This essay was originally published in the 1944 OCHS Yearbook. Please note that this essay was published over 80 years ago. While still useful for general education, language may be outdated and at times offensive. The Oswego County Historical Society does not stand by the language used in this essay. To view the original document, please visit NYHeritage.org.
Paper Read Before Oswego County Historical Society at Oswego, November 16, 1943, by Miss Marion Mahar of the Faculty of the Oswego State Teachers College.
The building of the Market House, the first municipal building to be constructed in the village of Oswego, can not be properly understood unless viewed against the rapid growth of the community in the third decade of the nineteenth century; a growth which was part of a general trend throughout the Republic since it resulted from the west ward movement, the rapid development of internal improvements and easy credit. For this reason a brief review of the development of the village from 1828 to 1835 is necessary.
Oswego which in 1829 was a small frontier village raising yearly by general tax, a sum not exceeding 300 dollars for general village expenses, experienced between the opening of 1833 and the close of 1836, a sudden and terrific land boom. This was due chiefly to the opening of the West to settlement which sent thousands of prospective settlers and their freight moving westward through the Erie canal and Oswego. The Oswego-Syracuse canal had been completed in 1828 and the Welland Canal was opened for traffic in 1830. This led to a demand for an “all American” canal around Niagara Falls and for the enlargement of the canal within the State. One proposal was the construction of a “steamboat” canal from Oswego to Utica, by way of Oneida Lake. This followed the old colonial route to the frontier and found support against an “enlarged Erie” canal not only within the state but in Chicago and Detroit as well.
Oswego Boom of Early 1830’s
The years 1831 to 1836 had been prosperous for Oswego. Tolls collected on the Oswego canal had increased from $16,271 in 1831 to $30,436. The population had risen from 2,117 to 7,000. The East Village could boast of the Oswego Hotel, a large four story brick edifice standing on the southeast corner of East Bridge and First Streets and the West village of the Welland House located on the southwest corner of Cayuga and West First streets, and the American Hotel,* site not located, all doing a thriving business; two banks, the Oswego and the Commercial were in existence and a railroad company had been formed to construct a line from Oswego to Utica.
Gerrit Smith had begun in 1830 the development of the Cove property in East Oswego. In 1834 the West village extended First street from Schuyler street to the outer harbor, built there a public wharf, opened Second and Third, Fourth and Fifth streets north of Seneca to the lake and constructed public wharves at the foot of Seneca and Cayuga streets. The next year a section of land lying partly on the river and partly on the outer harbor which had been reserved by the state at the time of the original survey for “fortifications,” was sold at public auction at phenomenal prices. One portion which
had been divided into 12 lots brought $47,842 and the second portion, about 3 acres lying between First Street and the River and Schuyler and the Harbor, was struck off at $108,850. These were great prices but such was the confidence in the future of the village that the editor of “Oswego Palladium” could write with confidence: “No landed interest which the state has reserved in our western towns bears any comparison in value to that of Oswego. There is not a foot of it which can not be resold at great advance.”
Additional proof of the growth of the village was the erection in 1837 of the United States Hotel at West Seneca and Seventh streets, and the founding of the “Oswego Commercial Herald” and the “Oswego County Whig,” both in 1837, the year of the completion of the Market Building. The little village appeared to be making rapid strides towards substantial greatness. It was in this atmosphere that the Market Hall, later to be known as the “First City Hall,” was planned and begun.
* This may have stood on West Seneca street between First and Second streets, as old residents recall that the crumbling; remains of an old hotel were observable there many years ago.
Determine Site For Market
The building which stands to day on the east side of West Water Street between Market and Bridge streets was erected on what was then known as “Market Block 26”, a section of a piece of land lying on the west bank of the River between Bridge (Cancer) and Cayuga (Gemini) streets and the River and First Street. The improvement of this area had been begun in 1829. A public dock adjacent to Market Block 26 and extending to the south line of Bridge street was constructed at a cost of $1,367.88. The two portions west of Water Street, one to the north and the other to the south of Market Street (then known as Market Avenue and 44 feet wide) were divided each into 16 Market lots all 22 by 50 feet, half fronting on Water Street and half fronting on West First street.
The 16 lots in the north portion were offered for sale by the Trustees July 1, 1829. Lot No. 1 brought $870 and No. 9 $700. The section north of Market and east of Water street was divided into two lots of 66 feet each but not leased at public auction until 1833. The north lot went to Christian J. Burckle at $1,650, the lot adjoining to the south to Francis Rood for $1,025, the remaining 44 feet was retained by the village. All lands sold were in reality leased for a 999 year period and paid an annual rent, the smaller lots of $30, the larger of $90. No slaughter house, tannery or furnace was to be erected on the premises leased.
Lot Sales Provided Building Fund
The third sale, that of the sixteen market lots from No. 17 to 32 inclusive, did not take place until 1835 in the midst of the land boom. The same village meeting, that of April 21, 1835, which authorized the construction of the Market House, gave its approval to this sale by public auction June 10, 1935 at the Welland House in West Oswego. The sum realized was to be devoted to the improvement of the streets and erection of the Market Hall. As reported in the Village records, the sale of lots in the South section of the Market lots, June 10, 1835 resulted as follows*:
No. Lot Purchaser Rent Price
17 Moses P. Hatch $30 $1010
18 Ulysses G. White 30 685
19 Eli Stevengos 30 600
20 Abraham T. Evertson 30 575
21 David Harmon 30 555
22 F. T. Carrington 30 540
23 Daniel Griffin 30 810
24 Daniel Griffin 30 1610
25 Moses P. Hatch 30 670
26 Wm. H. VanHorne 30 470
27 Erie Poor 30 435
28 A. T. Evertson 30 415
29 Wm. Lewis, Jr. 30 405
30 F. T. Carrington 30 450
31 Bronson & Crocker 30 595
32 Bronson & Crocker 30 595
Total $480 $10,920
*(Village Records 1828-1848 p. 180).
Vote To Erect Market
In 1865 when the Common Council was considering a possible site for a new City Hall, a member reminded the Council that the first City Hall, the Market House, had been built exclusively from funds furnished by West Oswego and argued that any new building should therefore, by right, be located on the west side of the River. This claim was based on the fact that the construction of the Market House was largely financed by the income derived from the leases and rents of the Market Block lots.
The decision to erect a Market Hall was made at a meeting of the freeholders and inhabitants held April 21, 1835 at 2 P. M. at the American Hotel. The date of this meeting had been set two weeks previous at the annual meeting for the election of village officers. The Village President, Daniel W. Cole, presided and Messrs. Joseph Grant, Orlo Steele, Ulysses G. White, Francis Rood and Moses P. Hatch, five of the seven Trustees were present. Judge Turrill offered two resolutions: That the President and Trustees be authorized to lease the whole or any portion of the Market Ground west of Water Street which had not already been leased by the corporation; That the President and Trustees be authorized to construct and build a Market House out of the moneys derived from the Market Ground.
Built on Plan of Albany Building
These two resolutions were accepted and the trustees were given the power to call another meeting to report on the state of the funds if they deemed it expedient. Two days later at a meeting of the Board, the President appointed a committee consisting of the President and Messrs. Rood and Steele to procure plans for the building and to estimate the expense entailed. On June 4, this Committee submitted the plan of the Albany Market Building situated on South Pearl Street, and recommended its adoption, with some slight alterations in the internal arrangements, as the plan of the Oswego Market House. The plan was adopted and the President appointed a new committee consisting of the President and Messrs. Rood and White with power to choose the location, advertise for bids for erection and make the necessary arrangements for the building’s immediate erection.
Bonesteel Given Contract
On June 22, 1835, the President was authorized to negotiate with Jacob N. Bonesteel for constructing the building. The building was to cost $7,965,* to be enclosed by December 1, and fully completed by May 1, 1836. The contract made with Mr. J. N. Bonesteel, with Messrs. Luther Wright and Samuel Hawley as security, was accepted by the Board July 9. The site chosen was Block 26, the southeast portion of the Market Block. Since the building of the wharf in 1829, the Corporation had spent jointly with the Bridge Corporation $1,100 in removing the toll house on the bridge, filling in land at the west end of the bridge and constructing a wall upon which the new toll house was to rest. Consequently no extensive work, preparatory to the erection of the building was necessary.
The work was begun. The original plan called for a two story building but under the influence of rising land values and the conviction that the village stood upon the threshold of a great destiny, the Board voted March 10, 1836 that the contractor be instructed to add a third story. The faith and enthusiasm of the Board was shared by the inhabitants. On April 27, a committee representing the Mechanics Association requested that they might be permitted to place a bell in the cupola on condition that they be permitted to ring it when they chose.
* This sum seems very small even for the two-story building at first contemplated. However at that time a day’s wage was but 75 cents and other costs were low in proportion.
Cupola And Clock Provided
This proposal does not appear to have been accepted, for the purchase price of $600 for a bell was included in the cost of the building, but the proposal apparently moved the committee on construction to instruct the contractor, “so to modify the contract that the cupola it shall be made sufficiently capacious and strong for the purpose of hanging a bell therein.”
The idea of a village bell was, however, not new. Since May 1829 the corporation had paid to have a bell in one of the city churches* rung three times each day, at 9 o’clock A. M., at noon and at 9 P. M., Sundays excepted, and also in case of fire.
It may be that the cupola as originally designed was to house a bell only since there is no record of a new proposal relative to installing a clock. A contract for a clock was negotiated for with Jekiel Clarke in which he agreed to accept in payment $450, one third down and the balance in two equal annual payments with interest, October 9, 1837, one month after he and his son had installed it in the cupola.
The wood and stone used in the work of constructing the Market were secured locally, the stone being furnished by Moses P. Hatch who had quarries on the public land lying west of Second and north of Schuyler streets and who furnished 212 cords of stone for the foundation at $4.50 a cord for which he was assigned two market leases of $1,829 at their par value, rent not included. Of the source of the brick I have found no record.** The policy of assigning market leases as part payment was also pursued with Mr. Bone steel who accepted two in partial payment for extra construction work done and with U. G. White who was given one market lease in part payment for painting the Market.
*Old First Presbyterian which at this time possessed the only church bell in Oswego. The bell ringer was paid $13 a quarter for performing this service. Daniel Thompson was the first bell ringer.
**The brick probably came from local kilns of which there were a number in the vicinity.
“Second Only To Faneuil Hall”
The building was nearing completion at the close of January 1837. The committee, employ ing the services of several competent builders, found the work with some trifling exceptions, executed according to the con tract and April 26, 1837 the re tiring President, Mr. George H. McWhorter, who had served in that capacity during the entire period of the market’s construction since he was chosen by the Board October 17, 1835 to fill the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of President Cole and was elected President at the annual meeting April 5, 1836, gave a report on the condition and cost of the building. It was nearly completed, sufficiently so for occupation, the stone steps and lamp for the main entrance, the bell and clock were yet to be installed. The cost of the third story had been double that originally estimated but the addition had been undertaken at the desire of the public and the edifice was an ornament to the village “surpassing any similar public building in our country save only Faneuil Hall at Boston”.
The total cost of the Market Building was $17,777.09. The receipts from the sale of the Market ground were $13,082.24, its unused assets $2,830.25, the debt was therefore, $1,864.90, but since the building would prove immediately a source of revenue, the rents of the ensuing year yield ing probably $1,100, in a brief period, the president predicted, it would be contributing to the annual resources of West Oswego.
Panic Makes Mortgage Necessary
The building embodying the pride and faith of the community and determined upon at the heighth of the boom in 1835 was completed in the midst of the Panic of 1837 and President Mc Whorter gave as his parting recommendation to the Village Board that no future public works be undertaken either by contract or otherwise without a previous estimate, assessment and collection of the expenses incident there to. His successor President David P. Brewster secured June 16, 1837 authority from the Board to borrow $6,000 at a rate of interest not exceeding 7 per cent, payable semiannually for a period of not less than five or more than 20 years with which to meet the unpaid costs of constructing the market building. The loan was made by Isaac Bronson of New York City and he took as part of his security a mortgage on the Market Building and market lot.
For the next nine months the minutes of the Board meetings were crowded with expenditures amounting to over $1,000 incidental to fitting the building for use. There is no hint that the trustees considered the basic costs of erection excessive, but at the annual meeting of April 3, 1838 a resolution was carried stating that the practice of the Board in letting contracts to members of their own body was liable to be adverse to the interests of the village and should never be allowed. Moses P. Hatch, a trustee in 1834, ’35 and ’37 had furnished the stone for the foundation at a cost of $954 and Ulysses G. White, trustee in ’35 and ’36 had the contract for painting the Market, total ac count $579.01; but the criticism appears to have been directed against John W. Turner, trustee in 1836, arising out of litigation concerning the grading of First street in East Oswego for which he had been awarded a contract November 28, 1836 while serving as trustee and by a committee of which he was a member.
Description Of Market House
The three story building designated as “the Market House” in the Village Ordinances of 1837 has all the characteristics of good architecture, unity, simplicity of design, good proportions and structural features suited to its functions and since few of us have probably ever examined it with care, it merits a description.
The ground floor is a series of arches, five on either side of the main entrance arch both on the Water street and River sides and three on the north and south faces. These all served as entrances to the market “stalls” north of the main entrance and to offices south of it, from a porch surrounding the entire ground floor, interrupted only on the Water street side by a flight of stone steps leading to the main entrance. The second and third stories have both a row of large windows one over each arch and three over the east and west main entrance arches, extending around all four sides. The center entrance sections, twentysix feet in width and comprising about one-fifth of both the west and east facades, project about one foot beyond the main walls thus breaking what would otherwise have been a monotonous series of arches. The roof of this section is slightly higher than the main portion and terminates in rather a flat gable.
Building Fronted On River
The main entrance door, which is exactly the same on both the east and west facades, is truly beautiful. The glass in the arch above it is cut and leaded together to represent the meridians intersecting the globe. This design was carried out also over the main doors of the interior. The side towards the River was considered the front of the building, whereas in modern times the Water street entrances have been principally used in entrance and egress.
The first floor was originally divided into three main sections, the entrance hall on each side of which a circular staircase located close to the Water Street wall, ascended to the second and third stories; this hall opened directly into a large almost square room facing the river called after 1848 “the Library”; the sections to the north and south of this central portion are of equal size. In both were eight wooden pillars, four to a row and resting in the basement on stone piers supporting an arched ceiling.
The second story has two main rooms extending from East to West the full width of the building to the South the larger room, the South Hall or “the Hall” and to the north a somewhat smaller room. The two were connected by a corridor of considerable length. On the east side a long narrow room* fills in the remaining space between the two halls, and on the west a smaller room the space between the staircase and the North Hall.
The third floor was a single room thirtythree feet in width and one hundred and twentyfour in length. The ceiling of this room was arched and in the center was 13% feet high. The editor of the “Oswego Commercial Herald” described its acoustic properties May 31, 1837 in the following terms: “Such is the distinctness of sound that the ordinary noise made by a pen in writing on paper at one end of the room is heard with perfect clearness at the other, and a whisper is entirely audible.”
* This room in later years was partitioned into three smaller rooms.
Wharf Users Occupied Basement
On the river side the basement was above the ground; the thresholds of the thirteen cellar doors, one under each of the ten arches and three in the central entrance section, were flush with the market or public dock which ran along the river opposite the Market. On the north side, and no doubt on the south also, are two full basement doors under the two arches nearest the river since the land sloped abruptly to the dock. Under the arch adjacent to Water street is a half size window. An income was, of course, anticipated by the village fathers from this part of the building since the lessee of any section of the market wharf leased also a section of the basement in the Market House.
An open area lay to the north and to the south of the building since the south fortyfour feet of Market Block beyond Market street was not leased until December 1847 and immediately upon the completion of the Market Ulysses G. White secured a lease of the open area south of the market for the term of one year at $15.
Fire House Addition Built In 1844
The present building which adjoins the Market Building on the south, part of which is now occupied by the Montcalm Dock Company as an office, was not built until 1844. It was erected as a double fire engine house two stories high above the basement and, as can be clearly seen or observed from the bridge, was one half the depth of the present structure. The addition now fills the open space which gave free access to the wharf from Water and Bridge streets in early days. In its original setting the building did not appear, as it does today, as having been jammed into a narrow alley. Water street was 38 feet wide.
Post Office More Than 20 Years
It was anticipated that the Market building would be a source of revenue to West Oswego. The first lessee to take possession May 1, 1837 was Samuel Hawley, the village postmaster, who had applied for a two year lease of the South end of the Market October 17, 1836. In fading lettering the words Post Office can be seen today over the arch on the south west corner of the building and the stone doorsill below it, is much worn. At the expiration of the two years Hawley renewed the lease and then, after citizens had petitioned Washington for his removal, resigned as Postmaster as a result of the “Caroline affair.” John H. Lord, founder of the “Palladium” thereupon was appointed postmaster.
Hawley, long prominent in local politics and later elected to the State Assembly, was accused of being an ardent and active sympathizer with the Canadian Patriots then in rebellion against the British crown and deeply involved in an American “patriot” expedition fitted out at Oswego in direct contravention of the national government’s Neutrality Law and policy. It was asserted that arms to be sent on the expedition were stored in a section of the basement beneath the Post Office and that Hawley witnessed the loading of the two schooners, the “Charlotte of Oswego” and “Charlotte of Toronto,” which took place at the Market Dock in plain view of the Post Office windows. As a high ranking, local Federal officer, Hawley was criticized for not acting in an endeavor to thwart these contemplated acts against a country with which the United States was at peace.
“Patriot” Sympathy Forced Retirement
This sensational episode may have created a belief that the Post Office should be moved to other quarters since at the annual meeting of the Village Board in April 1842 a resolution was adopted stating that the Post Office and Custom House ought to be located in the Market Building, because it was convenient for all having business at either office and that the postmaster of the village and the United States Collector of Customs at this port be requested to rent their offices in said building. Three weeks later the newly elected Board designated the Clerk a committee of one to wait upon these gentlemen. The post master was persuaded and the two south sections continued to be used as Oswego Post Office until 1859 when the Post Office was moved to the new Federal Building then just completed.
When the Market building was nearing completion J. N. Bonesteel* who had held the contract for its construction, applied for a two year lease of a part of the Market wharf, a section of the basement and one section of the ground floor. This he secured at a rent of $700 for the first and $900 for the second year.
* The later day representatives of this family use the spelling “Bonsteel,” but in the old village records it appeared as “Bonesteel.”
Market Clerk and Prison Keeper
The north portion of the ground floor was designed as a market similar to that which existed at Faneuil Hall in Boston in pre-Revolutionary days and yet flourishes there today. The five stalls were leased at auction for one year at a minimum price of $50 April 20, 1837 and were designed for the sale of fish, meats and vegetables. Webster S. Steele began his services as clerk of the market and keeper of the village prison,* located in the central portion of the basement May 1, 1837, but the market did not open until later in the month.
Its opening intensified the existing rivalry between the residents of the East and West sections of the village and this rivalry appears to have contributed to the financial failure of the building in the period 1837-1848. The final work of the Village Board of 1837 had been the publication of the Village Ordinances. Sections 5172, inclusive, related to the Market. Section 51 read as follows: “The Market House erected on Water street in West Oswego shall be called the Market House of the Village and the butchers and victuallers thereof shall be subject to the following regulations—no person shall sell or offer for sale at any place in said village, except at the aforesaid Market House, and at such stalls or stands as may hereafter be licensed or established by the Board of Trustees, any fresh meat, except the offals of hogs sold by persons being packers of pork, and except fish, venison and wild game, under the penalty for each offense of $10 and excepting a farmer who may sell at any place fresh meats raised and fatted on his own farm, by the quarter or greater quantity.”
* This arrangement did not continue long, however, the position being separated into two jobs, one as the clerk of the market to which Charles C. Rumrill was appointed August 6, 1838, as successor to Robert N. Barber, the position paying a salary of $80 a year, and the other as keeper of the prison, which W. S. Steele continued to fill. April 12, 1838, the Board had added to the duties hitherto performed by the market clerk and keeper of the prison the duties of the caring for and winding of the town clock and keeping “the passages, public rooms and unoccupied stalls in the market building swept and clean.” For all these services he was to be allowed 75 cents a day. For feeding prisoners 18% cents a meal was allowed the jailer. The jailer also occupied living quarters in the jail. Oct. 23, 1838, the jail and its living quarters were leased to Oswego County for one year at $300.
Market Ordinances Modified
In the spring of the following year a meeting was held in East Oswego to petition for the repeal of the foregoing ordinance insofar as it related to East Oswego and on June 11, 1838 the ordinance was amended to permit persons not licensed butchers to sell meat from wagons during market hours on Wednesdays and Saturdays in East Oswego in First street south of the south line of Bridge street and between the eastern curb stone and the center of the street and in West Oswego in front of the Market between the eastern curb stone and the center of Water street and between the center and south curb stone of Market street. This amendment was directed to be published in hand bill form. The next year the ordinances were amended to permit the selling of fresh meat in East Oswego at all hours, in all places and in any quantity, on every day except Sunday. The Trustees who passed these ordinances represented the residents of both sections of the village and it would appear that these provisions were designed to promote the convenience of the villagers rather than to create a West village monopoly.
Early Town Meetings in Hotels
Before the building of the Market, the annual meetings of the village were held at one of the three hotels. The first to be held in the new building assembled there in January 29, 1838 at 7 p. m., in the room designated as the “public room,” probably the South Hall on the second floor since the Board granted a certain Mr. Barrett later in the year permission to use the South Hall for the purpose of delivering a course of “grammatical lectures” at times not interfering with public meetings. The north room on the second story had been leased as a library and lecture room rent free shortly after the building was opened to the Mechanics Association of the Village. The two smaller rooms on the second floor may have served as the Police Office and office of the Clerk of the market, although both were later in the south unleased section of the market, and the room back of the ground floor entrance hall served as the “Corporation Room.”
Before the building was completed Messers. Russell and Lyne requested from the Board a one year lease to the upper story for use as a theater. A remonstrance against this and a petition in opposition to the remonstrance were immediately made to the Board. Messrs. Russell and Lyne were finally authorized to produce their theatrical entertainments but I have not yet found the date on which the first was presented.
Drill Hall for Oswego Guards
The name of the Oswego Guards organized July 19, 1838, is often associated with the building since the third floor did later serve both as drill hall and as the scene of their annual balls but the trustees very reluctantly permitted them the use of the building for the latter purpose.* In 1848 the Village Corporation secured for the Guards 60 stands of arms, tents and camp equipment from the State Commissary General on condition that they be kept in the Market Building subject at all times if not in actual use to inspection. Shortly afterwards the Guards tried to secure a gun room in the building. This was granted and then countermanded and finally the old engine house south of the market was assigned as a “gun house.” When this was sold to make way for the new two story engine house, twenty feet of the south end of the third story of the Market House was partitioned off for their use and shortly afterwards in answer to a petition from a large number of inhabitants, the Oswego Brass Band was also granted the use of this section of the hall. Not until 1852 was the third floor granted the Guards as a drill room for one evening of each week and this was rescinded in the next year.
*The Guards had used the third floor as a drill hall, however, in the early days following their organization. They gave their annual hall there in January 1844. There had been a band in Oswego earlier than 1835, the village having purchased some of the instruments. These were loaned to the Oswego Guards, evidently then intent upon organizing a band, through a petition addressed to the Village Board September 2, 1838.
“The Black Hole”
The central section of the basement was, as previously stated, fitted up as a village jail or lockup known locally as “the Black Hole.”* A year after the completion of the building the County Board of Supervisors upon the receipt of permission from the State Legislature, leased from the Village the right to use this jail as the county was at the time without a jail of its own, paying $300 annual rent in 1838 and $150 from 1839 to a date not determined. During 1838, 19 soldiers committed to this jail by Lieut. Temple their commanding officer, for desertion and disorderly conduct were received and discharged. Two prisoners of international fame were later lodged there temporarily. Bill Johnson, the “Canadian pirate” on the St. Lawrence and an outlaw after the Patriot war, was lodged there overnight by the Federal authorities while en route to Auburn, for arraignment in Federal Court after his arrest at Ogdensburg as he was fleeing for safety following the Battle of Wind Mill Point. Benjamin Lett, whose arrest at one time led to diplomatic correspondence between the United States, Great Britain and Canada was confined there awaiting trial after his attempt to blow up the Steamboat Great Britain at her Oswego Dock in 1840. There was no county jail in Oswego until 1853. The occasional prisoners were kept in the Market prison and the more permanent ones sent to Pulaski to be held there.
*By the provisions of section 108 of the village ordinances the room in the south end of the market basement had been set aside as the prison. June 16, 1837, the Board amended the section so as to declare that “the apartment in the basement beneath the centre of the building which has been fitted up for a prison, be and the same hereby is declared to be the village prison.”
Mass Meetings at Time of Patriot War
During the latter part of the year in which the Market House was completed and in the early months of 1838, the inhabitants of Oswego were passionately aroused over the “Patriot War” and the Neutrality Act passed by Congress at the suggestion of President Van Buren. Following receipt of news in Oswego of the destruction in the Niagara River of the United States-owned Steamboat “Caroline” by British officials, a large number of citizens actively sympathized with the Canadian rebels, engaged in running arms across the lake and catually courted war with Great Britain. Two schooners, both known as “Charlotte,” engaged in running arms, had been loaded at the Market wharf in November, 1838, and following the news of their seizure near Ogdensburg by United States authorities, excitement ran very high in Oswego.
Following the abortive expedition against Prescott in November, 1838, a group of citizens in sympathy with the government’s neutrality policy met in the South Hall of the Market House and drew up resolutions approving President Van Buren’s neutrality proclamation, condemning all movements and secret associations which disturbed the tranquility of the frontier, voicing abhorrence to war with Great Britain and denying the claim made in several American and Canadian papers that the expedition against Prescott was publicly fitted out at the Port of Oswego. David P. Brewster, president of the village in the preceding year from April, 1837, to April, 1838, during which time the Market Building was completed, spoke eloquently in favor of the resolutions which were signed by 115 citizens and forwarded to the United States Congress.
The following Saturday afternoon Patriot sympathizers met in the same hall* and drew up resolutions affirming their allegiance to the principles of the Declaration of Independence, condemning search and seizure of persons and property on suspicion, denouncing American officers who fired upon American citizens “both in Canadian and American waters and assisted a bloodthirsty, cruel and tyrannical government in the capture of an American schooner” and secured a long list of signatures for a petition to Congress begging the repeal or modification of the Neutrality Law.
*Public meetings in Market hall were becoming so numerous as to create a real problem for George Skinner who had been appointed October 15, 1838, to have charge of the Market building. Among Skinner’s duties fixed by the Village Board were ”to keep the unoccupied stalls, the passages and public rooms swept and clean, that he have the key of the South hall and furnish the same with light and fuel at his own expense and that he open the same for public meetings when requested by the citizens and that he be permitted to demand and receive from persons “wishing to occupy said room the sum of $2 for each time it may be so occupied as remuneration for lighting the room and entrance. It shall also be his duty to see that the fire and lights are carefully extinguished and the room closed after every meeting.” For all this work he was to be paid $25.00 a year.
Monroe’s Reception Planned
A meeting of a more peaceful nature took place in the Market the following summer. On August 29 a large and respectable public meeting of the citizens was held in the South Hall to plan for the reception of Expresident Monroe who was then at Sackett’s Harbor and who was expected to arrive at Oswego on the following day aboard the government S. S. Oneida. He landed at the outer harbor but was not entertained at the Market House.*
* President Van Buren, while still in office, visited Oswego on August 30th, 1839, A citizen’s meeting was held at Market Hall to make plans for his reception. A large reception committee of citizens was named at the meeting. A reception for the President was given at the Welland House after the President had spoken to the citizenry from the balcony. The President was entertained overnight by George H. McWhorter, Collector of the Port of Oswego and ranking Federal officer in Oswego at the time. The McWhorter home still stands at 69 East Mohawk street.
Water Street Activity Center
Water street was at that time the center of the business life of West Oswego. Public wharves extended along both east and west sides of the inner harbor and merchandize unloaded for trans shipment on lake boats included flour, pork, lard, butter, cheese, grain, salt, wood, brick, stone, sand, planks, boards, scantlings, sawn or hewn timber, shingles and fence posts. Steamboats and other craft landed passengers at the foot of Cayuga street and omnibuses and carriages awaited the passengers “west of the plank walk in Water street.” The less fortunate arrivals, immigrants often sick and destitute enroute to the West, were frequently a burden to the Village.
Danger of fire along the water front was very great and the amounts expended in fitting out the fire companies and upon the improvement of the streets far exceeded that spent upon the Market Building. It had been hoped that the Market rents would afford an additional village income but they did not yield enough to cancel any but a very small portion of the mortgage upon the building.* The corporation paid about $420 yearly in interest. In 1846 the President was obliged to borrow the interest money and make a note payable to S. H. Lathrop at Luther Wright’s bank. At the expiration of the ten year period January 1, 1848, the Board authorized the President, D. C. Littlejohn, to renew until January 1, 1853, the original loan, that is $5,000 of the original $6,000, made by Isaac Bronson of New York City.
*Considerable portions of the money received from the sale or rent of the Market lots were used for street improvements and not to defray the cost of constructing the Market. The $5,000 balance yet due on the Market debt when the village government ceased to exist finally was paid off by the city government.
Market Becomes City Hall
The name of the building was changed in 1848 upon the chartering of the city government from “Market House” to “City Hall.” The first action taken by the Common Council was to procure rooms for the Common Council, Recorders Court and Supreme Court, when in session in the city. The South Hall of the former Market Building was fitted up for the Supreme Court, the room to the east of the corridor was prepared for the use of the Recorder while holding police court, the room to the west, across the corridor, became the City Collector’s (chamberlain’s) office and the room on the north end occupied since 1837 by the Mechanics and Merchants Association was converted into the Common Council Chamber. These rooms comprised the entire second story. The members called the Chamber the Common Council “Hall.” A portrait of the first mayor, James Piatt, was hung in it and the dignity which attended its proceedings is affirmed in the recording of the Mayor’s “Inaugural” and “Valedictory” addresses from 1848 until this paper ends with the installation of the city offices in the new City Hall.
The room to the east had been divided to provide a City Clerk’s office. The expense entailed was $439.98. A room on the third floor was later provided for the library, furniture and general use of the Mechanics’ Association. The same year Water street between Bridge and Market streets was paved and stalls for the sale of fish erected at the north end of the City Hall.
Many Uses For Court Room
The Supreme Court room was much used. Shortly after it was fitted up for the Court, the Universalist Society was given permission to use it on alternate Sundays. (The Bethel Mission had used the room regularly Sundays since 1846 and had been granted a room on the third floor when the second floor was being renovated but when another religious society petitioned to use the hall, the Council was of the opinion that the room should be used exclusively by the Court and ordered the Clerk of the Market to forbid its use for any other purpose.) The next year the city leased it to the county for use by the County Courts for $250 annual rent. That lease was renewed yearly until 1857.
The Board of Supervisors were offered the room in 1853 for their sessions and by that time the Council appears to have abandoned the idea that the room should be used only for governmental purposes. On October 27, 1852 the Reverend J. S. Davenport secured it for his course of lectures, the next spring the West Baptist Society was permitted to use it for Sunday worship, in 1854 the Oswego Tract Society was occupying it each Thursday evening and after 1860 the Seamen’s Temperance Society held its meetings there. No doubt the Council had decided that these activities supplemented the efforts of the Court.
Oliver Last Of Market Men
The Common Council Proceedings give yearly a detailed statement of the city’s income and expenditures; therefore it is much easier to determine what the Market yielded. The income from the building did increase but rarely exceeded expenditures. The three tenants occupying the ground floor for the longest periods were the postmaster, Robert Oliver and J. B. C. Morris. The post office took over stalls three, four and five and the postmaster leased in addition a private office for which the United States government paid for a period of years an annual rent of $350-$360. The five original meat stalls appear to have been all occupied only for a very short period after 1837; by 1848 all but No. 1 and No. 2 occupied by Robert Oliver, had been converted into offices. Mr. Oliver had been among the first to secure a lease in April of 1837 but surrendered it in July. When he returned to the market is a question but from 1851 to ’55 he paid $150 annual rent. The following year he withdrew and with him ended one of the phases of the building’s history. Thereafter there were to be no further food dealers doing business in the Market.* J. B. C. Morris was in the insurance business and paid annual rent varying from $110 to $150 in the period 1852-1861 for the use of one of the former Market stalls as an office.
It is interesting to note that the Oswego Board of Education leased for $100 the library quarters in the City Hall for two years from April 1, 1854 to 1856 but it appears after that not to have paid rent, although continuing to occupy the room for school library purposes.
* Oliver had been appointed in July 1839 clerk of the Market “with the exception of the duty of collecting rents.” He was to receive a salary of $40 a year.
How Building Was Utilized In 1859
Fortunately a detailed account of the use and condition of the building was made at the request of an insurance company and was included in the Common Council Proceedings for the year 1859. It is as follows:
“Basement “
- “North end” fitted up in a cheap manner to lodge persons who may make application to the police or vagrants.
- “Next room south” leased to Northwestern Insurance Company for storage of coal, the privilege of keeping their steam tug at the wharf and an opening of 6 feet from the dock to the door of their store room, rent $35.
- “Lockup, the Black Hole.” Ling for storage of ale, liquors, etc., rent $50.
- “Hubbard”* space in connection with store on main floor.
“Principal Story.
- “North end” — Recorder and Chief of Police, in first rate order, rent free.
- “Next south”—Suite of offices J. B. C. Morris, rent $150.
- “Next south”—Rooms occupied by Board of Education.** In good order, rent free.
- Next south”—Office L. L. Ken yon (Express Office?), rent $75.
- “Next south”—S. R. Beardsley, postmaster, rent $75.
“Second Story”
- “North end” is the Common Council room; next is the City Clerk’s office; next the City Collector’s office; next the Court room—all in order and rent free.
“Third Story”
- “Used principally by the Military, (Oswego Guards, “Rifle Company” and Cadet Corps), in fair order, rent free. The Dome is tight and in fair order, it is occupied by the City Clock, rent free.
“Engine House”
- The South end is leased to Ely and Treadway for $125 per year.
- The North end is used by the Harbor Master and the Board of Trade*** rent free.”
* This entry reveals that Hubbard, an early tanner and shoe dealer, was an early tenant in the City Hall. Later the business was to become known as that of Hubbard & North. It eventually engaged in the wholesale and retail shoe and rubber business being finally conducted by the late Albert F. McCarthy of Oswego. This business was conducted in that portion of the building which was later occupied by the John S. Parson’s Shipchandlery. Mr. Parsons succeeded Hubbard & North in the occupancy of the quarters about 1904.
* * Dr. B. A. Sheldon, founder of the Oswego State Normal and Training School, who previously was Os wego’s first superintendent of city schools, maintained his office in this building where the scrupulously kept records of the Department of Education “were recorded in his own hand writing”.
*** The Board of Trade later occupied quarters in the main building. In all its occupancy of the building continued over 50 years. Its name appears today at a conspicuous location in the building.
Rapid Changes In Life’s Way
Dramatic changes in the American way of life are illustrated through the activities carried on within the building in the 1850s. The O’Reilley Telegraph Company leased an office on the ground floor from May 15, 1851 and left for a situation near the west end of the Bridge sometime during that year. The Committee on Markets was authorized to contract for gas fittings for lighting the City Hall with gas September 1, 1852. Lightning rods were attached to the building July 18, 1855 and upon September 7, 1858, Chief Engineer William E. Everett, a citizen of Oswego who had assisted in the laying of the Atlantic Cable was received upon his return home at a special session of the Common Council.
Old Clock Went To St. Mary’s
The question as to what became of the first clock installed in the cupola of the Market House has interested many citizens. On May 19, 1857 the committee on the City Hall was directed to purchase from Messrs. Wendell and Brother’s, Oswego jewelers, a new clock for the City Hall. Upon June 23, of that year, the prayer of the Reverend Mr. Guerdet that the old town clock be installed in the tower of St. Mary’s Church was granted. The new clock, however, was not moved from the First City Hall to the new City Hall for in 1872 a third clock was purchased for the latter from Messrs. Howard Brothers of Boston at the cost of $1,100.*
* What became of the second clock installed in the building today remains a mystery. Old photographs show it in place as late as the 1880s. It was probably finally removed with the cupola that housed it when the cupola fell into such a state of decay that the Lackawanna Railroad Company, the then owners of the building, did not elect to attempt repairs. In the early days of the Market Building the village experienced much difficulty in retaining the services of a jeweler to wind the clock and keep it in repair for the $25.00 a year paid for the service.
“Fremont Guards” Drill Hall
It may be that the Mexican War and the tension preceding the Civil War led to the organization of additional companies of militia since two new organizations, the “Rifle Company” and the Cadet Corps were in existence in ’58 and the “Fremont Guards” were drilling on the third floor of the City Hall in 1861.
Firemen’s Balls At Old Hall
The use of the rooms in the City Hall for the holding of public dances had evidently become common by 1854 for it would appear that an abuse of the privilege led the Common Council in June of that year to forbid the further use of any room in the City Hall for such purposes; but this ban was of short duration for the petition of Peck and Fair tile for leave to hold a dancing assembly was granted November 15, and the holiday season was enlivened by public balls sponsored by the Ontario and the Rescue Engine Companies.
Agitation Started For New City Hall
Mayor Lucius B. Crocker was much in favor of a new City Hall. He appointed a committee to inquire into the expediency of purchasing a suitable lot for a new building and of selling the old Market building and its grounds. This committee reported November 14, 1856. General conditions in the Community resembled those which obtained preceding, the erection of the first building -prosperous times on the threshold of a general business depression, therefore the arguments presented in favor of the proposal are of such interest that I quote a part of the report verbatim:
“To the Common Council of the City of Oswego:
“The committee to whom was referred the question of the propriety and expediency of purchasing a suitable lot for the erection of a new City Hall, and the sale of the present Hall and grounds on which it is situated, respectfully report
“That the present Town Hall on Water street, between that narrow street and the River, is an unpleasant and disagreeable location for a building devoted to the general business of the city. It is situated on the bank of the river and has connected with it a large wharf and Store Rooms, intended and used for storage and commercial purposes, about which are crowded steam and canal boats and sailing vessels, all engaged in the busy and noisy operations of commercial pursuits which are so entirely incompatible with the comfort and quiet of the City Council and Courts in their deliberations, and of all the business offices of city officers, which are of necessity within the building.
“The present edifice was erected by the Village of Oswego in about the year 1836, when the river was never crowded with commerce, or the streets with men of business, and when few of the citizens were so sanguine as to contemplate the business crowds we now witness on land or water. But even then the location of the building was selected rather as a necessity, than as a choice, the city being the owner of the ground which was not valuable or occupied for other purposes.
“The space of twenty years has now immensely increased its value for commercial and mercantile purposes, while it has greatly reduced its value for city use.
“It is, in the opinion of your committee, easy to foresee, that within a few years at farthest, the city must be driven from its occupation as a public building, by the encroachments of the com mercial and mercantile interests which surround it, and believing this, they would earnestly recommend as a measure of wisdom and economy that a suitable lot be purchased for the erection of a new Town Hall, and that the present building and lot be sold as soon as a fair and reasonable price can be obtained, with a view to the erection of a new building. Your committee are of opinion, that the present Hall will readily sell for as much, or more than the cost of another lot and a new building.”
Railroad Interested In Property
The reason why the Committee felt that a profitable sale of the old building and grounds could be made was that upon May 11, 1853 Mr. H. Hutchinson, President of the Oswego and Syracuse railroad had made a proposal relative to the purchase of the City Hall premises to be used by the Company as a depot. Since the Council did not take any definite action upon this first proposal he later made two new proposals: For a 10 year lease of the property, that is the City Hall basement and city-owned land on south side of Bridge street, including wharf in front of each, the use of the half north of Bridge street for ten years with the privilege of renewal and the occupation of the land south of the City Hall indefinitely after the termination of the lease with such buildings as the Company may erect at an annual rent of $200.
The second proposal of the railroad president asked for permission to lay tracks in Water street. (After crossing Bridge street at grade with the tracks already laid to the beginning of Water street at the south end.) The latter request was granted with the express understanding that “in case the grade on any part of the street be altered, the Common Council shall have the right to require the company to remove the tracks and appurtenances wholly from that part of the street extending from the south line of Water street to the Harbor.”
The foregoing resolution was passed October 12, 1854 and formed the legal basis for the later forcible removal of the tracks of the Lackawanna Railroad Company, then the lessee of the Oswego and Syracuse Rail road, from Bridge street by the Oswego Commissioner of Public Works under the order of the Common Council April 6, 1904 during Mayor James Mansfield’s administration.
The old City Hall property was finally sold to the Railroad Company July 5, 1864 but before that date the Civil War had intervened and the events which transpired in the City Hall during that period further illustrate the diverse uses made of the old building by the citizens.
Use Of Market Building In Civil War
When the City was incorporated in 1848, the annual meetings of the village inhabitants and taxpayers ceased. From then on only voters who lived in the First ward voted at the City Hall except in case of special elections when all who cast votes, voted there. One such was held May 14, 1861 on the proposal to raise $10,000 for the relief of the families of the Civil War volunteers from Oswego. There were 250 Qualified voters and the proposal received no dissenting vote. The next year another such election was held, this time to raise $5,000 for the same purpose; the results were 86 for, 41 against. The need for second sum was due in part to the delay of the government in paying the troops.
A special public meeting was called at the City Hall by Mayor L.A.G.B. Grant upon receipt of the news of the final day of the Battle of Gettysburg to consider ways and means for aiding in care of Oswego wounded in that battle in which the 147th regiment from Oswego County took an active part with heavy losses in killed and wounded. Funds were pledged for the relief of wounded officers and privates and their dependents.
On Tuesday evening, February 23, 1864 the war torn flags presented two years earlier by the Common Council in the presence of an admiring and applauding populace to the Eighty First New York Volunteers which had seen service at Williamsburg, Seven Pines, Fair Oaks, White Oak Swan, Charles Cross Roads and Malvern Hills were returned to the Common Council. On April 18, 1864, following the death of President Lincoln, the Common Council Chamber was ordered draped in mourning for a period of 30 days. In 1867 a flag pole was ordered set up somewhere on the Market ground.
The Niagara Ship Canal was the subject of the last two special elections to be held in the Market Hall. In December 1863 and again in January 1866 proposals were submitted to raise $4,000 and later. $2,000 for the purpose of bringing the matter of the desirability of the construction of such a canal before the Congress. The appropriations were approved by the taxpayers in both instances.
Railroad Buys City Hall
The Oswego-Syracuse Railroad Company acquired by purchase from the city Market Block 26 and both buildings standing upon it because it planned to make Oswego the main depot for shipments of coal to Canada and the western states and needed a freight depot below the iron bridge for the accommodation of vessels and steamers with cargo consigned to the Company. To the arguments advanced in 1856 this proposal added that of increased prosperity for the City since the improvement contemplated by the Company would link the Oswego-Syracuse line to New York through establishment of a working arrangement with the Syracuse and Binghamton road thus affording a wider market for Oswego malt, starch, barley, flour, feed and grain together with manufactured articles. Oswego sold to the railroad the entire Market Block, that is the area from Bridge to Market street and from Water street east to the river, the wharves opposite the Market and extending beneath the bridge to a point south of the bridge* and the two buildings upon the Block for $20,000. An act from the Legislature was necessary authorizing the Common Council to make the sale. This was secured February 3, 1864. The deed of sale from the City was dated July 9, 1864. Ten thousand dollars of the purchase money was used to acquire the site of the present City Hall.
* It was through this purchase that the railroad acquired titles and rights of way which years later enabled it to relay its tracks under the Bridge street bridge and thence continue on to Cayuga and Water streets over a new private right of way after an enraged Mayor and Board of Aldermen had torn up the company’s tracks from their former location at tracks in Bridge street near the western end of the bridge. The tracks ran from their former location at ter street, north and south of Bridge street, for the entire length of the street. The company offered to make this change in regard to its tracks before the tracks were torn up if the fore the tracks were torn up if the city would pay for relocating the tracks. The city refused to pay and the cost and elected to proceed along its own lines.
City Discontinued Market Use In 1871
While plans for a new City Hall were being made, advanced and financed from May 23, 1865 to February 20, 1872 the City of Oswego leased from the railroad company the second and third floors of the Market Hall and that section of the first floor occupied by the Police Department and the Board of Education to house the city government. In 1866 the annual rent was $900 for these rooms and $150 for the City Jail. The rent for the fiscal year ending in 1872 was one third of this previous amount as some of the offices had by that time been moved to the new building. The Market Building ceased to be a public building about December 1, 1871 when the last of the city offices was transferred from the old to the new City Hall.
Incident Of The Track Removal
The only dramatic incident associated with the old building in this century is the removal of the D. L. & W. Company rail road tracks in Bridge street, which they then crossed at grade to reach Water street on the west side of the old Market House, on the night of April 6, 1904. The occasion for this act was that the railroad company had been requested by the Common Council more than three years before to take up these tracks from the south line of Bridge street to a point near Cayuga street. This the company had declined to do and secured an injunction restraining the city from interfering with its tracks. The referee, to whom was referred the matter for hearing, J. N. Car lisle of Watertown, found the Common Council right and the Company a trespasser. The Appellate Division to which the Company appealed sustained the referee’s finding by a unanimous vote. These two victories for the City rested upon the resolution passed October 12, 1854 in the Council Chamber of the old Market Hall as previously mentioned. In spite of the decisions the Company had failed to negotiate successfully with the city officials for the removal and relocation of the tracks.
Mayor Mansfield was authorized by the Council on the evening of April 6 at a surprise session, and in executive session, to have the tracks removed and by 10:30 o’clock that same night a gang of 20 men under the direction of the Superintendent of the Department of Works had accomplished the task despite protest by the railroad company’s representatives and while several hundred citizens stood about as spectators.* The work had started at 8:30 o’clock in the evening immediately after the Council’s special session had adjourned. In an apparent desire to escape observation as long as possible, city workmen with picks, bars and shovels who were in waiting with lanterns moved from City Hall through Oneida street to Water, and thence north to Bridge street to start their work.
* The Mayor had a line of hose attached to a hydrant at Market and Water streets with city firemen in charge who were instructed to play the hose upon any persons who should attempt to interfere with the work of tearing up the tracks, but the water was not used. Subsequently the railroad company offered to relocate the tracks at its own expense under the bridge, to buy and raze the Doolittle Block housing the Academy of Music, to provide a new and private right of way to Cayuga and Water streets, provided the City Council would vote it a perpetual franchise to occupy Water street north to Lake Ontario from the street intersection named. This offer became the basis of the compromise finally made effective.
Building Tenants in Modern Times
During the past half century the Market Hall property has not been used for railroad purposes, except as to the right of way along the location of the old dock. It has been occupied by a number of tenants including The City Club which removed to the Pontiac Hotel in 1912 when the hotel was first opened and by the Ontario Telephone Company whose office can easily be located by the lettering on a second story door. For half a century the Oswego Board of Trade had its offices in the building. The short hand symbols taught in the Chaffee Business College still stand on a third floor blackboard as a reminder that the famous old business college was once a tenant there. Mr. John S. Parsons occupied for about 36 years with his ship chandlery the first floor area south of the main Water street entrance previously occupied by Hubbard and North, Wholesale Shoe and Leather dealers in Oswego. Hubbard had been a tenant when the building was the City Hall, and occupied a portion of the second and third stories and of the basement for many years. Mr. Parsons had caused portions of the south circular stairway in the Water street entrance to be removed in order to have an elevator installed. The portion of the main floor to the north was tenanted for a long period by the Oswego Door, Sash and Glass Company when that company was under the ownership of Charles J. Wiley. Later this company passed to the control of Joseph R. Dion. The same company, now owned by Peter Raby, Jr., still continues as tenant. In the former Parsons’ location John T. Donovan now operates the former Parsons ship chandlery under the name of the Oswego Marine Supply; he was a clerk in the Parsons business.
The old Market Building is truly a beautiful building. Aside from some of our churches there is nothing locally to compare with it from an architectural standpoint, and it is, I believe, more closely associated than any building now standing, with a long and interesting period of the city’s history. It would indeed be a tragedy if the fate which has now befallen the building which until recently housed in part the Salvation Army, should overtake this historic landmark.
