Cheektowaga, residential and industrial town, Erie County, western New York, on the Ellicott, Scajaquada, and Cayuga creeks, a suburb of Buffalo, near Lake Erie; settled 1809, incorporated 1839. Part of the Greater Buffalo International Airport is within the town limits. The name of the community is derived from a Native American term for “land of the crab apple.” Population 109,442 (1980); 99,314 (1990); 84,387 (1996 estimate).