USA > New York > Erie County > Buffalo > A history of Buffalo : delineating the evolution of the city > Part 20
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The Chamber of Commerce, organized in 1888, is of vital consequence, in its general supervision of local interests, in collecting statistics, supplying information, encouraging existing and stimulating new enterprises and in advancing the common weal. It is solicitous for the honor as well as
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RAILWAY TERMINALS
the thrift of the city. It mingles in its associates the best business blood and promotes their harmonious and even fra- ternal relations. It has been loyally served by its officials, its successive secretaries having been peculiarly devoted to their trust. S. R. Clarke is now acting in that capacity. The Chamber is handsomely housed in its own building, at the corner of Main and South St. Paul streets.
In all directions, railways stretch their iron fingers with friendly clasp to distant communities. There is a larger and richer territory within the State tributary to Rochester than to any other city therein not upon the seaboard. The New York Central and Hudson River Company links it with the west at Buffalo and Niagara Falls and at the east with Syracuse and the metropolis by two lines-those via Lyons and Auburn, respectively. The Rome and Water- town and the West Shore are both leased to the New York Central, with eastern and western connections. Branches of the Lehigh Valley, the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western and the Erie bring those great systems in touch with the city. The Pennsylvania, with its two divisions, runs, the one to Olean and the other-originally the Northern Central-to Philadelphia and Washington. The Buffalo, Rochester and Pittsburg, formerly the State Line, unites the three places, as its title indicates. With the development of the trolley system, Rochester is in close contact with scores of villages in Western New York, there being six or eight lines, and more a-building, while the Rochester Electric Railway, with a capital of $6,000,000, incorporated in 1890, is one of the best-equipped and best-managed street railway com- panies in the world, with 165.32 miles, including double tracks and sidings, radiating from the "four corners" as a common center, and employing 412 motor cars, according to the report of 1907.
The capital of the banks of discount in Rochester is not
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ROCHESTER
apparently commensurate with its population and wealth, but this is accounted for by the existence of several large trust companies which make good what would otherwise be a pronounced deficiency. The capital of the Traders National is $500,000, with $600,000 surplus and profits ; the Merchants, $100,000, surplus $150,000; the Central, $200,- 000, surplus and undivided profits, $250,000; the Alliance, $275,000, surplus $275,000; the Lincoln National, $1,000,- 000, surplus $1,000,000; and the National Bank of Com- merce, $500,000, surplus and undivided profits $225,000. The Trust and Safe Deposit Co. has a capital of $200,000, with over $1,000,000 surplus and $21,500,000 of resources ; the Security, $500,000 of capital and surplus, with deposits of $10,600,000; the Union, $250,000, with $125,000 of sur- plus and undivided profits and $3,900,000 of deposits ; the Fidelity, $200,000, with $200,000 of surplus and undivided profits and the Genesee Valley, $300,000, with surplus of $258,823.26. There are four savings banks-the Rochester, with $23,210,390.99 deposits and $11,641,661.71 loans; the Monroe County, $18,684,455.40 deposits and $11,454,045 loans ; the Mechanics, $3,671,445.89 deposits, and $2,427,250 loans; and the East Side, $7,689,946.03 deposits, and $5,064,- 522 loans. The Rochester German, a strong insurance com- pany, has a capital of $500,000, a reserve for reinsurance of $1,035,909.65, a reserve for unpaid losses and other liabili- ties of $107,929.49, and a net surplus of $574,823.76.
Rochester claims the primacy in the production of photo- graphic supplies, thermometers, canned goods, optical in- struments, enameled tanks, office-filing devices, buttons, wood and paper-box machinery, and in the output of seeds and nursery stock. A few words are due to the inventors of Rochester, and especially to him, who, less than 30 years ago, was a bank clerk and an amateur photographer. His experiments have brought him fame and fortune and from
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IMPORTANT INDUSTRIES
America to "far Cathay"; girdling the globe, the mystical message of the Eastman Kodak is the credential of civiliza- tion. Until 1880, the photographers used what was known as the wet plate, but this was then superseded by a process in which the sensitive silver salts were suspended in a gela- tine emulsion and spread upon glass ; that is, the dry plate. Mr. Eastman was not only successful in his experiments, but made the plate commercially practical and enlisted, in his manufacture thereof, capitalists who had faith in the worth of his discoveries. Following this, have been the bromide papers, the Kodak camera, the transparent and daylight films, the developing machine doing away with the dark room, and constant improvements in cameras, lenses, shut- ters, papers and chemicals, all of which have contributed to the evolution of the marvelous photography of the day. The Kodak Park works comprise about 43 acres on the Lake Avenue Boulevard. There are 45 buildings, mostly fire- proof, with a floor space of 22 acres, a chimney 366 feet high-the tallest in the United States-a power house with 300 horse-power boilers, five electric generators of 3,000 horse-power and 7,000 incandescent lights. The employees number about 1,400 men and 600 women. The Kodak has also enormous manufacturing properties in St. Louis, Jamestown, N. Y., and Toronto, and in Harrow and Ash- stead, England.
Another notable device is the United States mail chute, invented by James G. Cutler, an eminent architect, and first applied in the Elwood building, through which letters are dropped from the floors above of a building to the ground floor, where a Government mail box receives them for dis- tribution. It is found to be very convenient, and is utilized, largely, by the tenants of the "skyscrapers," now a striking feature of American cities. It is extensively and remuner- atively manufactured by the Cutler Brothers. The Sar-
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ROCHESTER
gent and Greenleaf Co. is the manufacturer of various in- ventions of James Sargent-the burglar-proof lock of 1865, the Sargent time-lock of 1873, and many styles of lock since perfected. Their use is more than continental. Mr. Sar- gent is also the inventor of the glass-enameled steel tank and vacuum pump of the Pfaudler Company and of the auto- matic semaphor of the Gordon Railway Signal Company. The Bausch and Lomb Optical Company is the leading world manufacturer of optical instruments, many of which are of their own origination. The "Rochester lamp," al- though not of Rochester manufacture, is of Rochester crea- tion, introduced by Rochester capital, and carries the name wherever kerosene casts its light. A longer catalogue of home inventions might be given, but the foregoing are in- stanced as illustrations rather than as a complete inventory of them.
Because of space limitations, a full conspectus of Rochester manufacturers cannot be presented, but allusion must be made to a few of the more prominent ones. Rochester stands third in the United States as a manufac- turer of clothing. There were, at the last record, 39 whole- sale dealers therein, with an annual output of goods to the amount of $18,000,000. The Jews, to whose excellent quality as citizens reference has been made already, control, if they do not wholly monopolize, this branch of trade. Another industry is that of boots and shoes, of which there are 54 factories, with an annual production of $12,000,000. Although the scepter of wheat, like the course of empire, has passed westward, there are still 15 mills producing an- nually about 1,000,000 barrels of flour. There are 10 breweries, in the popularity of whose product, Rochester rivals St. Louis and Milwaukee, with a yearly sale of 600,- 000 barrels. Among eastern cities, Rochester, as befitting its floral title and the fertility of the Genesee Valley, bears
-WEH bas
A.B. Shaw
HESTER
Co. is the manufacturer of various in- Argent-the burglar-proof lock of 1865, wto6 1 c- of 1873, and many styles of lock since To wie is more than continental. Mr Sar- also the inventor of the glass-enameled steel tank and punot the Pfaudler Company and of the auto- semaphor of the Gordon Railway Signal Company. Bausch and Lomb Optical Company is the leading wwwfacturer of optical instruments, many of which www own or lation. The "Rochester lamp," al- Rochester manufacture, is of Rochester crea- by Rochester capital, and carries the name uts its light A longer catalogue of M. B. SHANTZ. In-
Manufacturer, Rochester ; born Berlin, Ontario, August tory 24, 1852; educated in the Berlin public schools and Hamil- ton Business College; engaged for many years in the but- ton manufacture in Rochester, where he has been an in- fluential citizen, but has not sought political office. alles on
se more prominent ones. the (Ww ted States as a manufac- e were, at the last record, 39 whole- th an al nual output of goods to the The Jews, to whose excellent reference has been made already control mapolize, this branch af traile. s and shoes, of which there -nin all & www production of $12,000,000. spe al - like the course of empire Ate -pwll 5 mills producing an- Tour of flour. There are 10 lait of whose product, Rochester Cs @ with a yearly sale of 600,- Sus vadom cities, Rochester, as befitting --- of the Genes Valley, bars
M. B. Shanty
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POPULATION AND WEALTH
the palm for its commerce in trees and flowers, George Ell- wanger being the pioneer in the cultivation of the one, and James Vick long having precedence in that of the other. There are now 39 nurserymen, 45 florists and 12 seedsmen. The Sibley, Lindsay and Curr Company, formed in 1868, conducts one of the biggest department stores in the country, with a colossal building and the frontage of a block on East Main Street; other stores of like character are those of the McCurdy and Norwell and the Duffy-McInnerney Com- pany. The entire capital invested in the manufactures and wholesale trade is over $71,000,000; there are 1,019 estab- lishments thereof; the factory and workshop employees number 33,000, and the annual value of manufactured goods is $83,000,000.
Rochester ranks as the 24th city of the Union in popula- tion-218,000 in 1910,-and became a first-class city, by statute, January 1, 1908. Property, real and personal, is assessed at $149,764,385. The tax levy for 1908, less income estimates, is $2,826,000. The municipal debt is $9,982,- 889.04. There are 22 wards and 1,1 16 streets, with a length of 384 miles, and 84 alleys, with a length of 16 miles. The city is well-paved, asphalt predominating, and its system of sewers, with the trunk lines debouching into the Genesee, is excellent. The fire department is efficient, with 14 engine, three hose, six truck, and one Protective sack and bucket and two supply companies, one watch tower and 281 signal boxes of the fire alarm telegraph. The United States Gov- ernment building, on South Fitzhugh Street, contains the post-office, the internal revenue and the customs offices and the rooms of the Federal District Court. Post-office revenues for the year ending March 31, 1908, were $839,- 572.32 ; of the custom house, $446,947.10; and of the internal revenue, $2,205,925.68 for the year ending July 1, 1908.
The story of Rochester has been told as fully as prescribed
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ROCHESTER
limits would permit. It is not, as was premised, a story of mediæval emprise, of siege and slaughter, of crumbling turrets or hoary traditions, although the place had its share in repelling the invasion of 1812 and of glory for its sons in the conflict of 1861. It is the story of the orderly com- position of an American city, of the highest type, along lines of honest endeavor and cleanly living, through the century succeeding the assertion of American freedom. It is a story in which every citizen may take just pride, as he emulates the work of the fathers and reflects upon the progress made, and the estate secured. In the making of the city, all professions and vocations have been represented with ability and even with renown. Whittlesey, Gardiner, Church, the Seldens, E. Darwin Smith, Danforth and Ma- comber have administered justice in the State tribunals, and Martindale, Pomeroy, Peshine Smith, Cogswell, Bacon, Van Voorhis, Bissell, Sutherland and Raines have made cogent and eloquent pleas at the bar. Whitbeck, Dean, Ely, Gilkeson, Hurd, Sumner, Biegler and Stoddard have practiced and expounded the healing art, and Moore has displayed consummate skill as a surgeon; and White- house, Lee, Penney, Shaw, Patton, Riggs, Foote, Doty, Rob- bins, Luckey, George and Cushing have broken the bread of life. Here Myron Holley was the champion of human rights. Here Susan B. Anthony led in the crusade for the emancipation of her sex, and Hiram Sibley became a master- ful organizer and a financial king. Here industry has accumulated wealth, and artisans and educators have joined in furthering the common credit and welfare.
1909
CHARLES ELLIOTT FITCH.
UTICA ITS HISTORY AND PROGRESS
U T TICA, with 62,924 inhabitants in 1905 and 74,418 by the census of 1910, lies on a slope rising from the south bank of the Mohawk, very near the geo- graphic center of the State, and from 450 to 640 feet above the level of the sea; it was part of the vast manor taken up by Governor Cosby, but the tract was sold for non-payment of quit-rents to General Philip Schuyler, General John Bradstreet, John Morin Scott and Rutger Bleecker. Dis- sension between the heirs of Bradstreet led to a long conflict in the courts over the title. A ford in the river was a point from which the trails of the red Americans marked courses where highways, canals and railroads have been built. The low water, which gave a crossing, proved a barrier when navigation began, and here was a main landing, although some boats went up to the sources of the stream. Here, in 1758, Fort Schuyler was placed-one of a chain of posts for defence in the French war. Near this fort as early as 1785 there were three rude cabins which were homes of white men who had before been living lower down the valley. These founders of the town were John Cunningham, George Damuth and Jacob Chrisman. Two of these and most of the settlers who first followed them were descendants of immigrants from the Palatinate; the third of the founders was of Scotch origin.
In 1788, by a line running north and south across the State, over the ford, a town was created and called Whites- town, after Hugh White, a settler from New England, who chose to locate near the mouth of the Sauquoit. His family is identified with the city to-day. Immigrants were at-
257
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CITY OF UTICA
tracted along that stream where, after a while, factories found water-power. Fort Schuyler only slowly drew the trade of the neighborhood, and the increase of population was gradual. But energetic men and women came to the ford; and to trade with the Indians and husbandry were added blacksmithing and other mechanical occupations. John Post set up a primitive store in 1790. The Legisla- ture, in 1792, granted 2,000 pounds sterling ($10,000) for a bridge over the Mohawk, where crossed the main route from Albany and the east to the "Genesee County." The central avenue of the city keeps the line and the name.
The peltries gathered by the red men and the growing returns from the land led enterprising youths to gather and exchange them for the merchandise needed by the settlers. Under such an impulse in 1789, Peter Smith, born on the Hudson, passed up the valley to become a merchant here, enlisting John Jacob Astor as partner-to win fortune in business, to be honored by his neighbors, and to be remem- bered also as the father of Gerrit Smith. In 1797, another merchant, Bryan Johnson, a native of England, began here the varied traffic of a new country, earning success by thrift and energy. He impressed himself on the hamlet, gathered a fortune in lands, and left a worthy name to descendants who remain on the ancestral soil.
Veterans of the war of the Revolution were among those who, in early days, chose homes here. A pioneer was Ben- jamin Walker, who had been aid to General Steuben, and his secretary; he came in 1797 as a land agent and was efficient in drawing immigrants. His broader work for the common welfare was recognized by his election in 1800 as representative in Congress. Natives of England and Scot- land added to the young hamlet included persons who in industry, trade and the professions gave to it tone and strength. Such was Dr. Alexander Coventry, who, edu-
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COLONIAL HISTORY
cated in Edinburgh, in 1796, brought the art of healing, and on a high plane long practiced his profession, winning the esteem and affection of his neighbors. The city counts members of his family among its present residents.
The hamlet did not shut itself in, but welcomed strangers, and threw out lines to bring settlers and promote traffic. In 1794, Moses Bagg, who had served the local needs as blacksmith, opened his house as a tavern to entertain trav- ellers. His fame as host for years drew guests and has marked the original site, while the name is kept alive by those who worthily wear it. In 1794 also, Jason Parker traveled as postrider between Canajoharie and Whitestown. He soon secured a contract for carrying the mails and the next year stages for passengers as well were run twice a week over the route. He had rare gifts for transportation and knew how to meet its problems as expanding business re- quired. He established new routes wherever passengers and freight could be reached and his lines were models for quick and prompt service.
Surveyors, schools, preachers, lawyers, carpenters, other mechanics were here before April 3, 1798, when a village was legally created and by lot named Utica, in Oneida County, which was erected out of Herkimer on March 15, 1798. The scanty population wanted home rule. As early as July 10, 1793, a newspaper, the Gazette, was printed in New Hartford for Jedediah Sanger, Samuel Wells and Elijah Risley. In July, 1798, it was removed by William McLean to Fort Schuyler, and after many mergers and a history sometimes brilliant, its successor, under a new name, now ministers to the popular needs. On his tour in 1798, President Dwight, of Yale College, found here "a pretty village containing fifty houses occupied by sanguine people, with non-resident owners asking high prices for the vacant lands." The Holland Land Company, which held
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CITY OF UTICA
title to tracts north of the Mohawk and to a million acres in the Genesee County, in this year built a brick hotel, nota- ble for its size, for the convenience of immigrants, and the structure stands at Whitesboro and Hotel streets, a monu- ment of the liberal plans of its projectors.
The secondary rank of Utica in 1794 is shown by the division of religious services between the village and Whitesboro, giving one-third to the former and twice as many to the latter hamlet, while Rev. Bethuel Dodd, the pastor, a Presbyterian, received his pay from the two places in this ratio. The Episcopalians, under a missionary from Trinity Church, New York, organized here in 1798 under the same style, but this initial zeal lasted only a little while, and a new start in 1803 began the life which still continues.
The State gave aid in 1797 to improve a turnpike to the west, laid out by commissioners three years earlier, to the amount of $13,900; the money was drawn from a fund raised by lotteries. In 1800, the road was put in charge of the Seneca Turnpike Company with a capital of $110,000 and maintained by tolls. The Mohawk Turnpike and Bridge Company, in the same year, undertook to care for the main road eastward, north of the river. Men of Utica had a large share in the control of both of these enterprises. To get the benefit of these and other facilities for trade, Kane and Van Rensselaer, who had general stores in New York, Albany, Schenectady and Canajoharie, set up another here in 1800, claiming to have larger resources and to offer better terms than local competitors. The traffic of all of them was chiefly barter, for currency was scarce. Tanneries and breweries began work at an early day, and the forests fur- nished lumber which was used for building and wrought into simple furniture and wagons.
Before the village was a decade old, several immigrants from Wales settled in Utica and many more on the hills to
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THE EARLY CHURCHES
the northward. After 1800, doubtless on their report, a strong stream set in from the principality, and for quite a period composed the chief additions to the population, then in main part from New England. The First Baptist Church was organized in 1801 by the Welsh settlers, while the only provision for services in English was by the branch of the Whitesboro church. An offshoot from this Welsh church has grown into the large and prosperous Tabernacle, while the original stock kept up the use of the old tongue. The second religious organization for Utica itself was also formed by the Welsh settlers in 1802, as the Independent or Congregational Church, under Rev. Daniel Morris, the first pastor, located in the village; they erected the first church edifice in the place, finishing it in 1804. It stood on the corner of Whitesboro and Washington streets. An- other building put up by the society on the same site is now occupied as a Jewish synagogue, while the former owners worship in a new church elsewhere with greater numbers. These churches, with others, added as years ran on, are signs and also became causes of the concentration of Welsh immigration in Utica and its vicinity. The movement has been constant, though varying in volume. It has con- tributed in the first and more in succeeding generations suc- cessful workers to every occupation, a full share of leaders in the pulpit, at the bar and on the bench, in medicine, not a few of the most prominent merchants, managers of large enterprises, and citizens of high repute in politics and finance. Thus, the city has always been a favorite home for the issue of Welsh publications, while the Utica Eistedd- ford has for half a century been famous at home and abroad.
Rev. John Taylor of Massachusetts visited our village in 1802. He found above ninety houses, and in them "a mass of discordant materials ; people of ten or twelve different and of almost all religions and sects, but the greater part of
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CITY OF UTICA
no religion." Yet three hundred persons gathered to hear him preach on Sunday, doubtless to their edification. Prob- ably the village was of the average frontier character; it is evident the charity of the missionary did not overflow.
Post-routes, sixty miles to the northward, were established under the authority of the Postoffice Department by Thomas Walker in the first decade of the new century. He was publisher of the Columbian Gazette and sought in this way to promote its circulation. Mr. Walker, in a long life, showed like foresight and energy in other directions and earned esteem as a citizen and financier.
A striking feature in the local industry and energy, when the population of the village ranged from 1,000 to 5,000, was the number of books published from the presses of the pattern of the day. These works, by their variety and char- acter, testify to the intelligence and taste of the community as well as to the enterprise which ventured so much. They include a Hymn Book and Catechism in Welsh, and Web- ster's Lessons in Reading and Spelling, brought out in 1808. These were followed by the Armenian Anatomized, in 1816; Essay on Musical Harmony, in 1817; Morse's Geography, in 1819. In course came out Sermons; a Church History; Voyage in the Pacific and the South Seas; a Hawaiian Grammar; Watts' Divine Songs; Doddridge in Verse; Bible Questions; Musica Sacra; Spiritual Songs; Livy; Webster's Spelling Book, printed by thousands; Murray's Grammar and English Reader; Young Ladies' Astronomy; History of the Solar System; Escala, an American Tale; Patriot's Manual; Daboll's Arithmetic ; several volumes of history and biography; illustrated toy books and primers; the New Testament in the Douay version. A new edition of the Edinburg Encyclopedia was begun in this period. Besides these books and the newspapers, several magazines were started, all before 1825. The marvel is to be meas-
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TYPES OF POPULATION
ured not only by the scant population at hand, but even by that accessible by the meagre means of transport at the end of these years and just striving into being at their beginning. The leaders in this business were William Williams and his partner, Asahel Seward. Both, and especially the for- mer, in other ways also rendered the town valuable service.
In the first court held in the new county, Nathan Wil- liams was admitted to practice in it. Of Welsh descent, he was a native of Massachusetts. As District Attorney from 1801 to 1813, as Member of Assembly for three terms, as Representative in Congress from 1805 to 1807, and as Judge of the Circuit Court for ten years after 1823, his record is honorable. The bar of the city has in him as man and citi- zen an inspiring example.
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