West Davenport, New York

West Davenport is a hamlet in Delaware County, New York, United States. The community is located along Charlotte Creek 5.2 miles (8.4 km) east of Oneonta. West Davenport has a post office with ZIP code 13860, which opened on January 25, 1839.[2][3]

Syracuse, New York

Syracuse (/ˈsɪrəkjuːz, ˈsɛr-, -kjuːs/)[3][4][5] is a city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, in the United States. It is the fifth most populous city in the state of New York following New York City, Buffalo, Rochester, and Yonkers. At the 2010 census, the city population was 145,252, and its metropolitan area had a population of 662,577. It is the economic and educational hub of Central New York, a region with over one million inhabitants. Syracuse is also well-provided with convention sites, with a downtown convention complex. Syracuse was named after the original Greek city Syracuse (Siracusa in Italian), a city on the eastern coast of the Italian island of Sicily.

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 at the intersection of Interstates 81 and 90, and its airport is the largest in the region. Syracuse is home to Syracuse University, a major research university, as well as Le Moyne College, a nationally recognized liberal arts college. In 2010, Forbes rated Syracuse fourth in the top 10 places in the U.S. to raise a family.[6]

The Syracuse area was first seen by Europeans when French missionaries came to the area in the 1600s. At the invitation of the Onondaga Nation, one of the five constituent members of the Iroquois confederacy, a group of Jesuit priests, soldiers, and coureurs des bois (including Pierre Esprit Radisson) set up a mission, known as Sainte Marie among the Iroquois, or Ste. Marie de Gannentaha, on the northeast shore of Onondaga Lake.

Constantia (town), New York

Constantia is a town in Oswego County, New York, United States. The population was 4,973 at the 2010 census.[2]

The Town of Constantia is in the southeast part of the county. Located with the town is a hamlet and census-designated place also named Constantia.

The town was first settled around 1793 and was known then as "Rotterdam." Francis Adrian Vanderkemp and Marc Isambard Brunel were two of its citizens. The Town of Constantia was created from part of the Town of Mexico in 1808. In 1825, the town was reduced by the formation of the Town of Hastings, and was reduced again in 1839 to form the Town of West Monroe.

Rock City Falls, New York

Rock City Falls is a hamlet in the town of Milton, Saratoga County, New York, United States. The principal roads are Route 29 and Rock City Falls Road. The hamlet achieved fame as the origins of Paper Bag King George West, who established his Empire Mill there in 1862. He went on to build the Excelsior Mill next door in 1866 and a mansion across the street.[1] The George West House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005.[2]

There were saw and grist-mills in the upper part of Rock City before 1800, usually known then as the Hatch mills, though owned by Swan. This was the first use of the splendid water-power at that point. Not much later than that, however, another one was erected by Rathbone, the first settler at the hamlet of Rock City. There were two brothers Rathbone, one the pioneer merchant and landlord, the other the mill-owner. One of them afterwards removed to Greenfield.[3]

From 1898 to 1929, the hamlet was served by The Ballston Terminal Railroad, an electric trolley that hauled freight cars for the paper mills and carried passengers to Ballston Spa.[4]

Deer Park, New York

Deer Park is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in the town of Babylon, Suffolk County, New York, United States. The population was 27,745 at the 2010 census.[1]

Deer Park is a residential hamlet located in the pine barrens in the northeast corner of the town of Babylon. It grew out of Jacob Conklin's 1610 settlement of the Half Way Hollow Hills, later Wheatley Heights. Charles Wilson started what is now Deer Park in 1853 about eleven years after the Long Island Rail Road arrived in 1842-when he established a large and productive farm. A post office was opened in 1851, closed in 1872 and re-opened on July 1, 1873. Deer Park had an elementary school in 1874. Prior to 1923, the Deer Park School District took in Deer Park and Wyandanch.[2]

Farming was a staple of this small town for most of its history. Known as the "fruit basket" of New York state, the area was also famed for its dahlia cultivation. It was not until the effects of the post-World War II boom reached Deer Park that its economy ceased to be agricultural.