John Butterfield was born in Berne, New York, about thirty miles Southwest of Albany on November 18, 1801, son of Daniel and Catherine Ebert Butterfield. He had little schooling and in 1821 he left the farm at the age of 19 to seek his fortune. He secured a job with Thorp and Sprague Express Company where he gained a reputation as one of the most capable and dependable of drivers in that city and which started him on his career in the transportation industry. He shortly moved to Utica, New York, where he was employed by Jason Parker and started his own livery business with the purchase of a horse and carriage. He married Malinda Harriet Baker in 1822 and sired ten children.

His connections with the transportation business pointed out the necessity of having good roads and he built, and had built, plank ( corduroy ) roads through the area - which experience helped him greatly when he came to establish the Overland Mail. He was also one of the first to realize the importance of North-South roads as well as the migratory East-West roads of the time and he established a stage line from Utica South, connecting with other lines at Mt. Pleasant, to New York via Newburgh, and Philadelphia via: Easton, Pa.

In 1857 an act of Congress authorized the adoption of a mail and passenger stage line, awarding the contract to John Butterfield, an experienced stage driver and expressman from New York State.

Since the gold rush of '49 the west had been badly in need of overland transportation that would prove faster and more effective than the long, circuitous routes around the Horn and across the Isthmus of Panama. The contract provided for one year of preparation, calling for the first service from Tipton, Missouri to San Francisco to begin September 16, 1858, with semi-weekly runs over the 2800 miles to be covered in a maximum of 25 days.

When the line started operation in September of 1858, one hundred forty one stations were listed. A year later there were about two hundred. Stations averaged about twenty miles apart. Some were meal stations. All were "change" stations, (change of horses) and about every three hundred miles a fresh coach was supplied. Two meals were served each day, and passengers were advised to take along extra food as well as blankets.

Butterfield House, right of Grace Church

"Remember, boys, nothing on God's earth must stop the U.S. Mail!" This was John Butterfield's maxim to his drivers, conductors and stage personnel.

The Butterfield Overland Stage Line was the longest stage coach route in the world. At the beginning of the route, fares for eastbound passengers were $100 and for those going west $200. Eventually they were reduced to $150 each way.

The Civil war and the consequent removal of the troops stationed at forts along the stage road as well as the confiscation of Overland property and stations by the Secessionists, brought the great Overland Mail to an abrupt halt in March of 1861.

Throughout his life, John Butterfield was truly a giant, a founder of the American Express Company, the New York, Albany, and Buffalo Telegraph Co., (the basis of the Western Union Telegraph), a developer of lands around Utica, builder of the Butterfield House, Utica's largest Hotel, Bank Director and Mayor of Utica.

Slides of Butterfield House

The Butterfield House attracted hundreds of guests and others from throughout the Northeast. It was called "the most modern hotel between New York City and Chicago."

The hotel, built by John Butterfield on the northeast corner of Genesee and Devereux streets in downtown Utica, was designed by Utica architect Azel L. Lathrop. It cost nearly $250,000 to build and furnish.

The first floor had offices, a gentlemen's reception room and a reading room. The second floor was dominated by a dining room whose design, accessibility and numerous convenient features, says the Utica Observer, "call forth expressions of almost unlimited praise." There also was a ladies drawing room, a library and billiards room. The third and fourth floors had single bedrooms and suites. The basement was the home of Chris Freymuller's six-chair barber shop, complete with a back room with three bathtubs.

On November 14, 1869, John Butterifeld died, leaving many descendants who are proud of his accomplishments. His funeral was held from Trinity Church in Utica, New York, and it was recorded that nearly every business place was closed and was draped in black.

He has not been forgotten - Mayor John T. McKennan proclaimed September 16, 1958, John Butterfield Day in commemoration of the centennial anniversary of the Overland Mail and in 1981, a new Post Office was opened in Utica, The Butterfield Station.