The Browns Corners–Redwood portion of its former alignment was redesignated as New York State Route 26B by the following year.

It headed southeast from the small community and gradually curved to the northeast as it proceeded through large, cultivated fields in an isolated portion of Jefferson County.

[4][5] About 1 mile (1.6 km) outside of Redwood, NY 287 passed over Jewett Creek as it entered a small forest situated adjacent to the hamlet.

[8][9] In the 1930 renumbering of state highways in New York, NY 3 was rerouted east of Watertown to follow a more southerly routing across the North Country.

[11] On July 1, 1977, NY 26 was truncated southward to Carthage to eliminate 36 miles (58 km) of overlaps with other routes.