History of Syracuse: New York

Syracuse NY was first settled in 1788. The city was founded in 1848. The salt springs, discovered in 1648 spurred the salt making industry, which lasted until after the civil war. Syracuse was a hub of the Erie Canal (1819), which further spurred it’s growth.

Syracuse is home to the Onondaga Nation, which has a great history of it’s own. Hiawatha was from the Onondaga Nation and helped form the Iroquois Confederacy.

Many famous entertainers have lived in the Syracuse area, including Gordon MacRae (Oklahoma Musical), Richard Gere and The Baldwin Brothers. Also, Carmen Basilio, a former boxing champion was from Canastota, near Syracuse. Canastota is the home of the Boxing Hall of Fame. James St. in Syracuse is named after Henry James, a famous author.

The Syracuse area was first seen by Europeans when French missionaries came to the area in the 1600s. A group of Jesuit priests, soldiers, and coureurs des bois (including Pierre Esprit Radisson) set up a mission, known as Saint Marie Among the Iroquois or Ste. Marie de Gannentaha, on the northeast shore of Onondaga Lake at the invitation of the Onondaga Nation, one of the five constituent members of the Iroquois confederacy.

The mission was short lived, as the Mohawk Nation hinted to the Onondaga that they should sever their ties to the French, or the Onondaga’s guests would suffer some horrible fate. The men in the mission caught wind of this and left under cover of a cold night in March. Their entire stay was less than two years. The remains of the mission have been located underneath a restaurant in nearby Liverpool, NY. There is now a living history museum in Liverpool that recreates the mission.

After the Revolutionary War, more settlers came to the area, mostly to trade with the Onondaga Nation. Ephraim Webster left the Continental Army to settle in the area in 1784, and Asa Danforth, another revolutionary war hero, arrived afterward. Salt was discovered in several swamps in Syracuse, which brought more settlers to the area, and eventually gave the city the nickname “Salt City”.

he original settlement went through several name changes until 1824, first being called Webster’s Landing (1786), then Bogardus Corners (1796), Milan (1809), South Salina (1812), Cossits’ Corners (1814), and Corinth (1817). The U.S. Postal Service rejected the name Corinth upon its application for a post office, stating there was already a post office by this name in New York. Due to similarities such as a salt industry and a neighboring village named Salina, the name Syracuse was chosen, after Syracuse, Italy.

In 1825, the Village of Syracuse was officially incorporated. Five years later, the Erie Canal, which ran through the village, was completed. In 1848, Syracuse merged with nearby Salina to become the City of Syracuse. The opening of the canal caused a steep increase in the sale of salt, not simply due to the improved and lower cost of transportation, but because the canal caused New York farms to change from wheat to pork, and curing pork required salt. As salt production climbed, the processing became increasingly mechanized, and local industry became more generalized; population grew to 5,000 by 1850, from 250 in 1820, making it the twelfth largest city in the Union.

As Syracuse grew in wealth and sophistication, it became a hot spot for the growing abolitionist movement. On October 1, 1851, a freed slave known only as Jerry was arrested under the Fugitive Slave Law. The anti-slavery Liberty Party was holding its state convention in the city, and when word of the arrest spread, several hundred abolitionists broke into the city jail and freed Jerry. The event came to be known as the Jerry Rescue. During the Civil War, Syracuse was also a stop on the Underground Railroad. (more…)

Introducation Syracuse: New York

Syracuse is an American city in Central New York. According to the U.S. Census, in 2000 the city had a total population of 147,306, and its metropolitan area had a population of 732,117. It is the county seat of Onondaga County and the economical and educational hub of Central New York, a region with over a million inhabitants.

Syracuse is also well provided with convention sites, with a downtown convention complex and the Empire Expo Center directly west of the city, which hosts the annual Great New York State Fair. Syracuse was named after the original Syracuse, a city on the eastern coast of Sicily, Italy, which shares some similarities with this one, including a formerly-important salt industry and a neighboring town of Salina.

The city has functioned as a major crossroads over the last two centuries, first between the Erie Canal and its branch canals, then of the railway network. Today, Syracuse is located by the intersection of Upstate New York’s two major interstate highways, and its airport is the largest in the region.

Syracuse is also home to many regional offices of the United States Government, such as the main office of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York.

Syracuse grew due its location along the Erie Canal and salt found in the area. Today, the Syracuse area is reinventing itself from its manufacturing roots to a service economy. Located at the crossroads of Interstate 81 and Interstate 90, Syracuse is located in the middle of the most densely built region of North America. Syracusans take advantage of the nearby recreational attractions, including the Finger Lakes, the Adirondacks, Lake Ontario, the Thousand Islands, Oneida Lake and the ski resorts in the hills just south of the city.