
Location within the state of New York
Coordinates: 44°42′10″N 75°19′32″W / 44.70278°N 75.32556°W / 44.70278; -75.32556
CountryUnited States
StateNew York
CountySt. Lawrence
Area
 • Total113.92 sq mi (295.04 km2)
 • Land108.28 sq mi (280.44 km2)
 • Water5.64 sq mi (14.60 km2)
Elevation
344 ft (105 m)
Population
 (2010)
 • Total4,102
 • Estimate 
(2016)[2]
4,064
 • Density37.53/sq mi (14.49/km2)
Time zoneUTC-5 (Eastern (EST))
 • Summer (DST)UTC-4 (EDT)
FIPS code36-42631
GNIS feature ID0979154

Lisbon is a town in St. Lawrence County, New York, United States. The population was 4,102 at the 2010 census.

By some accounts, the town is named after Lisbon, the capital of Portugal.[3] However, the 1810 US Census for the town shows its name as "Lisburn". This is the same as a city in Northern Ireland, adjacent to the capital of Belfast.

The Irish city is the more likely namesake, since Belfast was the birthplace of Alexander Macomb, a prosperous New York City merchant of Loyalist sympathies who was instrumental in land speculation in Northern New York. In 1791, he had purchased much of the territory along the St. Lawrence River and Lake Ontario, which the state had released for public sale after forced cession of the land by the Iroquois nations following United States independence in the American Revolution. With partners, Macomb sold the land for development. The Town of Lisbon is in the northern part of the county and is northwest of Canton.

  1. ^ "2016 U.S. Gazetteer Files". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved July 5, 2017.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference USCensusEst2016 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Gannett, Henry (1905). The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States. U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 187.