NY 89 was assigned as part of the 1930 renumbering of state highways in New York to a significantly different alignment than it follows today.

At the time, the route began in Varick and passed through Seneca Falls and Clyde before ending near North Rose.

It was extended south to Ithaca c. 1933 and rerouted north of Seneca Falls on April 30, 1959 to serve Savannah and Wolcott instead.

Most of NY 89 is state-maintained; however, it is locally maintained in Ithaca from the Cayuga Lake inlet crossing to the northern city line.

[3][4][5] The portion of NY 89 along the west shore of Cayuga Lake from Ithaca to the intersection with US 20 and NY 5 near the Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge is part of the Cayuga Lake Scenic Byway, a loop route passing through Ithaca, Seneca Falls, and Union Springs.

[citation needed] Outside of Ithaca, NY 89 heads generally northwestward along the western side of a valley surrounding Cayuga Lake.

It reaches the shoreline near the hamlet of Elm Beach, from where the route continues along Cayuga Lake for 7 miles (11 km) into the town of Varick.

As a result, the lakeside homes give way to farmland once again, and the rolling terrain follows NY 89 northward into the town of Seneca Falls.

NY 89 continues on, in the town of Tyre, passing over the New York State Thruway and traversing part of the refuge before crossing the Erie Canal and entering Wayne County.

The routes initially pass by farmland; however, the open fields gradually give way to homes and businesses as the road approaches the hamlet of Savannah.

North of the overpass, the routes pass by two blocks of homes before turning west onto East Church Street.

[13][14][15] NY 89 was truncated southward to its current northern terminus in the early 1970s following the construction of the US 104 super two highway south of Wolcott.