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A Drive Around Ogdensburg, NY
Over 260 years ago Sulpician missionaries from Quebec traveled up the St. Lawrence River by canoe in search of a site for a new settlement and mission. French-born Abbé François Piquet thought the site strategically located and elected to build his mission and fort here in 1749. It was the first white habitation of what would eventually become the City of Ogdensburg, NY. [1]
Picquet christened the settlement as Fort de la Présentation for the Feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. His intention was to instruct the indigenous peoples of the area and safeguard the land for his native France. The Fort served as a church, school, trading post and Native American village. The first mass at the site was celebrated on June 1, 1749. [2]
Ogdensburg's French phase ended in 1760. Downstream in the St. Lawrence River on Chimney Island Fort Lévis was constructed by Captain Pierre Pouchot, French engineer and soldier. Fort Lévis was the location of the last major battle among the French and English in the French and Indian War. Both Forts came under British rule. Fort la de Presentation was renamed Fort Oswegatchie and became a supply depot and a demanding stopping place for traveling soldiers. [3]
British forces and the new United States of America fought for command of the region. The British were ultimately ordered to vacate the area on June 6, 1796 and the first settlers under the American Flag arrived in Ogdensburg on August 11, 1796. Ogdensburg was named for Colonel Samuel Ogden, who was a patriot during the Revolutionary War. [4]
Ogdensburg has the honor of being one of the rare places in the United States to have been under the government of three flags. Over the course of the next 20 years, Ogdensburg became an essential border community. Industry blossomed along the river and Ogdensburg began to flourish. The total population of Ogdensburg went from 138 in 1800 to 16,610 in 1820. [5]
On April 5, 1817, Ogdensburg became the first incorporated village in St. Lawrence County. The letter 'h' was added to its name and dropped when it became a city on April 27, 1868, the only city in St. Lawrence County and the only United States City on the St. Lawrence Seaway. The City expanded into a busy shipping center for river traffic and greeted its first train in 1850. The beginning of the railway drew trade from the upper lakes to New England. By 1860, Ogdensburg was known as 'New York of the North'. [6]
On February 16, 1872, Pope Pius IX designated the City as the See of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Ogdensburg. The first telephone was installed in July 1881 in the dwelling and offices of the Proctor Lumber Company. The HuffDeland Airplane Company, established in the early 1920's in Ogdensburg, fabricated airplanes for the United States Government, the company left Ogdensburg shortly after and became Delta Airlines. In 1929, after a tour of the St. Lawrence River area, Governor Roosevelt suggested the building of a bridge across the Seaway to improve communication between New York State and Ontario. The bridge opened for traffic 50 years ago on September 21, 1960. [7]
In 1976, the first building opened in Commerce Park, a light industrial park developed by the Ogdensburg Bridge & Port Authority. Numerous Canadian-based firms have located in this park as trade between Canada and the United States continues to be fundamental to the expansion of Ogdensburg. [8]
[1] Ogdensburg Chamber of Commerce. History of Ogdensburg, www.ogdensburgn..., 2022
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Ibid.
[7] Ibid.
[8] Ibid.
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