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HomeReunion 2012Open House at Oriskany Museum May 26, 2012NewsletterOur PurposeORAORA membership formOriskany MuseumGear LockerGear locker order formAfter the SinkingVillage of Oriskany NY5K/10K RaceBattle of OriskanyLinksMIA Shipmates RepatriatedCurrent ORA OfficersHistory of shipHistory of Ship Page 2History of Ship Page 3Commanding Officers of USS OriskanyMIA/POW ShipmatesSquadrons
Oriskany, NY is a small village nestled
in between Rome, NY and Utica, NY. Oriskany is a small town that holds a lot of history.
The name Oriskany is derived from the Indians
of the Oneida Tribe. They named it "Oriska", for "River of Nettles".
Col. Gerritt Lansing is considered the founder of Oriskany. He came to Oriskany in 1785, to survey
the land. He fell in love with the beauty and richness of the land. Col. Lansing left Oriskany to serve throughout the Revolutionary
War. He came back in 1811 and established the Oriskany Manufacturing Company. The village of Oriskany sprang up around
the company soon after.
On August 6, 1777, General Nicholas Herkimer was leading his band of soldiers through and past the then Indian village of
Oriska, when they were ambushed by Indians with a British regiment of Tories. General Herkimer would not surrender. During
this battle, Gen. Herkimer's horse was shot, and fell on top of him. General Herkimer's leg was shattered. Instead of retreating,
he sat under a beech tree giving orders. The Battle of Oriskany is often considered the Bloodist Battle of the Revolutionary
War, and the turning point of the war.
Before the war of 1812, a woolen mill was established in Oriskany, which is now called H. Waterbury and Sons, Inc. At
the mill, textiles were manufactured. This mill brought new jobs and new people to Oriskany.
At the turn of the 19th century, the Industrial Revolution took place. The
Revolution helped to establish Summit Park in Oriskany. Summit Park brought entertainment to the people of the Mohawk
Valley.
In the 1900's
Oriskany took great pride when in 1943, U.S Congress, authorized the construction of the attack carrier U.S.S. Oriskany
CV-34. This ship served the country for 26 years. To learn more about the U.S.S Oriskany, see other website pages.
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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.
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.
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.
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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