Transportation was the region's first large industry. Pioneers from New England in the late 18th and early 19th centuries often stopped in the village of Utica on their way to the western territories. Utica not only was on the Mohawk river, but the main road heading west started at Bagg's Square in Utica and proceeded south to New Hartford and then west. The pioneers would stop in Utica overnight or longer to have wagons repaired, provide horses with new pairs of shoes and buy supplies for their journey.

Between 1819 and 1840, the region became the home of the Erie Canal and the Utica & Schenectady Railroad. That contributed to the rapid growth of population in the region.

Railroads and the age of steam dealt a deathblow to the Erie and the Black River Canals and others like them. The Erie Canal lost most of its passenger business in the early 1840s when the railroads came to town.

The rails went everywhere and wherever they went they brought good times. People could now go places and the train was a wonderful, romantic way to get there. In their prime the rail lines owned the country. Their executives were rich and swaggered around in private cars. Casey Jones and the iron horse will always be remembered. Fortunate are those who have heard the train blow.

Empire State Express circa 1891

The depot was the focal and social center of the community. Here you not only took the trains but you sent telegrams; picked up your baggage and express; watched the mails come and go; watched the milk and freight trains arrive and depart. Many often went to the depot just to see all the excitement. It was the best place in town to meet your friends and to pick up the latest news and gossip.

The first railroad in the state was the Mohawk and Hudson between Albany and Schenectady. It opened in 1831. Five years later, the Utica and Schenectady began operations with six locomotives and 50 cars each with a 24-passenger capacity.

In 1839, the Utica and Syracuse was completed as were other short lines to the west. In 1853, Albany merchant Erastus Corning consolidated all the small railroads into the New York Central.

Although the railroad passed through Utica, it did the city more harm than good. The city’s lucrative stagecoach business slowed to a standstill. When westbound passenger trains began to pass through the city instead of stopping as had the stages, many of Utica’s hotels, taverns and stores closed their doors for good.

DL&W train & staff at Richfield Springs

Farmers in Oneida County benefited greatly from the railroad, though, as they began to grow more and more crops for faraway markets.

Between 1850 and 1895, nearly a dozen smaller railroads originated in the county or passed through it ... including the West Shore. Many of the workers who built the West Shore in 1883 were Italian immigrants who liked what they saw in Utica and ... like the Irish who had built the Erie Canal 65 years earlier ... decided to settle in the city.

Through the years, the railroads played an important role in the growth and prosperity of the Mohawk Valley Region. Utica and Rome became main stops on the New York Central Railroad. In 1914 New York Central opened its magnificent Union Station in Utica and made the city one of the largest freight centers in the country.