Montour Falls developed in a landscape shaped by glaciers that receded about 20,000 years ago, leaving the gorges, lakes, streams, and waterfalls that define the area, which has been glacier-free for the last 10,000 years and serves as the southern gateway to the Finger Lakes region. By 2500 BC the region was inhabited by Lamoka Indians, and by the 1300's local Indians were growing corn, beans, and squash near their settlements. During the 1700's a large Seneca village led by "Queen" Catharine Montour stood on this site as Catharine's Town until General John Sullivan destroyed it in 1779 during the Revolutionary War, driving its inhabitants north toward the British in Canada; some later returned to find little left of their homes, crops, orchards, and villages. Soon after the war, American settlers moved into the area, and by 1802 a post office had been established. The settlement south of Seneca Lake grew rapidly after Charles Cook arrived in 1829 with a contract to build the Chemung Canal, opened in 1833 to link Seneca Lake with the Chemung River in Elmira, the same year that North Central Railroad tracks also reached the community. Incorporated as the Village of Havana in 1836, the village benefited from Cook's support for early civic buildings and homes, and in 1845 David B. Hill, later New York State's 29th Governor, was born there on Genesee Street. Schuyler County was formed in 1854, the Chemung Canal closed in 1878 after more than 40 years through the village center, Havana was renamed Montour in 1894 in honor of Catharine Montour, and in 1895 it took its current name, Montour Falls. In the 20th century, the Shepard-Niles Crane and Hoist Corporation and Seneca Engineering Company drove the local economy. A devastating flood in 1935 swept over Shequaga Falls and through the village, damaging homes and businesses, but a flood management system built in 1940 ended the threat of widespread destruction. In 1978 the National Register of Historical Places designated the Glorious T historic district, centered on the T-shaped intersection of Genesee and Main Streets and crowned by Shequaga Falls, and today the Catherine Valley Trail follows the old North Central Railroad bed and former Chemung Canal towpath through the heart of the village.