History of Syracuse, New York
| Population development | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Census | Residents | ± in% | |
| 1850 | 22,271 | - | |
| 1860 | 28,119 | 26.3% | |
| 1870 | 43,051 | 53.1% | |
| 1880 | 51,792 | 20.3% | |
| 1890 | 88.143 | 70.2% | |
| 1900 | 108,374 | 23% | |
| 1910 | 137.240 | 26.6% | |
| 1920 | 171,717 | 25.1% | |
| 1930 | 209.326 | 21.9% | |
| 1940 | 205.967 | -1.6% | |
| 1950 | 220,583 | 7.1% | |
| 1960 | 216.038 | -2.1% | |
| 1970 | 197.208 | -8.7% | |
| 1980 | 170.105 | -13.7% | |
| 1990 | 163,860 | -3.7% | |
| 2000 | 147.306 | -10.1% | |
| 2010 | 145.170 | -1.5% | |
Syracuse is a city in the state of New York (Central New York) located on the former land of the Onondaga nation. It was officially founded as a village in 1825 and has stood at an important crossroads for the past two centuries: first on the Erie Canal and its side canals, then on the railway network. The city grew on the basis of its salt and chemical industries and later gained importance as a center for manufacturing and engineering. Although the relevance of these industries has declined, the city is still the economic and educational hub of Central New York, a region of over a million people; however, the city's population has been declining since its peak in the 1950s.
Early history
The Syracuse area was first seen by Europeans when French missionaries arrived in the 16th century. A group of Jesuit priests , soldiers and rangers (Coureurs des bois, including Pierre Esprit Radisson ) set up a mission at the invitation of the Onondaga Nation, one of the five constituent members of the Iroquois Confederation . It was known as Sainte Marie de Gannentaha (Saint Marie Among the Iroquois) and was located on the northeast shore of Lake Onondaga.
The mission was soon abandoned after the Mohawk threatened the Onondaga that it would be better to sever ties with the French. Otherwise the settlers would suffer a terrible fate. When the men in the mission heard about this, they fled at night after living there for less than two years. The remains of the mission are under a restaurant in nearby Liverpool, New York, where a living history museum recreates the mission.
Shortly after the American Revolutionary War , more settlers came to the area, mostly to trade with the indigenous people, the Onondaga Nation. Ephraim Webster left the continental army to settle there with Asa Danforth, another revolutionary war hero, in 1784. They were followed four years later by Comfort Tyler, whose engineering skill made a significant contribution to regional development. All three settled in Onondaga Hollow, south of what is now the city center, which was then a swampy area.
Jesuit missionaries who visited the Syracuse area in the mid-19th century reported brine springs at the southern end of Salt Lake , now known as Lake Onondaga . In 1788, the Treaty of Fort Stanwix and the subsequent designation of the area as the Onondaga Salt Springs Reserve by the State of New York created the basis for commercial salt production from late 1700 to early 1900. Brine from wells that are stored in halite beds (table salt) in the Salina- Shale drilled at Tully, New York, 15 miles south of town, was developed in the 19th century. It is the northward flowing salt water from Tully that is the source of salt for the “salty springs” on the shores of Lake Onondaga. The rapid development of this industry in the 18th and 19th centuries led to Syracuse's nickname "The Salt City".
19th century
Syracuse went through several name changes before 1824, from Salt Point (1780), Webster's Landing (1786), Bogardus Corners (1796), Milan (1809), South Salina (1812), Cossits' Corners (1814) to Corinth (1817). The U.S. Post rejected the application for a post office called Corinth, stating that there was already a post office with that name in New York. The name Syracuse was chosen after Siracusa, Sicily , because of its similarities with the salt industry and a neighboring village called Salina.
In 1825 the village of Syracuse was officially established. Five years later the Erie Canal, which ran through the village, was completed. The village of Syracuse and the village of Salina were combined to form the city of Syracuse on December 14, 1847. Harvey Baldwin was the new city's first mayor.
Early industry
The opening of the Erie Canal resulted in a steep increase in salt sales. On the one hand, the low transport costs contributed to this, and on the other, many New York farms switched from wheat production to pork. Since the curing of pork requires salt, the need for this raw material also increased significantly. By 1900, most of the salt used in the United States came from Syracuse. As salt production increased, processing became more mechanized and local industry more general. The population grew from 250 in 1820 to 22,271 in 1850.
The Solvay Group's first plant in the United States (Solvay Process Company) was built in 1884 on the southeastern shore of Lake Onondaga. The village was named Solvay, New York, in memory of its inventor Ernest Solvay . In 1861 he developed the ammonia-soda process for the production of soda (anhydrous sodium carbonate - a rare chemical called natrite to distinguish it from the natural natron known to date). For the process was sodium chloride (from brine wells that have been dug in the southern end of the Tully Valley) and limestone (as a source of calcium carbonate). This method was an improvement over the earlier Leblanc method . The Syracuse Solvay plant was the center of a large chemical complex and was owned by Allied Signal in Syracuse. This settlement made Lake Onondaga the most polluted lake in the nation.
Since the discovery of large deposits of trona (natural sodium carbonate) in 1938 near Green River , Wyoming , the Solvay process has become inefficient. The Syracuse Solvay Process Company facility closed permanently in 1985. To this day there are no more such plants in North America. However, in the rest of the world, the Solvay process remains the main source of soda.
The closure of the Onondaga Salt Spring Reserve in the early 1900s and the end of sole mining in the southern part of the Tully Valley in the late 1900s marked the end of salt mining in the Syracuse region. The groundwater that flows along the southeastern shore of Lake Onondaga in Syracuse still gravity flows salty water from a thousand feet below the southern Tully Valley and feeds salt springs around the lake where the Salina shale does not contain halite beds.
Abolitionism and the Underground Railroad
Syracuse became an active center of the abolitionist movement, in large part due to the influence of Gerrit Smith and a group allied with him. They were mainly connected with the Unitarian Church and its pastor (the pastor Samuel May) in Syracuse and with Quakers in nearby Skaneateles. They were also supported by numerous other religious congregations. Before the Civil War, Syracuse was known as the "great central depot" of the Underground Railroad (network of opponents of slavery) because of the work of Jermain Wesley Loguen and others who opposed federal law . On October 1, 1851, William Henry, a freed slave known as "Jerry", was arrested under the Fugitive Slave Law . The anti-slavey Liberty Party , Syracuse Anti-Slavery Freedom Party held their state convention in Syracuse. When the news of Jerry's arrest spread around that time, several hundred opponents (including Charles Augustus Wheaton) broke into the city jail to free him. The event became commonly known as "Jerry Rescue". As a result, Congregationalist Minister Samuel Ringgold Ward had to flee to Canada to escape persecution for participating in the liberation.
Industry and education in the late 19th century
The salt industry lost its importance after the civil war . A new manufacturing industry took its place. Numerous companies and businesses were founded in the late 1800s and early 1900s, including the Franklin Automobile Company (which made the world's first air-cooled engine), the Century Motor Vehicle Company, and the Craftsman Workshops, the center of Gustav Stickley's handcrafted furniture empire.
The Syracuse University in 1870 erected as methoditisch-Episcopal institution.
The medical college, Geneva Medical College, was founded in 1834. It is now known as Upstate Medical University and is the most prestigious medical school in the Syracuse area. It is one of only four in the State University of New York system and one of only five medical schools in upstate New York City.
20th century
In the 20th century, Syracuse University was no longer denominational and, over time, developed into a large research institution. She is known nationally for college basketball, college football, and college lacrosse. In 1911, under the direction of the curator of Syracuse University, Louis Marshall, the New York State College of Forestry was rebuilt in close collaboration with Syracuse University. Since then it has developed into the SUNY-ESF. Le Moyne College was founded in 1946. Onondaga Community College followed in 1962.
The Second World War triggered a considerable expansion in the areas of special steel, fasteners and special machine construction. After the war, two of the " Big Three " automakers ( General Motors and Chrysler ) were well represented in the region. Syracuse was the headquarters of the Carrier Corporation and Crouse-Hinds traffic light manufacturing. General Electric had its main television production on Electronics Parkway.
The population of Syracuse peaked in 1950 at 221,000. At that time, the Census Bureau counted 97.7% white and 2.1% African American . Immigration from abroad brought many ethnic groups to the city, particularly Germans, Irish, Italians, and Poles. Numerous African Americans moved to Syracuse during the Revolutionary War. Between 1940 and 1960, many of the three million African Americans who migrated from the south to northern cities settled there. In the 1980s, many immigrants from Africa and Central America made their way to Syracuse under the auspices of religious charities. Even the immigration of these new residents of Syracuse failed to minimize the population decline. Many moved to the suburbs or the state for lack of jobs. The city's population is steadily decreasing every year.
After the Second World War, much of the city structure changed. Even the completion of the first government housing project (Pioneer Homes) in the USA in 1941 could not change that. Many of the city's listed buildings were demolished in the 1950s and 1960s. Although some museums and government buildings were built, many large areas that had been fallow for decades were cleared by the federal Urban Renewal program.
The manufacturing industry in Syracuse began to falter in the 1970s. Many small businesses went bankrupt during this period, which contributed to an already rising unemployment rate. Rockwell International moved its factory out of the state and General Electric relocated its television production first to Suffolk , Virginia , and later to Singapore . The Carrier Corporation relocated its headquarters from Syracuse and outsourced production to Asian locations. Although the urban population has declined since 1950, the population in the greater Syracuse area has remained relatively stable and has grown by as much as 2.5 percent since 1970. While this growth rate is higher than in many other regions of New York state, it is well below the national average during this period.
Individual evidence
- ^ Gibson, Campbell (June 1998). "Population of the 100 Largest Cities and Other Urban Places in the United States: 1790 to 1990" . United States Census Bureau , Population Division. Detailed Tables 8-21. Archived from the original on August 16, 2010 . Retrieved August 15, 2010 .
- ^ "Syracuse city, New York - Population Finder" . United States Census Bureau . Archived from the original on August 16, 2010 . Retrieved August 15, 2010 .
- ↑ Science Tribune - Article - October 1998
- ^ New York Water Science Center
- ↑ Our Founders (PDF) City of Syracuse. 2004.
- ↑ Encyclopedia Americana, vol. 26.1968
- ^ The Jerry Rescue - New York History Net
- ^ The Jerry Rescue - New York History Net
- ^ History of the Franklin Company . Baldwinsville Messenger, Baldwinsville, New York. January 2003.