Prior to the American Revolution, this area was part of the territory of the Onondaga people. Afterwards, Summerhill was part of the Central New York Military Tract, land reserved for veterans. The first settler arrived around 1797. The town was founded as the town of Plato in 1831 from the town of Locke, but the name was changed to "Summerhill" in 1832 to avoid conflict with the name of another location. Much of the town was re-forested by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s.
The town of Sempronius is to the north, and the town of Locke is to the west. The town of Groton in Tompkins County is on the south, and the town of Homer in Cortland County is on the east.
Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 1,098 people, 393 households, and 304 families residing in the town. The population density was 42.4 people per square mile. There were 463 housing units at an average density of 17.9 per square mile. The racial makeup of the town was 99.27% White, 0.18% African American, 0.18% Native American, and 0.36% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.64% of the population. There were 393 households out of which 37.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 60.3% were married couplesliving together, 7.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 22.6% were non-families. 16.0% of all households were made up of individuals and 6.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.79 and the average family size was 3.06. In the town, the population was spread out with 29.2% under the age of 18, 7.6% from 18 to 24, 30.1% from 25 to 44, 23.8% from 45 to 64, and 9.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females, there were 105.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 105.0 males. The median income for a household in the town was $39,000, and the median income for a family was $39,500. Males had a median income of $26,336 versus $24,375 for females. The per capita income for the town was $14,609. About 6.9% of families and 12.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 21.8% of those under age 18 and 2.0% of those age 65 or over.
