Glen Falls | |
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Location | Williamsville, Erie County, NY, U.S. |
Coordinates | 42°57′50″N 78°44′38″W / 42.964°N 78.744°W |
Type | Cascade |
Total height | 30 feet (9.1 m) |
Watercourse | Ellicott Creek |
Glen Falls is a small waterfall located on Ellicott Creek in the village of Williamsville, New York. The hydropower provided by the falls made it an ideal site for a number of early watermills used to grind grist and to power sawmills.[1]
One of the earliest settlers of what is now Williamsville, Jonas Williams, owned two mills on opposite sides of Ellicott Creek.[1] The name of these mills, Williams Mills, eventually transformed into the name of the village in which the falls is located, Williamsville. The falls has a vertical drop of approximately 30 feet (9.1 m).[2] The vertical drop is part of the Onondaga Escarpment, a portion of which runs through Williamsville. Today, the falls forms part of the eastern border of Glen Park.
Glen Falls has a very similar name to the city of Glens Falls, which is located in the far eastern portion of New York State, over 200 miles (320 km) from Williamsville.