History:

The first inhabitants of the area, now known as Darien, were the Seneca Indians of the Iroquois Confederacy who referred to the area as; O-SO-ONT-GEH meaning Place of the Turkeys.

The name Darien is directly linked to the region of eastern Panama on the Gulf of Darien, a wide bay of the Caribbean Sea between eastern Panama and northwest Colombia. In 1513 Vasco Nunez de Balboa led an expedition across the Isthmus of Darien (now the Isthmus of Panama) and became the first European to view the Pacific Ocean from the New World. It is unknown why the first inhabitants chose this particular name.


Agriculture played a key role in the development and growth of Darien and related businesses. As the fertile land was cleared, families chose to plant a wide range of crops including but not limited to; grain, apples, pears, cherries, and flowers. Additionally, livestock was raised and marketed along with the produce in Buffalo. As farmers prospered so did support businesses such as cider mills, wagon shops, blacksmiths, feed and gristmills to name a few. The ability to travel north south (Allegheny Road) to the Erie Canal and east-west (referred to as State Road, Plank Road, and now known as Broadway Road or U.S. Rte. 20) to Buffalo assisted local businesses and farmers to find a market outside of Darien.

As Darien grew, the need for district schools also grew, at one time (1854), the community supported 17 separate schools in and around Darien. As time progressed and transportation became more accessible the number of school districts lessened. Eventually Western New York centralized all education (1938) and the local districts were closed. Young people from Darien now attend one of four local school districts, Alden, Alexander, Attica or Pembroke based on their geographic location. Only a few of the old school district buildings have survived over the years and have been used in various capacities; i.e. knitting mill, residential homes or apartments.

The land is hilly in the south and rolling in the north, The soil in the north is sandy and gravelly loam, and in the south a clay loam underlain by limestone.

Two major streams with countless tributaries flow across the town. Eleven Mile Creek was so named supposedly because it crossed the old Buffalo Road, as tradition has it, eleven miles from Buffalo. In the 1866 Atlas the stream is marked Ellicott Creek; the 1904 Atlas indicates Eleven Mile Creek. The other main stream is known as Murder Creek, originating in the town of Bennington and flowing north about 18 miles and then across Erie County, In 1861 Murder Creek was moved 16 rods east during the building of the road, A culvert built of flat stones forming an arch was then added, Two versions of how the Creek got its name have been most widely accepted, In the "Life of Ely F, Parker" by Dr. Arthur Parker, he states that the creek was so named because of the murder of Big Fire Chief on its banks in 1806. The other tells of the finding of a partially buried body, believed to have been decayed, and murdered there about 1810.