RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
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Welcome to Forks ...

Forks is located in Erie County<1>.

While we don't have a date for the founding of Forks, you might consider that their post office opened  in 1894.

Forks is 640 feet [195 m] above sea level.<2>.

Time Zone: Forks lies in the Eastern Time Zone (EST/EDT) and observes daylight saving time

Area Codes for Forks: 716 & 624<3>

Communities Also Named Forks ...

Using our Gazetteer, we found that there are two New York communities named Forks: This one is located in Erie County and the other is located in Cattaraugus County.

Beyond New York, there are 10 communities that are also named Forks - they are located in California, Kentucky, Maine, New Brunswick, Ontario, Pennsylvania (2), Washington and Wyoming.

For more information, see our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Forks.

Communities near Forks ...

We have created a list of 10 communities that are near Forks.

  • Buffalo
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
  • Niagara Falls
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
  • North Tonawanda
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Tonawanda
    • North Tonawanda is located in Niagara County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 30,050 people
  • Fort Erie
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
  • Lockport
    (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
  • Lackawanna
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Kenmore
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Tonawanda
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Lancaster
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
  • Hamburg
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)

To Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

We have a couple of sections for those tracing their genealogy.

We created a list of cemeteries that are in the area around Forks. Our list includes the location of those cemeteries and we provide an overhead view. See our Cemetery List for Forks.

Using the information from an 1895 Atlas, we've created a list of communities that were in the area of Forks. Our list includes information such as whether the 1895 community had a post office or railroad service. See our List of 1890's Communities around Forks.

We also have a detailed list of newspapers that have been published in the area around Forks. See our Newspapers Page for Forks.

TripAdvisor Tourism Pages for Forks ...

Looking for more information about Forks? A wonderful source is the TripAdvisor website. We always start with the TripAdvisor Tourism page, where you can read an overview with links that will help you find lodging, restaurants and attractions.

While we are unaware of a Tourism page that is specific to Forks, there are neighboring communities that do have Tourism pages. A map of those communities can be found with our TripAdvisor Page for Forks.

Adding Forks to Our Gazetteer ...

We originally found mention of Forks in both the FIPS-55 and the GNIS. For more information, see the FIPS and GNIS Codes sections on our Miscellaneous Page.

From our notes, the earliest published mention we've found for Forks was in the document titled List of Post Offices from Cameron Blevins and Richard Helbock.<5>

From that list, the Forks post office opened in 1894.

We also found Forks in the book titled Business Atlas and Shippers' Guide (1895).

For more details, see References and Mentions for Forks.

Footnotes ...

<1>If you're interested in how the shape of New York's counties, including Erie, have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.
<2>The elevation is an estimate for the area around Forks - it will be higher in some places and lower in others.
<3>When there's a risk of an area code running out of phone numbers, an 'Overlay Area Code' is created that has the same geographic boundaries as the existing area code. In this case, the 716 code has been Overlayed with the 624 area code. New phone numbers in the Forks area will be assigned with one of these codes: 716 or 624. As a result, placing a call in the Forks area will require 10-digit dialing (where you enter both the area code and then the phone number).
<4>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<5>A copy of their list with background information can be found at:

      https://cblevins.github.io/us-post-offices/data-biography/