USA > New York > Oswego County > History of Oswego County, New York, with illustrations and Biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 38
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This, of course, left a wide space between the sidewalk and street-line. It was further enacted that on the business streets before mentioned, where the curb was nineteen or twenty feet from the line, the owner might build a platform seven feet wide into the street on which to display goods. On the streets where the curb was twenty-six feet out (except from Second street to the river), the inhabitants were allowed to inclose seventeen feet of space with an ornamental fence, to be removed on thirty days' notice from the board of trustees.
This practically reduced the streets from a hundred to sixty-six feet wide. The result has been to make Oswego one of the shadiest and handsomest eities in the country. The owners of adjoining lots had no permission to build on the seventeen feet, but they universally availed themselves of the permission to inclose it. Consequently, throughont almost all Oswego, the houses are invariably at least seven- teen feet from the sidewalk ; the intervening space being usually occupied by a handsome shaded yard,-a sight hardly to be seen in any other city of its size in the world.
In the latter part of 1837 the financial depression was variegated if not relieved by the excitement regarding the celebrated " Patriot War." Oswego, on account of its being the general gateway of communication with Canada, was perhaps more infected with " patriot" sympathy than any other town on the frontier. All through 1838 con- tinued excitement prevailed, and men and means were sent to the insurgents by the " Hunter" lodges formed along the border. We have described some of the leading events
of this period in the general history of the county, in- cluding the operations of the steamer " United States," and the publication of the Oswego Patriot ; but there was one affair of a local nature, near the close of the disturbances, which we will mention here.
On the 12th of January, 1839, two brass field-pieces, which had been stolen from some State arsenal by the patriots, were found concealed about a machine-shop just at the east end of the bridge. On the 14th they were seized by George H. MeWhorter, United States marshal, and placed in charge of a guard of regular soldiers. The next day he prepared to remove them to a more secure place. A crowd began to assemble, who desired to prevent their being put out of reach of the "patriots " The marshal sent for a company of United States troops, which was quartered in the United States hotel property, where the normal school now is. The company came down upon the bridge, where they were immediately surrounded by an im- mense crowd, so closely packed that the soldiers could hardly have brought a musket to bear had they tried.
The marshal was unwilling to proceed to extremities. Finally John Bunner, an ardent " sympathizer," remem- bered that Colonel Runnill, of the New York State militia, who was also the keeper of the jail, had orders to take posses- sion of all arms bearing the State mark, as the two field-pieces did. The colonel was hunted up, and demanded the guns in the name of the State. As the claim was reasonable on the face of it, the marshal decided to give them up to him, though he was known to be in sympathy with the " pa- triots." For this reason the crowd assented to the arrange- ment. The cannon were dragged out, and under the nominal charge of Colonel Runnill were paraded through the principal streets, preceded by drum and fife, and sur- rounded by the exultant sympathizers, who numbered nearly all the people of the village. The eannon were finally deposited in the jail-yard, on the site of the present city hall, under the charge of the worthy colonel.
A short time afterwards a number of sympathizers took possession of them without difficulty, dragged them by a roundabout road to the locality now called Minetto, and concealed them under the floor of a barn, ready for the next invasion of Canada. The United States troops, which had beco reinforced from Sackett's Harbor, got on the track of the lost guns, and marched to the neighborhood where they were concealed, but could not find them. None of the people would betray what they considered the cause of freedom. Colonel Runnill was afterwards court- martialed for allowing the cannon to be taken from his possession ; but the militia officers who tried him were probably as friendly to the " patriots" as himself, and he was speedily acquitted.
Among the results of the military excitement of the day was the organization, in 1839, of the "Oswego Guards," the first uniformed militia company in the village of which we can find any account. Its first officers were Captain S. S. Hulbert, Lieutenant J. W. Ransom, and Ensign G. S. Titus.
Notwithstanding the hard times the trustees continued to order the paving and improving of streets, and fifteen hundred dollars were raised for general purposes in 1838.
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HISTORY OF OSWEGO COUNTY, NEW YORK.
But for several years thereafter it was very quiet in Os- wego. About 1842 or 1843 the village began slowly to re- cover from the previous depression. In the latter year the Eagle and the Washington mills, each with five run of stone, were erected, being the first since the panic. The next year the Empire mill was built, new residences began to rise, and commerce showed signs of improvement.
The Masons had been under the ban of public opinion in all this section ever since the Morgan affair, but in 1845 a new secret order made its appearance in Oswego. The first lodge of Odd-Fellows, " Oswegatchie," was organized here in May of that year.
Business and improvements continued to increase during 1846, but 1847 was the most remarkable year which had yet been known. No less than six large mills were built in that single ycar,-the Atlas, Premium, Pearl, Seneca, Lake Ontario, and Express,-having in all forty-two run of stone, and being capable of making four thousand two hundred barrels of flour per day. New business blocks, churches, and residences arose on all sides, and people began to talk railroad and city. Oswego lodge of Masons was organized, the first in the place since the outbreak of anti-Masonry.
The next year both city and railroad talk became aecom- plished facts. Application was duly made to the legis- lature, and on the 24th of March an act was passed by that body organizing the city of Oswego. It was divided into four wards, each represented in the council by two alder- men, who exercised the legislative power of the new body politie, while the executive authority was confided to a mayor.
The first city election resulted in the choice of James Platt as mayor, and of Hunter Crane, Gilbert Mollison, Stephen H. Lathrop, Robert Oliver, George S. Alvord, John Brigeol, Samuel S. Taylor, and William S. Malcolm. The council appointed J. M. Casey as the first city clerk.
The railroad from Syracuse was completed in October, and this gave a new impetus to the business of the youthful city.
The same year another institution was established, which has been almost as important to Oswego as the railroad or the city government. This was the starch-factory erected on the Varick canal by an Auburn joint-stock company, and placed under the management of T. Kingsford & Son. A full account of this important establishment will be found elsewhere. Two more mills were built in 1848,-the Crescent and the Huron.
In 1849 a wooden bridge was built across the river on Utica street, at a cost of seven thousand dollars. Toll was still exacted on the old one on Bridge street, but the new one built by the city was free.
By 1850 the population had risen to twelve thousand two hundred and five. Ships loaded with grain came down from all the upper lakes by the score. That newly-invented Yankee notion, the elevator, quickly transferred it to the canal-boat or the mill, and it was speedily sent forward to New York or transferred into flour. The old academy had gone down, and there were only district schools in the new city. To supply the defeet in higher education the Oswego seminary was opened in the " United States hotel" building in May, 1850, and for a while met with gratifying success.
In 1852 the city had advanced far enough, so it was thought, to be lit by gas, and the Oswego gaslight factory was incorporated. On the 11th of February the same year, the Oswego orphan asylum was organized.
One of the first, as it was one of the most important, events of 1853, was the organization of the schools of the city in a compaet system, controlled by a board of educa- tion, in place of the ten or twelve disunited districts previ- ously existing.
But by far the most startling and impressive event of the year 1853, and probably of that whole decade, was the great fire of July 5. All the mills and elevators on the east side of the river were destroyed, and most of the buildings in the second ward. But ere the ashes were cold the enter- prising citizens began to rebuild. Six mills were rebuilt, with increased capacity, during that and the succeeding year, and no less than eight elevators. These, added to those which had escaped the fire, made a total of seventeen mills and ten elevators in operation at the end of 1854.
Other improvements were made at the same period. The old wooden toll-bridge, erected in 1822, was replaced, in 1855, by an iron one, built by the city at a cost of forty-two thousand dollars.
That generous philanthropist, Gerrit Smith, who had long had an interest in Oswego, in 1853 gave twenty-five thousand dollars to establish a city library, then committing its management to a board of trustees appointed by himself. A large two-story brick for the use of the library, on the corner of West Second and Oneida streets, was built in 1853 and 1854. A more full account of this important institution is given separately farther on.
In 1854 the celebrated reciprocity treaty was negotiated between the United States and Great Britain, by which most of the natural products of the United States and British America were admitted into each of those countries respectively duty free. Oswego, the great entrepôt of the Canadian trade, was greatly benefited by this treaty, and all the steamers, propellers, schooners, mills, elevators, and eanal-boats were crowded to their utmost capacity by the grain and other products of Canada superadded to those of the west.
During the five years from 1850 to 1855 the population increased from twelve thousand to near sixteen thousand, a growth more rapid than that of any other city in the State. Sixty-nine Oswego vessels, ineluding steamers, pro- pellers, and schooners, with an aggregate tonnage of twenty- one thousand two hundred and seven tons, rode in and out of her busy harbor, besides the numerous ones belonging to other ports.
From that time till the beginning of the Rebellion, Oswego continued its onward course. Even the panic of 1857, which seriously affected the trade of the country at large, but slightly checked that of Oswego. In 1860 the population was sixteen thousand eight hundred and sixteen.
The stirring events of the next four years, the march of gallant battalions to the seat of war, the story of their hard- ships and their valor, the return of their thinned but vic- torious ranks, have all been recounted in the general history of the county. While a host of gallant volunteers left the little city built on the classic ground of the old French and
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RES. of EDWIN W. CLARKE, COR. E SEVENTH & MOHAWK STS., OSWEGO, N. Y. .
RES. OF JOSEPH HOVER, COR. OF THIRD & ALLEN STS., OSWEGO ., N. Y.
153
HISTORY OF OSWEGO COUNTY, NEW YORK.
the Revolutionary wars, the thousands who remained pushed on the more prosaic but equally necessary business of every- day life with scarcely diminished vigor.
A new iron bridge was built, in place of the wooden one on Utica street, in 1867, and other improvements were not neglected.
But with the abrogation of the reciprocity treaty in 1866 came a decided check to the prosperity of the city. The population in 1870 was but twenty thousand nine hundred and ten.
The financial crisis of 1873, though far less disastrous than that of 1836, yet had a seriously depressing effect upon Oswego, as well as upon the rest of the country. From that depression the Frontier City is now slowly but steadily arising. Notwithstanding the "hard times," the population increased to twenty-two thousand four hundred and fifty-five in 1875. Commerce lifts her drooping head, and once more essays, though not yet with her old-time vigor, to make the shores of the Oswego the home of industry, enterprise, and wealth.
Yet those who look upon the turbulent river, rushing with rapid pace towards the lake, and affording a water- power unsurpassed upon the continent, cannot doubt that commerce alone will never accomplish the " manifest des- tiny" of Oswego. Even the milling business, important as it is, cannot occupy a tenth of the power which runs to waste at Oswego and in its vicinity. With more than the capacities of Lowell and Lawrence combined, with greater facilities than those towns for the gathering of materials and the distribution of products, there is no good reason why Oswego should not outdo both Lowell and Lawrence in the number and magnitude of its establishments, save that they already have those establishments and Oswego has not. But the star of industrial as well as of political empire is taking its way westward. New Lowells and Law- rences must arise in various parts of the continent, where natural advantages and intelligent enterprise point out the location, and nowhere do the natural advantages offer stronger inducements to enterprise than on the shores of the rushing Oswego.
We have passed very rapidly over the later history of Oswego, for the reason that we give separate sketches of all its important institutions, its schools, churches, societies, banks, mills, elevators, etc., and to those sketches we now call the attention of the reader
THE CITY HALL.
The elegant and substantial building known as the city hall was erected in 1869-70. It is of Onondaga lime- stone, three stories high, with a Mansard roof, the whole surmounted by a tower in which is placed the city clock. Its dimensions are sixty-one by one hundred and six feet, and its cost about one hundred thousand dollars. The lower story is used as the city jail and the offices of the police department ; the second story contains the offices of the municipal authorities, and the upper story the offices of the board of education and the council chamber. On a tablet in the interior of the building we find inscribed the subjoined :
" CITY HALL.
"CORNER-STONE LAID JUNE 21, 1870.
" Hon. Alanson Page, Mayor.
" Alderman Morgan M. Wheeler, Alderman Charles Doolittle, Alderman George Goble, Alderman John Edland, Alderman John Ratigan, Aklerman James If. Murdock, Alderman William Black - woud, Aaron Calnon, Building Committee.
" H1. N. White, Architeet.
" Henry W. Seeber, Julius A. Seeber, Master Builders.
"John Ratigan, Anthony Culkins, Michael Culkins, Master
Masons.
" James Randall, Thomas Nesdell, Stune Cutters."
The building is conveniently located, being in the public square, opposite the post-office. It is an imposing structure, and constitutes one of the finest architectural monuments in the city.
THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT BUILDING.
This substantial structure was erected in 1857, and first occupied in 1858. It is of limestone and iron, and is as near fire-proof as possible. Its dimensions are fifty-eight by eighty-six feet, and its location Queida street, between First and Second streets. It is a three-story building, with a basement. The first floor is occupied by the post-office department, the second by the custom-house officials, and the third is used as the United States court-room.
THIE POST-OFFICE
was established in 1806, and the first postmaster was Jocl Burt, appointed October 7, 1806. His successors, with the dates of their respective appointments, are as follows :
William Dolloway, June 2, 1815; Nathan Sage, Janu- ary 17, 1816; John Grant, Jr., June 22, 1825; Samuel Hawley, January 10, 1831 ; John H. Lord, September 24, 1839 ; James Cochian, September 27, 1841 ; David P. Brewster, July 2, 1845; Robert II. Martin, January 19, 1849; Cheney Ames, May 17, 1849; Samuel H. Beards- ley, May 4, 1853; Alfred B. Getty, July 6, 1858 ; Henry Fitzhugh, March 27, 1861; Aaron J. Cowles, July 7, 1865 ; Samuel R. Taylor, October 26, 1866; David W. Erwin, March 2, 1867 ; George IIngunin, April 15, 1869 ; John A. Place, May 10, 1873; Cheney Ames, June 9, 1877.
The business of the office for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1877, is represented by the subjoined statistics :
Received-Letters, 728,000; postal cards, 160,000; newspapers, 300,000 ; miscellaneous, 75,000.
Forwarded-Letters, 750,000; postal cards, 200,000; newspapers, 130,000 ; miscellaneous, 117,000.
Number of registered letters received, 1605 ; forwarded, 804; transit, 2040.
Total receipts for sale of stamps, stamped envelopes, postal cards, and box rent, $18,353.
Number of money-orders issued-Domestie, 2578; for- eign, 55; amounting to $33,968.
Number of money-orders paid-Domestic, 2625 ; foreign, 125; amounting to $49,458.
TIIE CUSTOM-HOUSE,
as before stated, is located in the second story of the gov- ernment building. Oswego was made a port of entry in
11
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HISTORY OF OSWEGO COUNTY, NEW YORK.
1803, and Jocl Burt was appointed the first collector on the 1st of August of the same year. His successors, from the expiration of his service until the present, have been as follows : Nathan Sage, appointed June 12, 1811 ; John Grant, Jr., June 1, 1826; George H. McWhorter, May 1, 1834; Thomas H. Bond, August 2, 1841; George H. McWhorter, May 24, 1843; Jacob Richardson, June 5, 1849 ; Enoch B. Talcott, May 23, 1853; Orville Robin- son, April 1, 1858; John B. Higgins, April 1, 1860; Charles A. Perkins, October 1, 1861 ; Andrew Van Dyck, September 1, 1864; Charles C. P. Clark, April 1, 1869; Elias Root, May 1, 1871 ; Daniel G. Fort, June 30, 1877.
LIGHT-HOUSES.
The first light-house was built in 1837, and rebuilt in 1869. The present structure is built of gray limestone. The tower is sixty-six feet high, and is octagonal in shape. It is situated five hundred feet from the pier-head. The light is of the third order of lens apparatus, fixed, and is visible fifteen miles. On the pier-head, five hundred fect north of the above, is an octagonal iron tower, the focal plane of which is thirty-three feet above water, and con- tains a beacon-light which is visible eleven miles. It is so constructed as to be removed to the outer break water wlien the latter shall be completed.
THE SCHOOLS OF OSWEGO .*
As has been stated in the previous sketch of the city, the first school in Oswego was taught in a log house near the corner of West First and Seneca streets, about 1798, by Miss Artemisia Waterhouse, from Oswego Falls (now Fulton). The school was subsequently taught by Captain Edward O'Connor, and, as early as 1807, by Dr. Joseph Caldwell, a physician by profession, who, not finding patients enough to give him a comfortable support, turned school- master. We have also narrated how, in 1806, a school-house was built by Mr. Bradner Burt, with the proceeds of a sub- scription, on what was then known as the Court-House block, on the corner of West Third and Seneca streets. The block was afterwards sold, and the proceeds applied to the erection of a court-house on the east side of the river, and the building was removed to the opposite block on the corner of Second and Seneca streets, then the corner of the public square. It here served the triple purpose of school-house, meeting-house, and conrt-house. It was occu- pied for school purposes until another building was erected on Fourth street next north of what is known as the Acad- emy building. It was destroyed by fire in 1865.
About this time, or soon after, the subject of the crec- tion of an academy building was agitated, and in 1831 the foundation of the building just referred to was laid. The ground on which it stands was at first lcased, it being a part of a reserve for a public square.
Fears being entertained that two schools of a somewhat different character, brought into such close proximity, might interfere somewhat with each other, the trustees decided to sell the new building and purchase a house on
Fourth street, between Seneca and Van Buren strects. This building was converted into a school-house, and occu- pied for that purpose until 1851, when it was sold, and the academy building, which had long been occupied for a boarding-house, was purchased and fitted up for school purposes.
Up to 1834, this was the only district school within the limits of the village of West Oswego. In this year a district was formed, which we find described as follows : " Commencing at the Oswego river on Gemini (now Cayuga) street, in the village of West Oswego, running westerly along Gemini strect to Third street, thence south- erly along Third to Scorpio ( Albany) street, thence easterly along Scorpio street to the Oswego river, thence north on said river, at low water mark, to the place of beginning."
This was district No. 12. The first meeting for organ- ization was held at the Welland House, on the 18th day of January, 1834; Gideon H. Woodruff, Henry White, and Edmund Hawks were elected trustees. The first school in the district was taught in an old building on the corner of Second and Bridge streets, originally erected for a tavern. A new brick school-house was built on West Third street, ncar Mohawk, in 1836. This house has since been twice enlarged, once by the trustces in 1850, and afterwards by the board of education.
In the same year, 1836, the district called No. 14 was created, including all the territory west of Fourth and north of Cayugas streets, within the village limits. A lot was purchased and a house erected before the close of the year. The first trustees were Jacob N. Bonstecle, Leonard Smith, and Peter Halligan. In 1848 the title of this dis- trict was changed to No. 6, by order of the city superin- tendent. In the year 1852 the old school-house and lot were sold, and another lot purchased on the corner of West Eighth and Schuyler streets, on which the house at present occupied by primary school No. 1 was erected in the same year. The entire expense of house, lot, and appartenances, was nineteen hundred and sixty-seven dollars and thirty- six cents.
In about the year 1841 or 1842 a stone school-house was built on West Bridge street, between Sixth and Seventh, for the district designated as No. 13, which included all the territory west of Third street, between Albany and Cayuga, within the village corporation. For some time previous, the school of this district had been taught in a hired room west of the present site of the Methodist church. The new school-house was small, con- sisting of but a single room.
In 1843 another district, styled No. 17, was taken off from the east end of this district, including all the territory lying between Albany and Cayuga streets, and Third and Sixth streets. A house consisting of a single room was built on Fourth street, near Bridge, for the use of this district. In 1856 this building was enlarged to its present size by the board of education.
In the fall of 1848 another colony was formed from the parent stock, and from the southwesterly part of No. 13 was created a district embracing all the territory lying between Albany and Oncida streets, and west of Sixth street. This new district was created by an order of John
# For this sketch we are entirely indebted to the reports of the board of education, and the courtesy of thoir secretary, Mr. Virgil C. Douglass.
RESIDENCE OF THOS S. MOTT, COR. W. FIFTH & SCHUYLER ST8., OSWEGO . N. Y.
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HISTORY OF OSWEGO COUNTY, NEW YORK.
B. Park, town superintendent, issued October 3, 1848, and was designated district No. 21. In December of the same year the title was changed by Mr. A. H. Dunham, the sue- cessor of Mr. Park, to No. 10, by which it was designated at the time of the organization of the board of education. In the winter and spring of 1849 a new house was erected on West Mohawk, near Tenth street. This also was a single room, and is still known by the name of " White School-House," being occupied by primary school No. 3.
All south of Albany street constituted district No. 9.
About the year 1841 a new district was created from this extensive one, embracing all between Albany street and the old village line; and a stone school-house, with a single room, was erected in 1842. This was enlarged in 1850 to its present capacity. The cost of enlarging was fourteen hundred dollars. It stands on or near the corner of West Fourth and Erie streets, and is occupied by pri- mary school No. 5. The district was known as No. 18 until the year 1848, when its title was changed to No. 9. It has since been changed to No. 7. This house was burned in the winter of 1861. The walls, however, were left standing, and it was rebuilt by the Northwestern insu- rance company the same year.
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