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- This is the article about the city in New York State. For the city in Sicily, see Syracuse, Sicily. For all other meanings, see Syracuse (disambiguation).
Syracuse (IPA: [ˈsɛɹəkjuːs], sometimes pronounced [ˈsɪɹəkjuːs] or [ˈsiɹəkjuːs] by non-natives) is a city in Central New York, USA. According to the 2000 census, the city population was 147,306, and its metropolitan area had a population of 732,117. It is the county seat of Onondaga County and the economic and educational hub of Central New York, a region with over a million inhabitants. Syracuse is also well provided with convention sites, with a downtown convention complex and the Empire Expo Center directly west of the city, which hosts the annual Great New York State Fair. Syracuse was named after the original Syracuse, a city on the eastern coast of Sicily, Italy, with which it shares some similarities, including a formerly important salt industry and a neighboring town of Salina.
The city has functioned as a major crossroads over the last two centuries, first between the Erie Canal and its branch canals, then of the railway network. Today, Syracuse is located by the intersection of Upstate New York's two major interstate highways, and its airport is the largest in the region.
Syracuse is the home of Syracuse University, a major research university, as well as several smaller colleges and professional schools.
[edit] History
The Syracuse area was first seen by Europeans when French missionaries came to the area in the 1600s. A group of Jesuit priests, soldiers, and coureurs des bois (including Pierre Esprit Radisson) set up a mission, known as Saint Marie Among the Iroquois or Ste. Marie de Gannentaha, on the northeast shore of Onondaga Lake, at the invitation of the Onondaga Nation, one of the five constituent members of the Iroquois confederacy.
The State Tower Building in Syracuse (rear).
The mission was short lived, as the Mohawk Nation hinted to the Onondaga that they should sever their ties to the French, or the Onondaga's guests would suffer some horrible fate. The men in the mission caught wind of this and left under cover of a cold night in March. Their entire stay was less than two years. The remains of the mission have been located underneath a restaurant in nearby Liverpool. There is now a living history museum in Liverpool that recreates the mission.
Just after the Revolutionary War, more settlers came to the area, mostly to trade with the Onondaga Nation. Ephraim Webster left the Continental Army to settle in 1784, and Asa Danforth, another revolutionary war hero, and Comfort Tyler, whose enginerring skill contributed to regional development, arrived four years later. All three settled in Onondaga Hollow south of the present city center, which was then marshy. Salt was discovered in several swamps in Syracuse, which brought more settlers to the area, and eventually gave the city the nickname "Salt City".
The original settlement went through several name changes until 1824, first being called Salt Point (1780), then Webster's Landing (1786), Bogardus Corners (1796), Milan (1809), South Salina (1812), Cossits’ Corners (1814), and Corinth (1817). The U.S. Postal Service rejected the name Corinth upon its application for a post office, stating there was already a post office by this name in New York. Due to similarities such as a salt industry and a neighboring village named Salina, the name Syracuse was chosen, after Syracuse, Italy.
In 1825, the Village of Syracuse was officially incorporated. Five years later, the Erie Canal, which ran through the village, was completed. In 1848, Syracuse merged with nearby Salina to become the City of Syracuse. The opening of the canal caused a steep increase in the sale of salt, not simply due to the improved and lower cost of transportation, but because the canal caused New York farms to change from wheat to pork, and curing pork required salt. As salt production climbed, the processing became increasingly mechanized, and local industry became more generalized; population grew to 5,000 by 1850, from 250 in 1820, making it the twelfth largest city in the Union.
Jerry Rescue Monument, Syracuse.
Syracuse is actively renovating former industrial areas into usable space today. One successful example is
Franklin Square.
Syracuse became an active center for the abolitionist movement, due in large part to the influence of Gerrit Smith and a group allied with him, mostly associated with the Unitarian Church in Syracuse, as well as with Quakers in nearby Skaneateles, supported as well by abolitionists in many other religious congregations. Prior to the Civil War, due to the work of Jermain Wesley Loguen and others in defiance of federal law, Syracuse was known the "great central depot on the Underground Railroad". On October 1, 1851, William Henry, a freed slave known as "Jerry" was arrested under the Fugitive Slave Law. The anti-slavery Liberty Party was holding its state convention in the city, and when word of the arrest spread, several hundred abolitionists broke into the city jail and freed Jerry. The event came to be widely known as the "Jerry Rescue".
The salt industry declined after the Civil War, but a new manufacturing industry arose in its place. Throughout the late 1800s and early 1900s, numerous businesses and stores were established, including the Franklin Automobile Company, which produced the first air-cooled engine in the world, and the Craftsman Workshops, the center of Gustav Stickley's handmade furniture empire.
Syracuse University was chartered in 1870 as a Methodist-Episcopal institution; no longer sectarian, it has grown from a few classrooms located in downtown Syracuse into a major research institution. Le Moyne College was founded in 1946, Onondaga Community College in 1962.
World War II sparked significant industrial expansion in the area: specialty steel, fasteners, custom machining. After the war, two of the Big Three automobile manufacturers (General Motors & Chrysler) had major operations in the area. Syracuse was headquarters for Carrier Air Conditioning, Crouse-Hinds traffic signal manufacturing, and General Electric had its main television manufacturing plant at Electronics Parkway in Syracuse.
Syracuse's population peaked at 221,000 in 1950. Immigration from abroad introduced many ethnic groups to the city, particularly German, Irish, Italian, and Polish. African Americans had lived in Syracuse since Revolutionary War days, but between 1940 and 1960 some of the three million African Americans who migrated from the south to northern cities also settled in Syracuse. In the 1980s, many immigrants from Africa and Central America also moved to Syracuse, as they did to many northern cities, sometimes under the auspices of several religious charities. However, these new Syracusans could not make up for the flow of residents out of Syracuse to either its suburbs or out of state due to job loss. The city's population slowly decreases every year.
Much of the city fabric changed after World War II, although Pioneer Homes, one of the earliest government housing projects in the US, had been completed earlier, in 1941. Many of Syracuse's landmark buildings were demolished in the 1950s and 1960s. The federal Urban Renewal program cleared large sectors that remained undeveloped for many decades, although several new museums and government buildings were built.
The manufacturing industry in Syracuse began to falter in the 1970s. Many small businesses failed during this time, which contributed to an already increasing unemployment rate. General Electric moved its manufacturing operations to Singapore. The Carrier Corporation moved its headquarters out of Syracuse and outsourced manufacturing to Asian locations. Nevertheless, although city population has declined since 1950, the Syracuse metropolitan area population has remained fairly stable, even growing by 2.5 percent since 1970. While this growth rate is greater than much of Upstate New York, it is far below the national average during that period.
[edit] Geography and climate
[edit] Geography
Syracuse is located at 43°2′49″N, 76°8′40″W (43.046899, -76.144423)GR1.
According tokm,n the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 66.4 km² (25.6 mi²). 65.0 km² (25.1 mi²) of it is land and 1.4 km² (0.6 mi²) of it (2.15%) is water.
The city stands at the northeast corner of the Finger Lakes Region. The city has many neighborhoods which were originally various villages that joined the city over the years. Although the central part of Syracuse is flat, many of its neighborhoods are located on small hills such as University Hill and Tipperary Hill. Land to the north of Syracuse is generally flat while land to the south is hilly.
About 27 percent of Syracuse's land area is covered by 890,000 trees — a higher percentage than in Albany, Rochester or Buffalo. This is despite the Labor Day Storm of 1998, a derecho which destroyed approximately 30,000 trees. The sugar maple accounts for 14.2 percent of Syracuse's trees, followed by the Northern white cedar (9.8 percent) and the European buckthorn (6.8 percent). The most common street tree is the Norway maple (24.3 percent) followed by the honeylocust (9.3 percent). The densest tree cover in Syracuse is in the two Valley neighborhoods, with 46.6 percent of their land covered by trees. The lowest tree cover percentage is found downtown, which consists of only 4.6 percent trees.[1]
Syracuse's main water source is Skaneateles Lake, one of the country's cleanest lakes, located about 20 miles (30 km) southwest of the city. Incoming water is left unfiltered, and only a trivial amount of chlorine is added to prevent bacterial growth. For periods of drought, there is also a backup line which uses water from Lake Ontario.[2] Onondaga Lake's water is not drinkable due to industrial pollution and inadequate sewage systems which spanned many decades.
Onondaga Creek, a waterway that runs through downtown, flows northward through the city. There are plans and aspirations to create a creek walk that will connect the Lakefront and Inner Harbor to Franklin Square, Armory Square, The Valley, and ultimately the Onondaga Nation. The creek is navigable, yet can be quite a challenge as its channelized nature speeds up its flow, particularly in the spring, when it may be dangerous. Drownings of youngsters resulted in fencing of the creek through some residential areas.
[edit] Climate
Some of Syracuse's statistical weather averages
Syracuse is known for its snowfall. Boasting 115.6 inches (293.6 cm) on average,[3] the Syracuse metro area receives more snow on average than any other large city in the United States.[4] [5] Syracuse continually wins the Golden Snowball Award, among Upstate cities. Its record so far is 192.1 inches (487.9 cm). The high snowfall is a result of the fact that the city receives both lake effect and nor'easter snow. Snow most often falls in small (about 1-3 inches/2-8 cm), almost daily doses, over a period of several days. Larger snowfalls do occur from time-to-time, and even more so in the northern suburbs.
One notable blizzard was the Blizzard of 1993, during which 42.9 inches (109 cm) fell on the city within 48 hours, with 35.6 inches (90.4 cm) falling within the first 24 hours. Syracuse received more snow than any other city in the country during this storm, which shattered a total of eight local records, including the most snow in a single snowstorm.[6] Ironically, virtually no snow fell during the Blizzard of 2006, where the Catskills and New York City saw over two feet (60 cm) of snow fall in about one day.
Syracuse's hottest month is historically July, with an average high temperature of 82 °F (28 °C), while its coldest month is historically January, with an average high temperature of 31 °F (-1 °C). Record highs and lows are 102 °F (39 °C) on July 9, 1936 and -26 °F (-32 °C) on January 26, 1966 and February 18, 1979, respectively.
Syracuse's summers have also broken records in the first decade of the 21st Century. The summers of 2005 and 2002 were, respectively, the hottest and second-hottest summers on record.[7]
[edit] Demographics
Syracuse Compared
(monetary values in United States dollars) |
| 2000 Census |
Syracuse |
NY State |
U.S. |
| Total population |
147, 306 |
18,976,457 |
281,421,906 |
| Population, percent change, 1990 to 2000 |
-10.4% |
+5.5% |
+13.1% |
| Population density |
5,871/mi² |
402/mi² |
80/mi² |
| Median household income (1999) |
$25,000 |
$43,393 |
$41,994 |
| Per capita income |
$15,168 |
$23,389 |
$21,587 |
| Bachelor's degree or higher |
23% |
27% |
24% |
| Foreign born |
8% |
20% |
11% |
| White |
64% |
62% |
69% |
| Black |
25% |
16% |
12% |
| Hispanic |
3% |
15% |
13% |
| Asian |
10% |
6% |
4% |
As of the censusGR2 of 2000, there were 147,306 people, 59,482 households, and 30,335 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,266.8/km² (5,871.0/mi²). There were 68,192 housing units at an average density of 1,049.4/km² (2,717.8/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 64.26% White, 25.35% African American, 1.13% Native American, 3.37% Asian, 0.05% Pacific Islander, 2.23% from other races, and 3.61% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 5.27% of the population. Syracuse has experienced almost yearly population declines, the city's total population falling by 33% to 147,306 from its 1950 peak of 220,583 inhabitants.
Syracuse has historically enjoyed a relatively diverse ethnic population, including sizable Italian-American, Polish-American and Irish-American communities. Currently the city has a growing Latino population, and is also a resettlement center for refugees from Bosnia, Cuba, Sudan (the "Lost Boys") as well as Somali Bantu refugees.
There were 59,482 households out of which 30.46% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 12.65% were married couples living together, 14.84% had a female householder with no husband present, and 48.58% were non-families. 38.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 11.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.29 and the average family size was 3.11.
Syracuse's racial makeup in 2000
In the city the population was spread out with 25.0% under the age of 18, 16.8% from 18 to 24, 27.9% from 25 to 44, 17.5% from 45 to 64, and 12.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 30 years. For every 100 females there were 88.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 84.7 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $25,000, and the median income for a family was $33,026. Males had a median income of $30,312 versus $23,997 for females. The per capita income for the city was $15,168. About 21.7% of families and 27.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 35.1% of those under age 18 and 12.4% of those age 65 or over.
City of Syracuse
Population by year [1] |
| Year |
Population |
Rank |
| 1850 |
22,271 |
28 |
| 1860 |
28,119 |
30 |
| 1870 |
43,051 |
29 |
| 1880 |
51,792 |
32 |
| 1890 |
88,143 |
31 |
| 1900 |
108,374 |
30 |
| 1910 |
137,249 |
34 |
| 1920 |
171,717 |
37 |
| 1930 |
209,326 |
40 |
| 1940 |
205,967 |
41 |
| 1950 |
220,583 |
47 |
| 1960 |
216,038 |
53 |
| 1970 |
197,208 |
66 |
| 1980 |
170,105 |
86 |
| 2000 |
147,306 |
|
| Current Standing |
[edit] Economy
Syracuse's economy has faced challenges over the past decades as industrial jobs have left the area. The number of local and state government jobs also have been declining for several years. Syracuse's top employers are now primarily in education and in the service industry. University Hill is Syracuse's fastest growing neighborhood, fueled by expansions by Syracuse University and Upstate Medical University, as well as dozens of small medical office complexes.
[edit] Top employers
The top employers in the Syracuse region and the size of their workforce, as of January 1, 2006:
- Syracuse University: 7,371
- State University of New York Upstate Medical University: 6,400
- National Grid: 4,989
- Wegmans Food Markets: 4,717
- Oneida Nation and Oneida Nation Enterprises: 4,700
- St. Joseph's Hospital Health Center: 3,307
- Magna International: 3,000
- Verizon Communications: 2,750
- Penn Traffic Company: 2,700
- Lockheed Martin Corp.: 2,350
- Loretto: 2,204
(source: Syracuse Post Standard)
Bristol-Myers Squibb, founded by alums of nearby Hamilton College, has a complex near the Eastwood district.[8] Time Warner Cable has based one of its divisions in Syracuse.[9]
Today the Syracuse area has few extremely large employers, but rather many smaller ones, which provides for a certain amount of stability. Additionally, eight of the area's top eleven employers are in education or the service industry, which tend to be much more stable than the manufacturing industry.
The Syracuse area's unemployment rate of 5.0 percent is comparable to the national one of 4.8 (March, 2006). Throughout 2006, the area has continued to gain jobs over the previous year's figures. During February and March 2006, the area's job growth rate tied with New York City for the highest in the state.[10]
[edit] Destiny USA
-
Since the mid 1990s plans have been discussed and negotiated for the current Carousel Center to be expanded. Ultimately the Pyramid Companies, the project's backer, proposes to build a tourist destination called "Destiny USA", which would contain an expanded version of the present mall, hotels, and various attractions. Pyramid claims that this will bring thousands of new jobs to the area and enhance Syracuse's desirability as a tourist destination.
