There are no casualties. Dec 9 Sophia Beatty Rochester, widow of Rochester founder Colonel Nathaniel Rochester, dies at the age of 77. Hamilton Wright Mabie is born in Cold Spring. City Fort Schuyler, on Throgg's Neck overlooking Long Island Sound is completed, named for American Revolution general Philip Schuyler. The Rainbow , the first clipper, is launched by John W. Griffiths.
Firemen standing on the roof ride it to the ground, unhurt, when the building collapses.
The state legislature authorizes Utica entrepreneur Edward Brodhead to construct a log aqueduct to bring water to the city, but the system is never built. Construction begins on the Albany County Penitentiary. The state now has 661 miles of railroad track. Captain Harry Whitaker navigates the steamboat United States between Buffalo and Detroit, Michigan, for the entire winter, the first boat to do so. The population of Genesee County reaches 28,845.