Photo: Early Map of Washingtonville (Sandy Creek)

The town that we now call Sandy Creek became legally so in 1825. In the month of April 1803 two men with their families and household goods loaded upon ox-sleds, were seen making their way along the scarcely open State Road through Redfield and Boylston. William Skinner plunged into the pathless forest and made his way to the bank of Sandy Creek, at the upper end of the present Village of Lacona. Stephen Lindsay, went through Ellisburg, where there were already a few settlements, but finally located on the flat in the extreme northwest corner of the present town of Sandy Creek, about half a mile from the great pond which occupies the western part of the town.

Sandy Creek was then a part of the town of Mexico, in the county of Oneida. It was also a part of the survey township of “Rhadament” (or No. 10), in the Boylston tract, and was the property of the heirs of William Constable; H. B. Pierrepont was the principal. Other early settlers were Joseph Hurd, Elias Howe, Mr. Noyes, the families of Harding, Meacham, and Brewster.

The 24th of March 1825, the town of Sandy Creek was formed by an act of the legislature. The first town meeting was held on the first Tuesday in May 1825. Dr. Ayer and Anson Maltby suggested the little settlement where the Salt Road crossed Sandy Creek should be named Washingtonville.

Geography of Oswego County (1885) by E. G. Blankman states: “Sandy Creek is a thriving village located in the Town of Sandy Creek, on Little Sandy Creek. It has extensive marble works and many growing industries, among which manufacturing is not the least. Considerable attention is paid to schools; population 951. Lacona is a business town situated near Sandy Creek village, and has a population of 378.”