Massena, New York, United States

🇺🇸 Massena is a town in St. Lawrence County, New York, United States. Massena is along the county's northern border, just south of the St. Lawrence River and the Three Nations Crossing of the Canada–United States border. The town of Massena contains a village also named Massena.

History Massena was one of the first towns settled in St. Lawrence county, but was not incorporated until 1802 when it was formed from the town of Lisbon. The town and its village are named after André Masséna, a general and Marshal to Napoleon during the Napoleonic Wars.

The town suffered natural disasters in the 1944 Cornwall-Massena earthquake and in the January 1998 North American ice storm. In 1928 it was the scene of the antisemitic Massena blood libel.

Economy Up until the 1880s, the town was predominantly agricultural, mainly home to butter and cheese production. Aside from the dairy farmers (and the blacksmiths, craftsmen, and shopkeepers that serviced them), the town boasted the Massena Springs, a pair of sulphur springs, one hot and the other cold, reputed to possess healing powers known to the Native Americans before European settlement. In 1820, an Army veteran, Captain John Polley, hoping to capitalize on the properties, opened a hotel and began to advertise them. By 1858, three hotels, numerous rental cottages, a bathing house, and a plant that bottled and sold the spring water, had been built. By about 1900, the Springs' status as a popular resort had faded.

The first small mills were built in the 1830s, harnessing the Grasse River to turn their wheels. They included a saw mill, stone-cutter, and a tannery. In 1833, New York State Legislature approved a canal that would bypass a troublesome rapids hindering navigation on the St. Lawrence by linking the Grasse and St. Lawrence Rivers. However, the British North American government preempted this project by building the Cornwall Canal on the Canadian side of the River, completed in 1843. The Massena Canal project was revived at the end of the century and completed in 1898.

The modern town is involved in power production, aluminium production at ALCOA, and the commerce of the St. Lawrence Seaway. Massena's economy has suffered for the past few decades due to its large exposure to American manufacturing and the automotive industry. The town is home to an Alcoa Aluminum plant, the world's longest continually operating aluminium facility. Alcoa employs over 600 people at its facilities in Massena.

The Massena Power Canal (closed in 1958) connected the lower Grass River to the St. Lawrence River. A powerhouse built in the early 1900s provided hydroelectric power to the town. The New York Power Authority now operates a hydroelectric power generating dam, the St. Lawrence-FDR Power Project, on the St. Lawrence River adjacent to Massena. Curran Renewable Energy manufactures wood pellet fuel and mulch in the town.

Massena is also home to the Eisenhower and Snell Locks, part of the St. Lawrence Seaway which allows ships and vessels to pass through the St. Lawrence River and onto the Great Lakes.

While on November 2, 2015, Alcoa announced the idling of the smelter at its "Alcoa West" plant, the facility remained open through negotiations with New York State, and 400 jobs were saved until 2019. The Forgings and Extrusions facilities at Alcoa West were unaffected. The changes resulted in the loss of 487 jobs.

Communities • Barnhardt Island – An island in the St. Lawrence River north-east of Massena village. The island is at the international border and is the northernmost point of land in New York. • Long Sault Island ("Isle au Long Saut") – An island in the St. Lawrence River north of Massena village. • Massena – A village at the western town line on both banks of the Grasse River. • Massena Center – A hamlet north-east of Massena village. • Massena Power Canal – A waterway connecting the Grasse River to the St. Lawrence River. • Massena Springs – A hamlet south of Massena village by the Raquette River. The community was the site of health resorts and hotels based on sulphurous spring water. • Raquette River – A hamlet east of Massena village by the Raquette River. It was first settled circa 1804. • Robert Moses State Park – A state park in the northern part of the town. • Rooseveltown – A hamlet near the eastern town line by the Raquette River. • Wiley Dondero Canal – A waterway constructed as part of the St. Lawrence power project.

Education Both the village and town of Massena are served by the Massena Central School District, which also serves most of Louisville, a portion of Norfolk and Brasher, and the St. Regis Mohawk Reservation. • Jefferson Elementary School (K-6) • Madison Elementary School (K-6) • Nightengale Elementary School (K-6) • J. William Leary Junior High School (7-8) • Massena Central High School (9-12) • Trinity Catholic School (K-6) • Holy Name of Jesus Academy (K-12)

Transport New York State Route 37, a northeast–southwest highway, passes along the outskirts of the town. The town is served by Massena International Airport, east of Massena village, south of NY-37. Trailways of New York provides bus service from Massena to Syracuse. The town had until 1961 been the terminus for New York Central Railroad (NYC) sleeping car passenger service on its St. Lawrence Division; the last sleepers came in from the NYC's Iroquois and the outgoing sleeper fed into the New York Special. The final run of regular local trains into the town was in 1964.

Media: Radio • 1340 WMSA • WVLF-FM Mix 96.1 • WRCD-FM 101.5 The Fox.