page_title: History of Syracuse, New York
section_title: Early history
hierarchical_section_title: History of Syracuse, New York / Early history
caption_attribution_description: English: Erie Canal at Salina Street, Syracuse, N.Y.
context_page_description: Syracuse is a city in Central New York sited on the former lands of the Onondaga Nation. Officially incorporated as a village in 1825, it has been at a major crossroads over the last two centuries, first of the Erie Canal and its branch canals, then on the railway network. The city grew on the back of its salt and chemical industries, and later as a center of manufacturing and engineering. Although its industries have dwindled, the city has remained the economic and educational hub of Central New York, a region with over a million inhabitants; the population of the city, though, has been in decline since peaking in the 1950s.
context_section_description: The Syracuse area was first seen by Europeans when French missionaries arrived in the 1600s. A group of Jesuit priests, soldiers, and coureurs des bois (including Pierre Esprit Radisson) set up a mission at the invitation of the Onondaga Nation, one of the five constituent members of the Iroquois confederacy. It was known as Sainte Marie de Gannentaha (Saint Marie Among the Iroquois) and was located on the northeast shore of Onondaga Lake.
  The mission was short-lived as the Mohawk Nation hinted to the Onondaga that they should sever their ties with the French or the settlers would suffer a horrible fate. When the men in the mission heard of this they fled by night, having been there less than two years. The remains of the mission have been located underneath a restaurant in nearby Liverpool, NY, where a living history museum now 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 there in 1784 along with Asa Danforth, another Revolutionary War hero. Comfort Tyler, whose engineering skill contributed to regional development, arrived four years later. All three settled in Onondaga Hollow, south of the present city center, which was marshland at the time.
  Jesuit missionaries visiting the Syracuse region in the mid 1600s reported brine springs around the southern end of "Salt Lake", known today as Onondaga Lake. In 1788 the Treaty of Fort Stanwix, and the subsequent designation of the area as the Onondaga Salt Springs Reservation by the state of New York, provided the basis for commercial salt production from the late 1700s through to the early 1900s. Brine from wells that tapped into halite (common salt) beds in the Salina shale near Tully, New York, 15 miles south of the city, were developed in the 19th century. It is the north-flowing brine from Tully that is the source of salt for the "salty springs" found along the shoreline of Onondaga lake. The rapid development of this industry in the 18th and 19th centuries led to Syracuse's nickname—"The Salt City".
caption: Erie Canal at Salina Street
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