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Vestal is a town within Broome County in the Southern Tier of New York, and lies between the Susquehanna River and the Pennsylvania border. As of the 2000 census, the population was 26,535, estimated to have grown to 27,423 in 2005.

The Town of Vestal is on the south border of the county and is west and southwest of Binghamton.

Vestal is home to Binghamton University which draws visitors to the town through its entertainment and sporting events. The university adds more than 14,000 students to the town and employs more than 3,000 faculty and staff.

The first American settlement occurred around 1785.

The central area of Vestal, near Route 26 at Choconut Creek, was the site of a native village of the Ochugnut tribe of the Tuscaroras. During the American Revolution, a squad of soldiers from the Sixth Massachusetts Regiment, under the command of Lt. William McKendry were sent to exterminate the natives. During the summer of 1779, the squad eliminated at least two villages, including one situated in what is now nearby Downtown Binghamton (the Chenango, at the confluence of the Chenango and Susquehanna rivers), and the Ochugnut (Choconut) at the site of Choconut Creek near present-day Vestal Senior High School.
Reasons for the attack include the Iroquois alliance with Great Britain during the American Revolution. However, some evidence indicates that at least some of the natives were actually Tuscarora - descendants of the Cherokee who fled from North Carolina after wars in 1711 and the War of 1763. This community was actually sympathetic to the American cause, siding against the rest of the Iroquois confederation. See Sullivan Expedition or external links for more information on the role of Upstate New York in this conflict.

Following the war, several white families settled in the area near the Town of Union.

The Town of Vestal was formed from the southern half of the Town of Union in 1823.

The history of the town is closely related to its neighbors, Binghamton, Endicott, and Johnson City. During the 20th century, Vestal served as a residential suburb to emerging industries in its area, such as Endicott Johnson Corporation, IBM, and Lockheed Martin.

In 1950, Triple Cities College of Syracuse University, in Endicott, New York, relocated to Vestal and became Harpur College, a member of SUNY. Today, the college has become Binghamton University, the highest ranked public university in the Northeastern United States. The University adds 14,000 students to the local population each school year, and draws large numbers into the town for sporting, arts and other events.

During the 1990s, Vestal became the major retail center of the Southern Tier region of New York, with many large shopping centers such as the Town Square Mall, Parkway Plaza, Shoppes at Vestal, and Campus Plaza being built along the Vestal Parkway (NY Route 434), which became one of the busiest roads in the area. Vestal's historic central business district is located along three blocks of Front Street, still lined with small shops.

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