Dean Homestead

The 26,674 acres comprising the existing Town of Westmoreland were originally part of Coxe's Patent and the Oneida Indian Reservation under the Treaty of 1788. The first settlement in the town took place in 1786 on Dean's Patent, a 15,000 acre tract of land granted to James Dean by the Oneida Indians in recognition of his many years of service as a missionary to them. Dean set­tled there in February 1786 before the legislature ratified his patent. In the fall of 1786 he visited Connecticut, was married to Lydia Camp, and returned with his bride to the patent.

Early landowners include George Washington, who owned much of Coxe Patent lying north of the hamlet of Westmoreland, Silas Phelps, Nehemiah Jones, the Blackmers, the Townsends, and Samuel Laird.

Westmoreland Elementary School

In 1789 the rate of settlement accelerated and settlers began locating on other patents. In 1792 the Town of Whitestown was divided, one part being organized as the Town of Westmoreland with the first meeting at James Dean's home. As the town was settled and communities established, a principal source of livelihood to small industries and businesses, was agriculture. The town contains some of the best agricultural land in the county. For many years agriculture in the town was dominated by dairy farming and the raising of corn for grain. For a time, hops were raised and several cheese factories prospered before it was possible to refrigerate and ship fluid milk.

About 1805 the Westmoreland Furnace was established in the settlement now called Hecla. The furnace used Clinton ores of which there were two beds within less than a mile. Westmoreland Malleable Iron Company began in 1850 when Erastus W. Clark and Abel B. Buell started an iron foundry.

The town contains a number of hamlets and communities of which Westmoreland, Lowell and Lairdsville are the largest. The community of Westmoreland, originally named Hampton, was settled by Daniel Seely in 1789. Here small industries, shops and stores were established to serve the village and surrounding community.

Westmoreland Tornado, June 5, 1897

Lowell, in McKesson's Patent, was settled by Stephen Stilson in 1802. The post office was originally called Republican and the hamlet called Andover before the names were changed to Lowell. People in the mid to late 1800's used to come to Lowell for its mineral springs. The hotel resort and mineral springs were located on Springhouse Road west of Rt. 26.

Lairdsville was settled in 1788 by Samuel Laird. His log tavern became a well-known hostelry along Seneca Turnpike. Lairdsville flourished when the Seneca Turn­pike was a major route west, but declined when travel was diverted to the Erie Canal and railroads.

As early as 1792, school was taught in a log building, which stood near the burying ground a short distance west of Lairdsville. The town was later organized into 17 common school districts, each with a schoolhouse. In 1932 these were consolidated into Westmoreland Central School and a new building was constructed at Westmoreland.

Westmoreland Tornado, June 5, 1897

In the mid 1800's a boarding school was operated on Graves Road near Westmoreland. It was known first as the DeLancey Institute and later the Williams Collegiate Institute. Near the DeLancey Institute was Halleck springs discovered by Samuel Halleck before 1837. Halleck developed these sulphur springs into a summer resort, which was active during the mid 19th century.

One of the earliest churches was the First Congregational Church of Westmoreland, organized in 1792. A building was erected by its members on the green in Westmoreland in 1798. The Congregational Church, later sold to the Hampton Lodge Masons, was destroyed by fire in 1960. The Masonic Temple stands on the original church property.

An independent Congregational Society was organized in Lowell about 1820 and a church built about 1824. Two successive buildings of the society burned and were rebuilt. A Methodist Church erected in Westmoreland in 1835 still stands. An Episcopal congregation was formed in 1842 in Westmoreland hamlet and a church erected in 1858. The Bartlett Baptist church was founded in 1818 and a church was erected in 1819. The Lairdsville Methodist Church was built after 1831. The church in Hecla and the church in Clark Mills were built in the early 1900's.

Pomroy Jones, who compiled the early history of the county, “Annals and Recollections of Oneida County,” lived his life in Westmoreland. He was born in the town on December 30, 1789, and experienced the early development of the region, as it grew from a frontier to a commercial and transportation center.

In 1985, the Town of Westmoreland celebrated its 200th Birthday of its founding. The town had a two-day celebration that culminated in a community dance and fireworks. The townspeople enjoyed it so much “Founder's Day” is celebrated yearly in July. After 200 plus years, the Town of Westmoreland is still a quiet, pleasant rural community in which to live.