Following the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861, it is believed that the residents of Town Line, New York, met at the local schoolhouse and voted 80-45 to secede from the Union, although the story is undocumented and their reasons are unknown. With encouragement from President Harry S. Truman, Town Line residents gathered again in January 1946 at the same schoolhouse, by then a blacksmith shop, and voted 90-23 to officially return to the Union.