Rathbone Town Hall is located at 8088 County Route 21, Addison, NY 14801.
The region that would later evolve as the Town of Rathbone was first settled following the American Revolution and subsequently developed during the 1820s. Steuben County was formed from Ontario County in 1796 and settled largely by farmers of English and German extraction. Following the course of the Susquehanna River north from Pennsylvania, these early settlers moved west via the Chemung and Canisteo Rivers into the fertile lands of the county, joined by New Englanders pushing west across central New York. The small hamlet of Cameron Mills was settled by 1820, and the township of Rathbone officially formed in 1845, taken from the towns of Addison and Cameron. Lumbering was a significant enterprise in Rathbone, and by 1850, there were no fewer than 12 saw mills on the Canisteo River between Addison and Brown's Crossing. Prior to the establishment of the railroad, Norway Pine cut for masts and spars was rafted down the Canisteo to the Chemung and Susquehanna Rivers, to its eventual destination, Baltimore, Maryland.