USA > New York > Oneida County > History of Oneida County, New York : with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 83
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" Steamers, hoso-carts, truck, eto ... $18,070.00
Fourteen horses and harness.
4,005.00
Hose, tools, etc
5,284.00
Depot of supplies. 125.26
Furniture, fixtures, etc. 1,383.85
Fire-alarm telegraph. 1,600.00
Furniture, equipmeats, etc., of police office. Total ..
450.00
Add value of real estate
$31,818.11 26,000.00
Total amount of property helenging te police and fire departments.
$57,818.11"
UTICA FIRE DEPARTMENT.
The citizens of Utica began at a very early day to pro- vide for the prevention and extinguishment of fires. The village was originally incorporated in 1798, and it is prob- able that a " Fire Company" was organized soon after. At any rate, we find in a notice of the fire which destroyed the trading-house of John Post, in February, 1804, a pub- lished card from the trustees of the village, in which they present " their warm thanks to the fire company" for their exertions on that occasion.
There is no record of the proceedings of the village trustees from 1798 to 1805, and consequently no informa- tion can readily be obtained of any legislation or action on this subject.
In 1805 the village received a new charter, and we find that immediate steps were taken by the trustees to organize a fire department. Wells were ordered dug, and pumps and fire utensils were procured. Twenty-five able-bodied men were appointed firemen, who were exercised on the last Saturday of every month, and firemen were selected to take charge of the hooks and ladders. The firemen were selected from among the lawyers and merchants, and were exempt from military duty. An ordinance was passed in the year 1805, requiring the owner of every dwelling, store, or workshop to keep hung up in a conspicuous place one or more leathern fire-buckets, of the capacity of eight quarts, ready at all times for instant use.
The first officers of the fire company of 1805 were Gur- don Burchard, captain ; John Hooker and Moses Bagg, lieutenants ; and E. B. Shearman, clerk. The company wore painted hats, lettered and numbered. It would appear also that the village was then in possession of a hand-engine, or purchased one about that date. In December, 1805, a volunteer night-watch was organized, as will appear from the following document, which we transcribe from Dr. Bagg's work :
" UTICA, Dee'r 10, 1805.
"We, the subscribers, estecming a Night Watch in the Village of Utica as necessary to guard us against the dangers of fire, de hereby associate ourselves for that purpose, aad mutually pledge our honer to each other to act during the winter ensuing as good and faithful watchmen, under the direction and superintendence of the Trustees of said village."
Signed hy 98 citizens.
These watchmen were distributed in squads of five or six, and patroled the two principal streets. Paid watchmen were employed first in 1810. Benjamin Payne, a tailor, was one of the early captains of the " Utica Fire Company."
In 1809 a lot for an engine-house was given by the Bleecker family, and an attempt was made to sell the en- gine then in use, but did not succeed. The same year
$500 was voted for various purposes, a portion of which was for the engine-house.
Under the third charter, obtained in 1817, the fire dc- partment was reorganized and increased in numbers and efficiency, and engineers and fire-wardens were appointed in each ward. Two companies of firemen were organized, containing in the aggregate 40 men.
In the days of hand-engines and a volunteer department the most famous " machine" in Utica was the old " Red Jacket," which was built by L. Button & Co., of Water- ford, N. Y., for an independent company in Utica. Bob Chapman, now of Waterloo, Iowa, was her first foreman. She was in use in Utica about two years, when she was sold to the fire department of Chicago, and became Red Jacket, No. 4. In 1865 she was purchased for the fire department of Waterloo, Iowa, by her old foreman, Chapman, and was recently in good condition in that city, and capable of doing excellent work. She was warranted when built to be the most powerful hand-engine in the Union, and her record is something wonderful. Captain Chapman states, in a cor- respondence on the subject, that she has thrown a stream over the First Presbyterian Church spire, in Utica, a height of 210 feet ; and in Albany a horizontal stream of 225 feet. In New York, manned by the Chicago boys, she surpassed anything before seen in that city.
The hand-engines were used until the advent of the "steamer," after which their use was gradually abandoned.
One of the most noted organizations of the fire depart- ment was the old Rescue Hook-and-Ladder Company, or- ganized in 1857.
The first steamer brought to Utica was a "Silsby," in 1863, now No. 3. In 1865 two additional ones were pur- chased, now Nos. 2 and 4, and the last one was purchased in 1875.
The present fire department was organized in 1874, with a total force of 59 men, the same as at present. Two of the steamers now in use are of the Silsby pattern, and two were manufactured by Cole Brothers, of Pawtucket, R. I.
The following statements are taken from the annual re- port for 1877 :
STATEMENT OF THE VALUE OF PROPERTY IN USE BY THE FIRE DE- PARTMENT, APRIL 1, 1877.
Real Estate.
House of Steamer No. 2, John Street $5,500
House of Steamer No. 4, Fayette Street 6,000
Hose depot, No. 25 Cooper Street .. 7,500
Total .$19,000
Apparatus.
Steamer No. 1.
Steamer No. 2. 4,000
4,000
Steamer No. 4.
3,500
No. 1 Hose-Cart 200
No. 2 Hese-Cart
500
No. 3 Hose-Cart.
250
No. 4 Hose- Cart
700
Hook aad Ladder No. 1
700
Two eld hose-earts
200
Supply-wagon
130
Four-horse sleighs with racks
240
Total $18,970
Fifteen horses
$3,360
Seven sets double harness
045
Total $4,005
$4,550
Steamer No. 3.
40
314
HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.
3500 feet of hose @ $1.10 per foot $3,850
1500 feet of hose (@ .65 por foot. 975
2900 fect of hose @ .15 per foot. 435
Fixtures, tools, and rivets 24
Total $5,284
Supply department,-coal, vitriol, telegraph-poles, etc. $125.26
Furniture and fixtures. 1383.85
Fire-alarm telegraph.
1100.00
RECAPITULATION.
Real estate.
$19,000.00
Apparatus
18,970.00
Horses and harness 4,005.00
Hose, tools, fixtures, etc. 5,284.00
Supply department. 125.26
Furniture, fixtures, etc 1,383.85
Fire-alarm telegraph ..
1,100.00
Total. . .$49,868.11
STATEMENT OF FIRES AND LOSSES BY FIRE, IN THE CITY OF UTICA, FROM 1870 TO APRIL 1, 1877.
1870-No. of fires, 16; No. of alarms, 13; losses, $136,050. 1871-No. of fires, 23; No. of alarms, 10; losses, $326,350.
IS72-No. of fires, 24; No. of alarms, 9; losses, $104,834.
1873-No. of fires, 33; No. of alarms, 7; losses, $87,250.
1874-No. of fires, 36; No. of alarms, 13; losses, $55,436.
1875-No. of fires, 34; No. of alarms, 20; losses, $40,889.
1876-No. of fires, 49; No. of alarms, 16; losses, $28,985.
TELEGRAPH ALARM.
All the enginc-houses, with the truck-house and poliec- station, and houses of chief engineer and chairman of this board are connected by telegraph, and by another line twenty-six alarm-boxes in different parts of the city are connected with the police-station. All the police and official members of the Fire Department have keys to these boxes, and a key is left with some responsible person living near each box. An alarm from a strcet box goes only to the poliee-station, and from there is sent to all the other houses, but an alarm from either house goes to all the others. The following table shows the location and number of each box :
No.
Ward. I
1. Bagg's Hotel.
1-2. Broad Street Bridge. 1
2. Coroer of Whitesboro' and Charles Streets. 2
2-1. Corner of Liberty and Burchard Streets. 2
2-3. Canal Street, near Potter's Bridge. 2
3 3. Corner of Fayette and State Streets.
3-1. No. 3 Steamer-House and Policc-Office ..
3
3-2. Corner of State and William Streets .. 3
3-4. Corner of Genesee and Oswego Streets. 3
3-5. Corner of Plant and Francis Streets. 3 4. Corner of Park Avenue and Clark Place
4
4-1. No. 2 Steamer-llouse.
4
5. Corner of Bleecker and Third Streets. 5
6. Steam Woolen-Mill and No. 4 Steamer-House. 6
6-1. Erie Street, Faass' store.
6-2. Keinan & Fish's lumhor-yard, Erie Street. 6
7. Corner of South and West Strects
7
7-1. No. 1 Steamer-House. 7
7-2. Corner of Eagle and Miller Strocts. 7
7-3. Corner of South and Dudley Streets.
7
8-1. City Hospital ..
8 9. Globe Woolen. Mills, Court, Varick. 9 9-1. Corner of Court and Fay Streets. 9
9-2. Lunatic Asylum, Court, Whiteshoro' 9
10. Corner of Blandina and First Streets. 10
GENERAL OFFICERS.
Wesley Dimbleby, Chief Engineer .* Office at Hose Depot, on Cooper Street ; residence, 124 Columbia Street ; salary, $1000 per annum.
John Peattie, 1st Assistant Engineer. Residence, 41 Brinckerhoff Avenue ; salary, $100 per annum.
William F. Hoerlein, 2d Assistant Engineer. Residence, 38 Varick Street ; salary, $100 per annum.
THE AMERICAN DISTRICT TELEGRAPH COM- PANY.
The American District (or City Telegraph) was intro- duced into the city of Utica, in May, 1877, by J. B. Rich- ards, of Toledo, Ohio, representing the American District Telegraph Company, of New York City. A stock company was organized with considerable difficulty, the general opin- ion prevailing that Utica would not support any innovation on time-honored customs. R. S. Williams, Esq., was chosen president; T. G. Wood, secretary and treasurer ; L. H. Lawrence making the third member of the executive com- mittee, and Thomas P. Nightingale, superintendent. Mr. Nightingale canvassed the city thoroughly, securing twenty- five subscribers, put up five miles of wire, and opened his office for business Aug. 13, two months after the enterprise was begun. The company agree to answer any hour, day or night, calls for messengers, policemen, fire department, carriages, and family physician. Twenty-five calls were responded to the first day.
The company has at this writing, September, 1878, nine or ten miles of wire, one hundred subscribers, and ten mes- sengers, neatly dressed, running about the streets of Utica daily, and it has become one of the most useful, necessary, and remunerative institutions in the county.
UTICA WATER-WORKS COMPANY.
Attempts were made at various times in the early history of Utica to bring a supply of water into the place, and pipes and logs were brought into use, and portions of the village and city partially supplied from springs.t At one time a line of pipe was laid from a spring near where the steam cotton-mills are now located, and a few families sup- plied therefrom ; and there was a company called the Utica Water-Works Company or Association still at least nomi- nally in existence when the present company was organized. The present Utica Water-Works Company was organized and incorporated March 31, 1848. The original incorporators were James Watson Williams, Nicholas Devereux, Alfred Munson, Andrew S. Pond, Charles A. Mann, Horatio Seymour, Silas D. Childs, Willard Crafts, and Thomas Hopper. The capital stoek was then $75,000; subse- quently at various periods increased to $85,000, $115,000; in 1868 to $200,000; and in 1873 to the present amount, $300,000. Business was commenced in 1849.
The water is mainly collected from the Graefenberg Springs, three miles distant, in the town of Frankfort, Herkimer County, the seat of a noted water-cure establish- ment which was destroyed by fire a few years since. Three large reservoirs have been constructed; one near the springs and two below. The upper one was built about 1849, the middle one in 1873, and the lower one in 1868. Their capacity is as follows :
+ In the year 1800 Samuel Bardwell, Oliver Bull, Col. Benjamin Walker, and Silas Clark were associated together as the " Aqueduct" Company. Water was brought from springs on Asylum Hill aod near the Oneida Brewery in logs, and a portion of the inhabitants supplied upon payment of a nominal sum.
# Mr. Dimbleby has held this position for muny years.
6
8. Corner of Albany snd Mary Streets
S
315
HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.
Graefeaborg Resorvoir 40,000,000 gallons. Intermediate 228,000,000 16
Distributing
35,000,000
Total
303,000,000
There have been put down about 35 miles of main pipes, and there are 190 public hydrants in the city.
The water flows directly into the reservoirs without the aid of pumping-works. The height of the water-level in the distributing reservoir above the Mohawk River is about 200 feet, and about 80 feet above the highest ground within the city. A large share of the city is well supplied with good water.
The present officers of the corporation are as follows :
Thomas Hopper, President and Treasurer ; Isaac May- nard, Vice-President; Charles W. Pratt, Superintendent ; Benjamin F. Ray, Secretary.
The office of the company is at No. 3 Devereux Street.
UTICA GASLIGHT COMPANY.
The company was organized and incorporated in Novem- ber, 1848.
The original incorporators were Nicholas Devereux, Silas D. Childs, Geo. S. Dana, Hamilton Spencer, Thomas R. Walker, James Watson Williams, and John F. Seymour, of Utica, and John Lee and Lemuel H. Davis, of Phila- delphia, Pa.
The capital stock is $80,000.
The first officers were Nicholas Devereux, President ; Hamilton Spencer, Secretary and Treasurer.
Thomas R. Walker has been president of the company since 1850, and H. H. Fish treasurer since 1851.
W. P. Fish is the present secretary and engineer.
There are thirty-one miles of mains laid in the city, and six hundred and fifty-three street lamps in use. The whole number of consumers' meters is 1560.
Capacity of the works, daily, 400,000 feet,
THE SCHOOLS OF UTICA.
The public schools of Utica are under the control of a board of six commissioners, two of whom are elected annu- ally at the regular election for city officers. The board elects its chairman and clerk. The city treasurer is also treasurer for the school moneys. The schools are under the immediate charge of the city superintendent.
The officers at the present time are as follows :
Commissioners, David P. White, John N. Earll, Charles K. Grannis, Charles S. Symonds, William Kernan, J. C. P. Kincaid.
Superintendent, Andrew McMillan, A.M.
The schools are classed as PRIMARY, INTERMEDIATE, ADVANCED, and ACADEMY.
These are subdivided ; the Primary into first and second Primary ; the Intermediate into four grades ; and the Ad- vanced school into three departments. The course of study in the English department of the Academy requires four years, and the course preparatory to entering college the same.
HISTORICAL.
The following historical and statistical account of the schools of Utica has been prepared mostly from Professor
McMillan's interesting article published in connection with the annual report of the city schools for 1876, and the last annual report for 1877. Considerable additional material has been collected from other sources, which, it is believed, will make the article very complete and acceptable. Utica lias certainly just reason for being proud of its educational institutions, which rank among the most thorough and efficient in the State. We commence with Professor McMillan's sketch of the early schools :
" I am aot able to find the exact date of the establishment of the first school in Old Fort Schuyler, now Utica, but it was about 1789. The first schoolmaster was Joseph Dana. He was devoted to his work, aad successful in its prosecution. Whether he possessed the spirit of industry in an unusual degree, or was the victim of stera, aaflinching necessity, I am not informed. I only kaow that he was occupied in teaching not only his day school, but also a siaging school evea- ings ia this aad adjacent villages. By referring to a receat lecture delivered hy Dr. M. M. Bagg, I find that Mr. Dana, owing to some difficulty, left Utica aad located in the town of Westmoreland, aad afterwards ealisted in the army of 1812. The building in which Mr. Dana kept his school was used also for holding religious services and other publie parposes. It is yet standing, froating Maia Street, and ia the rear of Joha J. Francis' premises on Broad Street. It is a loag, low, one-storied building, and can be readily distinguished by its sharp gable roof. I regret that some of these ancieat laadmarks cannot be preserved as mementoes of the carly history of our city.
" About the time Professor Daaa's school was closed a school was opened in a two storied wooden boildiag situated in Catharine Street, on the site now occupied by M. B. DeLoag's furniture store. The apper story of the building was occupied by the Freemasons, and the school was conducted in the first story. The first teacher of this school was Professor Lemereux, who established the school on the Lancasterian plaa, which at that titae was quite popular. This plaa originated in the mission schools of Iadia, and was introduced into England ia 1789, by Dr. Andrew Bell, and through his instructions Joseph Lancaster acquired a knowledge of the system, and estab- lished a school acar London, England, where this plaa was practically illustrated. The system was introduced into this country in 1805. The original Lancasteriaa plaa was to divide the school iato classes, all being uader the general supervision of the teacher. Each class was subdivided into pairs of two papila, each alternately acting as teacher of the other. In this way a large aamber could be placed under the control of one teacher, the pupils instructing each other. This system, with some modifications, continued to be quite popular antil about 1830, when it was superseded by new methods. Mr. Laa- caster visited this country in 1838 and tried to re-establish the sys- tem, but was aot successful. He soon after lost his life by a street. accident.#
" In the year 1812 a school was taught by Prof. P. H. Iagraham, in the building located on the corner of Washington and Whitesboro' Streets, where the present Washington Street school building now stands. Whatever Mr. Ingraham's intellectual qualifications might have been, history doth aot affirm, but we must conclude that his moral uature was yet benighted ; suffering him to grope ia darkness and crime; as he left both school and town ia disgrace, having forged the aame of Thomas James to a business paper. For this offense he was tried and sentenced to State prison for a term of seven years and two days, bat was pardoacd before the expiration of the senteace. He then emigrated to Texas, and ia course of time was elected to the Legislature, and became Speaker of the House of Representatives. This incident is mentioned rather as illustrating the matability of human affairs, than as sa incentive to ' go thou and do likewise.'
" About this time there was also a school taught by David R. Dixon, and afterwards by Prof. Bliss, oa the corner of Genesee and Elizabeth Streets. This was in a one-storied building with two rooms on the same floor, with a folding partition between them. This site was after- wards occupied by the Eagle Tavera, and is the present site of Grace Church. There are those aow living in the city who distinctly re-
# Dr. Bagg states that the wife of Rev. Mr. Hammond, a Welsh Baptist minister, taught a school near the lower cad of Hotel Street in 1804.
316
HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.
member being exeused from school to see the army under Colonel, af- terwards Major-General Winfield Scott, march through the village on its way to Buffalo and Queenstown. The father of one of our promi- nent citizens paid the tuition of his children in Prof. Dixon's school in land. This Innd is located in the eightb word, and is still known as the Dixon Iot.
" In March, 1814, the charter of the Utica Aendemy was granted to the petitioners, nineteen in number, by the Board of Regents to the University. In the preceding January a subscription was opened for the purpose of collecting funds for the erection of a suitable academic building, with the proviso attached, that part of such building should be occupied for holding courts of justice. For some cause the circu- Intion of the subscription ceased and the project was temporarily abandoned. Some time during the next year, however, the trustces of the academy formally accepted the truet granted by the State, and in the sueceding year, 1816, a committee of citizens proposed to nid the trustees in raising money for the erection of an aendemy, town hall, and court-house combined in one and the same building. A second subscription list was opened, and the necessary amount real- ized. At this time a difference of opinion arose regarding a site. This controversy is thus described by the late Hon. James Watson Williams:
"' At once there sprung up a famous controversy about a site for the proposed structure; and Geoesee Road, Miller Road, and Whitesboro' Road had a street fight to settle that matter. The Van Rensselaers, the Blecekers, Dudleys, and Millers, the Coopers, Potters, and Bellin- gers contested it so hotly that it beeaine necessary, as expressed in the new subscription paper, in order to secure harmony in the village, that the subscriptions should be so made as that every subscriber to the amount of five dollars should have a vote for either of two sites designated; one of which was the site finally adopted, and the other a lot on Geuesee Street, then adjoining the old Van Rensselaer home- stead, and occupied for a private school, now the site of Grace Church and the Butterfield House ; Whitesburo' Street voluntarily or proba- bly involuntarily being excluded from the vote. The final subscrip- tion, dated May 4, 1816, is a venerable document, the body of it prioted, and both printing and signatures done on a roll of parchment a yard and a half long, well filled with names and subscriptions from three bnodred dollars down to five dolla.s. At the foot are two cer- tifieates engrossel by Colonel Benjamin Walker, the military com- panion, friend and legatee of Baron Steuben; one of them purporting that subscriptions have been made to the required amount withio the present time (only twenty-six days), and the other that on polling the votes for n site, as provided in the document, 657 votes were found in favor of the site on Chancellor's Square, and 445 in favor of that on Genesee Street, being a majority of 222, so that Genesee Road had to retire from the great contest, satisfied with its private school and its Seneca Turnpike, and Whitesboro' Road with its York House and the graveyard. Chancellor's Square, with its capacities for possible glories, proved triumphant; for, although it was an aninclosed boggy plain, with the dirty ditch stagnating through the middle, yet a prescient eye might perceive that it had nut only the present certainty of n roomy play ground with convenient mnd-paddle facilities for boyish aqantie entertainments, but that it might, in the course of time, when surrounded by imposing and publie buildings, be a fine park and breathing place for crowded institutions, as we see it at the present day.'
"Mr. Williams' description differs somewhat from that of an earlier writer, who was evidently in favor of the site finally selected : 'The loention of this institution ie unrivaled in point of salubrity and beauty ; built on an eminence in a retired part of the town, com- manding an extensive and charming view, having attached to it a large tract of play ground, in front and renr, for the students.' This description would hardly be apppropriate as we see it to-dny. The building, or rather that part of it designed for the use of the school, was opened in Angust, 1818, and Rev. Samnel Mills was appointed first principal."
This building was used until 1852 for the holding of courts and other public uses, one of the expressed condi- tions for the erection of Utica into a half-shire town being that the courts should have the joint use of the academy. In 1852 a court-house was completed and the academy returned to its legitimate uses. It was torn down and the
present costly and commodious structure erected in its stead in 1867-68.
"Some time during the year 1815, Montgomery Bartlett opened a school for young Indies on Hotel Street, nearly opposite the present location of Chubbuck's Hall. This school was in successfol operation several years. Mr. Bartlett afterwards acquired some reputation as an astronumer, and published a work upon that subject.
"In this year, and also upon llotel Street, near the present alley leading to Burchard Street, Mr. Samuel M. Todd taught a school, which, like its rival neighbor, enjoyed an excellent reputation and liberal patronage.
" Aboot the year 1816 a school was opened in what was then known as the Kirkland Block, which became one of the most popular schuols of the day. The Kirkland Block was theo a long row of wooden buildings, running from Genesee to Hotel Street. The entrance to the school-room was from Liberty Street.
" In the year 1817 a school taught by Ambrose Kasson was opened in a building on Whitesboro', corner of Division Street. Mr. Kasson ranked high as an instructor, and received large patronage. Many of his pupils afterwards took bigh positione both in private and public lifc.
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