The village of Canisteo was originally called Bennettsville. The original Canisteo, today a hamlet called Canisteo Center or Carson, was southeast of the present village, along the river. When the Erie Railroad was built in 1850, there was not room for a depot between the tracks and the Canisteo River, so the depot was built upriver, at the south of the tracks, on the west side of Depot Street. A "fairly large settlement", which disappeared in the twentieth century, grew up near the depot, on the north side of the river and tracks. Depot Street (renamed Railroad Street while the trolley ran down it) was built to connect the depot to the Canisteo House hotel. A large community, with businesses and shops, and other hotels, sprang up.