USA > New York > Erie County > Buffalo > A history of Buffalo : delineating the evolution of the city > Part 21
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Ireland had little representation among the first settlers, but in 1802 came John C. Devereux and later three brothers, to take an active part in traffic, in banking, in public affairs, in charities, and to leave an ever-widening array of descend- ants. In the era of the construction of the Erie canals, immigrants flocked in large numbers from that island not only for the rough work of digging the channel, but for every form of activity in the life of a busy people. As late as 1819, when Catholic services were first celebrated, not more than thirty residents attended, while Protestant Irish were much fewer; yet a Catholic Church was consecrated in 1821, and in 1822 a Hibernian association was formed. Later, immigrants from the Green Isle were more numer- ous, and they added to the production, the intelligence and the wealth of the place. In due time, they formed religious and benevolent societies, and in their own way kept fresh the memories of their old home. Every position in busi- ness and the State became subject to their competition, and nowhere are the higher qualities of their race more worthily illustrated.
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CITY OF UTICA
Boats on the Mohawk, with stages and freight wagons, had supplied the means of transportation for the growing trade and travel. A vast impulse was given when boats ran on the new canal as far as Rome, in 1819, and still greater when, in 1825, the waters of Lake Erie were joined with those of the Hudson. Utica gained in large measure by the canal, and its citizens built boats and managed them, and their lines of packets and for through freight prospered. The village soon took its place as the leading center, dis- tancing the neighbors to which it had held second rank so that local orators began to style it the metropolis of the Mohawk valley.
With no lack of zeal and energy for manufactures, Utica felt then as always its poverty in water-power. Its capi- talists reached out to the streams nearby, where nature gave the needed force, and promoted factories for cotton and woolen, and at points where fitting silica was found, as in Marcy and Vernon, set up glass works. In 1810, Wal- cott & Co., on their own resources, began to spin cotton yarn near the site later made famous as New York Mills. The Sauquoit and the Oriskany became musical with new in- dustries. Among them was the Capron Manufacturing Company, for cotton, still existent in a hamlet of that name. One-third of the capital was furnished from Utica, and the management has most of the time been in the hands of its citizens.
Corporate banking in Utica began in 1809, when the Manhattan Company, of New York, set up a branch here under the management of Montgomery Hunt, which con- tinued in operation until 1818. In the meantime, local capitalists, some of whom had been interested in that com- pany, organized in 1812 the Bank of Utica, with James S. Kip as president, with the same Montgomery Hunt as cashier, and with $600,000 capital. The institution has
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BEGINNINGS OF BANKING
lived and expanded and as the First National Bank of Utica continues a controlling factor in the monetary affairs of Central New York.
Alexander B. Johnson, who had served as a State Direc- tor of this bank, knowing it was difficult to secure a like charter and learning from the device of Aaron Burr in the case of the Manhattan Company, planned to embody bank- ing privileges in the act of incorporation of the Utica In- surance Company. The capital was placed at $500,000; Mr. Johnson was made manager. In 1816, deposits were received and notes, including some for fractions of a dollar, were issued. The company also put out policies of insur- ance. The Legislature, in 1818, passed a general law which compelled the promoters to abandon their banking project. Mr. Johnson, in 1819, transferred his services to the Ontario Branch Bank, then four years old, and was chosen its presi- dent; he controlled its affairs until its charter expired in 1855. Its successor went into the hands of a receiver within two years, but no blame fell on him for the mismanagement. John C. and Nicholas Devereux began at an early day to help their neighbors care for their savings, and kept up the practice for many years until, in 1839, they turned that task over to the Utica Savings Bank, which they aided to or- ganize. Two generations have added to its strength and usefulness. Probably owing to the scarcity of currency ag- gravated by the war, the village trustees, in 1815, issued "corporation bills" to the amount of $5,000, in six denomi- nations from three to seventy-five cents, and they passed readily into circulation.
A second charter for the village dates from April 9, 1805, which conferred broader powers on the trustees-to assize bread, for example-and authorized them to raise $1,000 a year for buildings, fire departments and streets. Of the last there were five-Main and Broad, leading to the east;
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CITY OF UTICA
Whitesboro to the west; with Genesee, then extending to the present line of Bleecker Street.
The Female Charitable Society of Whitesboro in 1806 was the pioneer of the benevolent institutions in which the people have always delighted. Private schools were opened in the first decade of the century and in 1814 a char- ter was obtained for the Utica Academy, which the next year began to take pupils. The first Sunday school was started in 1815 for colored children; then in 1816, five young ladies gathered in white pupils from the poorer families. Their school was apart from any church and had its own work and mission. It soon enlisted the support of leading citizens and was for ten years a strong force, until the various denominations claimed the field and divided the labor.
The town bore its full share in the war of 1812. Its location gave special interest to the attacks on the northern frontier, while its people were included in the levy en masse for the defence of the towns on Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence. They responded promptly and loyally to the extent of their capacity. Forces recruited elsewhere passed on and not a few had winter quarters here. As soon as the season of 1813 opened, the movements were more frequent while British prisoners were brought from the north. Prominent men of Utica saw active service in the militia, and among the young men who entered the navy, two won distinction later as Admiral Breese and Commodore Inman. As elsewhere, the war called out here an enlargement of production and an expansion of traffic.
When, on April 7, 1817, Utica was separated from Whitestown and made a town by itself under its third char- ter, the Directory claimed a population of 2,861, with 420 dwellings. There were several stores, three church edifices, three banks, tanneries and breweries, with shops of me-
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GROWTH OF INDUSTRIES
chanics. The town had also a lodge and chapter of Free Masons, four watchmen and a free school. The industry was diversified and the mercantile interests were on a liberal scale, while the bar, remarkable for learning and eloquence, found here its home. Some of the streets had cobble pave- ments, and new roads were opened as need required.
The earliest records preserved do not contain the names of the first officers of the village, but Francis A. Bloodgood was its Treasurer in 1800 and until Talcott Camp succeeded him in 1802. Jeremiah Van Rensselaer was President in 1805, and Ezra S. Cozier served in that position for ten years from 1821, a longer period than any other incumbent. The village doffed its rural garb and put on urban raiment when, on February 13, 1832, it received its charter as a city. With Buffalo, whose charter is dated the same year, it stands among the five earliest cities of the State. A population of 8,323 by the census of 1830, extended south from the Mo- hawk and two or three blocks beyond the canal and reached over four or five blocks on either side of Genesee Street, with rural residences more remote from the center.
The industries were many rather than large. The in- dustrial and mechanical concerns were 550 in number and they looked to the surrounding country for much of their support. The stores dealing in dry goods were 44; in gro- ceries and general merchandise, 63; in hardware, 10; in millinery and dressmaking, 19; in watches and jewelry, 6; in books, 5. Breweries, tanneries and one distillery turned out their products. There were 9 cabinet shops and 4 chair factories, 20 blacksmith and 16 carpenter shops, 3 furnaces, 9 bakeries. Among the articles made were steam engines (of which ten were used in the city), coaches, wagons, plows, lasts, musical instruments, ropes, pottery, bricks. Nine printeries kept 19 presses busy. Boats were built, of which some were to run between Ogdensburg and New
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York. Thirty-two physicians, 21 clergymen and 43 attor- neys looked after the people. The denominations had 15 churches, of which the Presbyterians, Methodists and Bap- tists owned each 2; the Welsh 3; the Episcopalians, Re- formed, Catholics, Congregationalists, Universalists and Friends, each I. Eight weekly newspapers, two monthlies, and one bi-monthly were printed. The weeklies claimed a circulation of 17,852 copies; the monthlies, of 1,700; and the bi-monthly, of 3,000.
The schools included the academy, a gymnasium, a lyceum, 3 ladies' seminaries, a public school and 23 select institutions. Literary societies were maintained; a public library boasted a thousand volumes. The Mechanics' As- sociation and the Young Men's Association kept open read- ing rooms. English names were most numerous in the Directory, but those from other parts of the United King- dom are there too. German patronymics increase with the volumes. One can recognize French and Italian types, with individuals from other European lands and also the cosmopolite Jew. The permanent provision for amusement was limited to a museum, the city garden, with fireworks now and then, and the sulphur springs, now remaining only in the chronicles or in lively memories. Travelling com- panies on their route presented the drama and occasionally, noted actors graced the local stage, but only later were man- agers inclined to abide long.
The banks, with an aggregate capital of $1,300,000, found, from 1830 to the expiration of the charter in 1836, a competitor in a local branch of the United States Bank. Although the County Court met in Rome and Whitesboro only, the United States Court for this northern district held terms alternately in Albany and Utica, the Supreme Court in New York and Utica, and a Court of Chancery sat here, but the two county jails were elsewhere. For the new city,
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ORIGINS OF WATER SUPPLY
every week 92 mails arrived and 41 packets. Four stages started daily westward, some for Buffalo, and three east- ward, while there were departures also for the north, the south, and the southwest. Eleven packets plied in three daily lines to Schenectady, and one each to Buffalo, Oswego and Syracuse.
The first Mayor of Utica was Joseph Kirkland, nephew of the Apostle to the Oneidas. He had won distinction at the bar, had served in the State Legislature and in the Na- tional Congress, was a general in the militia, zealous in en- terprise, education and charity, and prominent and success- ful in business. Four wards, two north and two south of the canal, were represented by three aldermen each. A vol- unteer fire department consisted of seven companies under a chief and wardens. One supervisor, four justices and three constables were elected for the city. Other officers were appointed by the Common Council. The city tax was limited to $8,000 a year, while the assessors placed the valu- ation of real estate at $2,672,595.
The lack of water for domestic use was felt at an early day. Only two small streams entered the city, Ballou's Creek on the east, and Nail Creek on the west. The bed of the Mohawk is here so level that when in 1828, a dam was built just below the ford, to provide power for a flour mill, land owners up stream brought suit for damages for the setting back of the river, so that the promoters aban- doned the project. The water supply, apart from what wells and later three public pumps provided, was gathered by the Utica Aqueduct Company, organized in 1802, from springs which gave the name to a street now near the heart of the city. This company, with a capital of $5,000, served the people from its pipes until 1824, when it left them to their own resources. The Utica Water Works took up the task in 1834, to give way to a new corporation of the same
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CITY OF UTICA
name, with a capital of $75,000, which let waters from the southern hills into its mains, November 8, 1849, and has grown with the population. By the addition in 1906 of a supply from the Adirondacks, and with a capital of $2,000,000, it has resources to meet for a long period all the needs of manufactures as well as of domestic and municipal uses. Richard U. Sherman is the president.
The first summer of the infant city was marked by a severe epidemic of the cholera. Business was interrupted from July 12th to August 7th, and many persons fled into the country. The cases of the disease numbered 201, and seventy persons died, including several leading citizens. The efforts to care for the sick and especially the poor, were creditable and generous, and crowned the scourge with a halo of charity.
In September and October, 1834, three daily newspapers were started in the young city, the Whig, the Post and the Observer, but their lives were short.
The era of railroad building began early in central New York. Following naturally the running of cars between Albany and Schenectady, a line from the latter city to Utica was constructed and opened for travel August 2, 1836. Another step was taken for the local benefit by a railroad to Syracuse, on which cars for the public were run July 10, 1839. Passengers and freight were transferred from one line to the other at a common station in Utica.
Among the societies formed to promote the common wel- fare many were short lived or took on successive forms. The Utica Mechanics' Association, organized in 1831 and incorporated in 1833, has ceased to have even a nominal existence. For more than half a century it enlisted citi- zens of all vocations and did a great deal of good. It erected a commodious hall for public gatherings and when that proved inadequate for the growing town, the Associa-
271
POLITICAL CONFLICTS
tion responded with an opera house of modern style and dimensions. The fairs held year after year led to display and competition in the products of mechanics and artistic industry. While the lecture system was in vogue, the most famous writers and speakers of this country, with now and then a foreigner of distinction, appeared in the local course. State conventions of both political parties were attracted to the city by the spacious auditorium.
Considerable notoriety attached to Utica in 1835, by the treatment of the first anti-slavery convention ever held in the State. A public meeting protested against the assem- bling of that body ; another denounced the Common Council for granting a license to the convention to meet in the court house; a third divided over resolutions, declaring in favor of free speech and the right of the people to assemble, and its adjournment was disorderly. The convention was held on October 21st as announced, but its opponents took con- trol of the court house, so that the delegates were forced to organize in the Second Presbyterian Church on Bleecker Street. The Democratic county convention six days before, formally resolved "that the citizens of Utica owe it to them- selves, to the State and to the Union, that the contemplated convention of incendiary individuals be not permitted to assemble within its corporate borders." The gathering at the court house appointed a committee to "warn the dele- gates to abandon their pernicious movements." This com- mittee of twenty-five prominent persons was followed to the church by a large crowd. The chronicle of the times re- cords: "After considerable violence and force, an entrance was effected amid the greatest noise and confusion. The resolutions of the court house meeting were read to the con- vention, and the latter was broken up amid a scene of up- roar, threats of violence and imprecations upon the dele- gates, who were all driven from the house and subsequently
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CITY OF UTICA
from the city. Hundreds became abolitionists merely from sympathy." Some of the members of that committee and their followers became, before a generation ended, active in hostility to the aggressions of the slave power.
The State, in 1837, bought for a Lunatic Asylum the present site then in Whitestown, and citizens of Utica sub- scribed $6,300 to make up the sum of $16,000 paid for the land. For the main building, the Legislature appropriated $275,000. For improving the grounds, for furniture and other necessaries, $42,000 was added. The institution was opened January 16, 1843. Patients in the first year were 276, and the managers called on the State to provide for enlargement. Legislative action for this purpose was taken with successive appropriations, amounting to $104,000 within a few years. The institution, with further expan- sion under eminent superintendents and wise managers, has been accepted abroad as well as throughout this country as a model in its noble field.
Under the laws then in force, special charters were re- quired for the establishment of new banks. Such privilege was granted May 13, 1836, for the Oneida Bank, with a capital of $400,000. Commissioners to distribute the shares were perplexed by applications for seven times that amount from over 2,000 subscribers. Shares were assigned to 673 applicants, of whom no one received more than 25. The division, it was charged, was made to Democrats only, and to favorites among them. At a public meeting the commis- sioners were denounced, and indictments were found in the courts against some of them. The affair was drawn into local politics and caused no little social bitterness. A severe blow befell the bank in November of its first year by the robbery from its vaults of $108,000 in currency, be- sides $8,500 in checks and drafts. One of the robbers was caught and confessed, but only about a third of the spoils
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MODERN DEVELOPMENT
was ever recovered. The bank survived its loss, and has proved strong and profitable under the control of some of the most eminent citizens.
Perhaps this local strife helped to change the policy of the State, and to bring in the general banking law which dispensed with special charters. Under the new statute the Bank of Central New York was organized September 17, 1838, for savings as well as for commercial business. The capital was $110,200; it passed into the hands of a receiver in 1859. Another addition to financial institutions was made in 1848 in the Utica City Bank with $125,000 capital, which developed into a vigorous and popular aid to deposi- tors and dealers.
Not every project for the benefit of the city has fulfilled its promises. Much was hoped from the Chenango Canal in lowering the price of coal and in other ways. But its traffic proved to be much less than was expected, and with other lateral canals, it was after some years abandoned by- the State as unprofitable.
The Odd Fellows organized Oneida Lodge in 1842 and as the years ran on have expanded. Other benevolent and social associations have come in under their various names, and citizens of Utica have often been chosen executive offi- cers in the several general bodies.
Associated with Jason Parker in the running of stages were Theodore S. Faxton, John Butterfield, Silas D. Childs and others. They had learned the secret of transportation ; they foresaw the expansion of activity; they were full of energy and enterprise. On the success of the experimental line of telegraph between Baltimore and Washington, they formed the New York, Albany and Buffalo Telegraph Company, and put up the first wires for commercial pur- poses. The line was opened for messages between Albany and Utica, January 31, 1846, and between New York and Buffalo, September 9th, succeeding.
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CITY OF UTICA
In Utica the first Associated Press in this country had its origin, to get the full benefit of the new wires. Arrange- ment was made to telegraph the news at the start from Al- bany, then from New York. Before the line was extended to Syracuse, the messages were here set in type and slips distributed by mail. Afterwards, for three months, that city rendered the service until the wires took it up for points further west.
The disturbances of 1848 in Europe, both in the shadows which they cast before, as well as in their direct effects, turned a strong tide of migration, especially from Germany, to America, and not a little of the advantage was reaped by Utica. Natives of several of the German States had chosen homes here in previous years; they had formed in 1840 a Catholic Church, and a Lutheran congregation also con- ducted services in their own tongue. A Hebrew synagogue, in 1848, testified to the presence of settlers using the Ger- man language from eastern Europe. At this period, the accessions from the German States were many and included industrious, thrifty, scholarly people who have engrafted on the community the solid Teutonic virtues.
Capital was increasing in the quiet city faster than the chances for its use. The panic of 1837 struck not a few investments made by Uticans in western lands after a prac- tice then quite common. The returns from the factories on the adjacent streams were steady and encouraging. Steam elsewhere was competing not unfavorably with water-power for manufacturing purposes. Why could not Utica make steam its servant since nature had not provided water-power here? That question was forcibly urged at a public meeting in 1846, and after investigation by trusted committees who made elaborate reports dealing with the manufactures of both cottons and woolens, the decision was reached that both these branches of industry might be con-
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274
UTICA
In Unica the firm Ssor ted Press in this country had its origin, to get the lu' benefit of the new wires. Arrange- ment was made to wegraph the news at the start from Al- bany, then from New York. Before the line was extended to Syracuse, the messages were here set in type and slips distributed by mail. Afterwards, for three months, that city rendered the service until the wires took it up for points further west.
The disturbances of 1848 in Europe, both in the shadows which they cast before, as well as in their direct effects, turned a strong tide ROBERTHfbBIR FUNy from Germany, to America,, and not a little of the advantage was reaped by Woolen manufacturer and capitalist; born Aberdeen, Tof the German States Mal Effosen Utica.Scotland, May 25, 1825; educated in Aberdeen. Came to homesAmerica and Engaged In the woolen thanti facture. In 18.10 a Cathoof GlobeWoolein Company, Utica, New York1985731982con- Agent ducte president of sare icompany of882-19024 directore Second Nague,
tional Bank of , Utica, Savings Bank ofe Utica;n Mohawk n Valley Mills, Utica Mechanics' Association, and Utica, & Willowvale Bleachery; member Fort Schuyler Club and Plan States were 1 cluded Home Market Club, 'National Association of Woolen Manu- Idontfacturers, American Protective Pariff League,a New york ted ( thState Agricultural Society ; Tiedt pabruary telf$1902.
Capital was increasing in the quiet city faster than the cherys for its use. The panic of 1837 struck not a few Investmente made by Uticans in western lands after a prac- fæ then gulte common. The returns from the factor es w | adjacent streams were steady and encouraging Wear lowhere was competing not unfavorably with www- wry for manufacturing purposes. Why could not Un-a make steam its servant since nature had not provided www power here That question was forcibly urged at a public mosine in 1846, and after investigation by trusted committees wiwe made , ahope reports dealing with the manufactures od both of oul woolens, the decision was reached that with the @ br - of industry might be con-
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TEXTILES AND GAS-LIGHTING
ducted within the corporate borders with good prospect of fair profits. The interest of citizens was aroused, and prompt action taken on a scale large for the time and the place.
The Steam Woolen Mills Company was organized with a capital of $100,000, and the next year, the Globe Mills followed with like capital. Two brothers, with experience in New England mills, were invited to help in the practical work. Samuel Churchill was designated as agent for the former, and William C. Churchill for the latter. The pres- ent large and profitable Globe Mills Company is the de- velopment of both.
Oneida County had earned a wide reputation for its cotton fabrics, and the Utica Steam Cotton Mills enjoyed that advantage, when the company formed in 1847 started its machinery in 1850. It has furnished labor to thousands in the course of its life, trade to merchants, markets to the neighboring farmers and impetus to all branches of industry and production. Five furnaces, several large machine shops and other works for iron, were carried on at the middle of the century as private enterprises.
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