ELMIRA, a city of southern New York, U.S.A., on the Chemung river, at an altitude of 85of t. ; the county seat of Chemung county. It is served by the Erie, the Lackawanna, the Lehigh Valley and the Pennsylvania railways. The population was 45,393 in 1920 (88% native white) and it was 47,397 in by the Federal census. The city lies on both sides of the river, and is surrounded by wooded hills. The area is 7.4 sq.m. It is the seat of Elmira college for women (1853) . The New York State reformatory for first offenders (men) 16-30 years of age, opened at Elmira in 1876 under the direction of Zebulon R. Brockway (1827-1920), has had a great influence on correctional methods in the United States and abroad. Its dis tinctive features are the indeterminate sentence ; a strict regimen of physical training, work and academic instruction, and a mark ing system. Elmira is an important railway centre, and has ex tensive manufactures, including fire-engines, milk bottles, iron and steel bridges, valves and Bendix drives (for automobiles).
The aggregate factory output in 1927 was valued at Bank clearings in 1926 amounted to $52,400,000, and the assessed valuation of property was $47,093,426.
The site of Elmira was the intersection point of several im portant Indian trails, and there were several Indian villages in the vicinity. The first log cabin was built in 1778. The village was incorporated in 1815 as Newtown, and reincorporated in 1828 as Elmira. In 1832 the Chemung canal connected it with Lake Seneca, and in 1849 the first railroad (the Erie) reached it. It was chartered as a city in 1864, and by 1870 had a population of 15,863. Near the site of Elmira on Aug. 29, 1779, was fought the battle of Newtown, in which Gen. John Sullivan decisively de feated a force of Indians and Tories under Sir John Johnson and Joseph Brant. In 1861 a military camp was established here, and in 1864-65 there was a camp for Confederate prisoners. Mark Twain had a summer home ("Quarry Farm") near Elmira, and his grave is in Woodlawn Cemetery.