Syracuse | New York, History & Universities (2024)

Syracuse, city, city, seat (1827) of Onondaga county, central New York, U.S. It lies at the south end of Lake Onondaga, midway between Albany and Buffalo (147 miles [237 km] west).

The site, once the territory of the Onondaga Indians and headquarters of the Iroquois Confederacy, was visited by explorers Samuel de Champlain in 1615 and Pierre Esprit, sieur de Radisson (while a captive of the Mohawks), in 1651. The Jesuit missionary Father Simon Le Moyne in 1654 was the first European to note the site’s brine springs (later the basis of a salt industry). A mission and Fort Sainte Marie de Gannentaha were established nearby in 1655–56, but Indian hostility and the swampy location (notorious for summer fevers) precluded early settlement. Ephraim Webster established a trading post in 1786 at the mouth of Onondaga Creek where it enters Lake Onondaga, and in 1788 sawmills and gristmills were built at the site by Asa Danforth, “the father of Onondaga county.” A treaty with the Indians gave the state of New York control over the brine springs, and after 1797 the saltlands were leased for salt extraction. Three villages sprang up: Webster’s Landing, Salina, and Geddes. A post office, established at Webster’s Landing in 1820, was named Syracuse for the ancient Greek city in Sicily.

The town’s growth was stimulated by construction of the Erie Canal (completed 1825) and the coming of the railroads in the 1830s. Syracuse later absorbed Salina (1848) and Geddes (1886). The saltworks supplied most of the United States’ needs until 1870, when the salt industry declined; the city then began to develop a diversified economy. Manufactures now include chinaware, pharmaceuticals, automotive components, electrical machinery, air conditioners, electronic equipment, funeral caskets, specialty metals, and furniture. Syracuse also serves as a wholesale distribution point for the central New York agricultural region.

Syracuse is the home of Syracuse University (1870), Le Moyne College (1946), Onondaga Community College (1962) of the State University of New York system, the State University of New York Health Science Center (1834) and College of Environmental Science and Forestry (1911), and the Everson Museum of Art (1968). The New York State Fair has been held in Syracuse since 1841.

The Onondaga Indian Reservation is 6 miles (10 km) south, and Onondaga Lake Park includes the Salt Museum and a replica of the Jesuit mission called Sainte Marie among the Iroquois. There is also an Erie Canal museum in the city. Inc. village, 1825; city, 1847. Pop. (2010) 145,170;Syracuse Metro Area, 682,577; (2020) 148,620; Syracuse Metro Area, 662,057.