Charlene Cole
Sandy Creek/Lacona Historian
Historian's Corner
April 11, 2014
Photo: Centennial Celebration at the Village Park
This year we celebrate the 136th Anniversary of the Village of Sandy Creek. March 13, 1878, Sandy Creek Village held their first meeting. The first President/Mayor was Hamilton E. Root who served from 1878 to 1880.
The Syracuse-Watertown Plank Road (now Main Street and N.Y. Rt. 11) opened in 1849 and provided the first overland link between the growing manufacturing and commercial centers at Watertown and Syracuse. It brought commercial and later tourist traffic through Sandy Creek. This traffic along with trade based on the prosperous local farm economy stimulated such businesses as hotels, blacksmith and harness shops and stores. This commercial activity concentrated around the crossroad at Main Street and Harwood Drive.
|
|
The Village of Sandy Creek, originally called the Creek Settlement, began in the 1820’s when pioneers from New England arrived and built modest residences, retail establishments and small water powered industries along the south banks of Little Sandy Creek, on what is now Harwood Drive. About 1824-1825 it was thought desirable to have a local name for the little settlement where the Salt Road crossed Sandy Creek. Dr. Ayer and Anson Maltby proposed naming the settlement Washingtonville, as it was known for some time.
By 1925 the village could boast four grocers (Wart, Fox, Muchmore Joyner & Hershey), Prytherch dry goods, Shaul Drug Store, Nino Hardware, Stevenson & Bettinger Meats, Pratt Furniture & Undertaking, Killam and Knowlton Garages, Bellinger Bakery, Snyder Ice Cream Parlor, G. Roberts Barber, O’Brien Grist Mill, The Thomas Hotel, B. D. Jones Boots & Shoes, Corse Press, Sandy Creek News and Holstein Friesian World, Raymond Harness and Shoe Repair, Williams Real Estate, Root Life Insurance, Bartlett Musical Instruments, Nemire and Scranton Blacksmiths, two doctors: Cook and Allen, a dentist: E. G. Rogers and two lawyers: H. Louis Wallace and Roscoe Sargent.
By this time the California Block had burned and the Library was yet to be built. |
Charlene Cole
Sandy Creek/Lacona Historian
1992 Harwood Drive
Sandy Creek, NY 13145
315-387-5456 x7
office hours: Friday 9am to 2pm
www.sandycreeknyhistory.com |
