History & Culture · Mohawk Valley
The Town of Little Falls sits around the famous canal city
The Town of Little Falls has its own Mohawk Valley frame around routes, hills, rural homes, and Lock 17 access.
Published July 7, 2026 · Last verified July 7, 2026
Little Falls can be confusing because the famous city name pulls most of the attention. The town around it has its own shape too, especially if you are looking at a home, a road, or a school-year routine outside the compact city blocks.
The Town of Little Falls covers more than 22 square miles. Routes 169 and 170 reach north and south, while Routes 5 and 5S run east and west. That road list is a good way to picture it: the town is not one Main Street, but the rural and hillside frame around a busy Mohawk Valley passage.
Lock 17 keeps the Erie Canal close to the town’s identity, even outside the city blocks. The older map story goes back further. The New York Genealogical and Biographical Society dates settlement by German Palatines to 1722 and town formation to 1829, when Little Falls was formed from Fairfield, German Flatts, and Herkimer.
That gives the town a quieter role beside the city: older settlement, later town boundaries, road approaches, and canal access all gathered around the same narrow Mohawk Valley corridor.