Depew, New York

Depew (/dəˈpju/) is a village in Erie County, New York. As of the 2020 census, Depew had a population of 15,178. It is part of the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area. The village is named for Chauncey Depew, a politician and one of the original investors who bought the land for the village, which was incorporated in 1894.

The village extends across the boundary between the towns of Lancaster and Cheektowaga. The village lies on both sides of NY Route 78 (Transit Road), a major north-south route.

Village residents voted on January 17, 2017, to not dissolve the Village of Depew into the Towns of Lancaster and Cheektowaga, by a margin of 3,006–1,165.

Depew is located at 42°54′42″N 78°42′6″W / 42.91167°N 78.70167°W / 42.91167; -78.70167 (42.911758, -78.701600).

According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of 5.1 square miles (13 km²), all land.

Depew straddles the towns of Lancaster and Cheektowaga and is 11 miles (18 km) east of downtown Buffalo. Depew is bordered to the east by the village of Lancaster.

Part of the area that Depew currently inhabits was first settled in 1808 by Apollos Hitchcock, just north of Cayuga Creek on the main road that connected Buffalo (spelled as "Buffaloe" at the time) with Lancaster village in what was then Jukdowaageh (now Cheektowaga), which some say meant "land of the crab apple" or "land of fruit and flowers". The land had been bought and surveyed by the Holland Land Company.

The following is from Our County and Its People A Descriptive Work of Erie County New York, edited by Truman C. White: