The original village was a square of sixteen blocks, each six chains square with intermediate streets; each lot containing four house lots. No lot was to be sold for less than forty dollars, and a building gave a pre-emption right.
Settlement began at once, with primitive and peculiar dwellings. Sills were laid on four posts, set up with plates on top. The posts were grooved on the sides facing each other, and into the grooves were dropped the ends of sticks laid horizontally, one on the other. These made four rude walls, which were then plastered with mud or clay, mixed with straw.
In 1788 or 1789 Nathaniel Loomis, John Danforth, Asa Danforth, Jr.; Hezekiah Olcott, Thomas Gaston and Deacon Loomis came, and were soon prominent salt makers. Colonel Jeremiah Gould came with his three sons in March 2, 1792, Isaac Van Vleck came with his wife and four children, and built the first arch used there. His family made the sixth permanent residents. His son Abraham was born there October 16, 1792, apparently the first white child born in what is now Syracuse, and the first white male child born in the county. In memory of one just deed the Indians called him Ne-un-hoo-tah, i.e., sorrow for the dead, and by this name he was known to them. His father was also called Ka-hunk-a-ta-wah, one spry enough to skip over water. Mrs. Van Vleck was Con-o-roo-quah, one of pleasant disposition, and her daughter, afterward Mrs. O'Blennis was Jo-an-te-no. Many settlers had Indian names. A monument to Isaac Van Vleck in Oakwood, says he died May 19, 1801, aged fifty-eight, and that Bata, his wife, died March 1, 1816, aged fifty-three. This would make their respective ages at settlement forty-nine and twenty-nine. Another stone in memory of another early salt boiler, says that John O'Blennis was born in 1777, and died in 1813. He came in 1794.
Several families came in 1793, and that year Van Vleck brought a large hand mill from Albany for use in grinding corn. That year John Danforth built the second frame house. Sickness was fearfully prevalent, and Dr. David Holbrook, at Jamesville, was the nearest physician, but faithful in his attendance. Dr. Burnett settled at Salina in 1797 and drainage and the lowering of the lake gradually removed the fevers, yet as late as 1830 Hon. Thomas G. Alvord said he had seen the canal bridge covered with those just able to be out in the sun.
The alarm of 1794 belongs to the general history. David Brace came that year, and is said to have carried mail on horseback to Oswego, guided by blazed trees. Benejah Byington and Oris Curtis came just after, and Benjamin Carpenter opened a store in 1795. Elisha Alvord, father of Thomas G. Alvord, came in 1794, and his brother Dioclesian four years later. The former erected the first salt block, and in 1808 laid out the salt road, from Salina through Cicero to Sackett's Harbor. He was also first supervisor of the town in 1809, and prominent in all business and public affairs. Thomas Wheeler and Ichabod Brackett were merchants about 1800. Later merchants were Richard Goslin, Richard C. Johnson, Davenport Morey, Thomas McCarthy, Dean Richmond, etc.
William D. Stewart was born in Salina in 1805. After being with some stage lines he ran a packet boat for seventeen years, and was long the popular landlord of the Syracuse House. He was made mayor of Syracuse in 1865, serving three terms.
In early days towns had three day's elections, changing from point to point, an admirable arrangement for repeaters. While Geddes and Salina were connected they were held one day in Geddes, half a day in Liverpool, closing with a day in Salina. Later and down to 1846, Geddes and Liverpool had each half a day, Salina and Syracuse each one. In rural towns these made lively times. From the central village forces were detailed to the outlying polls, and racing and cheering were features of the home trip. Elections were by no means dry, and one without a fight was a tame affair indeed.
In 1809 the town valuation, including Geddes, was fifty-three thousand and forty-two dollars, the tax being about one per cent. Alas, for the good old days when we had unpaved and unlighted streets, no fire department, libraries or public schools, no police and no need of any, and therefore much less to pay.
Elizur Clark came in 1823, and became a leading citizen, prominent in public affairs and banking interests. There were then twenty stores in Salina, and of course a distillery. What would Salt Point have been without one? The old Eagle tavern was kept by Jonathan R. Beach in 1810, and burned in 1856. John G. Forbes was the first lawyer there as early as 1809. The first salt boiler settled disputes by a quicker process than the law afforded. Enos D. Hopping was also a lawyer there, but was made brigadier-general of volunteers by President Polk, and died in Mexico. In 1824 Salina village had one hundred dwellings and sixty salt works.
There was a village pound in 1828, and the first paving record was in 1829. That year a fire department was equipped, the village having been incorporated March 12, 1824, with Fisher Curtis as president. Streets and sidewalks were improved, bringing it practically nearer to Syracuse, of which it became a part by act of December 14, 1847. March 18, 1848, the town of Geddes was set off. After that the village history is that of Syracuse.
The opening of the Oswego canal helped Liverpool, or "Little Ireland," as it was usually called at first. Before 1800, and later, it was a shipping point with a lively trade, and was laid out as a village by the surveyor-general, and given its present name. April 20, 1830, the village was incorporated, with Joseph Jaqueth as first president. He had a store, and there were two others. Rev. Phineas Kamp was a clergyman there in 1836. At an early day Mr. Connor, of O'Connor, taught school and made salt--Attic salt, perhaps, for his "high school" had a fine reputation. A brick schoolhouse was built in 1846, and enlarged in 1863. The Liverpool Union Free school was organized in 1874.
Joseph and Sampson Jaqueth did much for the place and themselves, and were succeeded by other prosperous merchants and business men. Hotels were a feature of the place, and manufacturers of salt lived there, conspicuous among whom were the Gleasons, Gales, Jaqueths and Van Alstynes. After 1873 this industry declined, and the last block was abandoned about 1890.
About 1855 the growing of basket willows commenced and gradually increased for a considerable time. The whole town was suitable for their cultivation, and they were grown in all parts. In 1870 there were made eight thousand dozen baskets; in 1892 thirty-three thousand dozen; and about twenty-eight thousand dozen in 1895. At one time, also, boat building was an important industry.
The Syracuse & Northern railroad was opened through here November 9, 1871. Soon after the Phoenix branch was opened at Woodard, which became a post office. Both these roads are now included in the New York Central line. The Rapid Transit has also an electric line here. The Brewerton and the Bridgeport plank roads were laid out through the east part of the town.
The site of the Jesuit mission and of Frontenac's fort is on the Moyer farm, and the Iroquois League is said to have been formed near the lake, just north of Liverpool.
The first Methodist church in Liverpool was formed in 1820, and a building erected in 1826, since remodeled. The Presbyterian society was formed November 9, 1829, and its church was built in 1841. This was replaced by a brick edifice, dedicated March 4, 1863. The first pastor was Rev. Phineas Kamp. Ascension church (P.E.) was formed in 1840, and a church was built next year. The first rector was Rev. (now Bishop) George D. Gillespie. The society became extinct, and St. Paul's German Lutheran church, organized in 1852, bought the building in 1853, and still uses it. The first pastor was T. W. Reichenberg. This society was preceded by the Salem church of the Evangelical Association of North America, formed in 1844. It built a chapel in that year, followed by another in 1886. The Roman Catholics erected a frame church here in 1890.
Newspaper efforts have not thriven here. Since 1875 there have been three papers started, of which the Lakeside Press and the Liverpool Times had but a short duration. The Liverpool Telegraph begun May 21, 1892, by William F. Brand, had a longer life.
The town gradually increases in population, and Liverpool and its vicinity will become a desirable residence suburb of Syracuse. The barge canal may give it commercial importance.
In early days there was sometimes a scarcity of provisions, and then fishing and hunting helped out. Deer were plentiful and often herded with the cows. "Bears, wolves, foxes, coons, and other small animals were also very plentiful. The Indians caught many young bears and traded them to the settlers, who in turn exchanged them with the boatman for provisions. Prominent among the very early boatmen was a man known as Captain Canute, who ran a boat hither from Albany, bringing in provisions, etc., in exchange for salt, furs, young bears and other animals, for which he found a ready market to the eastward."
Clark was told by old residents that "they at different times procured bread, biscuits, salted meat, and fish that were made and cured in England, which, though of inferior quality, were nevertheless accepted with a relish which hunger never fails to give." These came by way of Kingston, Canada, and Oswego.
Mr. Lamb was an early settler at Green Point, and Mrs. O'Blennis told this story of the family. She was the daughter of Isaac Van Vleck, who came to Salina in 1792:
"In 1793, when Mr. Lamb's daughter was about fourteen years old, she was left alone in the rude house while he attended to his farm work. Hearing a noise in the house, Mr. Lamb approached and saw an Indian kissing his daughter and taking liberties with her. Mr. Lamb killed the Indian on the spot and fled to Salina. The Indians declared they must have his life, according to their custom. The chiefs were called together, with Ephraim Webster as interpreter, and the facts were narrated. A council was held (the last one at Salina) and Kiacdote stepped forward, threw off his blanket and commanded attention. He then related the circumstances to the tribe and said it was the first time an Indian had ever been known to insult a white squaw. He declared that the killing was justifiable and that Mr. Lamb must not be punished. This decision was adopted, provided Mr. Lamb would pay to the relatives of the dead Indian, a three-year-old heifer which was to cement peace and good will between the posterity of both parties forever."
The old chief's statement was true, and Indians do not favor kissing. In 1820 a son of Red Jacket and a Seneca girl were married by a missionary, who informed the bridegroom that a white man would salute his bride, thought it was not necessary. The couple consulted, and said they would omit the kiss, seeing no use in it.
In early days most of the barrels were made by Germans, and this economic use of wood lessened the sale of ashes, while in many other parts trees were burned to get rid of them, men being employed to collect the ashes to make potash.
Clark also said of that early period: "So common were wolves and bears at this time, that it was not unusual for these animals to be seen passing along the path leading from Cicero to Onondaga, as fearless and unconcerned as if entirely among the wild beasts of the forests, or completely domesticated. And from the frequency of these recurrences, these paths were named the bear and wolf paths, and two of the streets running north from Main street, in the first ward of Syracuse, from this circumstance, are now called Wolf and Bear streets."
He also tells how, when nearly all the thirty people of Salt Point were sick in 1793, Patrick Riley "drew all his own wood for salt block, boiled salt every day and half the nights, and every alternate night watched with the sick, for a period of two months without a single night of intermission." The Indians helped, with fresh fish and venison. They had drunken frolics there indeed, but exercised caution. Clark again said: "They almost invariably divested themselves of all deadly weapons, and deposited them in some safe place in the keeping of a confidential person, and went to the work of excessive drunkenness with all their might and main." Sometimes one remained sober to restrain the rest.
It was a great improvement when a road crossed the marsh from Salina to Geddes. Bearings were got from Salina to a salt boiler's chimney in Geddes. Then brush was cut, laid across the line of the road and covered with earth. Logs are so mixed with peat in the marsh that clearing for cultivation, after drainage, proved very expensive. This marsh contained marine plants of several kinds. The double freight tracks laid here by the New York Central railroad greatly relieved Syracuse. When the salt sheds on the higher land are removed, it may be expected that fine residences will line the lake shore.
The following account appeared in 1836, in Gordon's Gazetteer: "Salina, one and a half miles north of Syracuse, was formerly a very thrifty village, but has been overshadowed by its younger sister, Syracuse, where now the principal portion of the commerce of this region centres. So rapid, however, will be the increase of population at both villages, that a very few years must blend them into one. The village lies upon a plain rising near the centre of a marsh and extending southeastwardly and southerly, limited on one side by the Cedar swamp along Onondaga creek, and on the other by a marsh and swamp upon the same stream, running into the lake. It contains 1 Presbyterian, l Methodist and 1 Catholic church, 3 taverns, 9 stores, The Bank of Salina, with a capital of $150,000 and 77 salt manufactories, and the great salt spring which supplies the works here, at Liverpool, and at Syracuse, the water being conveyed in subterranean logs. The brine is forced to the top of a reservoir 85 feet high, by pumps driven by the surplus waters of the Oswego canal, at the rate of 300 gallons per minute; when it is distributed to the factories."
In 1836 Liverpool, on the lake and Oswego canal, four and one-half miles north of Syracuse, contained two taverns, four stores, and about sixty dwellings, mostly of wood. Phineas Kamp was a clergyman; Joseph Malton, school principal; C. S. Sterling and Caleb Hubbard, physicians; J. & J. G. Hasbrook, L. & J. Corbin, and Joseph Jaqueth, merchants. During the year 1834 a large reservoir was built between Liverpool and Salina, on the high ground midway, to accommodate the factories of the former village. In 1886 Liverpool had three hotels, four saloons, two barbers, three blacksmiths, five dressmakers, three livery stables, two general stores, three physicians, two meat markets, three groceries, two confectioners, two painters, two drug stores, hardware store, wagon shop, shoe store, grist mill, sawmill, brick yard, lawyer, chemist, cooper shop, coal yard, undertaker, milliner and shoemaker. It is now a quiet place, where abandoned salt works may be seen.
Submitted 10 December 1998