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Ithaca
New York, United States
Ithaca, city, seat (1817) of Tompkins county, south-central New York, U.S. It lies at the southern end of Cayuga Lake (one of the Finger Lakes), 55 miles (89 km) southwest of Syracuse. Within the city are picturesque gorges cut by several creeks. Founded in 1789 by Simeon DeWitt, surveyor general of New York, it had formerly been a part of the military tract granted in 1782 to veterans of the American Revolution. Named Ithaca (for the ancient Greek island) in 1795, it developed as an agricultural and lumber centre. Its growth was stimulated by the establishment there of Cornell University ...(100 of 189 words)