The first settler arrived circa 1786, but the community was not founded until 1836. On November 14, 1957, the heads of the American Mafia held the Apalachin Meeting at the home of Joseph Barbara, a conference of mobsters who had gathered to iron out various issues in the underworld. The gathering was quickly broken up when a curious New York State Trooper turned up and spotted expensive cars at or near the home. Other police officers quickly arrived to arrest those attending the conference and sent some of the most powerful gangsters in the country fleeing through the surrounding countryside. Mafiosi and the FBI sometimes just refer to the meeting as Apalachin. This meeting was humorously portrayed in the opening sequence of the 1999 motion pictureAnalyze This, which starred Robert De Niro and Billy Crystal. This meeting was also fully depicted in the 1972 movieThe Valachi Papers. The film Mob Town was also depicted in this town. Apalachin was host to the annual Apalachin Firemen's Field Days, which was a four day carnival, generally held in the first week of June until it was cancelled in 2016. This event was started in 1960 and had grown from a small event in a field to having a permanent location with large pavilions and a large square of game booths that surround 15-20 carnival rides. Events included the Little Miss Apalachin contest, fireworks and a large parade. Riverside Cemetery was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2014.
As of the census of 2000, there were 1,126 people, 442 households, and 307 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 763.1 per square mile. There were 474 housing units at an average density of 321.2/sq mi. The racial makeup of the CDP was 96.54% White, 0.98% African American, 0.27% Native American, 0.62% Asian, 0.53% from other races, and 1.07% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.53% of the population. There were 442 households, out of which 33.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 51.6% were married couplesliving together, 13.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.5% were non-families. 24.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 7.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.53 and the average family size was 3.03. In the community, the population was spread out, with 26.6% under the age of 18, 9.2% from 18 to 24, 31.1% from 25 to 44, 22.1% from 45 to 64, and 11.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females, there were 97.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 96.4 males. The median income for a household in the hamlet was $38,636, and the median income for a family was $42,647. Males had a median income of $21,902 versus $25,357 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $14,927. About 9.5% of families and 11.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 19.4% of those under age 18 and none of those age 65 or over.
