Unattended Death and Biohazard Cleanup in Canastota, NY

Canastota is a village in the town of Lenox in Madison County, New York, and its name comes from the Oneida word Kniste Stota, meaning "cluster of pines near still waters."

Canastota was founded by Captain Reuben Perkins, a Revolutionary War veteran who in 1810 purchased 329.2 acres from the Oneida Nation and settled at what is now the intersection of James Street and Main Street.

Construction of the Erie Canal through Canastota began in 1817 — Perkins himself won the contract for the two miles of canal through the village — and once opened the canal made Canastota a vibrant trading stop between Rome and Syracuse.

Canastota was incorporated as a village in 1835 and reorganized in 1870.

The section of the Erie Canal that ran through Canastota was abandoned by the 1920s, but much of it survives intact and is now part of the Old Erie Canal State Historic Park.

On September 1–2, 1852, Canastota hosted the national convention of the abolitionist Liberty Party, where speakers included Frederick Douglass and Gerrit Smith.

A fire on October 26–27, 1873, destroyed more than thirty buildings in Canastota and burned many of the village's early records.

Canastota was once famous for onion farming — it was sometimes called the onion capital of the world, and onions grown by its many Italian immigrant farm families once accounted for a large share of the village's income.

Canastota is home to the International Boxing Hall of Fame, which held its first inductions in 1990 and draws champions to the village for induction weekend every June.

The Boxing Hall of Fame landed in Canastota because the village produced two world champions from one family: welterweight and middleweight champion Carmen Basilio and his nephew, welterweight champion Billy Backus.