In 1916, the New York State Legislature created Route 8-a, an unsigned legislative route connecting legislative Route 8 in the center of Oxford to the Relief Corps Home by way of the east bank of the Chenango River. The Route 8-a designation was removed in 1921 as part of a partial renumbering of New York's legislative routes. Its former routing became part of NY 220, a new route extending from Smithville Flats to Oxford, in the 1930 renumbering of state highways in New York. NY 220 was rerouted near Oxford in 1982 to follow a new bridge over the Chenango River. The realignment created a short overlap with NY 12 on North Canal Street between the former routing of NY 220 on Main Street and the new river crossing to the north. The 2017 route log erroneously shows that NY 220's eastern terminus is at the home to the junction with NY 12 in Oxford.