Andover sits on Allegany County's eastern edge

Andover is one of those towns where the edge of the county matters. It sits on the eastern edge of Allegany County and includes the Village of Andover, so the place has both a rural town frame and a village center to hold it together.

The old boundary story is tidy enough to remember. Andover was established in 1824 from part of Independence, then grew in 1855 when part of Wellsville was added. Those are quiet facts, but they explain why the town feels connected to several directions at once: Allegany County, Steuben County country nearby, the village, and the older town lines around it.

For a visitor, Andover may first look like a Route 417 stop.

For a resident, it is more layered than that: an eastern-edge town, a village name, and a 19th-century boundary story still sitting under everyday addresses.

The place does not need one giant landmark to be memorable. Its shape is the story: county edge, village center, and old town lines still doing quiet work. That is the kind of local clue that helps Andover feel like a specific Allegany place rather than a name passed on the way to somewhere else.