From approximately the 1640s, the area was in the domain of the Seneca tribe and was first settled by outsiders around 1818. The town of New Albion was established in 1830 from part of the town of Little Valley. The oldest business community in the town was New Albion with its first store opening in 1833. (New Albion, while maintaining a cluster of residences, no longer has any businesses.) Later the village of Cattaraugus surpassed New Albion.