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New York - Ithaca Ithaca (900 alt.,29,287 pop.), seat of Tompkins County, college town, and one of the principal gateways to the Finger Lakes region, fills the flat plain at the head of Cayuga Lake and climbs the steep slopes of the surrounding hills. From the business section, centered on State Street at the foot of East Hill, the city spreads out in modest residential streets. Fall, Cascadilla, and Six Mile Creeks plunge down the deep, picturesque gorges that they have cut for themselves in the side of East Hill, and flow through the town. On the brow of East Hill, bordered by Fall and Cascadilla Creeks, is the elm-shaded campus of Cornell University. To the north is the incorporated village of Cayuga Heights, a residential district of new homes built on the hillside overlooking the far-winding lake. While the city has several industries, essentially it is a college town, its chief economic activity consisting of supplying the needs of the more than 7,000 students and teachers of Cornell University and Ithaca College. The 'busy season' coincides with the academic year. The demands and activities of its college communities supply Ithaca with much better cultural, social, and recreational resources than are normally found in a city of its size. Detachments of General John Sullivan's expedition crossed the site of Ithaca in September 1779, and burned Indian cornfields and orchards. The first settlers came in 1788 and 1789; but when the site was included within the Military Tract and title given to Revolutionary veterans, these pioneers were obliged to move on. The land was acquired by Simeon De Witt, surveyor-general of New York State, who gave the place its name. Solid growth began after the opening of Cornell University in 1868. In 1888 Ithaca became a city and turned to civic problems—streets, water, lighting, streetcars, traffic regulation, and social service. Members of the Cornell faculty have participated actively in city affairs. For several years beginning in 1914 Ithaca was a center of the motion picture industry. Dear Old Girl of Mine, a picture of college life starring Francis X. Bushman and Beverly Bayne, and Exploits of Elaine, with Lionel Barrymore and Pearl White, were filmed with Ithaca and Cornell University backgrounds.