from"Between
the Ocean and the Lakes--The Story of the ERIE"by Edward Harold Mott--1899
GAZETTEER. Printed, 1899.
OF CITIES AND VILLAGES ON THE LINE OF THE ORIGINAL ERIE
AND ITS BRANCHES
NEW YORK (EASTERN) DIVISION.
JERSEY CITY, Hudson Co., N.J. From New York, 1 mile; Buffalo,
424 miles; Dunkirk, 459. Eastern terminus of the Erie since 1851.
Second city of New Jersey and capital of Hudson County. Population,
200,000. On the west bank of the Hudson River, one mile from New
York, connecting with five lines of ferry-boats. Also the terminus
of twelve other lines of railroad. Site originally called Paulus
Hook. Chartered, 1820, as "the City of Jersey" name
changed to present one, 1838. Population when it became Erie terminus,
7,000.
RUTHERFORD, Bergen Co., N.J. From New York, 10 miles. From
an early day known as Boiling Spring neighborhood. Farm and farm-gardening
community. Laid out in town plots in 1866. Settled rapidly. Named
Rutherford Park. Changed to Rutherford, 1875. Incorporated a borough,
1881. Population, 1898, 3,900. Residential. 7 churches; 1 high
school; 3 district schools; 2 banks; 2 newspapers; 2 hotels.
(CARLTON HILL, important as the site of great bleaching works;
station for East Rutherford.)
PASSAIC, Passaic Co., N.J. From New York, 12 miles; Buffalo,
413; Dunkirk, 448. First settlement in 1678, when site near Passaic
city was bought by Hartman Michielson from the Indians. He got
a perfect title to it in 1685 for "one fat henne." In
1678 Christopher Hoogland bought 278 acres of the present site
of Passaic and sold it to Michielson. The tract was called Acquackanonk.
A settlement of industrious Dutch soon grew up. Acquackanonk was
the head of navigation on the Passaic River. It was called "the
Landing," and was the shipping and receiving point for supplies
for the country as far away as Orange County, N.Y. For a century
Acquackanonk had this commercial supremacy. Then the Paterson
and Hudson River Railroad was built, and destroyed the importance
of river navigation. Dundee Water Power Company incorporated,
1832. In 1861 built the dam which conserved the great water-power
of the Passaic and insured the future of Passaic. The Dundee Railroad
was built, which is now part of the valuable local possessions
of the Erie. Incorporated as a village, 1871; city, 1873. Reformed
Dutch Church, 1686. Part of present church building built, 1761,
12 churches; high school; 6 ward schools; 2 banks; 4 newspapers;
2 hotels. Passaic a place of marvellous growth. Population, 1898,
12,000. Manufacturing interests large. One of the wealthiest places
on line of Erie. Four Erie stations in Passaic. Beautiful and
costly residences.
(CLIFTON and LAKE VIEW. Residential localities between Passaic
and Paterson; Lake View part of Paterson.)
PATERSON, Passaic Co., N.J. From New York, 17 miles; Buffalo,
408; Dunkirk, 443. Site, owing to waterpower of the Passaic River,
chosen in 1791 by Alexander Hamilton and others for the uses of
the "Society for Establishing Useful Manufactures,"
which was chartered in that year. Place named for the then Governor
of New Jersey. Township government until 1851; then incorporated
as city; population, 11,000. Ex-Governor Philemon Dickerson first
President City Council. Limits enlarged 1854, and present city
incorporated under new charter, 1871. Population, 1898, (estimated)
90,000 Third city in New Jersey. Centre of silk manufacturing
in United States. 72 churches; 4 synagogues; 6 missions; high
school; 19 ward schools; 1 normal training and model school; 1
manual training school; 6 banks (3 national, 1 savings, 2 safe
deposit and trust companies); 15 newspapers (5 daily, 7 weekly,
3 monthly); 109 incorporated companies (39 silk, silk fabric,
and allied branches of silk manufacture); 2 hospitals; 2 orphan
asylums. Electric lighting and gas; electric street railways,
and connecting with Hoboken and intermediate points. Fine parks.
Public buildings and residences architecturally elegant. Paterson
and Hudson River Railroad, one of the first in the country, opened
in 1833; now part of Erie main line. Manufacturing began in 1792
with cotton print works, one of the first in the country. During
the war of 1812 Paterson was one of the largest producers of cotton
goods. This industry was followed by other special enterprises,
notably the manufacture of silk and locomotives. The silk factories
and locomotive works of Paterson alone have made its fame world-wide.
The manufacture of silk was started about three-quarters of a
century ago by John Ryle, a weaver from Macclesfield, England.
He struggled long with misfortune, but the interest he awakened
in this branch of trade brought capital into it, until to-day
not less than $8,000,000 are invested in the silk business of
the city, giving employment to thousands of hands, and turning
out every variety of silk fabric, from a thread to the costliest
dress goods. The rolling-mills, iron-bridge works, and hundreds
of other factories give employment to other thousands. Preeminence
in the silk industry has given Paterson the name of "Lyons
of America." Erie, Susquehanna and Western, and Delaware,
Lackawanna and Western railroads. County seat of Passaic County.
(HAWTHORNE, suburb of Paterson, across the Passaic River. Pastoral
and historic.)
RIDGEWOOD, Bergen Co., N. J. From New York, 22 miles. Settled,
1853. Formerly Godwinville. Incorporated. Population, 2,500. In
historic Paramus Valley. Home of prominent professional and business
men of New York City. 3 churches; public schools; 1 newspaper.
(UNDERCLIFF, HOHOKUS, WALDWICK, ALLENDALE, RAMSEY'S, and MAHWAH,
Bergen Co., N. J. From New York respectively 23, 24, 25, 26, 28,
and 30 miles. Small stations in historical and pastoral communities.
Near Ridgewood, Undercliff, and Hohokus is the old stone mansion,
"The Hermitage," in which Aaron Burr wooed, won, and
married Theodosia Provost. The Dutch Church, turned by the British
into a prison-house for soldiers of the Revolutionary army, is
also nearby. Waldwick is the outgrowth of excessive water and
other taxes on the Erie at Paterson, owing to which the Company
changed the housing of the rolling stock of its frequent "shuttle"
trains between Paterson and Jersey City from Paterson to the site
of Waldwick, establishing an extensive switch yard and engine
and car houses, and bringing a lively village into existence.
Allendale and Ramsey's, extensive small-fruit growing. Churches
and public schools, hotels. Newspaper at Ramsey's.)
SUFFERN, Rockland Co., N.Y. From New York, 32 miles, Dunkirk,
428; Buffalo, 393. Settled, 1773. Name originally New Antrim,
from Antrim, Ireland, native place of John Suffern, first settler.
Name changed to Suffern on opening railroad in 1841. Population,
1,100. 3 churches; public schools; 1 newspaper; 3 hotels. Original
line of Erie runs from Piermont to Suffern, now called Piermont
Branch. Here is the historic Ramapo Pass. The present road through
the pass was an old Indian trail, and the settlers found it the
nearest and best road between the northern colonies and the southern,
when the Hudson River was blockadedhence during the Revolutionary
war it was early watched and fortified. The centre of military
operations was about a mile within the gorge. Military was stationed
here all through the war to guard the pass and to stop intruders.
Col. Malcolm's regiment was here in 1777, and Aaron Burr was assigned
to it for duty. It was from this command that Burr won his military
reputation by daring exploits in the Paramus Valley and about
Hackensack, N. J. Washington had his headquarters in the old Suffern
house, now torn down, near Suffern village. On the hills east
of Suffern the French army encamped on its way to Yorktown.
(HILBURN, Rockland Co., N.Y. From New York, 33 miles. Hamlet
due to Ramapo Iron Works. In the Ramapo Pass. Population, 300.)
RAMAPO, Rockland Co., N.Y. From New York, 34 miles. Settled,
1795. Population, 300. 2 churches; public school. Formerly nail
works, rolling mill, cotton mill, steel furnace, wire works, hoe
factory, saw and grist mills. First train on Erie ran to Ramapo
June 30, 1841. History of Pierson family is the history of Ramapo.
Josiah G., Jeremiah H., and Isaac Pierson, brothers, established
nail works and rolling mill here in 1783. In 1807 added manufacture
of hoops for whale-oil casks. Product of industries, 1,000,000
pounds of iron annually. Established cotton mill in 1816, looms
of J. H. Pierson's own invention, to make striped shirting. In
1820 began manufacture of spring steel; 1830 manufacture of blister
steel; 1835 manufacture of screws by machinery, invented at Ramapo
by a Pierson workman. At that time 300 men employed by Piersons.
J. H. Pierson and his son Henry L. leading spirits in the history
of the Erie. In 1850 Piersons retired from business at Ramapo.
Family large proprietors of the place to-day. Now only car-wheel
works and foundry there. Terminus of Erie from July 1, 1841, until
September 23, 1841.
(STERLINGTON, junction of the Sterling Mountain Railroad, running
to Sterling Lake and mines; SLOATSBURG, a small hamlet, formerly
of some industrial importance. From New York, 35 and 36 miles
respectively.)
TUXEDO, Rockland Co., N.Y. From New York, 38½ miles.
Formerly Lorillard's. Population, 300. Station for Tuxedo Park.
Tuxedo, according to the researches of William Waldorf Astor,
is from the Algonquin P'tauk-sut-tough, meaning "Home
of the Bear." According to local tradition Tuxedo is a corruption
of "Duck Cedar," the lake having been once alive with
wild ducks and surrounded by cedars. Tuxedo Park was originally
the wilderness tract of 13,000 acres belonging to the original
Peter Lorillard. At an early day there were iron works on the
outlet of the lake on the tract. They were abandoned years ago,
and the estate lay idle. Ground was broken in November, 1885,
for the Tuxedo Club; June 1, 1886, the club-house was opened.
In the club grounds to-day are about 100 houses, ranging from
the romantic chalet to the substantial and ornate chateau, church,
schools, fish hatchery, game preserves. Within the park enclosure
forty miles of drives, twenty-five miles macadamized. Complete
police service, fire brigade. Last Erie station in Rockland County,
N.Y.
(SOUTHFIELDS and ARDEN, Orange, Co., N.Y. Hamlets; from New
York, 42 and 44 miles. Arden, formerly Greenwood, noted for the
iron works belonging to Peter P. Parrott, of Parrott gun fame.
Abandoned years ago. Picturesque ruins of works near the station.
E.H. Harriman, the millionaire New York banker and horse-breeder,
resides at Arden.)
TURNER'S, Orange Co., N.Y. From New York, 47 miles; Dunkirk,
412 miles; Buffalo, 377; Newburgh, 16. Came into existence with
the Erie. First railroad dining saloon on the Erie, established
by Peter Turner, 1841, famous for fifty years. Original building
still standing. The Erie erected an immense brick hotel and dining-room
at Turner's in 1865. It was run in luxurious style during the
Gould and Fisk regime. Destroyed by fire December 26, 1873.
Cost, $300,000; never rebuilt. Eastern extremity of Orange County
dairy region. Trains for Newburgh Shortcut.
(MONROE and OXFORD, Orange Co., N.Y., 50 and 52 miles from
New York. Milk-shipping stations; summer visitors. Newspaper at
Monroe; 4 churches; 2 hotels. Population, 700. Brie cheese factories.)
GREYCOURT, Orange Co., N.Y. From New York, 54 miles; Dunkirk,
406; Buffalo, 371; Newburgh, 19. Junction of Newburgh Branch,
Lehigh and Hudson, and Orange County railroads. School; hotel.
CHESTER, Orange Co., N.Y. From New York, 55 miles; Dunkirk,
405; Buffalo, 370. Settled, 1751, at the old town, three-quarters
of a mile from station; village about the station grew from the
coming of Erie in 1841. Incorporated, 1892. Population, 1,200.
Agricultural and dairy; business of milk transportation by rail
originated here spring of 1842. Chief agricultural pursuit, onion
growing on "black dirt" meadow area, 700 acres in extent,
between Chester and Greycourt, reclaimed from almost bottomless
marsh. Cheese factory, making Neufchatel, Brie, cream, and other
fancy brands; uses 10,000 quarts of milk a day. Home of Hambletonian,
father of the American trotter; born, 1848; sired 1,200 colts
- died, 1876; costly monument marks his grave. Famous trotters
bred and owned here. 4 churches; high school; district schools;
newspaper; bank; 3 hotels; opera house; gravity water system;
preparing (1898) for gas or electric lighting; fire department.
Chester was one of the two original stations of the Erie to have
an agent, Goshen being the other.
GOSHEN, Orange Co., N.Y. From New York, 60 miles; Buffalo,
364; Dunkirk, 399. Settled, 1712. Incorporated, 1843. Population,
3,000. 6 churches; academy schools; 2 newspapers; 2 national banks,1
savings bank; 4 hotels. Well organized fire department; electric
light and gas. Centre of greatest dairy and stock-raising region
in State. County seat of Orange County since 1728. Nursery of
blooded horses. Some of the greatest horses in the records of
the turf or stud were either sired, born, or bred here. Trotters
representing a value of $300,000 are (1898) owned in Goshen; among
them Stamboul, the champion trotting stallion (2.07½),
and John R. Gentry, the great pacer (2.00½), of E. H. Harriman's
Goshen stables, alone represent $70,000. $10,000 horses are numerous
- $5,000 horses common. Goldsmith Maid, the queen of the turf
in her day, was sired here by a Goshen horse, and broken and trained
for the turf near by. The Goshen stock farms and race track are
historical, the Goshen Driving Park Association being one of the
crack turf organizations of the United States. Until the farmers
adopted the plan of selling their milk in the New York market
instead of making it into butter, "Goshen butter" was
famous the country over. The monument in the public square commemorates
the men who fell fighting the noted Indian leader Brant, in 1779,
in the Delaware Highlands, most of them being from Goshen and
vicinity. The monument was erected in 1822, the bones of the men
having been collected from the old battle-field in that year and
buried in the public park. Goshen abounds in Revolutionary lore.
January 22, 1779, Claudius Smith, the notorious Tory " Cow
Boy" of the Revolution, was hanged at Goshen. The Goshen
Academy was established in 1790. Noah Webster, the great lexicographer,
was a teacher in it, and was preparing his great work at that
time. The Goshen Independent Republican is one of
the oldest papers in the State, established 1812. The first official
printing office of the Erie was that of the Goshen Democrat,
where the Company's printing was done from 1841 to 1851. Goshen
was the western terminus of the railroad from September, 1841,
until June, 1843. When the railroad was opened, all the present
main business part of the place was a vast common, known as Fiddler's
Green. The population was 400. Goshen, besides being one of the
oldest, is one of the wealthiest villages in the State. Gas and
electric light; water works; electric railroad to Middletown.
Junction of Pine Island and Montgomery branches of Erie. Henry
Fitch, first general passenger agent of Erie, resigned as teacher
in Goshen Academy, 1846, to take the office.
(MONTGOMERY, ten miles from Goshen, on Montgomery Branch, and
FLORIDA, on the Pine Island Branch, villages in the dairy regions
of Orange County, N.Y. Montgomery originally Ward's Bridge. Settled
in last century. Incorporated as village, 1806. Manufacturing
as well as agricultural. 4 churches; 2 schools; 1 newspaper; 4
hotels. Florida settled in last century. 3 churches; graded school;
2 hotels. Birthplace of William H. Seward, the great American
statesman.)
(NEW HAMPTON, Orange Co., N.Y. From New York, 64 miles. Important
only as milk-shipping station.)
MIDDLETOWN, Orange Co., N.Y. From New York, 67 miles; Buffalo,
358; Dunkirk, 393. Agricultural, dairy, and industrial. Citizens
paid for finishing railroad from Goshen, 1843. Terminus of Erie
until 1846. Incorporated village, 1848; City, 1892. Population,
1898, 14,000. 10 churches; 1 high school; 5 ward schools; 8 newspapers
(3 daily, 5 weekly); 4 banks; 14 hotels; theatre; Thrall Hospital;
public library. Extensive saw, file, hat, nail, carpetbag, and
wood-type factories; milk condensery, iron furnace, and brewery.
Paved streets, electric street railroad and lights, superior fire
department, gravity water system. Soldiers' monument. State Homeopathic
Insane Asylum (only one in State), incorporated 1870. Erie, New
York, Ontario and Western, and New York, Susquehanna and Western
railroads, and Crawford Branch of the Erie. 4 railroad stations.
Orange County Agricultural Society's fair grounds. Middletown
began on the lowland by a settlement as long ago as 1778. Here
was then a frontier land. The courageous pioneers who preempted
the wilderness shared with those of the settlements about them
in the bloody scenes evoked by the vengeance of the red men, who
struggled long to hold their ancient hills and valleys against
the usurping pale-face. At the beginning of the present century
development of the splendid agricultural district began in earnest,
and the clustering farms grew into a village and an important
centre for the surrounding country. It was not until the completion
of the Erie to the place in 1843, however, that its era of greatest
usefulness and importance was inaugurated. Its growth has been
rapid ever since. No place on the Erie between Paterson and Binghamton
exceeds Middletown in the extent, importance, and reputation of
its manufacturing interests, The disposition of the citizens of
this place toward proposed enterprises of every kind in its precincts
has been uniformly generous and encouraging. Its hat factories,
saw factories, file works, milk condenseries, and carpet factories
are among the leading ones of their class in the country. Trade
centre of the rich dairy region of Orange, Sullivan, and Sussex
counties.
(HOWELLS, OTISVILLE, GUYMARD, Orange Co., N.Y. From New York,
71, 76, 80 miles respectively. Neat villages in dairy region.
Important as milk-shipping stations. Churches and public schools.
Otisville was terminus of Erie 1846 to 1848. Summit of Shawangunk
Mountains. Settled, 1816, by Isaac Otis, subsequently president
of Hanover Bank, New York, and founder of Atlantic Bank; 3 churches.
From 1863 to 1870 10 mining companies had headquarters hereabout
to mine supposed rich lead deposits in Shawangunk Mountains, chiefly
about Guymard. Many shafts sunk; all abandoned. Remains of a huge
mastodon exhumed near Otisville in 1871.)
DELAWARE DIVISION.
PORT JERVIS, Orange Co., N.Y. From New York, 88 miles; Buffalo,
337; Dunkirk, 372. Terminus New York and Delaware Division of
Erie. Settlements made near, in the Neversink Valley, 1690, by
Hollanders and refugee Huguenots. Port Jervis settlement due to
Delaware and Hudson Canal, 1827. Named for John B. Jervis, chief
engineer of the canal. Hamlet until coming of Erie, 1848. Incorporated
as village, 1853. Population, 1898, 10,000. 6 churches; Catholic
Orphan Asylum; 1 high school; 3 district schools; 2 national banks;
5 newspapers (2 daily, 3 weekly); 5 hotels; theatre; hospital;
public library; Young Men's Christian Association (railroad branch).
Electric and gas lighting; electric street railway. Excellent
fire department; gravity water system. Erie round-houses and repair
shops. Suburbs, Sparrowbush, Tri-States, Matamoras, Pa., latter
connected by wire suspension bridge across the Delaware. Tri-States
formerly Carpenter's Point, at junction of Neversink River with
Delaware River. New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania lines meet
here. Monument marks the spot, which stands in three States and
in three counties. Port Jervis is the outlet of the lower Delaware
Valley for twenty miles, and large portion of Sullivan County,
N.Y. Port Jervis and Monticello Railroad. Milford, Matamoras and
New York Railroad (building, 1898).
When the Erie was opened to Port Jervis none of the present
business and residential part of the place was in existence. All
between the hamlet and the canal and the Delaware River was a
swampy waste. The village now occupies that area. To the railroad
it owes its growth and existence. No place in Orange County is
more delightfully located. The neighborhood is rich in historic
and antiquarian lore. The road that runs on the outskirts of the
village, through the Neversink Valley and on down the Delaware,
is believed to be the oldest passable road of any length ever
constructed in the United States. It is mentioned in very old
records as being in existence between Esopus (Kingston) on the
Hudson and a Point near the Delaware Water Gap, as long ago as
1690. It has always been known as the "mine road," and
tradition says it was constructed by people from Holland, who
sought mines of gold or copper along the Lower Delaware River
mountains.
(MILL RIFT, POND EDDY, PARKER'S GLEN, Pike Co., Pa. From Port
Jervis, 4, 11, 15 miles. Bluestone quarrying, shipping, and manufacturing
centres. Parker's Glen, formerly Carr's Rock, scene of the terrible
railroad disaster of February, 1868.
SHOHOLA, Pike Co., Pa. From New York, 103 miles. Famous for
its Glen, and station for summer visitors to the adjacent resorts
in Pike and Sullivan counties. Also bluestone quarrying and shipping
point.
LACKAWAXEN, Pike Co., Pa. From New York, 111 miles; Buffalo,
314; Dunkirk, 349. Quarrying; bluestone shipping; summer resort.
Junction of Honesdale Branch. Delaware and Hudson Canal crossed
Lackawaxen and Delaware rivers here by aqueducts, built by John
A. Roebling in 1848, until 1898, when canal was abandoned. Five
miles back of Lackawaxen is the spot where Horace Greeley attempted,
in 1843, to found a Social Community, after the manner of Fourier,
and failed.
(WESTCOLANG PARK, MAST HOPE, TUSTEN, Pike Co., Pa. From Port
Jervis, 26, 28, 31 miles respectively. Stations for summer visitors.
Bluestone quarrying. Milk.)
NARROWSBURG, Sullivan Co., N.Y. From New York, 122 miles; Port
Jervis, 34; Buffalo, 303; Dunkirk, 338. Originally important lumbering
centre. First circular-sawmill in Delaware Valley built near by,
on Pennsylvania side. Named from narrows in the river, head of
Big Eddy, deepest and widest place in the river above tide. Narrows
spanned by wooden bridge erected in 1846last of its kind
the entire length of the river. Famous 40 years as railroad dining
station. From coming of Erie in 1848 until 1856, nearest railroad
station for passengers and freight to Scranton, 50 miles; Wilkesbarre,
70 miles, and intermediate country. Connected with Erie by stage-coaches
and freight-wagons. Thomas Dunn and wife, refugees from Wyoming
massacre, 1778, buried here. Population, 1898, 300. 2 churches;
district school; newspaper. Bluestone; milk; summer visitors.
COCHECTON, Sullivan Co., N.Y. From New York, 131 miles; Port Jervis,
43; Buffalo, 294; Dunkirk, 329. Settlements near, 1757. From 1806
until coming of Erie all travel to Susquehanna Valley near Binghamton
from Hudson River at Newburgh passed through Cochecton by Newburgh
and Cochecton turnpike and extension through Pennsylvania. 2 churches;
district schools; 1 hotel; bridge across Delaware. Milk; summer
visitors.
CALLICOON, Sullivan Co., N.Y. From New York, 136 miles; from
Port Jervis, 48; Buffalo, 289; Dunkirk, 329. At mouth of Callicoon
Creek. Eastern end of 40-mile section of original contract for
work on Erie, 1835. Population, 600. Agricultural and dairy. Important
water station on Erie. Station for summer visitors; 3 churches;
2 schools; 2 newspapers; 52 hotels and boarding-houses. Largely
German population. Bridge across Delaware to Wayne County, Pa.
(HANKIN'S, LONG EDDY, LORDVILLE, STOCKPORT, Delaware Co., N.Y.
Hamlets, formerly important centres of lumber and tanning business.
Schools, churches, hotels. Milk, bluestone; summer visitors. Long
Eddy, also known as Basket. Laid out in 1870 for speculative city
named Douglas City. Failed. Lordville, station for Equinunk, Pa.,
where the last extensive lumbering and tanning in the valley were
done. Stockport is the station for an interesting region on the
Pennsylvania side of the river, in Preston township, Wayne Co.,
named for Samuel Preston, the pioneer settler of that part of
the valley. The settlement was made in the interests of Robert
Morris, the financier of the Revolution, and other noted Pennsylvanians,
who had purchased immense tracts of wild land in that part of
the State.)
HANCOCK, Delaware Co., N.Y. From New York, 164 miles; Port
Jervis, 76; Susquehanna, 28; Buffalo, 261; Dunkirk, 296. At junction
of East and West branches of Delaware, forming the main stream.
Formerly great lumber and tanning centre and gathering place of
raftmen, and home of heavy lumber operators and timber-land owners.
Population, 1898, 1,200. Churches, schools, newspaper, 3 hotels.
Bluestone quarrying. Milk. Scranton Division of New York, Ontario
and Western Railroad crosses Delaware to main line of that railroad.
(HALE'S EDDY, Delaware Co., N.Y., hamlet, midway between Hancock
and Deposit.)
DEPOSIT, Delaware Co., N.Y. From New York, 177 miles; Port
Jervis, 89; Susquehanna, 15; Buffalo, 248; Dunkirk, 283. Old settlement,
originally known as Cookaus. Created by the lumber and tanning
business. Last Erie station in Delaware Valley. Historic as point
where first ground was broken for grading of Erie, 1835. Growth
due to railroad. Population, 1898, 1,800. 6 churches, 1 school,
2 newspapers, 1 bank, 7 hotels. Large dairy interests. Extensive
milk condensery. Bluestone. Pearl button, malleable iron, hand-sled
manufactories. Paul Devereaux Hospital.
(OQUAGA, GULF SUMMIT, midway between Deposit and Susquehanna.
Creameries, and milk and bluestone shipping points.)
SUSQUEHANNA DIVISION.
SUSQUEHANNA, Pa. From New York, 192 miles; Buffalo, 233; Dunkirk,
268. Population, 4,000. Settled in 1830; incorporated in 1853;
6 churches, 2 schools, 2 newspapers, 2 banks, 9 hotels. Terminus
of the Delaware and the Susquehanna divisions. The great Erie
machine and repair shops are located here. They were established
in 1864, and employ 1,000 hands. Agricultural and manufacturing
community. Steamboat on the Susquehanna River. Electric lights
and gravity system of water-works. Among the mountains of northeastern
Pennsylvania.
GREAT BEND, Susquehanna Co., Pa. From New York, 201 miles;
Dunkirk, 259; Buffalo, 224. Settled, 1737; incorporated, 1861.
Population, 1,200. Agricultural and manufacturing. Tannery, silk
mill, creamery, broom factory; 3 churches, 1 school, 1 newspaper,
3 hotels. Joseph Smith, the Mormon prophet, was born near Great
Bend. Electric lights, fire department.
(KIRKWOOD, small station named for former Superintendent James
P. Kirkwood.)
BINGHAMTON, Broome Co., N.Y. From New York, 216 miles; Buffalo,
209; Dunkirk, 244. Settled in 1800; incorporated as a city in
1867. Erie opened January 8, 1849. Population then, 2,100. Population,
1898 40,000. Manufacturing. Extensive cigar, shoe, wagon, and
other factories breweries, tanneries, Pulp mill, etc.; 40 churches,
19 schools, 7 newspapers, 35 hotels, 6 banks (2 savings), State
Hospital for the Insane, St. Mary's Home, Susquehanna Valley Home,
Commercial Travellers' Home (now building). Birthplace of Major-General
John C. Robinson. United States Senator Daniel S. Dickinson had
his home and was buried here. Junction of the Chenango and Susquehanna
rivers. Also on Albany and Susquehanna, and Delaware, Lackawanna
and Western railroads. The site of Binghamton was a wilderness
when certain land-holders in the Southern Tier, having obtained
State aid to extend the Cochecton and Great Bend Turnpike from
the latter place to Bath, N.Y., its course was laid through this
part of Broome County. Leave was obtained from the Legislature
to build a toll-bridge across the Chenango River, and its site
was selected at what was known as the lower ferry. The importance
of the location led Joshua Whitney and other residents of Chenango
village, two miles above the present city of Binghamton, to make
a clearing for a settlement which they called Binghamton. This
clearing occupied much of the present business site of the city.
(HOOPER and UNION, Broome Co.; and CAMPVILLE, Tioga Co., N.Y.,
flourishing centres of agricultural and manufacturing communities;
in Chemung dairy region.)
OWEGO, Tioga Co., N.Y. From New York, 237 miles; Dunkirk, 223;
Buffalo, 188. Settled early in the century; original Indian name
of region, Ah-wa-ga. Incorporated village. Population, 9,000.
7 churches; graded schools; 3 newspapers ; 2 banks; 4 hotels.
At junction of Owego Creek and Susquehanna River. Manufacturing
and agricultural. Centre of famous dairy region. Owego was the
birthplace of the Erie, the convention which led to the chartering
of the Company having been held there, December 20, 1831. County
seat of Tioga County. Birthplace of the noted politician, Hon.
Thomas C. Platt, United States Senator. John D. Rockefeller, the
great Standard Oil Company magnate, was born near, and got his
early education at, Owego. Once the home of N.P. Willis, the poet.
No place in the Southern Tier has wielded nor does wield a greater
influence in affairs of the State than Owego. Terminus of the
second railroad chartered in New Yorkthe Ithaca and Owego
Railroad, now Cayuga Division of the D., L. and W. Electric lights,
gas. Famous for its fire department. Trade centre for wide and
rich surrounding territory.
(TIOGA CENTRE, SMITHBORO, and BARTON, Tioga Co.., N.Y., in
the Chemung dairy region; thrifty villages.)
WAVERLY, Tioga Co., N.Y. From New York, 256 miles; Buffalo,
169; Dunkirk, 204. Settled, 1808; incorporated, 1853. Agricultural
and manufacturing. 5 churches, 5 schools, 2 newspapers, 2 banks,
9 hotels. Electric lights and railway. Waverly extends across
the Pennsylvania State line. When the Erie was opened in 1851,
the present thriving village was a hamlet known as Factoryville.
The place owes its rise and prosperity entirely to the railroad.
Also on Delaware, Lackawanna and Western and Lehigh Valley railroads.
Electric railroad connecting with Sayre, Pa., and other railroads.
(CHEMUNG, WELLSBURG, and SOUTHPORT, Chemung Co, N.Y. Thriving
suburbs of Waverly and Elmira. Centres of rich farming community.)
ELMIRA, Chemung Co., N.Y. From New York, 274 miles; Buffalo,
151; Dunkirk, 186. Settled in 1784; incorporated as village, 1828;
as city, 1864. Erie opened, October 1, 1849. Population then,
3,000. Population, 1898, estimated at 45,000. Manufacturing. Fire-engines,
bicycles, boots and shoes, glass, silk, cigars, portable and stationary
engines, brass goods, etc.; 40 churches, 20 schools, 6 newspapers,
15 hotels, 3 banks, State Reformatory, State Armory. Arnot-Ogden
Memorial Hospital. Female College, first one founded in the United
States. Home of ex-Governor Lucius Robinson. Residence of ex-Governor
and ex-United States Senator David B. Hill. Summer home of Mark
Twain, who married Miss Langdon of Elmira. During the Civil War
the barracks, where thousands of Confederate prisoners were confined,
were located here. During the Revolutionary War the battle of
Baldwin's Creek was fought near Elmira, between the American troops
under Gen. Sullivan, and the Indians and Tories under Brant and
Col. Butler. An appropriate monument marks the site of this battle,
which was a decisive one in Sullivan's campaign against the Indians.
Erie, Tioga Division of Erie, Delaware, Lackawanna and Western,
Northern Central, Utica, Ithaca and Elmira, and Lehigh Valley
railroads. Electric street railroads, and to North Elmira and
other suburbs. Gas and electric lights. Capital of Chemung County.
NORTH ELMIRA, Chemung Co., N.Y. From New York, 278 miles; Buffalo,
147; Dunkirk, 182. Station for the village of Horseheads, which
was settled in 1789; incorporated, 1837. Population, 2,500. Agricultural
and manufacturing; 5 churches, Union Free High School, 1 newspaper,
1 bank, 3 hotels. The location of the camp of Gen. Sullivan here
in 1779, and the slaying of a number of his worn-out horses, and
the finding of their bones by the first settlers, is alleged as
the origin of the name of Horseheads for the village. Electric
street railway to Elmira. Also on Delaware, Lackawanna and Western,
Northern Central, and Lehigh Valley railroads.
(BIG FLATS, Chemung Co., N.Y., near the Steuben County line,
is the centre of the great tobacco growing region of the Chemung
Valley.)
CORNING, Steuben Co., N.Y. From New York, 291 miles; Buffalo,
134; Dunkirk, 169. Settled, 1830; named for Erastus Corning, one
of its founders; incorporated as village, 1851; city, 1886. Erie
opened, January 1, 1850. Population then, 1,200. Population, 1898,
10,000. Manufacturing and agricultural. Flint-glass works, glass-cutting
factory, stove and furnace works; 14 churches, 4 schools, 2 newspapers,
6 hotels, 2 banks, 1 savings and loan association. Half-shire
town of Steuben County. Terminus of the Rochester Division. Electric
railroad, electric lights. Also on Delaware, Lackawanna and Western
and Fall Brook railroads.
(For Painted Post, see Rochester Division.)
ADDISON, Steuben Co., N.Y. From New York, 302 miles; from Buffalo,
123; from Dunkirk, 158. Settled early in the century. Population,
2,100. Agricultural and manufacturing. 6 churches; 2 newspapers;
1 bank; 2 hotels; 2 schools. At the mouth of Tuscarora Creek.
Formerly a prominent lumbering centre in the days of rafting on
the Susquehanna waters; originally named Tuscarora from the Indian
name of the creek. Outlet of the tobacco region of Tioga County,
Pa. Addison and Pennsylvania Railroad, now property of Buffalo
and Susquehanna Railroad Company, extends from Addison to Galeton,
Pa.
(RATHBONEVILLE, CAMERON MILLS, CAMERON, and ADRIAN, Steuben
Co., N.Y. Thriving centres of a farming and lumbering region,
between Addison and Canisteo.)
CANISTEO, Steuben Co., N.Y. From New York, 328 miles; Buffalo,
97; Dunkirk, 132. Settled, 1798. Incorporated, 1873. Population,
2,200. Agricultural and manufacturing. Silk, lace, button, veneering,
and other factories; 2 tanneries; creamery; 5 churches; 1 school;
2 newspapers; 1 bank; 4 hotels; free library. Academy with a staff
of thirteen teachers. Fire department; gravity water-works. Outlet
for the lumbering and mining country of northern Pennsylvania.
In the days of rafting and lumbering Canisteo was the most important
point in that valley.
ALLEGANY (FORMERLY WESTERN) DIVISION.
HORNELLSVILLE, Steuben Co., N.Y. From New York, 332 miles;
Buffalo, 93; Dunkirk, 128. Settled, 1798, by George Hornell, who
owned the entire township. Incorporated as a village, 1852; as
a city, 1888. Erie opened September 3, 1850. Population then,
900. Population now, 13,000 Agricultural and manufacturing; silk,
glass, shoe, and other factories. 11 churches; 4 newspapers (2
daily); 5 schools; 2 banks; 6 hotels; sanitarium. Hornellsville
is essentially a creation of the Erie. It is at junction of the
Caneadea Creek and the Canisteo River; 3 divisions of the Erie
end and begin here: the Susquehanna, the Buffalo, and the Allegany,
formerly the Western. Also on Central New York and Western Railroad.
(ALMOND, ALFRED, ANDOVER, Allegany Co., N.Y. Miles from New
York, 337, 341, 350; Hornellsville, 5, 9, 18; Dunkirk, 123, 119,
110, respectively. Old settlementsAlmond, 1796; Alfred,
1807; Andover, 1824. Agricultural and local industries; mills;
creamery. Almond3 churches; 1 school; 2 hotels. Population,
1,500. Alfred (originally Baker's Bridge) is the station for Alfred
Centre, 2 miles. 2 churches; 2 schools; 2 newspapers; 2 hotelsno
license; 9 cheese factories in the locality. Alfred University
(Seventh Day Baptist). In one respect this pretty village, in
the heart of the rich farming region of Allegany County, is the
oddest town in the State. At sundown every Friday evening work
of every kind and description ceases. Saturday is the Sabbath
of the people hereabout, and the early Puritans of New England
observed their Sabbath with no more severe reverence. When the
sun sets on Saturday the village springs into busy life again.
Stores are opened, promenaders appear, worldly affairs are resumed.
AndoverIncorporated, 1893Population, 1,000. 5 churches;
1 school; 1 newspaper; 4 hotels; cheese factories.)
WELLSVILLE, Allegany Co., N.Y. From New York, 359 miles; Hornellsville,
27; Dunkirk, 102. Incorporated village, 1872. Population, 5,000
Agricultural and manufacturing. 9 churches; schools; 2 newspapers;
6 hotels; 2 banks; free library; machine works; leather and furniture
factories; tanning. Formerly Genesee station. Outlet and inlet
for all the region for 50 miles south in the lumber regions of
Potter County for 25 years after coming of Erie. Also on Buffalo
and Susquehanna Railroad from Coudersport, Pa.
(SCIO, Allegany Co., N.Y. From Hornellsville, 30 miles; Dunkirk,
98. Agricultural.)
BELMONT, Allegany Co., N.Y. From New York, 366 miles; Hornellsville,
34; Dunkirk, 95. Settled, 1816. Incorporated, 1856. County seat.
Agricultural and manufacturing. 6 churches; 1 school; 2 newspapers;
2 hotels; 1 bank; free library; county buildings. Was in the great
pine belt of western New York; lumbering until 1856. Mill; machinery
works; pail factory.
BELVIDERE, Allegany Co., N.Y. From Hornellsville, 38 miles;
Dunkirk, 90. Takes name from the late Philip Church's historic
residence. Former station for Belfast, Oramel, Angelica. Agricultural.
FRIENDSHIP, Allegany Co., N.Y. From New York, 374 miles; Hornellsville,
42; Dunkirk, 86. Settled, 1807. Incorporated village, 1852. Population,
1898, 1,800. Agricultural and industrial. 6 churches; 1 school;
1 newspaper; 1 hotel; 2 banks. Important shipping point for dairy
products, hay, grain, potatoes, live stock. Sash, door, and blind
factories; stove company. Prosperous and growing.
CUBA, Allegany Co., N.Y. From New York, 383 miles; Hornellsville,
51; Dunkirk, 77. Agricultural. Population, 1,400. 4 churches;
2 schools; 2 hotels; 1 bank. The last spike in the construction
of the Erie was driven at Cuba, April 21, 1851, by Silas Seymour,
engineer in charge of that division. Cuba was the terminus of
the Erie for five months pending the completion of the road from
Dunkirk east. After the close of the War of 1812, emigration became
extensive from the Eastern States to Ohio. The direct route from
the Hudson to the Allegany through New York State was from Albany
to Utica, then to Canandaigua, and from that point to Angelica,
or Cuba, thence to Olean Point, from which the Allegany River
conveyed them to the Ohio. Oil Creek, a tributary of the Allegany
River, rising in the historical oil spring near Cuba, was preferred
by the emigrants to the wretched roads. They would come to Cuba
in the fall or in the spring, where they would wait for the first
freshet in the creek. To accommodate them, boats of logs and planks,
16 to 24 feet long, were made by local builders at Cuba, and sold
for from $30 to $50 each. These boats would carry five persons
each with their goods, and the emigrant would make the trip to
the Allegany at Olean Point, and thence down the river.
(HINSDALE, Cattaraugus Co., N.Y., between Cuba and Olean. An
old village, a relic of the Genesee Canal, now long since departed.)
OLEAN, Cattaraugus Co., N.Y. From New York, 396 miles; Dunkirk,
64 miles. Settled, 1803. Incorporated as a City, 1892. Erie opened,
May 14, 1851. Population then, 1,000; population, 1898, 15,000.
12 churches; 8 schools; 4 newspapers; 2 banks; 10 hotels; free
library; State armory. Acid, barrel, spring-beds, boilers, engines,
glue, glassware, horseshoes, hubs, leather, mill machinery, oils,
oil-well supply, soap, shoe-findings, stump machines, shirts,
tanners' supplies, wagon, and many other factories. Olean is the
largest petroleum storage-place in the world. The Standard Oil
Company has scores of immense iron tanks here. From Olean the
crude petroleum is started to the seaboard through the iron pipes
that carry it to the refineries, a great part of the way along
the route of the Erie.
ALLEGANY, Cattaraugus Co., N.Y. From New York, 399 miles; Dunkirk,
60. Came into existence with the Erie. The original route of the
Erie ran two miles south of its present location, and there a
city had been plotted, believing that the railroad would bring
to it great importance. The change in the route, however, destroyed
that hope. The present village of Allegany sprang up instead.
Population, 1,500. Seat of a Franciscan college and convent and
of St. Elizabeth's Academy under the charge of the Sisters of
St. Francis. Four miles beyond Allegany the Indian Reservation
begins.
(VANDALIA, CARROLLTON, and GREAT VALLEY, Cattaraugus Co., N.Y.
Stations between Allegany and Salamanca. Carrollton, junction
of the Bradford Division. Great Valley, originally Killbuck station.
Centre of an extensive lumbering business.)
SALAMANCA, Cattaraugus Co., N.Y. From New York, 415 miles;
Dunkirk, 45. Settled, 1865; incorporated, 1878. Population, 5,000.
Manufacturing and railroad centre. 7 churches; 5 schools; 3 newspapers
12 hotels; 2 banks; hospital; building and loan association; library;
gymnasium. Named by James McHenry for the Marquis of Salamanca,
Spain, a liberal contributor to the building of the Atlantic and
Great Western Railroad. Salamanca is built entirely on the lands
of the Indian Reservation, which are held under enabling Congressional
legislation by long tenure of leasehold. Salamanca came into existence
with the building of the Atlantic and Great Western Railroad,
now the Nypano Division of the Erie, which has its eastern terminus
at this point. At that time the site of the present Salamanca
was a tangled swamp. The settlement was a mile west of the present
station, and known as Bucktooth, now West Salamanca. The first
settlers in Salamanca were greatly hampered by the difficulty
of securing satisfactory leases of ground to build upon, because
of the lack of legal authority vested in the Indian proprietors
to make them. After a long effort legislation was at last obtained
doing away to a great extent with this difficulty, but it was
not until a few years ago that the present beneficial legislation
was procured through which the citizens were warranted in making
such improvements as the importance and steady growth of the place
demanded. Besides the Erie and its system, Salamanca is on the
Buffalo, Rochester and Pittsburg and Western New York and Pennsylvania
railroads.
LITTLE VALLEY, Cattaraugus Co., N.Y. From New York, 421 miles;
from Dunkirk, 39. Settled early in the century. Population, 1,000.
Became the county seat in 1868. Cattaraugus County Fair Grounds;
3 churches, 2 schools. Centre of rich dairy country.
(CATTARAUGUS, DAYTON, PERRYSBURG, Cattaraugus Co., N.Y.; SMITH'S
MILLS and FORESTVILLE, Chautauqua Co., N.Y. Original Erie stations
and old villages on the elevated land between Little Valley and
Dunkirk. At Dayton the Buffalo and Southwestern Division from
Jamestown and Chautauqua Lake to Buffalo connects with main line.
All these stations are thriving centres of the great Chautauqua
and Cattaraugus dairy regions.)
DUNKIRK, Chautauqua Co., N.Y. From New York, 460 miles. Settled
in 1810. Called Chadwick's Bay, after the original settler, Solomon
Chadwick. The land now occupied by Dunkirk originally belonged
to De Witt Clinton and Isaiah and John Thompson. In 1817 Walter
Smith bought half for $10,000. In 1837 he sold it to New York
men for double the price, and bought the other half for $7,000,
and purchased 600 acres more. In 1838 he divided it into shares.
One-quarter of it was to have been donated to the Erie if the
railroad was completed in 1842. Dunkirk, incorporated a village
in 1837. Population, 1898, 14,000. Manufacturing. 14 churches;
9 schools; 5 newspapers; 2 banks; 17 hotels. Young Men's Christian
Association and Free Library. Port of entry on Lake Erie. Legal
western terminus of the Erie. Electric railroads, electric lights.
Extensive shops of the Erie were here until 1868 then abandoned
and became the Brooks Locomotive Works. Besides the Erie, the
Lake Shore and Michigan Southern, New York, Chicago and St. Louis,
Dunkirk, Allegany Valley and Pittsburg, and Western New York and
Pennsylvania railroads run through or terminate at Dunkirk.
BUFFALO DIVISION.
(From Hornellsville; see Allegany Division.)
ARKPORT, Steuben Co., N.Y.; BERNE, CANASERAGA, GARWOODS, and
SWAINS, Allegany Co., N.Y.; DALTON, HUNTS, and PORTAGE, Livingston
Co., N.Y.; CASTILE and SILVER SPRINGS, Wyoming Co., N.Y. Thrifty
villages between Hornellsville and Warsaw. Dalton is the station
for Nunda, a village of 1,000 population. At Portage is the great
Erie Railroad bridge across the Genesee River at the Portage Falls.
Silver Springs is the station to Silver Lake.
WARSAW, Wyoming Co., N.Y. From New York, 375 miles; Buffalo,
48. Settled, 1803. Incorporated, 1843. Population, 3,000. Agricultural
and manufacturing. On the Great Wyoming Salt Belt, some of the
finest wells being here and in the vicinity. 7 churches; high
school; 2 newspapers; 2 banks; 5 hotels. Also on the Rochester
and Pittsburg Railroad.
(GALE, Wyoming Co., N.Y.; LINDEN, Genesee Co., N.Y. Small places
between Warsaw and Attica, in an agricultural region.)
ATTICA, Wyoming Co., N.Y. From New York, 392 miles; Buffalo,
31. Settled early in century. Incorporated, 1837. Population,
2,000, 5 churches; 1 newspaper; union school; 1 bank. At the junction
of the Rochester and Buffalo divisions, forming a single line
to Buffalo. Also on a branch of the New York Central.
(GRISWOLD and DARIEN, GENESEE Co., N.Y.; ALDEN, TOWN LINE,
LANCASTER, CHEEKTOWAGA, Erie Co., N.Y. Neat and thriving villages
between Attica and Buffalo.)
BUFFALO, Erie Co., N.Y. From New York, 425 miles. Village laid
out by Holland Land Company in 1801. In 1812 it was burned by
the British. Congress voted $80,000 to compensate for the loss.
Incorporated a city, April, 1832. Black Rock included in city
limits, 1852, and new city charter went in force January 1, 1854.
Population then, 45,000. Population, 1898, 300,000. Port of entry.
Seat of justice of Erie County. Western terminus of Erie Canal.
Water-front of 5 miles: 2½ on Lake Erie, 2½ on Niagara
River. Lake-front gradually rises to an extended plain, 50 feet
above the water. Portion of river-front a bold bluff, 60 feet
above the water. City handsomely built. Streets broad and straight.
Where the waters of the lake merge in the Niagara River, Buffalo
Creek enters the lake from the east and the Erie Canal from the
northwest. Over 100 miles of asphalt streets. 15 parks, one of
442 acres. Claims to be the cleanest, best-lighted, and healthiest
city in the United States. Water supply obtained from Niagara
River through a tunnel extending nearly to the middle of the river.
Gas and electric lighting; natural gas for fuel. Electric street
railways. Public buildings include customhouse, post-office, State
arsenal, State armory, city and county hall and jail, general
hospital, insane asylum, four orphan asylums. Several private
hospitals and asylums under church care. 167 churches; State Normal
School; 50 public schools; 2 medical colleges; Buffalo Library;
Grosvenor Library. 7 English and 3 German dailies, and 20 weekly
newspapers. Board of Trade organized in 1844; incorporated in
1857. Merchants' Exchange. Preeminent in the grain trade 40 elevators,
with storage capacity of 20,000,000 bushels transportation facility,
4,000,000 bushels a day. First elevator built in 1843 by Joseph
Dart. In live-stock trade, second only to Chicago. In steel and
iron, ranks next to Pittsburg, having Dearly 2,000 manufactories.
Annual lumber trade, 400,000,000 feet. Greatest Eastern railroad
centre: Erie and branches, New York Central, Lake Shore system,
Michigan Central, Grand Trunk, West Shore, Delaware, Lackawanna
and Western, Lehigh Valley, Buffalo, Rochester and Pittsburg,
Western New York and Pennsylvania, and numerous local railroads.
ROCHESTER DIVISION.
(From Corning; see Susquehanna Division.)
PAINTED POST, Steuben Co., N.Y. From New York, 293 miles; Dunkirk,
167; Buffalo, 132; Rochester, 93. Settled, 1786. Incorporated,
1893. Population, 1,000. Agricultural and manufacturing. On the
Chemung tobacco belt. 3 churches; 1 school; 1 hotel; 1 bank. The
Seneca chief, Montour, mortally wounded at the battle of Hogback,
August 29, 1779, died here. A bronze statue of an Indian is erected
in the public square commemorating the event. Junction of main
line of Erie.
(COOPERS, CURTIS, CAMPBELL, and SAVONA, Steuben Co., N.Y. Thriving
agricultural villages.)
BATH, Steuben Co., N.Y. From New York, 311 miles; Rochester,
74. Settled, 1793; incorporated, 1816. Population, 3,000 Agricultural
and manufacturing. 6 churches; 1 school; 3 newspapers; 6 hotels;
2 banks. New York Sailors' and Soldiers' Home; Davenport Orphan
Asylum. State fish hatchery near by. Admiral Howell, United States
Navy, was born here. Bath was intended by its projectors to be
the metropolis of the West. It was the headquarters of the Pultney
estate, the proprietor of which was Sir William Pultney of England.
His agent, Charles Williamson, founded the place. There was a
theatre, a race-course, and a newspaper here as early as 1796.
Steuben County fair-grounds, property of one of the oldest agricultural
societies in the State, are here. Also on Delaware, Lackawanna
and Western, and Bath and Hammondsport railroads, the latter one
of the first railroads incorporated in the State of New York,
having been chartered in 1831, under the name of the Bath and
Crooked Lake Railroad. No railroad was built, however, until 1875,
when the present Bath and Hammondsport Railroad was built as a
three-foot gauge. It was made standard gauge in July, 1889.
(KANONA, AVOCA, WALLACE'S, Steuben Co., N.Y. Attractive villages
in a picturesque region.)
COHOCTON, Steuben Co., N.Y. From New York, 326 miles; Rochester,
59. Population, 1,200. Formerly great lumber centre. Agricultural
and manufacturing. 6 churches; union free school; circulating
library; 2 newspapers; opera-house; 5 hotels; agricultural society
and fairgrounds; water-works. Also on main line of Delaware, Lackawanna
and Western Railroad.
(BLOOD'S, WAYLAND, Steuben Co.; SPRINGWATER, WEBSTER, CONESUS,
SOUTH LIVONIA, LIVONIA, and HAMILTON, Livingston Co. Stations
for thrifty villages in a garden spot of Western New York.)
AVON, Livingston Co., N.Y. From New York, 367 miles; Rochester,
18. Population, 1,600. Farming community. 4 churches; 1 high school;
1 parish school; 1 newspaper; 2 banks; electric lights; natural
gas belt; superior fire department; gravity water system; sewered;
cement sidewalks; telephone, local and long distance; village
park; soldiers' monument; opera-house; race-track. Famous health
resort. Mineral springs; large hotels and sanitariums. A place
of refinement and culture in the Genesee Valley. Junction of Rochester,
Buffalo, and Mount Morris branches of the Erie. The sulphur springs
here were known and used by the Indians long before the first
white settlers came in the Genesee Valley. Two hundred years ago
De Nouville, the French explorer, fought a fierce battle with
the Indians on the present site of Avon. General Sullivan, in
1779, also invaded the valley at this point, and drove the Indians
from it forever.
(RUSH, SCOTTSVILLE, HENRIETTA, and RED CREEK, Monroe Co., N.Y.,
are bustling stations between Avon and Rochester. Scottsville
has 3 churches, a union school, and extensive mills a mile and
a half west of the station.)
ROCHESTER, Monroe Co., N.Y. From New York, 386 miles. First
settler came in 1788, but first actual settlement began in 1810,
made by Col. Nathaniel Rochester. Incorporated as village of Rochesterville,
1817; as city of Rochester, 1834. Population in 1817, 600; in
1834, 11,000; 1898, estimated, 175,000. Port of entry. Genesee
River flows through centre of city. Unexcelled waterpower; river
falls 226 feet within 3 miles; 3 perpendicular falls, 96, 26,
and 84 feet high. City covers area of 18 miles. Manufacturing.
90 churches; high school; 16 ward schools; Rochester University
(1846), Theological Seminary (I850), both Baptist. 6 national
banks; 4 savings banks; 6 private banks; 7 daily, 16 weekly, 1
tri-weekly newspapers; 15 monthlies. Children's Home, Old Woman's
Home, State Industrial School. Hospitals and libraries. Famous
for its great milling industry (once called the "Flour City")
and for its nurseries of fruit trees and plants, and for flower
and garden seed growing. 16 flour mills, manufacturing 3,000,000
bushels of wheat annually. Largest carriage factory in United
States. Annual manufacture of boots and shoes and clothing, $20,000,000.
Rubber goods, furniture, steam engines, agricultural machinery,
tobacco, cigars, blast furnaces, breweries, iron bridge works.
Erie Canal crosses Genesee River by cut-stone aqueduct, 848 feet
long, 45 feet wide, supported by 9 arches. The architecture of
Rochester is beautiful, imposing, costly. Wide, shaded streets,
crossing at right angles. Electric railroads with all neighboring
towns. Lake Ontario, 7 miles. Two water supplies: Hemlock Lake,
29 miles distant, elevation 400 feet, and Genesee River (Holly
system). Paid fire department. Noted buildings: Powers Block and
the Arcade." Spirit rappings" had their origin here,
with the Fox sisters, in 1850. Erie, New York Central, Western
New York and Pennsylvania, Pittsburg, Buffalo and Rochester, and
local railroads.
NEWBURGH SHORT CUT AND BRANCH.
CENTRAL VALLEY, HIGHLAND MILLS, WOODBURY, HOUGHTON FARM, MOUNTAINVILLE,
CORNWALL, NEW WINDSOR, Orange Co., N.Y. Along Newburgh Short
Cut, from Turner's, N.Y.; see New York Division. Villages
among the Hudson Highlands. Dairy farming, manufacturing, fruit-growing,
stockraising. Important as summer resorts. New Windsor settlements
early in last century. Revolutionary association. The Ellison
House, built in 1735, where Washington had his headquarters, is
still standing. Society of the Cincinnati had its origin at New
Windsor, in the "Temple of Virtue," a large frame building
erected by order of Gen. Washington in 1782.
NEWBURGH, Orange Co., N.Y. From New York, 63 miles. Settled
1719, by Palatines from the Palatinate of Newburgh, Germany. A
church settlement originally. Incorporated as village, 1800; as
city, 1865. Estimated population, 1898, 25,000. One of the capitals
of Orange County. Situated on the plateau and high hills overlooking
Newburgh Bay. Manufacturing, and centre of great dairy and fruit
region. Coal storage depot and shipping point of Pennsylvania
Coal Company. Shipyards, cotton and woollen factories. 32 churches;
free academy; 5 grammar schools; private boarding schools; public
library; children's home; Home for the Friendless; State armory;
Academy of Music; 4 daily, 5 weekly newspapers; 3 banks; 5 hotels.
Rich in Revolutionary associations. Seat of military operations
was in the Highlands, in 1782-83. Washington's headquarters in
the Hasbrouck Mansion, built in 1750, and still standing in the
condition it was left when the army was disbanded, June 23, 1783.
Here Washington matured the plans which led to the final triumph
of the American army. Newburgh particularly belongs to the history
of Erie. Also on West Shore Railroad, Albany and Troy lines of
Hudson River steamboats. Ferry to Fishkill Landing (New York Central
Railroad connection). Electric street railways and to suburbs.
Electric and gas lighting. Hospital.
CRAIGVILLE, BLOOMING GROVE, WASHINGTONVILLE, SALISBURY MILLS,
VAIL'S GATE, Orange Co., N.Y. Along Newburgh Branch, from Greycourt,
N.Y.; see New York Division. In the historic-valley of the
Murdererskill. All ancient settlements. Dairy farming, manufacturing,
fruit-growing, stock-raising. Famous summer resorts. At Vail's
Gate, the Edmoston House, built in 1755, still standing, was the
headquarters of Gen. St. Clair and Gen. Gates. At Washington Square
Gen. Clinton's headquarters were in the Falls House, still intact.
HONESDALE BRANCH.
(From Lackawaxen, Pa.; see Delaware Division.)
HAWLEY, Wayne Co., Pa. From New York, 126 miles. Came into
existence with the Pennsylvania Coal Company. Original settlement
called Paupack Eddy. For years terminus of the Pennsylvania Coal
Company's gravity railroad connecting the mines of that company
with the Delaware and Hudson Canal, and later with the Hawley
Branch of the Erie. Gravity railroad was replaced by the Erie
and Wyoming Railroad in 1881. Population, 2,000. Incorporated,
1882. Manufacturing. Silk mills, glass-cutting works, and glass
factory; bluestone works. 4 churches; graded school; 1 newspaper;
1 bank; 4 hotels.
(WHITE MILLS, Wayne Co., Pa., a neat village, owing its existence
and sustenance to the famous Dorflinger glasscutting works.)
HONESDALE, Wayne Co., Pa. From New York, 135 miles. First settlement,
1823. Came into existence with the Delaware and Hudson Canal and
its gravity railroad in 1826. Incorporated, 1831. County seat.
Farming, dairy, and manufacturing. Population, including part
outside of corporation limits, 6,000. Agricultural and manufacturing.
7 churches; 1 synagogue; graded school; 2 weekly, 1 semiweekly
newspapers; 1 national bank; 1 savings bank; 5 hotels. The first
locomotive that turned a wheel on the American continent was run
at Honesdale on the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company's track,
August 9, 1829, by Horatio Allen, who years afterward was President
of the Erie. Jennie Brownscombe, the noted artist, and Homer Green,
the author and poet, are residents of Honesdale. The lofty cliff
rising east of Honesdale, known as Irving Cliff, was named by
Washington Irving. John Jacob Astor, Philip Hone, and other distinguished
New York men visited Honesdale on the opening of the canal, and
climbed to the summit of the cliff. Honesdale was named for Philip
Hone, an old-time mayor of New York City and a patron of the canal.
Silk mill, glass-cutting works, iron foundry, woollen mills. Coal
storage and shipping point of Delaware and Hudson and Erie.
JEFFERSON DIVISION.
(From Susquehanna, Pa.; see Susquehanna Division.)
FOREST CITY, Susquehanna Co., Pa. From Susquehanna, 32 miles.
Northern boundary of Lackawanna coal field. Settlement due to
discovery of coal. Incorporated as borough, 1888. Population,
estimated, 5,000. Coal mining. Erie's coal mine property hereabout.
8 churches, 1 graded school, 1 newspaper, 1 bank, 4 hotels.
CARBONDALE, Lackawanna Co., Pa. From Susquehanna, 39 miles.
Settled, 1827, by beginning of coal mining by Delaware and Hudson
Coal Company. Pioneer city of Northeastern Pennsylvania. Incorporated,
1850. Coal mining and manufacturing. Silk mill, iron foundry,
machinery. First coal marketed to tidewater on the Hudson mined
here. 8 churches, 16 schools, 2 newspapers, 2 banks, 6 hotels.
Free library; emergency hospital; opera-house. First great mine
disaster here in 1845; 16 persons buried by falling roof of original
mine. Gas and electric lighting. On Pennsylvania Division of Delaware
and Hudson Railroad and western terminus of Delaware and Hudson
Gravity Railroad.
Other stations on this division, small farming, lumbering,
or mining centres. Lanesboro, Susquehanna Co., Pa.; Starrucca,
Wayne Co., Pa.; Herrick Centre, Susquehanna Co., Pa., are old
settlements. Starrucca once important in tanning industry. Herrick
Centre, Uniondale, Stillwater, Thompson, agricultural. Lanesboro,
legal terminus of Jefferson Railroad. Hallenback's and West Carbondale,
mining and lumber.
BRADFORD DIVISION.
(Front Carrollton, N.Y.; see Allegany, Division.)
BRADFORD, McKean Co., Pa. From New York,419 miles; Buffalo,
97; Dunkirk, 63. Settled early. Originally Littleton, a lumbering
hamlet. City had its rise in the discovery of petroleum. First
practical development of the territory, 1875. For many years the
oil-producing centre of the world, the region producing 25,000
barrels a day. Manufacturing. In a vast coal and lumber region.
Population, 1898, 14,000. 18 churches; 2 synagogues; 3 daily,
3 weekly newspapers; 3 banks; 23 hotels; 3 oil refineries; 6 oil-well
supply firms; 3 pipe lines; 47 miscellaneous manufactories; paved
streets; electric lights and railways; gravity water system; natural
gas; 2 parks; 7 schools; 1 high school; 2 parochial schools; hook
and ladder company, and 6 hose companies. Electric railways to
Olean and Rock City.
Besides Bradford, the oil business called into importance the
stations of Limestone, Babcock, Kendal, De Golia, Lewis Run, Big
Shanty, Crawford's, Alton, and Buttsville, along this division
of Erie.
NIAGARA FALLS BRANCH.
(From Buffalo.)
TONAWANDA, Erie Co., N.Y. From New York, 432 miles; Buffalo,
13. Early settlement. Population, 7,500. Lumber-trade centre and
manufacturing. On Niagara River and at mouth of Tonawanda Creek.
Opposite Grand Island. 11 churches; high school; 7 district schools;
2 newspapers 2 banks. Terminus of Lockport Branch. Also on Canandaigua
and Niagara Falls Branch of New York Central Railroad.
NIAGARA FALLS, Niagara Co., N.Y. From New York, 442 miles;
Buffalo, 24. Settled, 1806. Incorporated as village, 1847; as
city, March 17, 1892. Population, 22,000. Manufacturing. Greatest
chemical manufacturing city in the world. Greatest electrical
centre in the United States; the Niagara Falls Power Company developing
nearly 50,000 horse-power, the Niagara Falls Hydraulic Power and
Manufacturing Company developing 30,000 horse-power. 15 churches;
13 schools; 4 newspapers; 34 hotels; 6 banks public library; Memorial
Hospital. Many of the battles of the French and Indian War were
fought along the Niagara River. At Youngstown the French made
their last stand against the British. Descriptions of the grandeur
of the great cataract that gives this place its name are household
words.
LOCKPORT BRANCH.
(From Tonawanda.)
LOCKPORT, Niagara Co., N.Y. From New York, 460 miles; Buffalo,
25. Settled, 1810. Incorporated as a village, 1836; as a city,
1868. Population, 20,000. On the rich fruit belt of western New
York. Manufacturing. 16 churches, 9 schools, including first union
school in the State; 3 daily, 3 semi-weekly, 1 weekly, and 2 monthly
newspapers; 4 banks; opera-house. Brick, asphalt, and stone streets;
electric lights, electric railroad to Buffalo and Lake Ontario.
Water and electric power. 5 hose companies, 1 hook and ladder
company. Home of the Holly Water Works system. Upwards of 25 large
manufactories of every variety of goods, machinery, and Supplies.
20 miles of sewers. Lockport shipments of fruit in 1896 were equivalent
to 1,200,000 barrels. Municipal hall, court-house, and jail. County
seat of Niagara County. Lockport is named from having in its limits
10 locks on the Erie Canal, largest in the State. Governor Washington
Hunt was born here.
BUFFALO BRANCH OF ROCHESTER DIVISION.
(From Avon; see Rochester Division.)
CALEDONIA, Livingston Co., N.Y. From New York, 374 miles; Rochester,
25; Buffalo, 59. Settled, 1805; incorporated, 1890. Population,
1,100. Agricultural; 4 churches; 1 school; 1 newspaper; 2 banks;
2 hotels; Ladies' Library Association. Birthplace of the late
United States Senator Angus Cameron. Originally settled by the
Scotch, whose descendants are largely of the present population.
The wonderful Caledonia Big Spring is here. This extraordinary
spring was early a great rendezvous of the Indians. On its outlet
was located the first fish hatchery in the United States, if not
in the world. This was established by the late Seth Green, the
father of practical fish culture. The hatchery is now the property
of the State, and millions of brook-trout fry and fry of all other
freshwater game fish are hatched here, and annually distributed
to the waters throughout the State. Also near the New York Central
and Lehigh Valley railroads.
LEROY, Livingston Co., N.Y. From New York, 381 miles; Rochester,
33; Buffalo, 51. Settled, 1797; incorporated, 1834. Agricultural
and manufacturing. On the great salt belt of western New York.
8 churches; union free school and annexes; 2 newspapers; 2 banks;
4 hotels. Indian remains and relics found at Fort Hill, 2 miles
north of the village; gypsum and Onondaga limestone. Also near
the New York Central and Lehigh Valley railroads.
(STAFFORD, Genesee Co., N.Y. Station for the villages of Stafford
and Morganville.)
BATAVIA, Genesee Co., N.Y. From New York, 396 miles; Buffalo,
41; Rochester, 43. Settled, 1801; population, 8,500. Agricultural
and manufacturing. Plough, wagon, and other factories. 8 churches;
6 schools; 2 newspapers (1 daily); 4 banks; 3 hotels. State School
for the Blind. Batavia was the home of Dean Richmond, the famous
railroad magnate, politician, and millionaire. It was the seat
of the great Holland Land Company, which owned nearly all western
New York in the early part of the century. The original land office
of this company, a quaint and historical relic of the pioneer
days, is still standing in Batavia. This place was the scene of
the alleged abduction of Morgan by the Freemasons of 1826 for
exposures of that order which he was charged with having made.
This event, whether true or false, led to the anti-Masonic excitement
in New York and other States, the result of which was a great
political revolution. It was here that the first meeting to advocate
the construction of the Erie Canal was held in 1809. The Oak Orchard
Acid Springs, a curious collection of bubbling fountains, nine
in number, in no two of which the water is the same, are located
near Batavia.
ALEXANDER, Genesee Co., N.Y., 29 miles from Buffalo. A small
village, the seat of the Genesee and Wyoming Seminary, founded
in 1834.
(For stations beyond Alexander, see Buffalo Division.)
MOUNT MORRIS BRANCH.
(From Avon; see Rochester Division.)
GENESEO, Livingston Co., N.Y. From New York, 375 miles; Rochester,
27. Settled, 1790; incorporated, 1832.
County seat. Agricultural. Population, 3,500. 5 churches; 2
schools; 2 newspapers; 3 hotels; 1 bank. State Normal School and
union school. Wadsworth Library. The first settlers were William
and James Wadsworth, agents for the sale of immense tracts of
land in the vicinity. Gen. James S. Wadsworth, who fell at the
battle of the Wilderness in 1864, was a son of the original James.
The historic home of the Wadsworths is here. Several descendants
of the pioneers have seats in the village or vicinity. The Treaty
of Big Tree between the Indians and the United States, the most
important event in the history of Western New York, was signed
here in 1797.
MOUNT MORRIS, Livingston Co., N.Y. From New York, 382 miles;
Rochester, 34. Settled, 1794. Incorporated, 1835. Named for Robert
Morris, the financier of the Revolution. Population, 2,400. Agricultural
and manufacturing. 5 churches; 1 school; 2 newspapers,4 hotels;
3 banks.
At Geneseo, Mount Morris, and vicinity, there exists a condition
of things common enough abroad, but rarely found in America, a
sort of enlightened feudal system, the land being almost exclusively
owned by a few individuals, hereditary holders, who, instead of
leaving its management in the hands of unscrupulous agents, and
living elsewhere on the desired revenue, plant themselves squarely
in the centre of their own acres and identify their interests
with those of their tenants. The life of the people of this class
is not unlike that of the English country gentleman; their work
consists in the management and improvement of their land, the
bettering of the condition of the farming population, and the
breeding and maintaining of thoroughbred animals, preeminently
the horse. Their relaxation is found in the entertainment of guests,
the exchange of visits, and, more than all else, fox-hunting in
its season. Once every year, lured by the Genesee Valley hunt,
one of the most famous in the country, "society" comes
farther westward than is its wont, and finds in the autumnal splendors
of the valley a rival to its own Berkshire Hills.
ON ERIE ROUTE THAT FAILED.
JAMESTOWN, Chautauqua Co., N.Y. From New York, 449 miles; Buffalo,
54; Dunkirk, 40. Settled, 1811. Incorporated as a village, 1827;
as a city, 1886. Population estimated, 35,000. Agricultural and
manufacturing. 18 churches; high school; 2 daily, 4 weekly, 2
semi-weekly newspapers; hospital; Prendergast Free Library. Jamestown
is located at the foot of Chautauqua Lake, on Chautauqua Outlet.
Artesian water; natural gas; electric lights and railway. Junction
of the Buffalo and Southwestern Division and of the Meadville
Division of the Ohio Division (Nypano). Steamboats run to and
fro the entire length of the famous Chautauqua Lake. Jamestown
was one of the first places connected with Erie history, and the
original route was to pass near it, but was changed to its present
route from Salamanca through Cattaraugus County.
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