The Permanent Exhibit is a timeline of Oswego County history with displays of events and themes important to the growth of the county.

Starting with the presence of Haudenosaunee Confederacy, meaning People of the long house, which included the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas, this timeline traces the invasion and military presence of the British and French who vied for control of the fur trade with the five nations. The British established 3 forts in the 1700’s at the mouth of the Oswego River, and through the 18th century, battled the French and eventually the colonists for control of that vital waterway.

White settlers trickled into the area that would become Oswego County in the late 1700’s, especially along the waterways of Oneida Lake in Constantia and the Oswego River in Fulton, but it wasn’t until the British evacuated the remaining fort in Oswego in 1796 that full scale settlement by non-indigenous people began. The U.S. government parceled out sections of the area as military tracts for payment to Revolutionary War soldiers, but most of the land was sold to wealthy land speculators, including George Scriba, John Jay, and Alexander Hamilton.

Oswego County was formed in 1816 from sections of Oneida and Onondaga Counties, and originally was a half-shire county, meaning that there were two county seats, Pulaski and Oswego. While cheap water transportation was always the key, an explosion of growth occurred when the Erie Canal connected through Oswego to Lake Ontario in 1828.

Agriculture, including logging, was a important in all of Oswego County. Wheat, dairy, butter and cheese were important products in the 1800’s, as well as fruit grown along the temperate shores of Lake Ontario and Oneida Lake. Convenient water routes, and by 1848, railroads, made export to Canada, the Midwest and New York City profitable.

The combination of cheap water power and easy transportation by water and train made the towns and cities especially Oswego, Fulton, Richland and Phoenix explode with manufacturers in the mid 1800’s. Oswego County’s factories were as varied as could be imagined: from foundries, mills, pottery, glass and furniture manufactures to chocolate and cheese making. The United States’s largest starch manufacturer, Kingsford’s Oswego Starch, and the largest match manufacturer, Diamond Match, were both situated in the City of Oswego, and the first Nestles plant in the United States was established in Fulton in 1902.

Although Oswego County manufacturing has declined, it is still thriving in many areas including outdoor recreation and sports, agriculture, and tourism.