Arkwright is a Town in Chautauqua County, New York.  As of the 2010 Census, the population was 1,061.  The Town is named after Richard Arkwright, the inventor of a spinning device.  Arkwright is in the northeast quadrant of Chautauqua County and is southeast of the city of Dunkirk.

Settlement began around 1807. The town of Arkwright was established in 1829 from the towns of Villenova and Pomfret.
Dairy farms and cheesemaking were important in the early economy. Arkwright was one of the first towns in New York to form a cheese cooperative.