"The present town of Elbridge originally formed a part of military township No. 5 (Camillus), which also comprised nearly all the present Camillus and the whole of Van Buren. Upon the formation of the county, in 1794, the original military town of Camillus was included in the civil town of Marcellus, and so remained until March 8, 1799, when its legal organization was effected. On the 26th of March, 1829, the towns of Elbridge and Van Buren, as now constituted, were set off.
In what is now the town of Elbridge occurred practically the second settlement of white men in the present county of Onondaga. The territory was then a densely wooded wilderness, frequented by Indians and inhabited by bears, wolves, and other beasts of the forest, and could not have presented an appearance other than of a gloomy waste. More than a century has passed since the transition was made, and today we look back upon the transformation of an uninviting scene into a prosperous and attractive community.
The beginning of the story dates from 1791, when the territory under consideration belonged to the great county of Herkimer. In that year, probably in the spring or summer, Josiah Buck, came into this region to survey the military township of Camillus into lots, and selecting a site a little west of Elbridge village built for himself and party a temporary shelter. In the autumn he was found here by Lieut. Col. William Stevens and a party of surveyors and explorers. Colonel Stevens came in from the east and passed over the site of what is now Camillus village, or near there, thence on to the Skaneateles outlet, down that stream to the site of the village of Elbridge, and from there to Buck's location. He kept a very complete account of his travels, which is now in the possession of his granddaughter, Mrs. Andrew G. Graham, and from it are taken the following extracts. Reaching this region in October, 1791, the party stopped over night with Asa Danforth at Onondaga, and the next morning proceeded westward:
Wednesday, 26th. This morning we prepared our route westward. After passing about one mile, we rose a hill about three-quarters of a mile, part of which had been cleared, but grown up to bushes; the land indifferent. Arrived on the north part of the summit, which gave us a very pleasant view of the cleared lands below, part of which we had traveled through. We then descended about 30 rods and came on a level tract of pretty good land, which extended about four miles. The timber mixed, consisted of beech, sugar maple, basswood, white ash, elm, hickory, and near the streams some hemlock. After passing through this tract we came to a tract covered entirely with a bed of flat rocks the extent of about two miles, composed of limestone. Here appeared that nature had taken a convulsion and separated those rugged rocks, which appears very conspicuous in many instances. The rents in many places are from six inches to eighteen wide. In one place I took a pole and ran it down about 12 feet...The pours of the rent corresponded with each other....After viewing the curiosities we proceeded down a steep pitch, several rods, and landed on a flat of good land well timbered. Afterwards descended another steep pitch, and came on a fine flat, the soil and timber beautiful. In the west and northwest of this place runs the Nine Mile run (so called), being the outlet of the Otisco Lake, a very handsome stream of water, which runs into the Onondaga Lake...At this place is a fine situation for a tavern, it being nine miles from Danforth's. After crossing the stream we ascend some distance a steep pitch of a hill and immediately descended and ascended a very sudden gully for several rods, after which the ascent was more gradual for a mile, the land hinging toward the southward and westward, something stony, the timber mixed, consisting of beech, sugar maple, white ash, basswood, and hemlock. Then passed on high land several miles, the soil pretty good, mixed with loam, a black sand and fertile clay. We at last descended and came to a cedar swamp, the road causewayed through it. Then came to a beautiful stream of water, the bottom covered with white pebbles of the nature of lime, and centered on a pretty flat tract of land with a handsome gradual descent to the south. The timber much as before, with the addition of fine white pine, suitable for either boards or shingles, extending to a great height. The soil good, and came to the outlet of Skaneateles Lake, about five or six miles from the lake - a very convenient situation for mills and other water works (footnote: This was undoubtedly at a point near Skaneateles Junction (Hart Lot)). The land very good, and plenty of white pine timber for building. Two and one-half miles further down the stream is the falls (at Elbridge village), below which will admit boats to come up to the foot of the falls. This situation struck my fancy for a seat more than any part of the country that I had been in yet, and if I should be lucky enough to purchase it would induce one to move into this part of the country. After viewing this situation attentively we proceed through a very fine tract till we arrive at Mr. Buck's, where we took lodgings.
Thursday, 27th. Mr. Mile left me here and proceeded on to the Genesee. I remained here four days, and explored the vicinity. The land is much more level here than farther to the eastward. The soil a mixture of loam, black sand, and marl, very clear of stones. There are two small ridges of hills north of his (Buck's) house, which Mr. Buck informed of the traces of some ancient fortification, which I had the curiosity to view them. I went to company with Mr. Buck, a Mr. Barton, and Henderson, surveyors who quartered there, to one of them which was 30 rods from the house. This appears to have been a detached work, situated on the summit of a small hill, which commanded to the eastward and southward, the level land forming a semi-circle, the convexity of it towards the above mentioned points of the compass. It appeared to have been built many years ago by the growth of timber being rather larger on the parapet than within or without the works. I imagine by the growth of the timber that the land must have been cleared in the vicinity at the time they were erected, and must have been a considerable of a work by the present height of the parapet and depth of the ditch. The next day we went to see the other work, which is situated on another small hill rather higher than the former. Here we found evident tracts of a fortification constructed in an elliptical figure, the longest diameter extending north and south, containing two and three-quarters acres by estimate; with a gateway or sally port on the east line of it and another on the west side also. The Butments on each side is plain to be seen. The timber in the fort is of a similar growth as that without the works. The trees that grow on the parapet are much larger; the timber is beech, basswood, maple, ash and hemlock. I measured a gray oak, whose diameter was four feet, and a hemlock whose diameter three feet ten inches. These being trees of very slow growth which shows that these works must have been erected many hundred years ago.
The ancient fortifications here described were evidently situated on lot 84, on the old Caleb Brown farm. On the northeast part of lot 81, on which was subsequently the Squire Munro and after the John Munro place, were also the remains of a fort, while on Fort Hill, on lot 70, about half a mile northwest, was still another old fortification. This latter point is one of the highest elevations in town. Numerous evidences of an Indian village were discovered on lot 83, and at Jack's Rifts on Seneca River. The Onondaga Indians had a large settlement with a clearing and valuable orchard when the first white settlers arrived. The country north of this was their favorite hunting ground. In the vicinity of these sites large quantities of stone axes, flint arrowheads, pottery and other Indian relics, and many human skeletons have been unearthed. The forts, it has been supposed, were occupied, and possibly constructed, by the French....
Josiah Buck, as has been stated, was the first permanent white settler in the present town of Elbridge. He came as surveyor in 1791, and selected his location, which was afterwards owned by Col. John Munro. In 1793 he moved his family hither 'in a large wagon,'* and was followed in the same year by Robert Fulton. In 1794 James Strong came in and very soon afterward Col. Chandler and Dr. Pickard (an Indian root doctor) became settlers. Mr. Buck opened his house as a tavern in 1793, which was the first in the town. (*Footnote: Clark's Onondaga. Clark also adds: 'A log, a large one of oak, by order of Squire Munroe was left without molestation for a number of years as a memorial of the place where the first settlement was made in town. The large elm tree is still (1849) standing in the road, a little west of Dr. Munro's house, by the side of a clear running brook, where Mr. Buck with his family took shelter till he could erect a comfortable cabin. They lived several weeks with no shelter but the forest, and the wagon served for parlor, kitchen, wardrobe and sleeping apartments. On this account the tree was highly venerated by the people in the neighborhood.' Col. Stevens in October, 1791, speaks of taking lodgings at Mr. Buck's 'house,' a fact which would indicate that it was of logs (considering the date), and furthermore, it apparently stood on lot 84. No doubt it was demolished before Mr. Buck arrived with his family.)
Col. William Stevens, an officer in the Revolutionary war and a member of the historic Boston Tea Party, came from Coleraine, Mass., in December, 1793, and took up his residence on lot 83, a part of which comprises a portion of the present village site of Elbridge. He was an Englishman by birth, and coming to this country enlisted at the age of twenty-six as a captain in the 51st Boston Light Artillery. He served through the Revolution, rose to the rank of lieutenant-colonel, and afterward settled in Coleraine as a merchant. He had drawn 3,600 acres of land for services in the Continental army, of which 2,400 were situated in Onondaga county. Soon after his arrival he built the first store in town at Elbridge, which was conducted by his son Robert and Squire Dickinson, and about the same time he erected a saw mill where the Diamond Chair Works now stand. He was the first supervisor of the civil town of Marcellus, serving on the board from 1794 to 1797, when he was appointed the first superintendent of the Salt Springs at Syracuse, an office he held until his death, February 28, 1801, at the age of forty-nine. He was also one of the first judges of the Court of Common Pleas, and was made the first magistrate in Marcellus in 1794. Mrs. Elizabeth Gurney Stevens, his first wife, died here February 26, 1795, was the first person buried on the site of Mount Hope Cemetery in Elbridge, and in the absence of a qualified minister of the gospel. Colonel Stevens preached her funeral sermon, which was subsequently printed and which, with several other literary productions of his, including a proclamation to the citizens, a charge to the grand jury, and two or three bound manuscript books on military discipline, etc., all marvels of neatness, is in possession of his granddaughter, Mrs. Andrew G. Graham, who, with her family, occupies the old Stevens homestead, one of the landmarks of the town. Colonel Stevens was one of the foremost men of his day; he possessed an excellent education, and became prominently identified with the growth of the community. His second wife was Hannah Frisbie, a sister of Dr. John Frisbie, the first physician in Elbridge. She, with his six children--Betsey, William, jr., Henry, Robert, Thomas, and John, all born in Massachusetts--survived him. John Stevens was born September 25, 1779, and came here with his parents in 1793. On May 6, 1812, he was commissioned lieutenant in the 16th Onondaga Infantry, after raising his own company, and served through the war of that period along the northern frontier. He had a large farm and a milling and carrying business, and died here in October, 1866. He was the father of Mrs. A. G. Graham and John A. Stevens, born in this town January 28, 1804.
These pioneers and those who followed them generally found their way into this region by the great central trail of the Iroquois, along which a road had been crudely opened by a part of emigrants under the first General Wadsworth in 1791 or 1792, and which was subsequently improved by the State. This route nearly, or quite, conformed to the later Genesee turnpike, which received additional improvements and was first known as such, or as the Great Genesee Road, between 1795 and 1800. It is possible, however, but not probably, that a few early settlers came by way of the Oneida and Seneca Rivers, but most of them are known to have traversed the Genesee route, the same thoroughfare that for years was the scene of an extensive westward emigration. Along this great artery of travel occurred the first settlements in town, and the influence it long exerted upon the growth and advancement of the community was marked. It gave existence to the village of Elbridge, the earliest center of population, whence business and other interests gradually branched out, mainly northward.
Isaac Strong erected a saw mill on the Skaneateles outlet in 1795; in that year a Mr. Potter began blacksmithing in Elbridge, and about the same time Moses Carpenter opened the second tavern in town. In 1796 James Weisner and Nicholas Mickles, and soon afterward Jacob and Ezra Colmon and Ezra and John Brackett, became settlers. All of these located in or near Elbridge or along the turnpike. In 1797 Zenas and Aaron Wright made the first settlement in the neighborhood of Jordan, and Dr. John Frisbie, the pioneer physician, settled in Elbridge the next year. Isaac Strong built the first grist mill in the town on Skaneateles Creek. Prior to this the inhabitants were obliged to go to James for their flour and meal.
Squire Munro, with his sons, Nathan, John, David, and Philip A., settled on lot 81, in 1799. His was one of the most prominent and enterprising families in town. After the incorporation of the north branch of the Seneca Turnpike, in 1806, they constructed as much of the road (now known as the Genesee Turnpike) as passes through what are now the towns of Camillus and Elbridge, or about eleven miles, taking certificates of stock as compensation for their work, which they finished in 1808.
By the year 1800 the town was rapidly filling up with a class of thrifty settlers. The forests were fast giving place to fertile fields and orchards, and commodious frame buildings were springing up on every hand.
In 1801 the first frame school house in town was erected in Elbridge village by Levi Clark, and in it John Healy taught the first term of school. About this time, or before, Martin Ticknor, Isaac Smith, Jonathan Babcock, Reynolds Corey (who built the 'White Mill'), Jonathan Rowley, and others settled in the vicinity of Jordan. A saw mill was built here in 1800, and during the succeeding decade quite a busy hamlet sprang into existence....
Among the newcomers between 1800 and 1810 were Abraham Halsted, Dr. Sweet (many years justice of the peace), Abraham McIntyre, and Deacon Isaac Hill. Mr. Halsted arrived in 1806 and purchased 163 acres of Judge Forman, upon which he died. His son, Jacob, was born in Newburg, N.Y., July 22, 1795. Deacon Hill was born in Ireland in 1781, came here in 1809, and with his family in 1810, and established at Elbridge the second store in town, which he continued till 1825, when he moved to Memphis (then Canton). In 1856 he removed to Syracuse, and died there December 12, 1868. His children who attained maturity were Thomas W. Hill, born September 21, 1810; Mrs. E. M. Austin, Mrs. Samuel McClelland, and Mrs. John Bates. Dr. Sweet became a physician in Elbridge village in 1810, and a little later Dr. Chichester opened an office there. Abraham McIntyre settled two and a half miles east of Jordan in 1808, and opened a store there in 1810. His son, Calvin, sr., was a lifelong resident of that place; he built scores of canal boats at Jack's Rifts, very early had a warehouse, and collected and shipped large quantities of grain, and at one time ran a schooner on Lake Ontario in the interests of his extensive grain trade. It is said that he received as high as twenty-seven cents per bushel for carrying grain by water from Buffalo to New York. Calvin McIntyre, jr., a son of Calvin, sr., died recently in Syracuse, where E. M. McIntyre, son of Calvin, jr. now resides....
Gideon Wilcoxon, the first lawyer in the town, settled in the village of Elbridge in 1813, and the same year secured a post-office and was appointed the first postmaster there, in which capacity he was succeeded by Hiram F. Mather, Hendrick Wood, Squire Munro, Alonzo Wood, Charles McGowan, W. P. Van Vechten, Alfred E. Stacey, D. Munro Hill, Henry L.. Hale and Alonzo B. Wood (incumbent).
Of the other settlers prior to 1825 there were Dr. Titus Merriman, Ezekiel Skinner, Isaac Otis, Moses McKissick, Alva D. and Edmund W. Botsford, Ebenezer Daggett, James McClure, James Rodger and Salmon Greene. Isaac Otis came to Elbridge from Fabius in 1812, settled in Jordan in 1816, and died in 1854 aged eighty-six. The death of his son Herod occurred here in 1875. Dr. Titus Merriman was born in Meriden, Conn., October 9, 1786, came with his parents to Otisco when a child, studied medicine with Dr. Elnathan Beach in Marcellus, removed to Elbridge in 1814, and died May 20, 1864. His second wife was a daughter of Peter Backer, one of the early settlers of this town. Moses McKissick emigrated from Maine to Jordan in 1818, and died July 31, 1823. James Rodger was a son of William and Elizabeth Rodger, natives of Scotland, who settled in Albany in 1804, where James was born April 7, 1805. The family came from Madison county to this town in 1822, and in December of that year the father died. James Rodger engaged in the storage and forwarding business in Jordan in 1840 and continued many years. He was also an extensive dealer in coal, lumber, etc., and subsequently established a private bank. Ezekiel Skinner was another settler of 1822, and first engaged in teaching school; among his pupils were James Rodger, Calvin McIntyre, sr., and John Corey. He was born in Marshfield, Vt., January 12, 1801, and in 1822 married a daughter of Luther Huntington, a pioneer of Elbridge. The Botsfords came into this section in 1823, and did also Ebenezer Daggett and James McClure, who died here in 1859 and 1870 respectively. Salmon Greene arrived in 1824 and died in 1851.
The effects of the war of 1812, upon the heels of which followed the cold season of 1816, only temporarily checked the tide of immigration. By the end of the first quarter of this century business and manufacturing interests were everywhere prospering under the continual increase of the population, and the gloomy forests were disappearing with a rapidity which characterizes a thrifty settlement. The great stage lines had long made the famous Genesee turnpike an active thoroughfare; now they were destined to pass into history. The opening of the Erie Canal in 1825 created another artery of communication, and inaugurated many changes in manufactures, traffic and transportation. A few mercantile establishments had given Jordan the appearance of a hamlet, but this great waterway, having a feeder from the Skaneateles outlet at Jordan, marked the beginning of another and a more important era of growth and prosperity. A saw mill had been erected here in 1800, the old 'White' mill in 1812, and what was known as the 'Red' mill in 1824, and around these had clustered a small collection of shops, stores and dwellings. The canal gave it an impulse toward village prominence, and during the next decade it rapidly increased in size. In 1825 a post-office was established with Seneca Hale as postmaster; his successor was Frederick Benson in 1828, and among the later occupants of the office were Norman P. Eddy, W. C. Rodger, Charles M. Warner, Charles C. Cole, William H. O'Donnell, Fred C. Allen and Stephen L. Rockwell (incumbent). About the same time, or a little later, the canal also gave existence to the hamlets called Peru and California....
On March 26, 1829, the town of Elbridge was created out of the town of Camillus, and the first town meeting convened at the house of Horace Dodge on the 28th of April of that year. Squire Munro was made moderator and Seneca Hale, secretary; Timothy Brown was elected supervisor, and James McClure clerk. The town records between this date and 1854 have been lost or destroyed, either from fire or carelessness; persistent inquiries have failed to discover them, and it is therefore impossible to give more of the early proceedings than have just been quoted from Clark's Onondaga. Two years after the organization of the town it contained ten whole and six joint school districts, in which 961 scholars were taught. This indicated the progress of educational facilities, which soon afterward were still further advanced....
The year 1835 marks an important epoch in the history of Elbridge, not only in a religious sense, but more conspicuously in educational and municipal matters. During the preceding decade an era of general prosperity had reigned throughout the town, and especially in Jordan. The State Gazetteer of 1836 credits that village with three grist mills, having ten runs of stone; three saw mills, a sash factory, distillery, clothing works, a pail factory, one tannery, five taverns, seven general stores, five groceries, two drug stores and 150 dwellings. On May 2, 1835, the village was legally incorporated, but owing to the loss or destruction of the records down to 1845, between 1859 and 1873, and from 1878 to 1880, inclusive, desired extract cannot be given. It is claimed that some or all of these lost proceedings were never recorded in a book kept for the purpose, but, instead, were filed on loose sheets of paper. The presidents of the village, as far as can be ascertained, have been as follows: Lyman H. Mason, 1846-47; M. T. Sperry, 1848; Alonzo Case, 1849; R. T. Paine, 1850; William H. Boardman, 1851; Lyman H. Mason, 1852-54; E. Wheeler, 1855; James Rodger, 1856; R. S. Sperry, 1857; John Dale, 1858; Charles Kelley, 1874; Robert Keuren, 1875; Robert E. Greene, 1876; A. D. Peck, 1877; A. F. Tracey, 1881; W. C. Rodger, 1882; Royal K. Craner, 1883; Charles M. Warner, 1884; Richard Niles, 1885, Nelson C. Watson, 1886-87; Stephen L. Rockwell, 1888; Richard Niles, 1889; S. L. Rockwell, 1890; John W. Reynolds, 1892; William F. Jayne, 1893; Smith Peck, 1894; Isaac C. Otis, 1895.
Again referring to the State Gazetteer it is learned that in 1836 the town contained 12,884 acres of improved land, $532,806 assessed real estate, 2,203 cattle, 914 horses, 4,114 sheep, 2,622 swine, 366 militia men, two grist and fourteen saw mills, an oil, two fulling mills, three carding machines, one iron works, a distillery, two asheries, four tanneries, fifteen school districts and 953 school children. In that year the town tax was $523 and the county tax $1,237. Contrast these figures with the following statistics from the State census of 1845 and French's State Gazetteer of 1860: In 1845-militia men, 446; voters, 830; school children, 801; acres of improved land, 15,420; three grist mills, twenty saw mills, one fulling mill, a carding works, a woolen factory, an iron works, one ashery, a tannery, sixteen common schools, six churches, thirteen stores, nine taverns, four groceries, eighteen merchants, 648 farmers, thirty-seven manufacturers, nine physicians and five lawyers. In 1860-16,792 acres of improved land; real estate valued at $1,035,328, 803 dwellings, 884 families, 445 freeholders, sixteen school districts, 1,625 children taught, 879 horses, 2,774 cattle, 5,325 sheep, 2,093 swine; productions, 149,894 bushels of wheat, 3,209 tons of hay, 17,670 bushels of potatoes, 26,816 bushels of apples, 120,304 pounds of butter, and 17,730 pounds of cheese.
In 1836 the village of Elbridge had one grist and one saw mill, a carding and cloth dressing establishment, three taverns, three stores, and about sixty dwellings, while Peru contained a store, tavern, and a few scattered houses. Among the old-time merchants in Elbridge not already noticed may be mentioned Alonzo Wood, D. Munro Hill, Nathan Munro, Alfred E. Stacey, Fred S. Hall, A. G. Talcott, and George Stacey. Alonzo Wood continued business many years on the corner now occupied by the Wood block, the predecessor of which was burned January 30, 1875. He was also engaged in banking.
At Peru a post-office was finally established, which took the name of Jack's Reef, and one of the earlier postmasters was Eli Tator. Jack's Rifts,* proper, situated one mile north on Seneca River, was so named in honor of 'Darky Jack,' an old negro who had a cabin there at one time, and spent his time fishing and selling his fish around the country. Sherebiah Evans built an early hotel there, and two stores were established; it became a large grain market and shipping point. Near here, on Carpenter Brook, a saw mill was built about 1808; in 1815 Zenas Wright and Hollis Knowlton put up another on the same site. In 1843 Philip Drake erected the third and continued it many years. D. R. Marvin built a cheese factory here in 1872, which was burned and rebuilt in 1874 by the Jack's Reef Cheese Factory Association. (*footnote: This name seems to be erroneously spelled. Derived from 'Darky Jack' and the rifts in the river near the cabin it should be, properly, Jack's Rifts, although postal authorities give it Jack's Reef.)
Among other prominent settlers of the town prior to 1850 were the following: Channcey B. Laird was born in Camillus in 1804, came to Elbridge in 1830, and died April 6, 1873. Hon. John D. Rhoades was proprietor of the Munro House in Elbridge from 1833 to 1843, when he purchased a farm near by. He was elected county coroner in 1855 and assemblyman in 1856. Hon. Luke Ranney came to Elbridge in 1835. He was born in Ashfield, Mass., November 8, 1815, and for any years was a prominent temperance speaker and staunch supporter of Abolitionism. He has resided in Elbridge since 1852, and has served as supervisor and three terms as member of assembly, and was for a time an active surveyor. James Lewis, justice of the peace many years and father of Kirby Lewis, residing on the homestead. Theon S. Hubbell established the Elbridge Marble and Granite Works in 1844, and continued them until his death in June, 1895, aged eighty, when he was succeeded by his son, Elliston E., who had been his partner for several years. William W. Dawley was a long time resident farmer of this town, near Elbridge village; in 1889 he moved to Fayetteville, where he now resides. The following are also deserving of mention: Dr. Alfred Butterfield, Hon. Charles C. Cole, George B. Garrison, Alexander Jones, A. D. Lewis, L. H. Mason, Enoch C. Nicholson, A. D. Peck, Thomas Stevens, John T. Thomas, Peter V. and James L. Voorhees, Smith Wood, Gabriel Bell, Patrick Carson, Charles Morris, Sidney M. Horton (who had a fulling mill on the site later occupied by Garrison & Taylor's bedstead factory), William Richards, John Stevens, Archibald and Thomas C. Ward, and Oran D. Bates. Marvin W. Hardy was born in Manheim, N.Y. in 1820, came to Jordan in 1864, and engaged in farming and paper manufacturing. Morgan Grant was an early settler near Hart Lot; he died in 1886. Carolman Copp, also a prominent citizen, died near Jordan in December, 1894. Reuben Weeks was another early comer and father of Charles, Benjamin, William, John, and Frank Weeks. Major Theodore L. Poole, present Congressman from this district, was born in Jordan in April 10, 1840.
Of the former merchants of Jordan there should be mentioned the names of Lewis Green and sons, D. K. and Harry (where the Rodger block now stands), Homer P. Moulton (opposite the present Empire block), Mr. Thomas and is brother-in-law, Mr. Rhoades, James McClure, Benjamin Coonley, Alonzo Case (n the old wooden building on the site of the Case brick block), Ebenezer Daggett (who also manufactured pumps in the next building north), Harry Weed, Marcus T. Sperry, Willis P. Pump, and Erastus Baker.
A newspaper called the Jordan Courier, was started in Jordan by Frederick Prince in 1831. In 1849 P. J. Becker established the Jordan Tribune, which in 1853 was changed in name to the Jordan Transcript; among its later publishers were Nathan Burrill, Charles B. Park, and H. P. Winsor, the latter for many years and until his death, when it was sold by his widow to the Jordan Intelligencer, which had been started in the mean time. In 1880 C. H. Bibbens purchased the Intelligencer of R. D. Curtis and published it until January, 1882, when he discontinued that newspaper and started the present Jordan Times, of which he has since been the proprietor. The Pearly Fountain, a monthly periodical, was published in Jordan a short time by Park & Cheal, with John G. Cheal, editor.
In 1838 still further changes were inaugurated in the town by the opening of the Syracuse and Auburn Railroad, which immediately gave existence to the hamlet of Skaneateles Junction (Hart Lot post-office), and soon afterward to the little station of Half Way, where a post-office was established in 1868. Around the Junction a number of business interests finally centered mainly within recent years; at one period large quantities of barrels were manufactured there. Hart Lot received its name from Josiah Hart, who owned about 640 acres in that vicinity, and who sold the tract in 1812 and later to Elijah Cole, Medad Harmon, Hezekiah Earll, Ezra Leonard, Reuben Harmon and Harry Mandeville. In 1878 Alexander Van Vleck and R. B. Wheeler engaged in the coal and lumber trade, and the next year William G. Cottle began as a general merchant; since 1889 the firm has been Cottle Brothers. Among the postmasters have been Albert L. Chatfield, W. G. Cottle, and Dennis J. Flynn, incumbent. From time to time the subject of extending the Skaneateles railroad, connecting Hart Lot with Skaneateles village, to Elbridge and Jordan has been agitated. In 1841 a charter was obtained for this purpose, but the work was never begun.
On April 1, 1848, the village of Elbridge was incorporated under an act passed December 7, 1847. The first officers were Lucius Millen, president; Harvey Roberts, Ezekiel Skinner, Alonzo Wood, and William Van Vechten, trustees; Cyrus W. Upham, treasurer; and Charles McGowan, clerk.
Among the presidents have been Alonzo Wood, W. P. Van Vechten, William C. Van Vechten, J. D. Rhoades, Squire M. Brown, John Rice, C. W. Hilliard, Nathan Munro, Charles G. McGowan, H. M. Lamson, M. W. Lyon, W. P. Smith, B. A. Wood, Charles O. Baker, S.M. B. Rhoades, John S. Markell, James H. Hankton, and George H. Hunsiker, incumbent.
The village has a small fire department, equipped with a hand engine and a hook and ladder truck.
In 1853 the direct line of the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad was completed and opened with a station at Jordan. This marked the beginning of a gradual business depression in the two villages and withdrew in a measure the elements of their prosperity. Trade was diverted toward large centers of population, while manufacturing lost to some extent its activity through distant competition. Leading citizens subscribed for stock to aid in building the road and upon its completion sold their stock for cash. In a few years the villages, and especially Jordan, retrograded fully 25 per cent.
Between 1854 and 1857 the State deepened the channel of the Seneca River at Jack's Rifts at a cost of $150,000; the work was in charge of Hon. George Geddes. About 200,000 yards of rock cuttings were removed and the marshes were drained as far west as Mosquito Point.
On July 14, 1856, No. 386, F. & A. M., was instituted with John G. Webster, W.M.; James McClure, S. W.; and Alonzo Case, J. W. Elbridge Lodge No. 275, I.O.O.F., was organized April 19, 1871, with nine members. H. H. Porter was N. G.; James M. Halsted, V. G.; and R. M. Cole, C. S. Jordan Lodge No. 230 was much older than this, having been instituted June 30, 1846, with W. T. Graves as N. G.; C. W. Upham, V. G.; George W. Green, secretary; H. T. Sheldon, treasurer. It was subsequently reorganized as Jordan Lodge No. 215, I.O.O.F....
Some of the early manufacturing industries of Jordan, not already noticed, are here recalled, prominent among which was the works of Amos Miner, who very early located in Jordan and with his oldest son Frank had a tub, churn, and pail factory at the head of Jackson's mill race; they afterwards manufactured pumps and developed a large business. In 1833 a dam was thrown across the creek at this point and Ebenezer Daggett and T. L. Carson subsequently built a saw mill here. The latter, with Thomas Payne, soon succeeded to the Miner factory and in 1835 moved the machinery into an old storehouse erected by James Cornwall in 1825, which now forms the west part of Charles M. Warner's malt house. Mr. Payne afterwards sold out and removed to Seneca Falls; finally Salmon Greene succeeded Mr. Carson, and the firm of Daggett & Greene continued many years, manufacturing about fifty wooden pumps each week. They made also boilers, engines, and plows, and established a store. About 1845 Ebenezer Daggett built a storehouse from which thousands of bushels of grain were shipped to Albany during the palmy days of the canal.
James Redfield was one of the early blacksmiths, and in his shop Deming Boardman carried on a cooperage several years until 1866, when it was converted into the Peck & Tracy foundry. William Boardman was long a prominent citizen and business man.
On the site of the old 'Red Mill,' which was built in 1824, was in later years the bedstead factory of Garrison & Taylor, which was burned and never rebuilt. The site is now occupied by the electric plant, which supplies electricity to the villages of Jordan, Elbridge, and Skaneateles.
About 1850 a wheelbarrow manufactory was established by Sperry & Rockwell, whose successors were S. L. Rockwell & Co. In 1865 the saw and strawboard mill of George Putnam was started by Hardy & Putnam, and in 1872 a second wheelbarrow factory was put in operation by a. D. Peck; this is now a machine shop.
These various manufacturing interests, together with the mercantile trade of Jordan village, called into existence the private bank of Westfall & Co., which ultimately failed. In 1870 a private banking business was established by R. S. Sperry & Co., who were succeeded by Rodger & Co. in 1874.
Along the banks of Skaneateles Creek a number of manufactories have been operated, most of them with considerable success. At Elbridge the old Munro flouring mill was long an important establishment, and is now owned by Alfred E. Stacey. In a building erected by Jacob W. Page in 1826 John T. Thomas & Sons had a bedstead factory, which was started in 1859; Deacon Huntington was a member of this firm for a time. The structure was burned February 19, 1895, while occupied for a glove and mitten factory by S. P. Rowe & Co. The glove business has given Elbridge quite a wide reputation in recent years. The old carding mill and cloth-dressing establishment of Levi Clark was subsequently utilized for a pail factory, saw mill and chair factory. The chair works were started by Eaton & Seeley in 1877 and in the same year a similar establishment was put in operation by Buckman & Sons. On the site of the strawboard mill was very early an oil mill run by Jared Wheeler. In 1865 S. D. Paddock, jr., began the manufacture of strawboard and still owns the property. Below this, where is now the clothes wringer manufactory of William Wall, was formerly a saw mill operated by William Hamlin. Besides these there were formerly in the neighborhood of the village a pearl barley mill and a saw mill, the latter run by Charles Lombard. John S. Markell now carries on a chair factory and the Elbridge Electrical Manufacturing Company is engaged in making dynamos, etc....
The latest internal improvement to influence the town was the completion of the West Shore Railroad in the fall of 1883, making the third great steel highway through this section. Elbridge is now among the most prosperous of the towns of Onondaga county, and contains many farms that are justly the pride of their owners.
The supervisors of the town since 1854 have been as follows: William F. Goodell, 1854; Ira Hamilton, 1855-56; Luke Ranney, 1857; Alonzo Wood, 1858; Gilbert Hall, 1859; John Munro, jr., 1862-75; Alexander Van Vleck, 1876-77; Alfred D. Lewis, 1878-79; Hiram D. Preston, 1880-82; Carolman Copp, 1883; Squire M. Brown, 1884-85; Charles C. Cole, 1886-88; D. Munro Hill, 1889-90; David M. Hill, 1891; William G. Cottle, 1892-95. Silas E. Mann was town clerk from 1854, or earlier, to 1880; his successors have been Royal K. Craner, 1880 and 1882-90; Peter R. Granel, 1881; John Y. Andrews, 1891-92; Eugene E. Mann, 1893; Charles E. Morley, 1894-95.
The growth of the town is shown to some extent by the following statistics
of population at different dates: 1830, 3,357; 1835, 3,599; 1840,
4,647; 1845, 3,829; 1850, 3,924; 1855, 4,561; 1860, 4,509; 1865, 4,318;
1870, 3,796; 1875, 4,211; 1880, 4,087; 1890, 3,560; 1892, 3,808."
Submitted 1 July 1998