When NY 264 was assigned in the early 1930s, it originally served the hamlet of Pennellville, located midway between Phoenix and Palermo.

The route proceeds north through the village as a two-lane road named Volney Street, passing several blocks of homes before crossing CSX Transportation's Baldwinsville Subdivision rail line.

Past the railroad, NY 264 leaves the Phoenix village limits, taking on a northwesterly alignment as it continues through a lightly populated area of the town of Schroeppel as an unnamed road.

The highway winds its way past a mixture of cultivated fields and forested areas, passing the south end of CR 54 and crossing over Sixmile Creek on its way to a small cluster of homes near the northern town line.

From Suttons Corner, the route heads generally north-northeastward across along another sparsely populated stretch to a junction with NY 3 south of the hamlet of Palermo.

The first section to become a state highway was a 2-mile (3.2 km) portion leading north from the Phoenix village limits in Schroeppel, which became state-maintained on November 20, 1909.