This was generously donated by the Palermo Town Historian, Beverly Beck, and transcribed by Mary Lou Guindon.  For contact information on Palermo, please check our 
Town Historian & Historical Societies Page.

1792 - George Scriba bought all the land between Oneida Lake and the Oneida River, the Oswego River and Lake Ontario, the Macombe Purchase and the Orthout Patent from John and Nicholas Roosevelt, a total of 499,135 acres. George Scriba, a native of Holland, was a New York City merchant and had the land surveyed and divided into 24 towns and then subdivided into lots.  The orginal name for this area was Metz but it was later changed to Palermo in the land office in Albany, naming the area after Palermo, Italy. 

1806 - David Jennings, the first settler at Palermo corners arrived and built a log cabin. Clifford area settled by a Mr. Spencer.

1812 - School was taught by Harriet Easton in Palermo Center.

1812 - Phineas Chapin opened the first saw mill.

1814 - First frame house built by Enoch Hyde.

1816 - Stephen Blake built the first tavern out of logs near the corners.

1816 - First burial in Palermo Center Cemetery.

1817 - The Baptist Church was formed, incorporated in 1835.  They erected their building in 1836 across the road from the present   school.

1817 - Store opened in Palermo by Mr.'s Bush and Babbett 

1820 - School in Palermo Center (then called Jennings Corners), built of logs.  By 1895, there were 13 schoolhouses, 13 teachers and 333 children in classes.

1820 - First Post Office opened.  Lowell Johnson named first Post  Master, remained until 1839.  During the time of David Trimble as Post Master, Palermo got daily mail for the first time. 

1830 - Issac Lansing farm settled, currently operated by the Geer Family.

1832 - Palermo Township formed from the Volney Township.

1833 - A.K. Beckwith, first doctor in Palermo.

1836 - Blacksmith shop opened by Robert Flint at Flints' Corners.

1838 - Union Congregational Church formed at Clifford, building later sold to Macabees organizaton for a meeting hall.

1849 - Vermilion Methodist Church formed.

1849 - Second Baptist Church and Society formed at Sayles Corners.

1850 - There were 406 farms in Palermo.

1860 - Clifford Anti-Slavery Methodist Church formed.

1861 - Peats Corners Methodist Episcopal Church formed.

1864 - Cheese Factory started in Vermilion.

1868 - Grand Army of the Republic organized in Vermillion.

1871 - David Trimble opened cheese factory at corners in Palermo.

1871 - David Trimble purchased store, operation continued with his son Gurdon and then by Gurdon’s son Glenn until 1958.

1875 - Palermo Grange formed in Vermilion.

1880 - Upsons Corners Methodist Church opened.

1881 - Good Templars organization at Flints Corners, a temperance organization. 

1882 - Post Office opened in Clifford.

1890 - Granite Grange formed at the Leonard Salsbury home (now the Rice Farm). After a couple of moves, it settled at its' location on Route 3. The building had been put up by David Trimble and used as a dance hall.

1895 - Palermo Center House opened. 

1895 - Cheese box factory opened by Gurdon Trimble by the pond on what is now called Factory Road.  Continued operation by his son Fred Trimble until the 1950's.

1893 - East Palermo Unit of the Womens Christian Temperance Union.

1895 - Fire started in Trimble Cheese Factory, destroyed 13 buildings and killed 1
person.

1906 - Palermo Telephone Company started by Glenn Trimble, sold to the Fulton Telephone Company in the 1920's.

1911 - Happy Thought Grange opened at Peats Corners.

1920 - First hardtop road through Palermo

1924 - Lulu Gilman's Tea Room opened on Route 3 on her parents property, just two houses down from the Methodist Church.   Closed about 1932.

1925 - There were 182 farms in Palermo.

1935 - John Winks' Dance Hall, Winks Road, until about 1942.

1936 - Schools were centralized with Mexico.

1941 - Palermo Elementary School built with WPA funds.

1950 - Palermo Volunteer Fire Company organized.

1957 - Palermo Elementary School burned by vandals.

1958 - Store sold to Jim Riley.

1962 - Emerald Crest Golf Course opened - John Mayne Jr. owner.

1962 - Store sold to Myron Bell and Robert Parry.

1966 - There were 100 farms in Palermo.

1968 - Palermo United Methodist Church dedicated.

1974 - Store sold to Ronald Turo.

1982 - Palermo Town Park opened.

1984 - Store sold to Yuergen Hoellrich.

1990 - There were 62 farms in Palermo.

1996 - There are approximately 50 farms in Palermo.

1996 - Palermo One Room Schoolhouse project completed.