In the 1930 renumbering of state highways in New York, a spur of NY 17 between the hamlet of Big Flats and NY 13 in the town of Elmira was designated as NY 17E. At the time, NY 17 was routed on Main Street and Big Flats Road in the vicinity of Big Flats. NY 17E was extended eastward into Elmira in the early 1940s after NY 13 was truncated to a new southern terminus in downtown Elmira. At the time, both NY 13 and NY 17E ended at the junction of Church Street and Madison Avenue, the latter then part of NY 17. NY 17E was extended slightly by 1953 to continue east along Church Street to Sullivan Street and southward on Sullivan Street to Water Street (NY 17).