Rome Locomotive Works - 1895

Rome began as dry land between two streams. Here Wood Creek was separated from the Mohawk River by a mile of woods. Lake Ontario was linked to the Hudson River and the Atlantic Ocean via these waterways. The Oneida Indians called this spot Deo-Wain-Sta, meaning the place where a canoe is carried between two streams. The path beaten by their feet between the Mohawk River to east and Wood Creek to the west became known as the “Carrying Place”.

As early as 1634, an agent of the Dutch West India Company, Harmen Van den Bogaert, describes a trip made with Indian guides to an Oneida Indian settlement just southeast of Oneida Lake.  Soon horse-drawn wagons were transporting boats and their cargoes across the wooded plateau where Rome would begin to grow.  The transportation of boats and goods became Rome’s first business and induced a handful of colonists to dwell there.

Fort Stanwix today

In 1755 the British built Fort Williams near the east end of the Carry Road and Fort Bull at what was called the middle landing of Wood Creek. Later came Forts Craven, Newport, Wood Creek, Stanwix and Rickey. Fort Stanwix, much the superior of any of these, was rebuilt by the Americans at the Revolution and successfully withstood a 21-day British siege in 1777. Here at this dirt and log outpost, tradition holds the Stars and Stripes first flew in the face of an enemy.

In 1935, Fort Stanwix National Monument was authorized by an act of Congress. In 1963, the site of Fort Stanwix was designated a Registered National Landmark, and in 1964, the National Park Service agreed to help work the fort site into the city’s pro­posed urban renewal project.  The outcome of this project was complete recon­struction of Fort Stanwix built on the original site by B.S. McCary Co., Inc. of Rome for the sum of $4,288,000. The formal dedication of this addition to the National Park Service was on May 22, in the Bicentennial Year of 1976, and it continues to be great drawing card for visitors to the city.

In 1796, the township of Rome was established from the Town of Steuben.  Rome’s first merchant, George Huntington, may have suggested the name of the village incorporated in 1819 from a portion of the town­ship.

When the first shovel-full of earth was turned for the commencement of the Erie Canal in 1817, it was located one-half mile south of Dominick Street through swampy land, and meant much less to Rome than to other communities through which it passed.

Removing Erie Canal Bridge at South Washington Street - 1931

The village languished for a time then started to fight in the 1830s for the right of way of the Syracuse and Utica Railroad. The first train to pass through the village was in the early summer of 1839. The same strong-minded Romans succeeded in 1844 in relocating the Erie Canal along present-day Erie Boulevard. With a railroad and canal providing fast and economical transportation for Rome’s goods, the village’s first industries could begin to grow.

Possibly Rome’s greatest year occurred in 1851. Great strides in transportation were made with the completion of the Watertown and Rome Railroad and the Black River Canal. The consolidation of the various railroad lines greatly streamlined cross-state rail service.

A new public school of brick was constructed in 1850 on the 300 block of Liberty Street, Richard Upjohn designed and finished Zion Episcopal Church, the First Presbyterian Church at Court Street was started and the new Rome Savings Bank opened.

Rome Brass & Copper

Not to be outdone by these considerable events, Rome’s farming community in 1851 contributed, through the efforts and genius of Jesse Williams, a factory system for the manufacture of cheese, hitherto an unpredictable item as to quality and availabili­ty. This achievement had not been accomplished before in America. By 1864 Rome was the world center of the cheese market.

Rome started to build its industrial base after the expanding Rome, Watertown and Ogdensburg Railroad moved its building shops to west Rome in 1863. Three years later Rome Iron Works was organized and in 1868 the Rome Merchant Iron Mill was formed by the well-known engineer John B. Jervis of this city. An extensive boot and shoe factory was built and in 1872 the Rome Canning Company was established.  Lumber processing businesses, knitting mills, breweries and a locomotive works were all enjoying steady growth before the turn of the century.

Rome justifiably became known as the Copper City. Rome Iron Works converted to the production of brass in 1878 when iron railroad rails, the principal product were supplanted by steel. By 1890 it had become Rome Brass and Copper Company, with sales covering three-and one-half million pounds of copper. This company merged with others and today is Revere Copper and Brass. In 1892 Rome Manufacturing Company was established and was soon producing specialty items such as copper tea and coffee pots, wash boilers, basins, and the like.  By the second decade of the 20th century, Rome proudly proclaimed “One-tenth of copper used in the United States is manufactured in Rome”.

Rome Academy

Rome’s first public school was constructed in 1850 at the 300 block of Liberty Street. The “free” or tax-supported school was the Rome Academy building which had its debut in Rome in 1869. Later, in 1926, the Rome Free Academy building replaced this structure.

Rome’s first fire company was founded in 1827. By 1881 two horse-drawn steam fire engines, hooks and ladders, hose carts and about 2,000 feet of leather hose could be summoned by a steam whistle at the old Rome Gas and Electric plant on South Madison Street.

Provision for the election of a police constable was made in 1835. Police regulations created in the same act mandated that the constable “...arrest any and all persons in the village guilty of any crime, misdemeanor or offense against the peace or good order of society.” A village police department was created in 1853. The police station, located on East Whitesboro Street, moved into quarters on the ground floor of the new four-story red stone city hall in 1896.

North James Street

In 1941, while Mayor Ethridge was out of town, four men paid an unexpected visit to city hall telling the Public Works Commissioner they were looking over possible sites for an Air Force repair and maintenance depot to serve the entire northeastern section of the nation. In 82 days, Rome was announced as the site of the $13,200,000, two-thousand-acre depot.

Griffiss Air Force Base, which was built on those beginnings, became a city within a city occupying 4,000 acres of land and accommodating as many as 4,000 mili­tary and an equal number of civilian personnel serving four major Air Force organizations which were eventually housed on the base.  Unfortunately for the City of Rome and the immediate surrounding area, on September 22, 1995, at the recommenda­tion of the Base Closure Commission the base was closed and the property turned over to the city.

Recreation and tourism have replaced heavy industries as major sources of income for Rome. Along with Fort Stanwix National Monument, such attractions as the Erie Canal Village, Fort Rickey Game Farm, and the near­by Turning Stone Casino bring visitors and tourist dollars to the area. Local sporting events also bring visitors, and several statewide events, especially hockey tournaments, are regularly held at Kennedy Arena.

Did you know that:

• Francis Bellamy, Author of the "Pledge of Allegiance" lived, and is buried, in Rome
• The first shovel of dirt was turned at Rome for the Erie Canal
• Alex Haley, the talented author of Roots, lived in Rome
• In 1851, Jesse Williams inaugurated the factory systems of making cheese from sweet milk and the first cheese factory was in Rome
• Dr. Potter, who lived at the Beeches, invented the first 2-piece handheld telephone
• Roman John Dove was instrumental in the development of the CD-Rom technology
• Tim Russ of Star Trek Voyager graduated from Rome Free Academy in 1974