Immigration had been an important factor in the City of Oswego’s economic development from the start. Irish immigrants predominated (today Oswego is still mainly an “Irish” city as their descendants carry on), but there were also significant numbers of French-Canadians, Germans, and English. As the city passed from commercial to industrial activities, these immigrants provided many willing laborers who took the place of those who had left Oswego for other parts of the country. But, the newcomers were hardly enough to meet the enormous demands of Oswego’s burgeoning growth in the light and heavy industries. As more and more factories were built, the door was thrown open to immigrants from southern and eastern Europe, mainly Polish and Italian. They helped to stabilize the population of the city between 18,000 and 22,000 to the present day.

Italians first came to Oswego in 1880s when a small trickle began to seep in from the area around Naples. By the early 1900s, they worked mainly in factories, especially, the Diamond Match Company, as agricultural workers, and on the many railroads which ran in and out of Oswego. As World War I approached over 1200 Italians, mostly Sicilians, but also Romans and Neapolitans and others resided in the city. Close to 100 of them traveled to Italy each winter and returned in the spring with families or new brides or simply alone and refreshed, ready to begin work again.

Italians had come a long way socially by 1917, but they were not yet accepted fully in Oswego. They had problems with the English language, their schooling was not considered up to par, and the stereotype of Mafia, Black Hand, and criminality hung over their heads. This negatively affected even the children of the immigrants. The local press was alarmed that the registration for military service revealed so many aliens living in the city. The press offered that through education and the immigrants’ acceptance of Americanism, this was not the age of diversity to be sure; the immigrants might become an asset.

As it turned out, the war presented Italian immigrants with an unprecedented opportunity to expand their horizons in Oswego and take a giant step toward full acceptance.

One big happening, World War I, brought them closer to that goal. Two related events boosted their chances. First, Italy entered the war on the allied side in 1915. Though the United States was to be neutral in thought as well as in word, no one doubted that President Woodrow Wilson’s sympathies were with Great Britain. Italian immigrants now had a brotherhood with many of Oswego’s people.

Second, when the United States entered the war in 1917, Italians did their share of fighting and their record stamped them as proud Americans.

Unlike their backbreaking labor and personal sacrifices which were largely taken for granted or ignored, the Italians’ efforts in World War I were too significant to cast aside. They were mixed in with all the draftees whose names were published in the local press. They were conspicuous in the lists of soldiers going off to war. They were found among the wounded and the dead. And, they had their share of heroes. No longer could they be relegated to a back page. They were an integral part of the war effort on both the home and the war fronts.

Oswegonians were reading of war and learning that when it came to fighting for the United States there was very little difference between natural born citizens, naturalized citizens, and aliens.

Italians and Italian-Americans served as combatants in three ways. When Italy first entered the war, a handful of them returned to serve in the Italian army. Newspapers in Oswego carried the names of ten such individuals. Undoubtedly, there were more. About an equal number joined the New York National Guard, Company D, which was activated for the war. An additional 80 were drafted. Approximately 10 percent of the land forces that came out of Oswego were Italian. This is consistent with what one would epect from looking at the population figures for the city. No Italians appear to have joined the U. S. Navy though some were listed as having been drafted into that branch of service.

Fatal casualties included Sam Fabrizio, who died in France, and Sam Furnari, who contacted pneumonia and died in Oswego.

TWO Oswego soldiers received decorations for valor on the battlefield. One was I Edward Campbell, from a well-known mercantile family in town, the other was an Italian American, Dominic Spataro, Spataro, who later became a muck farmer despite losing one of his legs in the war, “broke up an enemy machine gun nest with hand grenades, and took four prisoners without assistance. He also volunteered as a stretcher bearer for a period of twenty-six hours and performed valiant service until severely wounded.” He was saved by Campbell. Both received the Distinguished Service Cross and Spataro was decorated with the Croix de Guerre.

Such acts of heroism were not taken lightly. Witness this excerpt from a letter of Lt. Dinsmore Ely to his parents shortly before he was killed in May, 1918: “If anything should happen to me, let’s have no mourning in spirit or in dress. Like a Liberty Bond, it is an investment, not a loss, when a man dies for his country.”

There were other, more subtle, signs of the growing acceptance of Italians. World War I brought forth a major community effort of which Italians were a part. The Liberty Loan committee included Joseph Cosentino, a prosperous fruit and produce dealer, known early as one of the wealthiest Italians in town. The War Savings Stamp Committee included the well-known Sara D’Angelo and a Miss J.

Sereno. Catherine Brancato was cited for her volunteer work with the Red Cross. The popular Alfred D’Amico, barber, union leader, and staunch Democrat, and his counterpart in the Republican camp, John Lapetino, served on the prestigious Legal Advisory Board, established to furnish services to those serving in the National Guard or entering the Federal Service.

When the war ended, it marked the beginning of a new era for Italian immigrants. They no longer could be considered by many Oswegonians simply as “birds of passage,” common day laborers, or dangerous aliens. But, prejudice die hards, and they were not fully accepted as Americans. Spataro played no little role in making Italians more acceptable. Until his death in 1959, Spataro’s acts of heroism were a constant source of pride and honor for the American Italian community in Oswego. He and Campbell, a highly respected Oswegonian, were frequently honored side by side at veterans’ affairs, a constant emotional and visual reminder of World War I and the closing of ranks between the immigrant and native communities which the war occasioned and facilitated upward economic and social mobility.

As World War II approached Italian Americans had still not found unqualified acceptance. The tough economic times of the depression found many people out of work. If any jobs became available, Italians were not the first to be hired. More than a few of them joined the military reserves which gave them a sense of being productive citizens and helped soothe their pride which had been wounded by the cruelties of the world-wide depression. But, this action was like a double-edged sword which hampered their job searches since employers were unwilling to hire a “foreigner” and reservist who might be called to active duty after the company spent many hours and money training a new hire, Thus, Italian Americans were in a Catch-22 situation. While not experiencing the severe degree of bias of their prior generation, their ethnicity and their vulnerability to military service usually worked to put them at the end of the hiring list.

But, the Italian Americans’ devotion to their country helped them overcome the prejudice of years gone by. By the time Spataro had passed from the scene World War II and the Korean War had come and gone and the wartime exploits of the sons and daughters of the early Italian immigrants, which facilitated their upward economic and social mobility, had earned them equality among Oswego’s population.

When World War II broke out, Italian Americans were quickly to come to the defense of their country. Those in the reserves were called up and credited their reserve training as being crucial in helping them serve with distinction especially educating the new recruits and the “90 day wonders” who served as first lieutenants in the hurriedly put-together army. One seaman related how inexperienced gunners were loading an anti-aircraft gun when attacked by enemy aircraft. When he realized they were putting the charge in backwards and were about to blow up their station and kill all the men in it, he quickly jumped in and corrected the situation. Not wanting to wait to be drafted, a number of Italians, often three of four buddies from the same neighborhood enlisted. But, the greatest majority were drafted and these included many enlistees’ brothers of those who stayed home trying to help keep the family together by working at jobs that were now quickly opening up. Oswego was noted for its boiler manufacturing and one company in particular made boilers which were in great demand by naval and maritime vessels.

There is no number available presently to indicate how many Italian Americans in Oswego served overall. However, an undated newspaper clipping found in a scrap book listed the names of 102 young men of St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church who were then in service. Talks with a number of veterans believe that was probably in 1943. If so, the final count could be considerably higher especially considering that some Italian Catholics attended other churches and there was also a smaller number of Italian Protestants as well as non-church goers.

These military personnel served in all branches of the service: army, navy, marines, and coast guard. They served mainly as infantry, engineers building roads and airfields, seamen on destroyers convoying ships in the Atlantic and Pacific, naval amphibians, anti-aircraft gunners, Seabees, belly gunners on B-1 7s, airmen in the army air force, and instructors in the various specialties of the army and navy. Most of the Italian Americans served as enlisted personnel but they also had their share of commissioned officers.

Just as World War I produced an authentic Italian American hero, so did World War II. The first Italian American casualty was Charles C. Crisafulli, who lost his life in the frigid waters off Newfoundland. A gunner’s mate, he dove into the icy waters trying to save a fellow seaman who had been washed overboard as their ship foundered in the rough seas. Neither of their bodies were ever recovered.

A veteran’s post and a Little League ball field are named after him, a constant reminder of his ultimate sacrifice. And just recently, the United States Navy gave him a posthumous award for his bravery.

There were other casualties. the wounded returned with their purple hearts. The dead often were buried at sea or near the sites of battle in the islands of the Pacific, or in the fields of white tombstones in Anzio or some other devastated battle ground. But, they are not forgotten. A group of Gold Star mothers hung their signs of loss in their windows in Oswego and all across America. In the port city, from one-quarter to 0ne-third of the twenty odd Gold Star mothers were Italian Americans.

Over the years, not many Italian Americans from Oswego have complained about prejudice against them in the military. Those who have, generally, cite a sectional bias. Being northerners, many were stationed in camps based in the south where they were identified as “Yankees” and were treated accordingly by some southern military personnel as well as some of the local population. But, it wasn’t egregious, nor anything that they could not handle. Some veterans complained that they met more serious bias when they returned home and reentered civilian life. One man, in particular, claimed that prejudice against Americans of Italian descent was rampant at the Normal School (today State University College at Oswego) where he was employed. As a member of the maintenance department he often worked in or close to the president’s home or office and, witnessing the favored treatment given to Masons and Protestants, he deduced that the president was strongly biased against Italians and Catholics. By the early 1960s that president was gone and the climate got more hospitable for Americans of Italian descent not only at the college but in the local community.

The best single indicator of on coming equality status is the rate of intermarriage of “Italians” with Irish, who virtually have run the city for a hundred years, as well as the Poles, French-Canadians, and other ethnic peoples as well as non-Catholics. Prior to World War II, the greatest number of marriages in St. Joseph’s Church were Italian to Italian, usually Sicilian to Sicilian, Neapolitan to Neapolitan. It was not unusual to find dispensations to permit close blood relatives to marry. At one point, the in-group marriage rate was 93 percent. After World War II, in the 1960s and 1970s, the inter-ethnic marriage rate was as high as 80 percent in an essentially Italian parish. Post World War II in Oswego has also witnessed a dramatic increase in the number of inter-faith marriages.

Prior to 1930 there were none. During the 1930s, 16 per cent were mixed religious weddings, and after World War II the number climbed to approximately 50 per cent. Obviously many non-Italians saw the Americans of Italian descent in a more favorable light as the 20th century progressed.

There are many social, economic, and psychological reasons which can account for these inter-marriage patterns. But, they lie outside the scope of this paper. More to the point, not the least of the reasons for the growth of intermarriage is the acceptance of “Italians” as Americans in the military whose actions and bravery were indistinguishable from those of the establishment Americans, the white Anglo-Saxon Protestants who set the criteria for identifying who was an American.

Luciano J. Iorizzo                                                                                                                    Professor Emeritus                                                                                                                    SUNY Oswego, New York

Editors Note:

This paper was given on 4/1/1992 at a conference sponsored in part by the National Italian-American Foundation in the Hall of the Americas, organization of American States Building, Washington, D.C. It was one of a number of presentations under the title of Italian Migration to the Americas: Influence on Receiving Societies.” LJI

Burton Arnold Thomas (1809-1880) of Sand Bank, Renssalaer County, NY, designed the Riverside Cemetery of Oswego in 1855 in the ’garden style”, a romantic kind of landscape which had become popular in the first half of the nineteenth century.

The park-like setting contrasted sharply to earlier Oswego cemeteries, the first lying west of Fort Oswego in the 1797 plan of Oswego Village, then later cemeteries located where Kingsford Park and Fitzhugh Park Schools are located today.

The Kingsford Cemetery, opened in 1828, received bodies from the old lake shore cemetery and gradually filled as the mid-century mark approached. The Fitzhugh site, opened in 1830, also filled at about the same time. As these cemeteries, surrounded by residential areas, became full, citizens decided to establish a new cemetery farther away from the dense population areas; a cemetery that would reflect a new philosophy in cemetery design.

Accordingly, the following men organized the Oswego Rural Cemetery Association (Riverside Cemetery) on July 13, 1855: John C. Churchill, John B. Edwards, Abraham P. Grant, Gilbert Mollison, Frederick T. Carrington, Thomas Kingsford, Samuel B. Johnson, Simeon Bates and William F. Allen. The founders of the cemetery included some of the community’s best educated, wealthiest and most influential people.

The association purchased the 140-acre Thomas Robinson farm located about a half mile south of the city line on County Route 57 for $5,699.

The cemetery was consecrated November 8, 1855, and, according to the Oswego Daily Palladium, “the sun shone auspiciously and the ceremonies were solemn, impressive and interesting.”

The rural cemetery movement in the United States began with the creation of Mt. Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts (1831), followed by Laural Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia (1836), and GreenWood Cemetery in Brooklyn in 1838. In the 1840s Howard Daniels designed Spring Grove in Cincinnati (1845) which launched Daniel’s career.

Burton A. Thomas laid out Riverside Cemetery in Oswego in 1855 and Vale Cemetery in Schenectady, NY, in 1857, the same year that Daniels designed Oakwood Cemetery in Syracuse, NY.

As attitudes about death changed from a viewpoint of fearing eternal punishment to one of death meaning reunion with loved ones and with God, the corpse was no longer buried and forgotten, but now was viewed as an object of sentimental veneration. The overcrowded, neglected and unsanitary cemeteries of the crowded cities moved to the country.

In Mt. Auburn the conventional grid-patterned cemetery disappeared and in its place appeared the “country-style cemetery” with wooded areas, ponds, landscaped roads and footpaths. Thomas designed Riverside Cemetery in a like manner; romantic pastoralism emphasized hills, groves of trees, winding paths and bridges, and views and vistas.

It was a short step from beautifully designed rural cemeteries to the design of public parks. Just as Frederick Law Olmsted designed New York City’s Central Park, other landscape architects moved from designing cemeteries to the design of serene park lands.

At the same time, the wealthy cemetery patrons began to commission the same architects who designed their homes to design suitable monuments for their cemeteries. At Riverside can be found mausoleums and ornate vaults in Greek, Gothic and Egyptian architectural styles. Examples include the Ludlow mausoleum, Gothic style with a steep slate roof and buttresses on each corner; the Carrington pavilion, a Tudor Gothic structure; the Simpson monument consisting of a cross-gable roof supported by four corner Corinthian columns (designed and built by Anthony Salladin, an Oswego County sculptor and monument maker); the Conde mausoleum in the Romanesque style; and the Nelson vault, Egyptian in style.

The family of Alanson S. and Elsie Page of Oswego contributed the money to build the 1906 Page Memorial Chapel, a small Gothic Revival stone church with a tower. Designed by Fielding Mantle (1865-1941) of Philadelphia, the chapel was built of northern New York State granite, gneiss offset blocks in the buttresses and arches, and a slate roof.

The interior chapel walls feature a paneled oak wainscot below and stone above. The interior trim and pews are all of oak, including the choir pews which have carved finials.

The elaborate stained-glass windows in the sanctuary were designed by Frederick Wilson and manufactured by Tiffany Studios of New York City.

In the rear, the receiving vault (1875) was built into the hillside and later attached to the chapel basement via an underground tunnel.

Alanson S. Page, for whom the chapel was named, operated a lumber mill in Minetto and, in 1870, with Cadwell B. Benson founded the Minetto Shade Cloth Company. He was mayor of Oswego in 1870 when the Oswego City Hall was built. His numerous contributions to his community reflected his various interests in the development of Oswego.

Today, Riverside Cemetery, with almost one hundred unused acres, can look forward to at least two hundred years of service to the Oswego community. The cemetery is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, proof of the integrity of its original design as a country-style cemetery.”

The public is invited to view its ponds, landscaped roads and footpaths, funerary art, vistas and historic buildings. For more information visit the cemetery’s web site (www.riversidecemeteryofoswego.com) or phone 315-343-7691 to request driving tour brochures.

Dr. Helen M. Breitbeck

A noted authority on Oswego’s history, Dr. Breitbeck has served as Director of Education for the Oswego County Historical Society for six years and as Research Associate for the Heritage Foundation of Oswego for 16 years. In that position she wrote nominations for many historic districts, buildings and sites including Riverside Cemetery. The fruits of her labor can be seen throughout the City and County of Oswego where markers from the National Register of Historic Places are prominently displayed.

Dr. Breitbeck currently serves on the Oswego Historian Advisory Board.

Editors Note:

An interesting feature of Riverside Cemetery can be found in its Fall 2010 Newsletter. Early on the local Jewish community had purchased a plot of land from Riverside so they could have a proper burial ground for their deceased. The land was fenced off and consecrated, “the only such consecrated ground in Oswego County for its fellow Jews’.” Several Safe Haven refugees who passed away before the end of World War II were buried there.

It is certainly refreshing to look upon the business activity prevailing in our harbor at the present time, after the usual stagnation of the winter months in all northern lake ports. The click of the mallet and caulking-iron resound on every side – the decks of the numerous vessels are manned with busy crews engaged in “fitting out,” and everything presents an aspect of business, and everybody predicts a season of prosperity. May those predictions be verified, and the approaching season redeems the losses of the past. Vessels are arriving and departing daily, and our business men are actively engaged in completing their arrangements for heavy commercial transactions.

— Oswego Commercial Times, April 3, 1860

This paper is intended to give a perspective on the heyday of maritime life at the port of Oswego in the mid 19th century. Between 1850 and 1860, Oswego was one of the most lively and prosperous ports on the Great Lakes.  The port teemed with activity. In that decade, 18 steamboats, 55 schooners, two brigs, four barks and 136 canal boats were turned out at the local boat and shipyards.  It was not unusual to see dozens of ships in the harbor during a typical day during the navigation season, being ushered in and out of the harbor by a dozen steam tugs.

At times the harbor was so busy it is said that a person could cross the Oswego River on the decks of vessels. During the winter of 1859-1860, there were 68 sailing vessels and 80 canal boats moored in the harbor.  During the off season one would be hard pressed to find a room for the night as the local hotels and boarding houses became winter quarters for hundreds of sailors.

The docks, shipyards and satellite businesses employed hundreds of men and boys.  The maritime life of Oswego centered on the First Ward, which covers the waterfront on the west side, and its counterpart, the Second Ward, on the east side.  The 1850s and 1860s were the zenith of prosperity and activity at Oswego harbor.   To this area of the city, there appears to have been a mass influx of Irish, Scottish, English and Canadian emigrants as well as citizens from continental European countries.

The censuses reveal most emigrants came here as family groups, many apparently passing through Canada first.  Although a few would eventually become prominent citizens and businessmen in Oswego, most were common folk who had come here with their families seeking a better life. They brought with them a host of skills and hard-work ethics developed over the centuries. During the period of American expansion, there are indications many of them later moved on.

Oswego had grown rapidly after the completion of the Oswego branch of the Erie Canal in 1828 and the Welland Canal in 1833 which opened commerce to the Midwest.  According to federal and state census tallies, the population of Oswego jumped from 2,117 in 1830 to 4,000 in 1835; to 4,665 in 1840; to 5,837 in 1845 (it became a city in 1848); 12,205 in 1850; 15,816 in 1860; and 19,288 in 1865.  The 19th century pinnacle of population for Oswego was 22,428 in 1875, after which it began a slow decline.  As of the 2000 census, the population of the city of Oswego was 17,351.

Oswego, which is the oldest U.S. port on the Great Lakes, was designated as a port of entry regulated by U.S. Customs by a law passed by Congress on March 2, 1799. The same law also designated Niagara, and Presque Isle on Lake Erie which is now Erie, Pa.  But Oswego had already been an active port for generations, dating back before the French and Indian War to the fur trading days. It also was of military importance during the course of more than two centuries.

Shipbuilding was on a small scale until after completion of the Welland Canal.  But over a period stretching from the 18th century until well after the Civil War, more than 300 vessels of all shapes and sizes were built in Oswego.  Most of the people who built these vessels were foreign born and brought their skills with them. These included ship carpenters, caulkers, ship smiths, and sail makers. By far the largest class of transplants with maritime occupations was in order of occupation, sailors, ship carpenters, caulkers and vessel owners who made new homes for themselves and families in Oswego.  Since Oswego was also a canal town there were also several yards where canal boats were constructed, and many boatmen also lived here.

Dry docks and marine railways were established here starting in the mid 1830s and over the years employed hundreds of craftsmen.  Oswego-built wooden ships endured the test of time – some lasting for decades.  But many an Oswego sailor left home, never to return.

The first major shipyard on the east side of the harbor was established by Andrew Miller, an Irish emigrant, about 1853. In 1856 he constructed a drydock and continued in operation for several years. Later, this became the firm of Miller, Kitts & Moore. Eventually this facility was taken over by the firm of Mitchell & Gallagher which continued until the 1880s.  This was on the site of today’s Oswego Marina.  At the height of its activity, which like other yards included repairs, 100 or more men were employed.

On the west side of the harbor there were several shipyards over the years. These included Sylvester Doolittle, who in 1841 built the first screw propeller steamboat on the Great Lakes called the “Vandalia.”  In 1835 George S. Weeks established a yard and marine railway (for repairing vessels) on the approximate location of the Oswego Maritime Foundation. Subsequent owners of this yard were James A. Baker, and finally George Goble, who was a native of Ireland and came here in 1837. He was the last of a long line of Oswego shipbuilders.

For a brief period, there were also shipyards in the vicinity of the Coast Guard station operated by Thomas Collins and George R. Rogers.  For a brief period in the mid 1850s there was also a shipyard at the west end of Lake Street, now the site of the large fuel oil tanks for the power generation station. This was operated by John E. Lee and Peter Lamoree. For convenience, the canal boat yards were located along the river further to the south, above the lower bridge. One of the better known yards was that of Scott & Nesbitt.

Labor Problems

Building and repair of wooden vessels was hard work which had to be done outdoors for low pay in all kinds of weather.  The first evidence of unrest appeared in August, 1860 when 300 ship carpenters went on strike demanding a raise of 25 cents a day from $1.50 to $1.75. After marching through the streets of Oswego they held a mass meeting at the old City Hall (now the

Market House on Water Street) and organized the Ship Carpenters and Caulkers Union.  Similar organizations were formed in other shipbuilding centers on the Great Lakes as well as on the East Coast.

Unfortunately the records of this organization have not been found and the newspapers did not always follow up on stories regarding strikes and labor unrest.  However,  there is evidence that shows there were marked improvements in working conditions, pay and benefits over the years, including establishment of an eight-hour work day.

The late 1860s brought the workers and boat and ship yard owners to loggerheads. The following article in the Oswego Advertiser & Times for May 30, 1867 is self-explanatory:

To Ship and Boat Owners

A card from the owners and proprietors of ship and boat yards, appearing in the columns of your paper, Mr. Editor, stating that the Ship Carpenters and Caulkers’ Protective Union attempted virtually to coerce men to belong to the union, we beg leave to contradict it as unreasonable and unjust. We simply claim to be united for our mutual protection and the protection of our families, and we submit our case and our cause before an enlightened and discerning public.

We further claim to be a benevolent society visiting the sick and burying the dead. We proposed to the bosses to reduce our wages from three dollars to two dollars and fifty cents, on old and new work, for eight hours as a day’s work, our business being one of the most laborious of any to work at – excessive toil under a burning sun naturally exhausts and weakens – so, on the long hours we were not in a condition to work the last of them, and in a position very often our feet refused to carry us home, discouraged and dispirited, to our families.

We would beg to remind the majority of these men that it is but a few short years since they worked with the toils with us, and were always the first to demand high wages. A little prosperity, we are sorry to say, to some, drives honorable and manly feeling to the winds. We would ask, was it not by our sweat and toil, together with the exorbitant profits on materials that made them rich in so short a time? A certain gentleman, whose name is affixed to their card, promised a public speech, in a public hall in our city, when he was aspiring to political honors, that he honestly considered eight hours for the hard-working man, and he would require no more. “Consistency is a rare jewel.”  They intimated to us they would send more men to strange cities in Canada, and give them three dollars per day for eight hours work, on order to crash and oppress their fellow citizens, confident it would not be out of their pockets, as the owners of vessels and boats were to be charged three dollars and fifty cents.

Our motto is “be just and fear not,” for our dependence is on Him who protects the poor. We give our time, our sweat and our mechanical labor; we claim to be the producers, while they idly stand by, making and compelling the owners to pay fifty cents on each man, with profits untold. With regard to not having Union men, we would wish to remind them of the extent of this

continent, the facilities, its laws, its government, holds out to honest labor and mechanical science, from the building of a frigate to digging in or on the water works. Our wealth is in our mind and muscle, not in the perishable ways of ship or boat docks.

We ask for nothing but what is fair and just, and will remain, as usual, good Union men, now and forever. We would respectfully inform those wanting ships or boats built, spar making or caulking done, that we are prepared to do it in a workmanlike manner, and at the shortest notice.

Signed, Ship Carpenters’ and Caulkers’ Union

The 1866 Oswego City Directory lists Shipbuilders: Chandler, Alvord & Co., Henry S. Chandler and George S. Alvord; and Littlejohn Dane & Co., both foot of East First St. Goble & Macfarlane, George Goble and James Macfarlane; and Lee & Navagh, John E. Lee and James Navagh, foot of West Second St. The only boat builder listed is Charles King (yawls, &c) foot of Front Street.

The last mention of this activity in Oswego is found in a brief news item in the Oswego Morning Herald of May 5, 1879:

Messrs Goble & Macfarlane have acceded to the demands of the ship carpenters as far as old work, that is, repairing is concerned, and pays the men $1.75 per day. They hold to $1.50 per day on the new vessel which they are building.

The rise and decline of the port of Oswego is best told by those who experienced it. Captain John Molther, United States Inspector of Hulls for Lake Ontario, briefly tracked the history of the port when he spoke at a meeting of the Men’s Club at Christ Church Parish House in Oswego on March 25, 1897:

After 1857 vessel building ceased until 1861. In 1862, Goble built the schooner Thomas S. Mott for the gentleman whose name she bore. Mr. Mott paid for building more vessels in Oswego than any other resident of the city. In the sixties the most prominent vessel owners were Thomas S. Mott,

George Finney & Daniel Lyons, Morgan M. Wheeler and Michael J. Cummings. All vessels built for Lake Ontario trade were made to conform to the capacity of the locks in the Welland Canal.

Vessels built previous to 1870, with a carrying capacity, of from thirty-five to forty thousand bushels, were not greater earners, pro rate, than the canal vessels. One reason was that shippers were not rich enough to buy large cargoes when the immense amount of money spent during the Rebellion had been concentrated into a few hands and the channels between

Buffalo and Chicago had been deepened to sixteen feet, while a twelve-foot vessel could get to but one dock in Oswego, the crisis came and with a free Erie Canal, Oswego’s importance as a lake terminal ceased.

In the old days Buffalo and Oswego were rivals for the business of the West. Buffalo won because the United States would not build a canal around Niagara Falls. It was Buffalo, also, that advocated the abolishing of tolls on the state canals. This was a blow to the forwarding and commission business of Oswego, as all grain using the Welland Canal was required to pay a duty of six dollars per thousand bushels. When state canal tolls existed the tolls from Buffalo to Syracuse equaled the tolls through the Canadian canal, and as the Oswego route was the shortest, it was the cheapest and best.

I allude to Oswego’s liberality in bonding $1,100,000 for railroads and says the bonding proved a curse, rather than a blessing. The city has paid more than $2,000,000 in taxes for interest on those bonds. One reason why Oswego has not grown in proportion to other cities may be found in the confidence which holders of real estate forty years ago had in Oswego as the location for a manufacturing and commercial city. Waterpower sites were considered more valuable than gold mines. Flouring mills were the principal manufacturing industries in Oswego.

Big, pretentious buildings that gave employment to but a few. The Kingsfords were the only manufacturers in Oswego that employed men. Thousands turned to the lakes in those days for employment and found it, and the “Shipmasters’ Ball” was one of the features after the close of the season of navigation. There are but few of the descendants of the men who were prominent in business thirty years ago, prominently connected with business today in Oswego. Among the exceptions are Kingsford, Sloan, Mott, Ames and Oliphant.

Returning to the question of shipping, between 1861 and 1874 Goble sometimes had two or three vessels on the stocks at one time. Investments in vessel property brought large and quick returns. One of Mr. Mott’s vessels, launched in August, 1872, cost $25,000. When she was laid up at the end of the season of 1873 she had $17,500 to her credit. The banner year was 1872.

In 1873 there were 684 vessels enrolled in the Oswego Custom House. In 1896 there were twenty-seven. The largest vessel ever built in Oswego was less than 400 tons measurement and would carry about 700 tons. The average trip to Chicago consumed from thirty to thirty-five days. From six to seven round trips were made in a season. Steamers now make sixteen or seventeen round trips in a season.

An oldtimer once remarked, “Commerce was at its peak then and vessels were entering and leaving the harbor in a regular parade of sails.”

The volume of waterborne traffic in Oswego is gleaned from the Oswego Commercial Times of August 27, 1863. On that day there were 28 schooners and four passenger steamers in the harbor.  Lumber, wheat, corn, lath, cedar, barrel heading and flour were the principal imports. That same day, 22 schooners left Oswego with cargos of oakum, pitch, salt, sugar, pig iron, pork, meal, water lime and coal. A sloop was loaded with 24 tons of stone plaster bound for Sandy Creek.  Besides this traffic, 21 canal boats left for Albany, Troy and other points.

The Oswego Palladium of October 30, 1888 published an interesting interview with Clark Cooley, the Canal Collector at the time, who was considered an expert on this topic. He said:

Commencing with the epoch beginning in the year 1835, during which the large hill extending from the foot of Third street to the river on the East, was leveled and occupied by numerous ship yards, he stated that shortly after the establishment of these, between six and seven hundred workmen were employed as ship carpenters, caulkers, joiners, sail makers and ship smiths.

The industry supported between 1,500 and 2,000 persons.  The wages were good and commodities cheap, and a general prosperity was the result, many comfortable fortunes being accumulated. Among the early shipbuilders were G.S. Weeks, who built steamboats, propellers and vessels; Doolittle & Mollison, who leaded the dry dock between Second and Third streets; Thomas Collins, Henry Doville, Peter Lamoree, John Lee and others.

At a later date there followed George Goble, James Navagh, Peter Dufrane, William Wilmott, Brower Morgan, P. Gallagher and Andrew Miller. Owners of vessels and canal boats were Truman Wyman, Fitzhugh & Little John, C.C. Cooper, Bart Lynch, Daniel Lyons, Morgan M. Wheeler, Dunn & Cummings, E. & O. Mitchell, A.G. Cook, Thomas Martin, McCarthy & Marsh, as well as others.  During the winter from 150 to 200 men were employed repairing ships and canal boats, thus forming a separate industry in itself.

The reciprocity enjoyed with Canada formed a great aid and the navigation interest was at its height. I have seen the river so closely packed with vessels that I could cross it by walking from deck to deck and have known steamers to be obliged to run alongside schooners to land their passengers who then reached the shore by the novel mentioned above. Vessels brought immense quantities of grain which was partially used at the mills and shipped inland by canal.  Now, however, the industry of building is practically extinguished and only about 15 to 25 persons find employment at an industry which formerly gave work to hundreds.

The railroads and free canals are in a measure responsible for this decline, but I consider the chief cause to lie in the huge tariff which followed in 1845, the low one under which these industries had flourished. Immediately after that period shipbuilding began to shrink, the expense of constructing being so great that it ceased to be profitable.  Canada not being cursed in this manner soon proved herself more active competitor than we could withstand. Duties placed upon lumber, iron, cords and materials were very high and worked strongly against us.

I remember the case of Captain John Joyce whose vessel was badly damaged in the Welland Canal and it was rebuilt in Canada, but before being allowed to return to the United States was taxed by the Custom House officers a duty of $4,000 in gold, which was then bringing so high a premium that he was forced to pay in the end almost the original value of the ship.

This is one instance showing the disastrous effect, of a high tariff upon vessels built at this port. It is decidedly my opinion that the high tariff has operated detrimentally to Oswego’s interests and without it we should stand upon a much more prosperous financial basis today, particularly as regards to the industry we have discussed.

Spring Fit-Out

The busiest time of year in sailing days for those in maritime-related occupations was late March and early April. It was truly an animated scene. Oswego virtually came alive after winter’s hibernation. Sailors poured out of the hotels and rooming houses and scurried to the waterfront to fit out their vessels that had sat idle for five months. The Oswego Palladium of April 8, 1864 noted:

The work of fitting out vessels preparatory to the opening of spring business has commenced in our harbor, and the sound of the caulking hammer, and the cheery voices of the sailors will be heard again.

For owners time meant money and there was always an organized rush to get these vessels seaworthy.  During the mid 19th century more than 100 ships, primarily cargo-carrying schooners, were owned in Oswego. Fitting out of sail and steam vessels, as well as canal boats and tugs, was a ritual dating back to the dawn of navigation on the Great Lakes. Yet very little has been actually written on the subject. Old newspapers refer to spring fit out in colorful but generalized prose.   Because so many generations have passed, the actual procedure for fitting out a typical Great Lakes schooner at the time Oswego was a major port is all but lost to the mists of time.

The manner in which wooden vessels were built and maintained was closely scrutinized for many years by a private regulatory organization known as the International Board of Lake Underwriters, made up of such member organizations as the Northwestern Insurance Company which was founded in Oswego in 1832. This board pretty much “ruled the roost” as a private regulatory agency. The board on occasion issued what today would be considered state-of-the-art instruction manuals the construction, operation and maintenance of insured vessels. Even though it appears it was a fair and honest organization this board set the standards. Their “rules for construction” could be found in practically every reputable shipyard on the Great Lakes, and were written in technical but simple enough jargon an experienced shipbuilder could understand. One has to remember that generally speaking these were uneducated people who only attended the “school of hard knocks.”

Oswego had been a major shipbuilding center in the 1850s and 1860s. As the need for larger ships grew over time, the popular ritual of a ship launching, which drew huge crowds of spectators, became a thing of the past. The last sizeable vessel built in Oswego was the three-masted schooner “Leadville,” launched from the Goble shipyard on July 2, 1879. This was a large vessel for its day, 142’6″  long, with a 26’3″ breadth and 12 foot hold, at 343 tons Customs House measurement.

The “Leadville,” named for Leadville, Colorado, was a sight to behold, being a three and after, spreading 9,357 square feet of canvas. Her foremast was 86 feet high; mainmast 88 feet high and mizzen mast 76 feet high. Her fore and mizzen topmast was 60 feet high and the spar had a topmast of 50 feet.  It was short lived, however, and was wrecked on Nov. 13, 1883, east of Long Point, Lake Erie.  There were no casualties.

The local newspapers alluded to the fact that due to the scarcity of ship timber by the early 1870s, Oswego’s master carpenters were being sent to the upper lakes – even as far away as Manitowoc, Wisc. to build ships for local forwarders and other vessel owners.  This was cheaper than having timber shipped to Oswego to build vessels.  The Goble shipyard, which was the last survivor of those days, continued to exist until the mid 1900s on repair work, as it had the only suitable drydock on Lake Ontario to repair Welland Canal–sized vessels.

Although wooden ships built in Oswego were considered among the finest ever constructed on the Great Lakes, the staunchest wooden hulls finally gave into the crashing of freshwater seas against them, especially in heavy weather. The gales of late October and November took a heavy toll of both ships and men.  The loss of human life particularly in the 1850s and 1860s prompted the formation of the Oswego Shipmasters Relief Association. The annual Shipmasters Ball became a popular ritual, the intent of which was to raise funds to assist destitute survivors of shipwreck victims.

Oswego began to fade as a major Great Lakes port in the late 1880s. The bottom fell out after passage of the McKinley Tariff Act of 1890 which raised the duty on grain imports so high it virtually shut down Oswego’s major barley importing business overnight.  One by one the wooden grain elevators along the waterfront eventually disappeared, either by fire or demolition.

The port of Oswego struggled along, but the “Marine List” which proudly used to post dozens of ships that arrived and departed daily during the navigation season, dwindled to only a shadow of what it once had been. The days of when Oswego harbor was a forest of ship masts were but a memory by the 1930s.  The tonnage passing through Oswego actually rose to record levels during this period according to statistics.  The steel ships were many times the size of the old lake schooners.  Grain ships remained large and the exporting of coal, which developed in the 1870s, continued until 1961. At one time there were coal trestles on both sides of the river. Until the early 1960s the ship “Fontana” transported coal from Sodus Point to the Niagara Mohawk power generation plant in Oswego.

The good old days of Oswego harbor were fondly recalled by oldtimers.  Jay Knox, columnist for the Palladium Times in the 1930s and 1940s, once wrote:

Do you remember when Oswego harbor contained a fleet of tug boats and every one of them was kept busy during the season of navigation?  An old time mariner, who evidently knew this harbor, was in a rather reminiscent mood the other afternoon as he entertained a group of listeners about the river doings of other days.

He could tell the name of any schooner that ever sailed into the port of Oswego, knew the captain and where it hailed from and what its capacity was. And duffing this conversation he dwelt upon the tugs that owed them in and out.  He told of the powers of the Charlie Ferris, M.J. Cummings,  C.P. Morey, Eliza J.  Redford, Major Dana, Fred D. Wheeler, Alanson Sumner, M. and J. Connell, John Navagh, E.E. Frost, William Avery and the May Queen.

They were all plying the waters of the Oswego River before the passage of the McKinley bill, which killed the Canadian lumber and barley trade. They all had their share of the business and often times the tugs would race out in the lake for their tow. Today, however, there is not a locally owned tug in the harbor.

Other Sources

• Oswego Palladium, July 3, 1879, Dec. 15, 1900, March 26, 1897, May 24, 1913, April 26, 1916. Nov. 18, 1932, Sep. 21, 1933,
• Oswego City Directories, 1850-1860, at Oswego Public Library
• Zercher, Frederick K. “The Economic Development of the Port of Oswego” Ph.D. thesis, Syracuse University, 1935
• U.S. Census for the year 1860, City of Oswego
• Act passed by U.S. Congress to regulate the collection of duty on imports and tonnage, passed March 2, 1799
• United States Commerce and Navigation Reports, 1799-1892
• “A Glance At The Past – What the Census Reports Show For Oswego” – Oswego Palladium, Dec. 15, 1900.
• Gazetteer of the State of New York,  J.H. French, 1860.

The exportation of coal remained the one business index of port activity which showed consistent improvement. Certain regions in Pennsylvania enjoyed a complete monopoly of the Anthracite Coal industry, so that the source of supply was singular and not subject to change.

Therefore, although in the course of time other routes were established, Oswego was able to retain its natural advantages. But by becoming a port primarily devoted to exportation, rather than to importation, the balance of trade had been disrupted. In the peak year of 1870, there had been collected in the port of Oswego, a total of $1,112,352 in customs revenue. In the early 1930′s, this figure had dropped amazingly to less than $1,000. The records show that during these same years the exportation of coal had increased from 54,526 tons in 1870 to nearly 1,000,000 in 1941. Since the importance of a port is tabulated by the Federal Government on the basis of its revenue, perhaps it was only natural that when the Reorganization Act was passed in 1913, Oswego was demoted as a distinct Customs District, and attached to the District of Rochester as a port of entry.

Thus, another blow had fallen. After over 100 years of leadership, headquarters during that time to the vast territory of Central New York, maintaining sub-ports at Syracuse and Utica, Oswego too was labeled a sub-port, and its destiny ruled thereafter by its rival in the West.

Port Activity Increasing Since 1931

But the gloomy picture has faded. With the opening of the new Welland Ship Canal in 1931, the period of commercial isolation for Oswego is over. During the last ten years, the largest vessels of the upper Great Lakes have been in and out of Oswego Harbor many times. The grain trade that had been lost to Buffalo has again become an important factor in port activity. Realizing that the opening of the Welland Canal must inevitably bring about a revival in the grain business in Oswego, the State of New York, in 1924, erected a million bushel elevator, designed to accommodate the largest lake vessels afloat, and providing also for transshipment of grain by way of the Oswego Canal.

In anticipation of the expected revival of business, the citizens of Oswego created a Harbor and Dock Commission in 1923, which was authorized to “promote and regulate the commerce of the city of Oswego, and its harbor.” As a result of these changed conditions, and revival of interest, Oswego has again become an important transshipment point for vast quantities of grain. In 1940 several of the largest steamers on the lakes, carrying as much as 400,000 bushels each, were docked and unloaded at the State Elevator. The total quantity received during that one year was over 10,000,000 bushels.

New Type of Shipping Vessel

The exportation of salt, which had for so many years, been the chief article of commerce, has never been revived, but the loss of this in-transit business is no longer a burden. In 1923 a new type of vessel made its ftrst appearance on the canaL. With a gross tonnage of over 1500 tons, the vessels were really power driven barges, capable of navigating the Great Lakes as well as the canal. Since the vessels could be fully loaded at the point of debarkation, and proceed direcdy, without breaking cargo, to the post of destination, it at once became apparent to shippers that the saving in time and transportation costs had opened up an entirely new field in water borne commerce. Consequently, newer and larger units were built, and the great quantities of gasoline, kerosene, raw and refined sugar, molasses, sulphur, chemicals and wood pulp that have passed through the port in recent years have aided materially in establishing a new era of prosperity.

OSWEGO’S COLLECTORS OF CUSTOMS

On March 3, 1803, President Thomas Jefferson appointed Joel Burt as the ftrst Collector for this District. During, his tenure of office, he occupied quarters in the same building that housed the Post Office at that time, a store operated on West First Street by William Dolloway. Mr. Burt’s successors, and their business addresses follow:

• Nathan Sage – appointed June 11, 1811 – operated Custom House from his home on West First Street
• John Grant, Jr. – appointed May 31,1826 – operated office at this home on WestSeneca Street
• George H. McWhorter – appointed May 1,1834 – opened new Custom House in building at corner of West Seneca and Water Streets
• Thomas H. Bond – appointed August 2, 1841 – continued to occupy Custom House at corner of West Seneca and Water Streets
• George H. McWhorter – appointed again on May 23, 1843 upon the death of Mr. Bond
• Jacob Richardson – appointed June 4, 1849 – moved the office to a new building on Water Street, the Burckle Building where it remained until the new Federal building was erected on the corner of West First and Oneida Streets.
• Enoch B. Talcott – appointed May 28, 1853 – continued to occupy Custom Office in Water Street building
• Orville Robinson – appointed March 31, 1858 – Custom House make its final move to present location in the Federal Building on October 5, 1858.
• John B. Higgins – appointed April 1, 1860
• Charles A. Perkins – appointed October 1, 1861
• Andrew VanDyke – appointed September 1, 1864
• Charles C.P. Clark – appointed April 1, 1869
• Elias Root – appointed May 1, 1871
• Daniel G. Fort – appointed July 10, 1877
• John J. Lamoree – appointed January 14, 1882
• Issac B. Poucher – appointed July 31, 1885
• Henry H. Lyman – appointed August 1, 1889
• W. J. Bulger – appointed December 1, 1893
• James Cooper – appointed April 1, 1897
• John S. Parsons – appointed April 2, 1910

Upon the passage of the Reorganization Act of 1913, Oswego lost its status as a Collection District, and the succession of Collectors appointed by the President came to an end. Charles A. Bendey, who had held the Civil Service office of Special Deputy under Mr. Parsons was immediately sworn in as Deputy Collector of Customs in Charge, and held that office until the Civil Service age limit forced him to retire on July 1, 1932. Upon the retirement of Mr. Bendey, Benjamin P. Legg was designated to take his place, and held office until his untimely death on October 15, 1939. After Mr. Legg’s death, the present incumbent, John W. O’Connor, was appointed in his place.

Posts, staves and squared timbers were the principal items received, and nearly all the lumber brought into Oswego had been cut and shipped from the vast forests along the northern shores of Lake Ontario. Although modern methods of mechanization have been successfully applied to the lumbering industry, it is curious to note that the actual manner of shipping has not been materially changed since those early days. The vessels in the trade were ordinarily brought to anchor offshore, where the timber and staves had been collected for shipment. The timbers were then floated out to the vessels and the staves brought out in scows. Upon arrival at Oswego, the vessels were unloaded directly into canal boats for further shipment, or deposited at the local lumber mills for further processing.

Freight Rates to West Cheap

Another case that illustrates the importance of lower rates on shipments to the West was evidenced in the local lumber trade in the period prior to the Civil War. Much of the lumber brought into the port was consigned to local sawmills, where it was sawed, grooved, and fitted for laying by machinery. Because of the low western freight rates, it was considered more feasible to reship most of the processed lumber to the western ports. A thousand board feet of lumber could be shipped to Chicago for three dollars, a distance by water of 1100 miles, whereas it would have cost four dollars to send the same quantity to Albany, a carry of only 200 miles by canal boat.

The records show that the lumber trade at Oswego increased tremendously from 1840 to 1870. Some conception of this growth may be gained from the following figures:

• 1840 – 19,560,997 Board Feet
• 1850 – 67,586,985 Board Feet
• 1860 – 190,402,228 Board Feet
• 1870 – 284,539,533 Board Feet

The best single index to Lake Commerce over a period of years is the figure which represents the tonnage of all vessels entering and clearing in the district. From 952,926 gross tons entered and cleared in 1848, the figure increased to 1,693,486 gross tons in 1870. During the same period the tonnage, of all vessels enrolled in the Oswego District increased from 21,079 gross tons to 100,040 gross tons.

Largest Flour Mill Built Here in 1860

It was during this period, too, that the grain trade was born. With the opening of the prairie lands in the West after 1830, and improvements in water transportation facilities, great quantities of wheat, corn, barley, oats and peas were shipped into Oswego from the areas bordering upon the Great Lakes, and the trade reached its peak in 1856, when 18,646,955 bushels were received. As flour milling expanded, a larger proportion of the wheat was ground, and the balance shipped by way of the canal for eastern domestic markets, and for exportation to Europe. The number of flour mills increased from seven in 1841 to twenty in 1870. In the 1850s Oswego ranked with Baltimore, Rochester and St. Louis as the most important flouring centers of the United States, and for a few years of that decade, it surpassed Rochester “the Flour City” in total production. The largest flour mill in the country was built in Oswego in 1860. It had a capacity of 300,000 barrels a year. The volume of business naturally fluctuated with the size of the wheat crops, and the demands of European markets. During the late 1840′s, unsettled conditions in Europe and the famine in Ireland made such demands upon the local facilities that the mills were kept in operation night and day. On the other hand in 1860, a huge grain crop, and a declining market, caused all the mills and elevators to be filled, and 25 loaded vessels were forced to winter in the harbor.

Reciprocity Early Boosted Canadian Trade

One highly important factor in the tremendous expansion of Lake commerce at Oswego during this period; a factor that has been almost completely forgotten in the intervening years, was the Reciprocity Treaty with Canada in 1855. After the repeal of the British Corn Laws in 1846, and the general relaxation of European trade barriers which followed, there gradually grew up in the political minds of the United States and Canada, a tendency toward Free Trade.

Into this controversy, the citizens of Oswego entered with exceptional enthusiasm. Since it was considered essential that the interests of Oswego’s merchants be properly presented to the legislators, and the movement for reciprocity be kept alive, Alvin Bronson was sent to Washington as a lobbyist in December 1852. It was largely through his efforts and the cooperation of Gerrit Smith, then the newly elected Congressman from this district, that the Treaty was passed and signed on June 5, 1854.

The agreement covered all fishing, trading and navigation rights for a period of ten years. Oswego’s interest in the document was based upon the chapter devoted to trading rights. In effect, this chapter proclaimed that the natural products of the two countries should be admitted free of duty into each country respectively. The products covered by this general rule were specifically enumerated, and included extractive raw materials of agriculture, lumbering, mining and fishing.

The immediate impact of the Treaty upon business in Oswego was very favorable. The first full year of operation showed an increase in foreign trade value of over $9,000,000, and during the life of the Treaty, which was repealed in 1866, Oswego experienced peak years in the following classifications:

1. Greatest tonnage moved on the Oswego Canal
2. The greatest quantity of salt exported
3. The greatest quantity of grain received
4. The greatest quantity of grain moved on the Canal

Government Lost Revenues through Treaty

But the picture disclosed by these figures does not give a detailed outline of the true effects of the Treaty. It is true that more merchandise moved in and out of Oswego harbor during this time than during any other period. It is true that this remarkable increase in business took place during a major depression, followed by Civil War. Nevertheless, the true index of port activity shows that instead of the decrease in business predicted by the exponents of the Treaty, to follow its termination the foreign trade in Oswego continued to grow.

Direct entrances and clearances of vessels in foreign trade maintained a steady increase up until 1873, and the money value of imports also continued to grow. Since most of the articles imported during this time were free of duty, there naturally had been a decline in Customs revenue.

The net revenue recorded at the Custom House for the year 1854 was $160,669. Two years later, after one year of Reciprocity, the revenue had dropped to $4,275. In 1866, after the termination of the treaty, the revenue had increased to $969,365, so that it is estimated that the Federal Government lost approximately $5,000,000 in revenue during the 11 years the Treaty was in effect.

Lake Trade Fell Away After 1870

From this time on, the story is one of discouragement and regret, Oswego had seemingly reached its zenith as a port. For 60 years, beginning in 1870, there was a gradual but nevertheless, persistent decline in port activity. In general, the recession was very marked during the years from 1870 to 1874. Conditions remained quite static from 1875 to 1894, when a further drop began that carried Oswego down from its heights as one of the most important shipping points in the country, to the level it had reached in 1930, an obscure port of entry, hugging the banks of Lake Ontario.

The story of a bridge of ships across the harbor was only a memory. The last bushel of Onondaga salt had passed through the port in 1873. A century of promiscuous cutting had denuded the timberlands in the Lake Ontario watershed, and the last entry of Canadian lumber was made in 1928. The 20 flour mills that dotted the Oswego landscape in 1870 had disappeared. Some had burned, more had been absorbed by the larger corporations that had been attracted to the western milling centers by better transportation facilities and improved methods of manufacture. Only the coal business remained active. By some perversity of fate, it happened that one of the factors that had ruined Oswego as a port, the competition of the railroad, was in a large measure responsible for the continued increase in the exportation of coal.

The causes underlying the decline of port activity could not be due to the business cycle, since the years of prosperity during the period were nearly as many as the years of depression. Instead, Oswego’s position as a port had been undermined by fundamental outside changes. Superficially, it must be noted that the port of Oswego had lost its natural advantages as a gateway to commerce. However the direct and indirect causes should be evaluated more definitely.

Fundamental Changes Affected Port

During the Colonial period, and later, during the salt era, the mouth of the Oswego River had occupied a kind of monopolistic position as a point where transportation routes converged. A large part of all water bourne trade from the eastern seaboard was routed through the portals of Oswego. Its only rival, for many years, was the St. Lawrence route, but as the years passed by, other more advantageous, routes at first threatened, then affected, and finally nearly destroyed the position Oswego had attained.

Certain other elements directly affected port activity. One of these was the failure on the part of the federal government to complete the improvements of the Great Lakes. As late as 1935, the United States Army engineers recommended the Oswego route to the seaboard as being more economical, yet years of agitation on the part of local representatives for the building of the often proposed Niagara Ship Canal, which would enable upper lake vessels to trade in Oswego, brought no result. Furthermore, the tariff policy of the United States during this period, with its inherent elements of protection, was clearly a negative factor in Oswego’s trade. Canadian goods were kept out of the United States, and in retaliation, American goods were heavily taxed in Canada.

Perhaps the greatest single, short-term, positive cause of port decline was the successive removal of Erie Canal tolls, which had the natural effect of building up Lake Erie ports at the expense of those on Lake Ontario. Prior to the removal of the tolls, boats passing through the Erie Canal paid low tolls, while those using the Welland Canal from Lake Erie and the waters of Lake Ontario and Oswego escaped these. The Welland Canal had reached its capacity in the 1860′s, and the average size of vessels on the Great Lakes increased more rapidly than locking facilities were improved upon. Canal to Lake Ontario shipping was gradually choked off from the main stream of Great Lakes commerce. During the same period, Canada, realizing the disadvantages accruing from shipping its products “in bond” through the United States to Europe, had improved the St. Lawrence waterway by the construction of six short canals. These improvements gradually diverted much of the western and Canadian traffic from Oswego to Montreal.

Fully as important to the loss of volume tonnage to the Port of Oswego was the perfection of a new technique in transportation to which Oswego had not been able to adapt itself. The continued success of the railroads as freight and passenger carriers finally destroyed the advantages that Oswego had formerly enjoyed as a transshipment point for waterborne traffic. From the earliest days of the railroads, most of the successful companies had built their roads from the Atlantic seaboard to the West, and the principal eastern cities, New York, Boston, Philadelphia and Baltimore, had financially aided in the construction of railroads that would provide direct connection with the upper Great Lake ports of Chicago, Cleveland, Erie and Buffalo. Although the citizens of Oswego also contributed financially to various projected railroads which would follow a direct route to the coast, none of these projects materialized.

Changes in Transshipment Methods

One final factor contributing towards the decline of the port must be considered. In the years that followed the invention of the steamboat, many changes had been made in the field of transportation. Oswego’s prime had been reached in a period when vessels were small, and cargoes were transferred by manual devices from one kind of carrier to another. It began to decline when transfer utilities were no longer in demand, and when larger vessels, carrying larger cargoes, loaded and unloaded by machinery traveled longer and longer distances without breaking cargo.

Many attempts were made during this time on the part of Oswego’s civic and business leaders to stem the tide of destruction, but each sincere effort was minimized by conditions beyond their control.

Effects of McKinley Tariff

Nearly all the lumber received at Oswego after 1870 came from Canada. In the peak year of 1873 there were 298,681,000 board feet imported. Even though the lumbering areas were moving westward, Oswego, because of its position as the nearest lake port to the seaboard, and because of low transportation costs, continued to retain its place as the foremost lumber distributing center in the United States. This trend continued until the passage of the so-called McKinley Tariff Act in 1890. The tariff policy of the United States had always given a certain measure of protection to American producers and manufacturers against inferior and less costly competitive products of foreign countries. This was the first tariff act designed primarily to protect the American farmers and producers of raw materials, and was strongly favored by the general public.

However, since under the terms of this act the duties on wood and manufactures of wood were increased to 35 per cent ad valorem, there developed a gradual tendency on the part of Canadian producers to fabricate their own lumber products, and export them directly through Montreal, rather than to submit to the prohibitive duties prevailing across the lake.

It was this same act that sealed the doom of Oswego’s thriving grain trade. The total quantity of all grains received in 1870 was 13,389,547 bushels. Many malt houses were established in Oswego during this period using barley imported from Canada in their manufacturing processes. Imposition of the high McKinley tariff rates caused mid-western growers to take up growing barley and the malting business of Oswego was gradually lost to the mid-west. At one time there were 13 malt houses operating in Oswego. By 1900, importation of grains at Oswego had virtually ceased. The mark-up of duties from a uniform ten cents per bushel to an amount as high as forty-five cents a bushel left Oswego’s elevators empty, and dissipated its dream of becoming the leading grain market in the East.

Oswego Made Port of Entry in 1799

The first United States Tariff Act was signed by President Washington on July 4, 1789, sixty-five days after he took the oath of office. Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury, set up Customs Collection Districts along the Atlantic seaboard, and from that time on, a substantial portion of Government income has been derived from duties on imported materials. The passage of this Act effectively stopped for all time the violent quarrels between the States over tariff boundaries. The individual State laws, which had previously required the payment of duties on merchandise moving from one state to another, were repealed, and the mandated policy of a protective tariff has been administered ever since by the Secretary of the Treasury.

During the years of British occupation, no attempt was made to administer the new tariff act along the northern frontier. But when in 1796 the last British outpost was evacuated from the southern shores of the Great Lakes, legislation was introduced into Congress to revise the original bill. The second Tariff Act was passed in 1799. Under this Act, duty schedules were slightly changed, the boundaries of the United States were outlined, and a new Customs Collection District was established. The honor of being the headquarters port of this district, the first port of entry in the United States west of the Atlantic seaboard, was given to Oswego.

From this time on, lake shipping in and out of Oswego developed steadily. It became recognized as the most important port on the newly opened water route to the West, the route over which thousands of immigrants and emigrants passed. An average of 150 complete trips per year were made between Oswego and Niagara by vessels measuring between 40 and 100 gross tons. The open boats, used exclusively at the turn of the century, were gradually supplanted by larger sailing vessels, as Americans began to realize the important factors of speed, comfort and cost in lake navigation.

Pole Boats Replace Canoes

The mode and speed of transportation had changed very little during the Fur Trade Era. Canoes were ideal in a region of frequent portages, and dangerous rapids, and since the loads were relatively light, the early traders emulated their Indian friends and learned to use the canoe to their best advantage. But as the traffic expanded, the necessity for a safer, less costly means of transportation became evident. Gradually the canoe was replaced on the water route from Albany by the “pole boat”. This was a wooden vessel, usually about thirty feet in length, capable of being propelled in less than a foot of water. This type, in turn, gave way to the “keel boat” which was the direct ancestor of the modern canal boat. Seventy-five feet in length and built of planked pine, it was protected throughout its length by a stout wooden keel, four inches square, which took the shock from any submerged obstruction. This type of vessel was capable of carrying over five tons of cargo.

First Commercial Ship Built

The first commercial sailing vessel built at Oswego was a schooner of 90 tons, named “Fair American.” It was launched in 1804, and was later sold to the United States Government for use in the War of 1812. From 1807 to 1817 there were 23 known sailing vessels built in Oswego harbor. In 1810, out of the 60 sailing vessels then trading on Lake Ontario, 31 of them were registered in Oswego. While it is true that anticipation of war with Great Britain was partly responsible for the impetus in shipbuilding, it is of interest to note that increased lake traffic expansion put these vessels to immediate use, and for many years after the war of 1812, schooners built at Oswego during this period continued to carry the greater share of Lake Ontario commerce.

The first of many governmental set-backs to be experienced in Oswego came with the passage of the Jeffersonian Embargo Act on December 20, 1807. This Act was aimed primarily at British trade, but Oswego, as the shipping center for salt, potash and general merchandise to Canada was so adversely affected that by July 1808, local opposition had reached almost the height of armed insurrection. The Collector of Customs here was forcibly prevented from enforcing Federal Regulations, and was obliged to request Governor Tompkins to order out the militia.

Shortly after this episode, the government designated Oswego as its official naval base on Lake Ontario, purchased all available and desirable vessels on the lake and moved to Sackett’s Harbor. The fact that naval supplies were stored here, and transferred to ships to be delivered to Sackett’s Harbor, was the principal reason that lead to the British attack on Oswego on May 6, 1814 and the capture of its port.

Oswego Center of Shipbuilding

Economically and commercially, the growth of the United States in the years that followed the War of 1812 was a phenomenon unparalleled in world history. The steamboat was invented, and immediately every harbor in the country became a shipyard. The Erie Canal was opened and immediately every inland city made plans for an all water connection with the Seaboard. The first railroad was built and immediately each crossroad hamlet pooled its meager resources in its dream of becoming a shipping center. And in this dream of greatness, Oswego, too, played its part. Already recognized as a shipbuilding center, the community continued to expand the industry until it reached its peak in 1847, when 26 vessels slid down the weighs here into Lake Ontario to carry Oswego’s message of commercial superiority to the world beyond its shores.

Oswego Canal Opened

The opening of the Erie Canal proved a severe political blow to Oswego’s businessmen, and a legislative victory for the producers of Western New York. Using every legal subterfuge available, these champions of localization had convinced the Governor and the Legislature that the all-water route through Oswego, which had adequately served 200 years of traffic, should be abandoned in favor of a route that would directly connect Buffalo and Rochester with Albany. For only a few years, however, was Oswego in eclipse. Realizing that the completion of the Erie Canal would divert the greater share of commercial traffic from Oswego to Buffalo, several local civic leaders formed the Oswego Canal Corporation for the purpose of improving the waterway from Onondaga Lake to Lake Ontario. Within a few years, the State was persuaded to take over the work begun by this corporation, and on April 28, 1829 the Oswego Canal was completed and formally opened to Connect with the Erie Canal at Three Rivers.

Welland Canal Gives Great Stimulus

The following year, the Welland Canal was completed, and on August 4, 1830, the first vessel cleared from Cleveland to Oswego. This combination of events probably had more to do with the development of port activity here than any other event in its entire history. By opening up a cheaper and more rapid route for carrying passengers and freight from the seaboard to the interior Great Lakes region, this new canal established a larger market for all products. By the consequent lowering of transportation costs, the way was paved for the production of additional commodities whose market had been limited previously.

As evidence of the enormous commercial expansion that the port of Oswego enjoyed during the next several years, the records show that from 1830 to 1836, canal tolls increased from $3,673 to $53,677. The number of vessels annually arriving in port rose from 546 to 2,004 in the same period. The enrolled tonnage at the port increased from 521 tons in 1830 to 21,079 in 1848. The direct entrances and clearances jumped from 6,910 tons in 1830 to 188,919 tons in 1848. The total value of lake business in 1830 was $277,000, but in 1848 it had reached $18,166,907.

Salt Shipments Subsided After 1858

Throughout this period, salt continued to maintain first place as the most important commodity handled, and rose from 300,000 bushels exported in 1830 to over 2,000,000 bushels in 1848. The peculiar position of salt as an item of trade at Oswego deserves brief explanation. Prior to 1860, the more bulky goods handled here were from the West, and consisted principally of grain and lumber, characterized by large bulk and low value. Goods shipped westward were, on the other hand, less bulky and of higher value. Consequently, sailing vessels and later steamers making the western trip often traveled in ballast. So, while the records show that nearly 5,000,000 bushels of salt were shipped in the year 1858, the peak year, it must be remembered that most of it was carried as pure ballast. The actual cost of transporting a barrel of salt from Oswego to Chicago in 1859 was only eight cents. Even seasoned shippers were at a loss to explain the paradox that allowed a pound of Onondaga salt to be sold cheaper in the Chicago market than in Cazenovia, a town only 20 miles from the salt works. However, after 1860, the business slowly declined, and in 1873 ceased altogether. The discovery of new salt deposits in Canada, Michigan and West Virginia, together with changed technique in manufacture finally terminated a business that had for many years been a profitable item of commerce at Oswego.

At the beginning of the 18th Century then, Oswego is a center of conflict among three groups who alternately claimed the right to navigate the Oswego River and utilize its natural advantages: The French who claimed it politically, not because they needed it, but because they feared that the English would be able to penetrate westward by way of Oswego, and threaten the main stream of their trade; the Iroquois, whose home it was, and who used it practically, playing one faction against the other; and the English, who saw in Oswego a key position which they must possess if they hoped to dominate the western fur trade and hold the Iroquois to the English cause.

The Fur Trade was very important to the colonists of that period as well. Then, as now, foreign exchange played no small part in the relationship between Europe and the Colonies. The farmers, trappers, and small tradesmen here depended upon Europe for nearly all the manufactured goods they required, as well as for the few items of luxury they allowed themselves. In a land where the streams and forests abounded in fur-bearing animals, it was only natural that the pelts of these animals should be used as a medium of exchange with a luxury loving Europe.

Thus, through the years, the struggle for supremacy over Oswego was being waged between the French and the English. At first, all the advantages seemed to be in the hands of main outlet to the sea, the St. Lawrence River, which was controlled by the French. They dominated all the lands surrounding the Great Lakes. But the English had become friendly with the Iroquois. They had learned that they, too, could possess an all water route into the interior, with only a few easy portages to bar their way. Furthermore, they were willing to pay high prices for the fox and otter, the beaver and muskrat, the raccoon and mink that were so much in demand in Europe.

The fur trade at Oswego was primarily an exchange of beaver pelts for rum. Rum, produced by slave labor in the West Indies, was a much cheaper product of exchange than French brandy, and perhaps just as potent. At any rate, when the Indians from the West began to realize that a fully loaded canoe would bring nearly twice the quantity of “fire-water”, or other exchange material, at Oswego, as a similarly loaded canoe would bring at Niagara, they quickly deserted the French controlled trading posts, and year after year, came in ever increasing numbers to the nearest British outpost of trade, Oswego.

Canoes Brought 1400 Pelt Packs a Year

The value of fur pelts at Oswego during the 18th Century was extremely high. The canoes used by the Indians from the West were usually about 33 feet in length, and, when fully loaded, carried seven packs of peltry, each pack valued at that time at approximately 15 pounds sterling. About 200 loaded canoes traded into Oswego during each season so that the total value at that time was about $100,000.

As the volume of business increased at Oswego, trade diminished at the French ports of Niagara and Frontenac. It finally became necessary for the French Government to take up the unexpired leases held by individuals and operate these posts at a loss. The trading post of Oswego became such an important issue in French politics, that at the outbreak of the Seven Years War, one of the first objectives of the French under Montcalm was the destruction of the dockyards and partly completed forts at Oswego.

In 1755, the British realized that only by fortifying Oswego and building a fleet here could they ever hope to attack Niagara and cut off the French settlements in Louisiana and the West. So they belatedly set to work on these projects using, for the most part, contract labor. The first naval vessel ever built by the British on fresh water was launched here in that year, and appropriately named the “Oswego”. But before the entire program could be carried out, Montcalm attacked with 3,000 French and Indians, and completely destroyed ships and dockyards, forts and civilian establishments. This was a severe blow to the British cause; especially since the Iroquois, always so necessarily a part of the British fur trade, had become ardent admirers of the French and their leader. Nearly two years passed before the British were in a position to again use Oswego. New docks were built and new vessels launched at the mouth of the river. Within the next few years, various expeditions were made against the French from this port, and vessels built at Oswego were largely instrumental in the ultimate capture of Fort Frontenac and Montreal.

British Dominance Killed Oswego Fur Trade

This war and the resultant treaty of peace completely changed the status of Oswego as a port. With the acquisition of Canada by the British, fur trading in Oswego became almost non-existent. No longer the sole outpost of English safety and trade, it was reduced for a time to a low level of commercial importance. Some trade with the Iroquois was retained, but the main stream of cargo bearing canoes now passed it by, to be unloaded at the more important markets of Niagara, Toronto and Montreal. Shipbuilding continued and Fort Ontario, alone of the three forts which fell to Montcalm, was rebuilt, but the commerce that had grown so steadily at Oswego for nearly 150 years gradually subsided, and during the American Revolution, ceased entirely. British occupation of Oswego, as well as of many other frontier points on the Great Lakes continued for many years after the surrender at Yorktown. The many restrictions placed upon American trade during this period were not alleviated until the British finally yielded Fort Ontario to the United States and retired to Canada in 1796.

Loyalists Pass Through To Canada

During the years of military occupation of Oswego by the British a new type of trade was inaugurated. No American vessels were allowed to pass through the port if they carried any cargo produced in the United States other than grain, flour, cattle or provisions; and no commodities of any kind could be imported into the United States through Oswego. All American traders were stopped at Fort Ontario, and their goods confiscated. During this period, Oswego became a main outlet for Loyalist migration to new settlements in what is now the Province of Ontario in Canada. It is estimated that over 7,000 British sympathizers passed through Oswego in the years immediately following the Revolution, en-route to Canada, and taking along with them such of their worldly possessions as they could carry.

While the British occupation of Oswego was still at its height, a new industry began to develop on the banks on the Onondaga River. At first, purely local in character, mainly because of trade restrictions at Fort Ontario, it soon outgrew its swaddling clothes. By the time the British finally relinquished the Fort to the Americans on July 14, 1796, the Salt Industry was ready to take its place as a very necessary cog in America’s wheel of commerce.

Four Great Periods of Port Development

The geographical setting of Oswego has been the most important factor in its development since the earliest days of its history. The first map of North America was published in 1569 and all subsequent maps showed the Oswego River flowing into Lake Ontario, and forming a natural harbor. Even the earliest explorers realized the value of an all water route connecting the French settlements along the St Lawrence with the Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam (New York City) at the mouth of the Hudson. The natural canoe route of the Indians had always been along the southern shore of the lake, since the northern shore abounded in shoals, rocks and islands. Consequently, the advantages of Oswego’s location were immediately recognized by the early traders.

Since the time the Iroquois Indians were banished from the vicinity of Montreal by hostile tribes and built a new village at the mouth of the Oswego River, there were four great periods of development of port activity in Oswego.

The Fur Trading Era began when the first Dutch settlers at Fort Orange (Albany) strove unsuccessfully to wrest from the hands of the French Traders the monopoly the latter had established upon the shores of Lake Ontario.

The second great period might be called the Salt Era, which ushered in the gradual development of river and canal traffic throughout the nation, a period of extreme economic changes which brought about the establishment of Oswego as the foremost fresh water port in the country. This was a period of ship-building and commerce, during the latter years of which, great fleets of sailing vessels plied in and out of Oswego harbor, carrying westward in their holds, the salt, sugar and rum, the powder, cloth and manufactured goods needed to feed the growing demands of the settlers of the West.

This period was followed by the Lumber Era which was the most prosperous in Oswego’s history, a period which made a subtle change in Oswego’s commerce. The trek to the West had subsided. The vast spaces and open country had become settled and self-sufficient. The railroads were reaching parts of the continent never before served by waterborne commerce. The ringing of a thousand axes in the dense pine forests along the shores of the Great Lakes were being echoed every day in Oswego harbor, and millions of board feet of lumber were being unloaded from entire fleets of lake vessels; were being planed and processed in Oswego’s mills; and then transshipped by scow and barge to the markets of the East.

The Coal Era saw the bateaux and keel boats replaced by motor ships and tankers, and the port of Oswego once again raised her head above tariff walls and depressions, and regained the important position she once held – “The Gateway to the Atlantic.” During the navigation season of 1941, for example, there were nearly 500 direct entrances and clearances of vessels to foreign ports, and from Oswego nearly 1 ,000,000 tons of coal were exported, a quantity twice as large as had been shipped in any previous season.

Mr. O’Connor was the Chief Executive Officer of the Port at the time he prepared this paper. He had a distinguished business career. He also was active in many civic organizations in Oswego. They include: a) the Oswego Players; b) the Oswego Historical Society; c) Rotary for which he served not only as the President of the local club but also as District Governor; d) the Elks for which he served not only as Exalted Ruler of Oswego’s Lodge but also as New York State Vice President; e) the Chamber of Commerce for which he served as President; and f) the Oswego Civic Music Association for which he served as its first President.

Mr. O’Connor passed away in 1970.

– Introduction by Lou Iorizzo Oswego City Historian

Led by City Historian Dr. Luciano J. Iorizzo, who is also Professor of History, Emeritus, SUNY Oswego, this site is a work in conjunction with Mayor Randolph F. Bateman and the City Historian Advisory Board to preserve, educate and serve as a resource on the City of Oswego in New York.