NEW YORK STATE BRIDGES & LAKES

New York revolutionary soldiers were promised 600 acres of land each. The legislature set aside 1,500,000 acres in Central New York and Finger Lakes. The eligible soldiers were awarded lots by a “ballot” held in Albany in July 1790. Each private received 600 acres and officers received more. The military townships were given names from mythology and the classics by the land commissioner~ Ovid was a Roman poet, Romulus was the legendary founder of Rome, Ulysses was a mythical king in Homer’s the Odyssey and Dryden was named after an early British poet John Dryden. I know that I, in my travels, sometimes wonder who named the towns and what their reasons were for that particular name.

Seneca Falls has been spotlighted throughout the years as the home of the inauguration of Women’s Rights. For several years prior to the big convention in 1848, leaders of the feminist movement had lived in Seneca Falls. Among the more widely known were Elizabeth Cady Stanton, daughter of a Fulton County judge and Amelia Bloomer, editor of a weekly newspaper and advocate of a type of clothing, which was given her name.

The 1848 convention, at which the abuses then suffered by women were given publicity, was held in a building, which stood at what is now the Women’s Rights Park. The pioneer suffragists, such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Amelia Bloomer, Susan B. Anthony, Mary Ann McClintock, Jane Hunt and Martha C. Wright never gave up despite great discouragements. They continued to work for the abatement of what they termed “abuses of women” and after the right to own property was granted and other abuses corrected, they won the vote nearly 80 years after the Seneca Falls convention.

Seneca Falls, was the metropolis of Seneca County and whose site was once in the heart of the Seneca Indian country, has many other resources, which have brought it wide notice. The presence of excellent waterpower and its sight on the old Iroquois trail early attracted men of note to the locality. Seneca Falls has been known as an important pump manufacturing center and at one time was estimated that at least 26 % of the pumps in use throughout the world were made in this village. The Gould’s pumps are known and used around world.

Before the time of electricity, the waterpower created along the river gave way to tremendous industry. Textiles, lathes and production cost cutting machinery also were among the important products of the bustling Seneca County industrial center. A local manufacturer, Seneca Knitting Mill had been a supplier of blankets, gloves and socks to America and beyond. In the 21st Century, the mill still reflects its original 1844 plant with its three-foot thick limestone block construction and red brick annex ~ and its historical architecture still lines the Seneca/Cayuga Canal so proudly. The Seneca/Cayuga canal was built in 1829 and is visited by 100,000’s of boaters and tourists each year.

Among the early landowners in the area were Col. William Mynderse, who donated land for the erection of a school ~ Oren Root, father of Elihu Root, famous international lawyer, was the first principal ~ Francis Willard, social reformer who founded the Women’s Christian Temperance Union and May Dix member of the first overland expedition to cross the Rocky Mountains were Seneca Falls women. Joseph Smith, founder of the Church of Latter Day Saints/Mormonism, lived part of his early life in Seneca Falls.

Seneca Falls was one of the hubs of the industrial revolution. After the invention of electricity, many industries moved inland, but Seneca Falls continued to prosper and, today, has many points of historic and scenic interest ~ as shown by the thousands of tourists that visit Seneca Falls annually.