Nichols Keeps a River-Town Memory Along the Tioga Line

Nichols is a river town before it is anything else. The Susquehanna borders the town on the north and west, Wappasening Creek runs into it at the village, and the old story follows water, roads, bridges, ferries, railroads, and farm goods.

The early dates give the place a spine. Settlers arrived in 1787, permanent settlement followed in 1791, Nichols became a town in 1824, the bridge to Smithboro was built in 1831, and the Erie Railroad reached the north shore of the Susquehanna in 1849.

Those details make the river corridor feel busy, not sleepy. Goods were floated downriver at high water. Agricultural and timber products moved across the river to rail connections. When potatoes and other crops were ready, Nichols could turn into a lively shipping point with hotels, livery stables, saloons, and stores.

The modern town keeps a local memory door open through the historian and the Cady Library and Historical Society.

Nichols may look quiet from Route 17, but the older map is full of river work, rail work, and neighbors moving goods through a narrow Tioga County corridor.