It is the second largest community in the North Country region (after Watertown), and serves as the main commercial hub for the sparsely populated northern Adirondack Mountains.

The land around what is referred to as Plattsburgh was previously inhabited by the Iroquois, Western Abenaki, Mohican, and Mohawk people.

It has been an important military outpost for much of its history, from hosting one of the largest Citizens' Military Training Camps prior to World War I, and Plattsburgh Air Force Base, the east coast center of operations for the Strategic Air Command during much of the Cold War period.

On March 3, 1815, an act was passed by the New York State legislature incorporating the Village of Plattsburgh out of an area that was formerly the eastern part of the town.

[9] In 1915, the Preparedness Movement established the first and best-known of its training camps for prospective military volunteers at Plattsburgh.

The "Plattsburgh camps" trained about 40,000 potential United States Army commissioned officers in the summers of 1915 and 1916.

During the Cold War, military functions took a prominent role in Plattsburgh, which was home to Plattsburgh Air Force Base (PAFB) and was the location of the Strategic Air Command's primary wing on the East Coast due to its geographic desirability.

The base's location in the Champlain Valley (protected by the rain shadow of the Adirondack Mountains) ensured consistent, year-round weather that was safe for take-offs and landings.

The 380th Bombardment, Aerospace, and Refueling Wings, all stationed at PAFB, included B-52 Bombers, air-refueling "tankers", and FB-111s.

The Squadron consisted of 12 Atlas "F" Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles, stored in underground silos at twelve sites surrounding the city of Plattsburgh.

The squadron played an active role in the 1962 Cuban Missile crisis, giving President Kennedy a powerful negotiating tool in dealing with Nikita Khrushchev.

The 556 SMS's life was relatively short lived since the Atlas was a liquid fuel system that was expensive and difficult to maintain.

Despite its numerous awards for performance excellence, PAFB was closed on September 29, 1995, in a round of national base closures in the early 1990s as the Air Force began to pare down its post-Cold War missions.

The base property is now managed by the Plattsburgh Airbase Redevelopment Corporation (PARC) and is used by a number of industrial manufacturers and commercial airlines.

[10] Today, the city relies largely in part on new industries with a predominantly Canadian and Québécois influence expanding on the former airbase as well as established manufacturing plants, such as Bombardier,[11] Nova Bus,[12] and others.

Many historic documents relating to the famous naval engagement between the United States and Britain in 1814 refer to the Battle of Plattsburg.

United States Postal Service records show that the name of the post office was originally Plattsburg but was changed to Plattsburgh by 1828.

[17][18] Subsequently, local postal officials changed the name of the village post office back to Plattsburg.

[citation needed] Plattsburgh is on the western shore of Lake Champlain, in the northeastern part of the state of New York, just south of Cumberland Head.

Plattsburgh is classified as a humid continental climate (Köppen Dfb) with cold, snowy winters and warm, rainy summers.

Some of these Canadian stations, including CBFT-DT, CBMT-DT and CFCF-DT, are available on Charter Communications, the cable franchise serving Plattsburgh.

[citation needed] Amtrak, the national passenger rail system, provides service to Plattsburgh, operating its Adirondack daily in both directions between Montreal and New York City.

The closest American city larger than Plattsburgh is Burlington, Vermont, which is reachable by a ferry or a bridge located further north at Rouses Point.

For those going longer distances, Greyhound and Adirondack Trailways offers multiple daily trips towards Montreal and Albany.

[40] Other large companies in the area include: ALSTOM Transportation, which builds rail-cars in a 219,000 sq ft (20,300 m2) plant;[41] Norsk Titanium, which opened its U.S. branch in Plattsburgh to make parts for the aerospace industry through the use of titanium rapid plasma deposition;[42][43] and Nova Bus and Prevost which manufactures busses for the American market.