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Summit Park was founded by Seward W. Baker. In 1895,
the idea of building an amusment park on the Oriskany Bluffs came to him.
Summit Park opened on Memorial Day of 1897, and closed every year on Labor Day.
Every day the park was open, thousands attended.
The Park was very successful. Summit Park was accessible to people from all over
the area. There was a trolley system that had stops throughout Utica, Rome, Clinton, Frankfort, Ilion, Mohawk, Herkimer, and
Little Falls.
Accident on Bradley's Bridge
On August 7, 1898, there was an accident on Bradley's Bridge near Whitesboro.
On that day open car trolleys had been traveling across the bridge with people beyond capacity. One specific car was traveling
across the bridge with no more than 30 people on board (far less that the maximum capacity), when the bridge suddenly collapsed.
The trolley car plummeted to the water below. There was one fatality.
Summit Park had many attractions. There was a pavilion,
an open air theater, amusement rides, ice cream parlors, an observation tower, a racetrack, penny arcades, a shooting gallery,
and facilities for boat rides.
There were a few celebrities that visited Summit Park. One memorable
one was President Theodore Roosevelt. The day he visited, over 20,000 people attended. It was after four in the morning
before everyone left the park.
Towards the mid 1900's, attendance began to dwindle. Automobiles were
becoming more and more avaliable to people. With the car, people could travel to faraway resorts. Summit Park closed in 1926,
but not before leaving its mark in history.
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| Lake at Summit Park, Utica, N.Y. |
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| Guy's Minstrel's Summit Park, Oriskany, N.Y. |
The village of Oriskany has a rich history of religion. Several churches
have come and gone throughout the history of Oriskany.
In the year 1840, a Welsh Calvinistic Meothdist church formed
in Oriskany. In the early 1860's, the Welsh purchased the old Methodist Episcopal Church. This church had a small
congregation, with less than thirty members. Rev. Benjamin D. Davies came to the county in 1887, and was the pastor most
associated with the church. In 1909, the church began to dissolve. The property was transferred to the Presbyterian
Church which was also located in Oriskany. Today the church has been converted into a two-family house.
On October 28,1928, Mass was said for the first time at the newly organized
Parish of St. Stephen, Protomartyr in Oriskany. This was wonderful news for Catholics of Oriskany, who
now did not have to travel to St. Paul's in Whitesboro to hear Mass. Mass was first held over the present day hardware store
in Oriskany. In 1930 the present church and rectory was built. St. Stephen's Church now has a community of over 300 registered
families.
On October 17, 1831, an agreement was drawn up between the Episcopal and Presbyterian
Socities of Oriskany, to raise money to build a brick church. This new church was named St. Peter's Episcopal Church.
The original plans that were drawn up in 1831, had to be modified due to financial issues. St. Peter's was originally erected
with seven gothic windows which have been replaced over the years. There are now eleven windows in the church that once held
some of the most beautiful stained glass in Central New York. St. Peter's is no longer holding Masses, and has been sold and
bought by various people.
The history of the Presbyterian Church in Oriskany started in 1831, when the "Presbyterian
Society of the Village of Oriskany" was formed. They built a meeting house at 909 Utica Street. A parsonage was located where
the Waterbury Memorial Church now stands. Henry Waterbury and his family moved to the area and joined the Society, and he
became an active member. The parsonage was sold, and Henry Waterbury had plans to build a new church on that site. Unfortunately,
Henry passed away in 1895 before the new church was built. The church was built from beautiful Medina Sandstone, and was designed by
a well known Chicago architect, a member of the Waterbury family. On June 27, 1905, the church was dedicated to Henry Waterbury
and was named, "Waterbury Memorial Presbyterian Church". The church is active to this day.
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| St. Stephen's Church, Oriskany, N.Y. |
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| Waterbury Memorial Presbyterian Church, Oriskany, N.Y |
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| Waterbury Memorial Presbyterian Church, Oriskany, N.Y. |
Oriskany's first school was built at the corner of Cider and Utica
Streets in 1810, and it was a log cabin. Later came a brick, then a frame building farther down on Utica Street.
In 1892, a large brick structure was built, and was known as the "Union School". There were also several country schools
in the Oriskany district. It was used until around 1933 when the present high school was constructed in the same general
area of Utica Street. At that time and until 1960, the building housed grades K-12, with some students attending classes
in Stanwix. in 1960, the elementary school for grades K-6 was built on a large area of land, and the high school now
houses grades 7-12. Several additions have been constructed on both buildings.
The Oriskany Central School District encompasses parts of the towns of Whitestown,
Marcy, Floyd and Rome and has over 800 students enrolled.
On June 15, 1900, Oriskany's Fire Department was founded.
Its first chief was George Baer. In 1923, Oriskany recieved its first motorized fire apparatus.
On October 27, 1947, Oriskany saw its worst blaze the village had ever
seen. Oriskany Malleable Iron caught fire on the twenty seventh. Harold Smith, chief at the time of the fire, couldn't
control the fire with just his volunteers. Calls for help went out. Firefighters from Stittville, Whitesboro, Yorkville
and Utica came to Oriskany's aid. The fire was controlled, and propery damage was limited to the business.
Roster of Chiefs
1900-1913 George Baer
1914-1915 Frank R. Lawrence
1916-1917 Charles A. Jones
1918-1920 Albert Phelps
1921-1922 Charles Conklin
1923-1924 Art Clawson
1925-1936 James D. Phillips
1937-1945 Alfred Radell
1946-1961 Harold Smith
1962-1964 Charles Van Shufflin
1964-1965 Francis Shultz
1965-1973 Robert Humphery
1973-1974 Fred Burkhart
The village's first library opened in January of 1937, in an abandoned
gas station on Utica Street. The library consisted of 600 books in a single room. In 1941 the library moved across the street
to a building that was a private residence. The library soon outgrew its space. In 1984, the Board of Trustees began
a four year journey to find a new location for a new library. The old Plaza Inn, a restaurant/bar, was up for sale.
It was an ideal location for the library. It was in the middle of town, on Utica Street, and it had on-site parking. It was
decided that the Plaza Inn was so run down, that it was best to just tear down the building and build a new one. On October
14, 1988, 15 volunteers moved all of the heavy equipment from the old library to the new, and on the next day the 6,000+ books
were also moved. On October 23,1988 during the library's open house, mayor Robert Moore named the library, the Oriskany Public
Library, Helen B. Lawrence Building, after the library's longtime director.
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| Oriskany Library, Oriskany N.Y |
Trinkaus Manor was located on State
Route 69 in Oriskany, N.Y. The Manor was originally built in 1826, by an English paymaster named Rice.
It was a colonial style home owned by the Carl Waterbury family untill 1946. The Trinkaus brothers bought the house one hundred
and twenty years after it was first built. It then became the Trinkaus Manor Restaurant. In 1949, Andy Trinkaus began the
anual holiday lighting display. The lights earned a reputation for their beauty. The display was so large, that preparations
began around Labor Day.
Trinkaus Manor also contained a restaurant and a motel. The restaurant could accomodate
up to 650 diners, and the motel had 40 units for lodging. People came from all over New England, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Canada
to visit the Trinkaus Manor. Some famous people to have visited the Manor were then Vice President George Bush, comedian Jonathan
Winters, Charlie Daniels, Dick Butkus, and Phil Simms.
Tragedy struck in 1992. On April 5 Trinkaus Manor burned down. The fire was suspicious.
On that day, Oriskany lost an important landmark, that many people from all over the country had enjoyed.
The Erie Canal was the longest canal built in the United States.
It was 363 miles long, four feet deep, and streched from Albany to Buffalo. The canal was designed by DeWitt Clinton,
and was owned by the State of New York. Digging for the 16 mile section of the Erie Canal that
passed through Oriskany began on July 4, 1817, and was opened by October 1819. There was an aqueduct that
went over the Oriskany Creek. It was built over the creek because there was too much water in the creek in the spring and
not enough in the summer. Construction on the canal was very slow. No machines like steam shovels or bulldozers were used.
The only tools used were those used by the diggers such as pick axes, shovels, and stump pullers. In 1918, the Erie Canal
through Oriskany was filled in. The State Barge Canal took its place. The Erie Canal was important to the history of Oriskany.
It not only provided transportation, but brought jobs into the area which helped Oriskany to grow.
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| The Erie Canal passed through the site where Oriskany Museum now stands. |
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