City of Utica history

In 1836 the Chenango Canal was opened northward from Chenango River headwaters of the Susquehanna, through the Oriskany Creek Valley to Utica, forming a valley outlet for coal from Pennsylvania.

Directly after the legislature of the new state had passed an act permitting the incorporation of villages in March, 1838, Utica became one of the first half dozen Michigan towns to take on this status.

The railroad was built quickly thereafter in 1839 originally following the canal and passing through Rome before continuing through the Mohawk Valley and arriving in Syracuse.

Utica State Hospital for the Insane was established in 1842.

In 1854, the Utica & Black River Railroad (now a New York Central line) was opened to Boonville and later extended to Carthage.

The Abolitionists were few and despised at first but the movement, which excited much bitter controversy, continued until its objects succeeded in the Civil war (1861-65).

In 1873, President Grant offered Senator Conkling the post of Ambassador to the court of St James and also that of Chief Justice of the United States.

Founded in 1876, The Oneida County Historical Society collects and commemorates the history of Central New York in general and County of Oneida in particular.

It was re-incorporated in 1877 with smaller limits to allow certain farm properties to enjoy lower township taxes.

Rutherford B. Hayes being nominated and elected Senator Conkling advocated the nomination of General Grant for a third term in 1880.

They became candidates for re-election but were defeated, after a contest of 48 ballots, by Warner Miller of Herkimer and Elbridge G. Latham, who were elected by the New York State Legislature on July 17, 1881.

In 1883 the Government building and the Y. M. C. A. were built.

In 1884, Grover Cleveland, formerly of Clinton, Oneida County, was elected president over James G. Blaine, the political opponent of Roscoe Conkling.

Conkling died in 1888.

In 1905, Charles Ward built a power-house on the bank of the canal basin and furnished Utica with it's first electricity.

In 1910 there were about thirty Oneida Indians living in Oneida County and about 200 in the state, some being in Madison County.

The Utica ford marker was one of a number erected by the Mohawk Valley D. A. R. Chapters in 1912, marking General Herkimer's march to the Oriskany battlefield.

The Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute (incorporated as a school of art in 1919) maintains a museum.

According to the census of 1920, Utica was proportionately the fastest growing city in New York State.

The road from this point to Clinton is the most traveled highway in the Mohawk Valley west of Amsterdam, according to figures of 1922.

Company I, at Mohawk, is (1923) the champion marksmen company of the National Guard of the United States.

Three small streams pass through the city and enter the Mohawk, the most westerly having had its bed utilized by the Chenango Canal, now (1924) abandoned.

Steuben Park consisted of one acre when it was set apart from the John Post purchase over a century prior to this writing (1925). It has since been considerably cut down by street building.

The waterworks was built in 1926, gas mains were brought in fromMt.

The Utica Library will celebrate its centennial with that of the city in 1932.

Utica College, a private college established by Syracuse University, opened in 1946.

Students attended classes at the old Country Day School in New Hartford (on the site of today’s Wedgewood Apartments). It later was renamed the Mohawk Valley Technical Institute and in 1963 it became Mohawk Valley Community College.