Sackets Harbor, New York
Encyclopedia
Sackets Harbor is a village
in Jefferson County
, New York
, United States
. The population was 1,386 at the 2000 census. The village was named after land developer and owner Augustus Sackett, who founded it in the early 19th century.
The Village of Sackets Harbor is within the western part of the Town of Hounsfield
and is west of Watertown
. The heart of the village, with a Main Street and well-preserved 19th c. buildings, has been recognized as the Sackets Harbor Village Historic District
and listed on the National Register of Historic Places
in 1983.
Because of its strategic protected harbor on Lake Ontario
and the military installations built there, the village had national importance through the 19th century. To support the War of 1812
, the US Navy built a major shipyard and its headquarters for the Great Lakes at the village. Within a short period, more than 3,000 men worked at the shipyard. The Army constructed earthworks
, forts, barracks
and supporting infrastructure to defend the village and navy shipyard, and its troops also camped in town, which was overwhelmed by the number of military. Soon after the war, the Army strengthened its defenses on the northern frontier by constructing Madison Barracks
. Sackets Harbor Battlefield State Historic Site
commemorates a battle and the contribution of the area to the United States defense during the War of 1812
.
The village had a commercial shipyard and many business connections to communities around the Great Lakes
. Its businessmen were also connected to bases in the major markets of Louisville, Kentucky
and New Orleans. In 1817 a consortium of local businessmen supported construction of the 240-ton Ontario, the first US steamboat
on the Great Lakes. In July 1834, the commercial schooner Illinois from Sackets Harbor was the first to enter the harbor of the new settlement of Chicago
.
, this area had been inhabited for thousands of years by differing cultures of indigenous peoples
. The historic tribes were the Iroquoian-speaking Onondaga, part of the Haudenosaunee, or Iroquois Confederacy. Long trading with the French and English, most of the Six Nations allied with the British during the Revolution, hoping to dislodge the American colonists. Following the war, they were forced to make major cessions of most of their land in New York to the United States. Most of the Iroquois went to Canada and settled on land granted by Great Britain.
In the large-scale sales of 5 million acres (20,234.3 km²) of public lands in the postwar period, Sackets Harbor was founded in 1801 by Augustus Sackett, a land speculator from New York City. He and others had high hopes for trade across Lake Ontario with Kingston
and other parts of Canada
. Sackets Harbor was the most significant community in the area until the founding of the City of Watertown
. The area attracted migrants from New England
, as well as immigrants from Great Britain
and France
. The latter were fleeing the turmoil of the French Revolution
and the Napoleonic Wars
. They cleared heavy forest and gradually constructed houses for a village center. Edmund Luff, a young English immigrant, constructed a non-denominational
meetinghouse, where all Christians met until they built their own churches in later decades. By the 1810 census, there were 943 qualified voters in the village. After the War of 1812, Sackets Harbor incorporated as a village in 1814.
The American Revolution did not resolve all issues with Great Britain. Border issues and increasing tensions led the US to impose the Embargo Act of 1807
prohibiting trade with Great Britain, which effectively included Canada. People on both sides of the border, Canadian (many of them native Americans, including Loyalists who had fled there after the Revolution) and American, quickly built up a vigorous smuggling
trade across the waters and through the nearby Thousand Islands area along the St. Lawrence River.
The US government first stationed forces in the area to try to reduce smuggling.
s, such as typhus, which quickly spread to villagers, too.
The village was the site of two battles during the War of 1812
. In the first battle in 1812, the brig USS Oneida
and shore batteries repulsed an attacking force of five British
ships. The village became a major base of operations for both the Navy (including US Marine Corps) and Army for the duration of the war. The Army built defensive earthworks around much of the village, and Fort Tompkins with barracks near Navy Point. Local militia built Fort Volunteer north of the village main streets. Thousands of troops gathered to defend the shipyard and village, and to attack Canada.
The numbers of troops so exceeded what could be built to shelter them that in 1813 troops were housed with residents, in stores, in barns and in tents. Village women counted themselves lucky if they were only cooking for officers. By the spring of 1813 the Army had gathered approximately 5200 men in the village.
Most importantly, by 1813 the village became the US Naval Headquarters on the Great Lakes. Working at the Navy Point shipyard were 3,000 highly skilled men, including hundreds of shipbuilders and carpenters brought from New York City because of a lack of locally skilled craftsmen. It was constructed and supervised during the war by New York City
naval architect and shipbuilder Henry Eckford
. They rapidly built eleven warships, whose operations were critical to the United States' ability to defeat Great Britain for control of the Great Lakes.
In the second Battle of Sackett's Harbor
in May 1813, British forces landed and attacked the village, but they were again driven off. Most of the American garrison and ships were at the opposite end of the lake at the time. The American defense was marred by officers' mistaken orders at Navy Point to destroy stores and a partially constructed ship, to prevent capture by the British.
Until the federal government established the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland
, it had several schools for the training of midshipmen. Commodore Isaac Chauncey
, writing to the Secretary of the Navy on 30 November 1814, described a school established at Sacket’s Harbor on Lake Ontario in that year:
The end of the war came in 1815 before the Navy completed construction of the last warship, the USS New Orleans
. She was put into storage and never completed. She was scrapped in 1883.
The Army took over privately owned land just north of the village to build Madison Barracks (c.1814-1819). Well into the late 19th c., this was a substantial military installation; the Army added new construction including housing, a school, a hospital, stables for horses, and supporting infrastructure. During World War I
, the base was used primarily as a hospital post, and in World War II
as a training post.
Madison Barracks has been designated an Historic District and listed on the NRHP. The New York State Museum of Military History calls it "a living museum of military architecture". http://www.dmna.state.ny.us/forts/fortsQ_S/sackettsHarborForts.htm Comprising the northeastern quarter of the village, the Madison Barracks is being slowly redeveloped as a planned commercial/residential area http://www.madisonbarracks.com/. The New York City
consortium Fort Pike Associates holds title to unsold land in the complex.
Sackets Harbor was an important lake port through most of the 19th century. Commercial shipyards adjoined Navy Point. In 1817 a local consortium of military officers and businessmen: General Jacob Brown
, Commodore Melancthon Taylor Woolsey
, Charles Smyth, Eric Lusher, Elisha Camp, Samuel F. Hooker and Hunter Crane, financed the construction of the 240-ton Ontario. It was the first US steamboat
to be built west of the Hudson River and operated on the Great Lakes
. This was the beginning of extensive steamboat traffic on the Great Lakes, including passenger boats that stopped at towns around the lakes.
On July 12, 1834, the schooner
Illinois from Sackets Harbor was the first commercial ship to enter Chicago
harbor, a sign of what was soon to be greatly increased Great Lakes trade with that area. Samuel F. Hooker and his sons had shipping interests in Sackets Harbor with national networks; their firm had steamboats based in Louisville, Kentucky
, which were part of the Mississippi River
trade to New Orleans, a major port before the American Civil War
. This meant that he and similar upstate New York businessmen gained some of their wealth from the slave trade, as Louisville was a major shipping point for slaves sold to New Orleans markets and the Deep South
.
As cities industrialized and major economic development moved West, from 1870-1930 the village became a popular destination for summer vacations. It attracted visitors from Chicago
and other major cities around the Great Lakes, many of whom had family who had lived in Sackets Harbor before the mid-19th century westward migration.
Today heritage tourism
and summer recreation are renewed sources of growth for the village. Navy Point is a marina providing moorings and facilities for private boats. Developments of new houses are in planning and village review.
According to the United States Census Bureau
, the village has a total area of 2.3 square miles (6 km²), all of it land.
The village is on Black River Bay, southwest of the mouth of the Black River
, on Lake Ontario. Its protected harbor was critical to the founding and early history of the village. Much of Lake Ontario was gouged out of rock by glaciers. There were few protected harbors on the south shore deep enough for major shipping in the early 19th century.
New York State Route 3
passes east of the village, which is at the convergence of County Roads 62 (Sulphur Springs Road) and 75 (Adams Road/Dodge Avenue).
of 2000, there were 1,386 people, 653 households, and 370 families residing in the village. The population density
was 609.1 people per square mile (234.7/km²). There were 791 housing units at an average density of 347.6 per square mile (134.0/km²). The racial makeup of the village was 97.26% White, 0.43% African American, 0.29% Native American, 0.29% Asian, 0.36% from other races
, and 1.37% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.73% of the population.
There were 653 households out of which 23.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.2% were married couples
living together, 8.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 43.3% were non-families. 35.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.11 and the average family size was 2.72.
In the village the population was spread out with 18.8% under the age of 18, 11.0% from 18 to 24, 37.7% from 25 to 44, 21.7% from 45 to 64, and 10.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females there were 113.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 113.3 males.
The median income for a household in the village was $42,629, and the median income for a family was $51,397. Males had a median income of $33,696 versus $26,917 for females. The per capita income
for the village was $23,269. About 5.8% of families and 7.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 10.9% of those under age 18 and 7.7% of those age 65 or over.
Village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...
in Jefferson County
Jefferson County, New York
Jefferson County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2010 census, the population was 116,229. It is named after Thomas Jefferson, third President of the United States of America, and president at the time the county was created in 1805...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The population was 1,386 at the 2000 census. The village was named after land developer and owner Augustus Sackett, who founded it in the early 19th century.
The Village of Sackets Harbor is within the western part of the Town of Hounsfield
Hounsfield, New York
Hounsfield is a town in Jefferson County, New York, United States. The population was 3,466 at the 2010 census. The name of the town is from Ezra Hounsfield, a land agent and land owner....
and is west of Watertown
Watertown (city), New York
Watertown is a city in the state of New York and the county seat of Jefferson County. It is situated approximately south of the Thousand Islands. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 27,023, an increase of 1.2% since 2000. The U.S...
. The heart of the village, with a Main Street and well-preserved 19th c. buildings, has been recognized as the Sackets Harbor Village Historic District
Sackets Harbor Village Historic District
Sackets Harbor Village Historic District is a national historic district located at Sackets Harbor in Jefferson County, New York. The district includes 143 contributing buildings, among a total of 156 buildings in the historic central core of the village...
and listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
in 1983.
Because of its strategic protected harbor on Lake Ontario
Lake Ontario
Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south by the American state of New York. Ontario, Canada's most populous province, was named for the lake. In the Wyandot language, ontarío means...
and the military installations built there, the village had national importance through the 19th century. To support the War of 1812
War of 1812
The War of 1812 was a military conflict fought between the forces of the United States of America and those of the British Empire. The Americans declared war in 1812 for several reasons, including trade restrictions because of Britain's ongoing war with France, impressment of American merchant...
, the US Navy built a major shipyard and its headquarters for the Great Lakes at the village. Within a short period, more than 3,000 men worked at the shipyard. The Army constructed earthworks
Earthworks (archaeology)
In archaeology, earthwork is a general term to describe artificial changes in land level. Earthworks are often known colloquially as 'lumps and bumps'. Earthworks can themselves be archaeological features or they can show features beneath the surface...
, forts, barracks
Barracks
Barracks are specialised buildings for permanent military accommodation; the word may apply to separate housing blocks or to complete complexes. Their main object is to separate soldiers from the civilian population and reinforce discipline, training and esprit de corps. They were sometimes called...
and supporting infrastructure to defend the village and navy shipyard, and its troops also camped in town, which was overwhelmed by the number of military. Soon after the war, the Army strengthened its defenses on the northern frontier by constructing Madison Barracks
Madison Barracks
Madison Barracks was a military installation at Sackets Harbor that was built for occupation by 600 U.S. troops, a few years after the War of 1812. It was named for James Madison who had just completed his presidency in 1817. The facility is a National Historic Landmark and a historic district...
. Sackets Harbor Battlefield State Historic Site
Sackets Harbor Battlefield State Historic Site
Sackets Harbor Battlefield State Historic Site is a historically important location in Jefferson County, New York, USA. The historic site is south of the Village of Sackets Harbor in the Town of Hounsfield...
commemorates a battle and the contribution of the area to the United States defense during the War of 1812
War of 1812
The War of 1812 was a military conflict fought between the forces of the United States of America and those of the British Empire. The Americans declared war in 1812 for several reasons, including trade restrictions because of Britain's ongoing war with France, impressment of American merchant...
.
The village had a commercial shipyard and many business connections to communities around the Great Lakes
Great Lakes
The Great Lakes are a collection of freshwater lakes located in northeastern North America, on the Canada – United States border. Consisting of Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario, they form the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth by total surface, coming in second by volume...
. Its businessmen were also connected to bases in the major markets of Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...
and New Orleans. In 1817 a consortium of local businessmen supported construction of the 240-ton Ontario, the first US steamboat
Steamboat
A steamboat or steamship, sometimes called a steamer, is a ship in which the primary method of propulsion is steam power, typically driving propellers or paddlewheels...
on the Great Lakes. In July 1834, the commercial schooner Illinois from Sackets Harbor was the first to enter the harbor of the new settlement of Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
.
History
Prior to the American Revolutionary WarAmerican Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
, this area had been inhabited for thousands of years by differing cultures of indigenous peoples
Indigenous peoples
Indigenous peoples are ethnic groups that are defined as indigenous according to one of the various definitions of the term, there is no universally accepted definition but most of which carry connotations of being the "original inhabitants" of a territory....
. The historic tribes were the Iroquoian-speaking Onondaga, part of the Haudenosaunee, or Iroquois Confederacy. Long trading with the French and English, most of the Six Nations allied with the British during the Revolution, hoping to dislodge the American colonists. Following the war, they were forced to make major cessions of most of their land in New York to the United States. Most of the Iroquois went to Canada and settled on land granted by Great Britain.
In the large-scale sales of 5 million acres (20,234.3 km²) of public lands in the postwar period, Sackets Harbor was founded in 1801 by Augustus Sackett, a land speculator from New York City. He and others had high hopes for trade across Lake Ontario with Kingston
Kingston, Ontario
Kingston, Ontario is a Canadian city located in Eastern Ontario where the St. Lawrence River flows out of Lake Ontario. Originally a First Nations settlement called "Katarowki," , growing European exploration in the 17th Century made it an important trading post...
and other parts of Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. Sackets Harbor was the most significant community in the area until the founding of the City of Watertown
Watertown (city), New York
Watertown is a city in the state of New York and the county seat of Jefferson County. It is situated approximately south of the Thousand Islands. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 27,023, an increase of 1.2% since 2000. The U.S...
. The area attracted migrants from New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
, as well as immigrants from Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
and France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. The latter were fleeing the turmoil of the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
and the Napoleonic Wars
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
. They cleared heavy forest and gradually constructed houses for a village center. Edmund Luff, a young English immigrant, constructed a non-denominational
Denominationalism
Denominationalism is the division of one religion into separate groups, sects, schools of thought or denominations. Denominationalism as an ideology which views some or all Christian groups as being, in some sense, versions of the same thing regardless of their distinguishing labels, is not...
meetinghouse, where all Christians met until they built their own churches in later decades. By the 1810 census, there were 943 qualified voters in the village. After the War of 1812, Sackets Harbor incorporated as a village in 1814.
The American Revolution did not resolve all issues with Great Britain. Border issues and increasing tensions led the US to impose the Embargo Act of 1807
Embargo Act of 1807
The Embargo Act of 1807 and the subsequent Nonintercourse Acts were American laws restricting American ships from engaging in foreign trade between the years of 1807 and 1812. The Acts were diplomatic responses by presidents Thomas Jefferson and James Madison designed to protect American interests...
prohibiting trade with Great Britain, which effectively included Canada. People on both sides of the border, Canadian (many of them native Americans, including Loyalists who had fled there after the Revolution) and American, quickly built up a vigorous smuggling
Smuggling
Smuggling is the clandestine transportation of goods or persons, such as out of a building, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations.There are various motivations to smuggle...
trade across the waters and through the nearby Thousand Islands area along the St. Lawrence River.
The US government first stationed forces in the area to try to reduce smuggling.
War of 1812
As tensions increased with Great Britain, the US began to build up its military forces at Sackets Harbor, including creating a major shipyard at what became Navy Point. The scale of buildup was such that the citizens were outnumbered on a scale of about 8:1 by thousands of sailors and soldiers, camp followers and traders. Limited sanitary facilities and medical knowledge made dense troop encampments breeding grounds for infectious diseaseInfectious disease
Infectious diseases, also known as communicable diseases, contagious diseases or transmissible diseases comprise clinically evident illness resulting from the infection, presence and growth of pathogenic biological agents in an individual host organism...
s, such as typhus, which quickly spread to villagers, too.
The village was the site of two battles during the War of 1812
War of 1812
The War of 1812 was a military conflict fought between the forces of the United States of America and those of the British Empire. The Americans declared war in 1812 for several reasons, including trade restrictions because of Britain's ongoing war with France, impressment of American merchant...
. In the first battle in 1812, the brig USS Oneida
USS Oneida (1810)
The first USS Oneida was a brig of war in the United States Navy during the War of 1812.Oneida was built at Oswego, New York 1808–1809, under contract awarded by her first commanding officer, Lieutenant M. T. Woolsey, to Henry Eckford and Christian Bergh. Although her displacement was 243 tons by...
and shore batteries repulsed an attacking force of five British
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
ships. The village became a major base of operations for both the Navy (including US Marine Corps) and Army for the duration of the war. The Army built defensive earthworks around much of the village, and Fort Tompkins with barracks near Navy Point. Local militia built Fort Volunteer north of the village main streets. Thousands of troops gathered to defend the shipyard and village, and to attack Canada.
The numbers of troops so exceeded what could be built to shelter them that in 1813 troops were housed with residents, in stores, in barns and in tents. Village women counted themselves lucky if they were only cooking for officers. By the spring of 1813 the Army had gathered approximately 5200 men in the village.
Most importantly, by 1813 the village became the US Naval Headquarters on the Great Lakes. Working at the Navy Point shipyard were 3,000 highly skilled men, including hundreds of shipbuilders and carpenters brought from New York City because of a lack of locally skilled craftsmen. It was constructed and supervised during the war by New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
naval architect and shipbuilder Henry Eckford
Henry Eckford (shipbuilder)
Henry Eckford was a Scottish-born shipbuilder, naval architect, industrial engineer, and entrepreneur who worked for the United States Navy and the navy of the Ottoman Empire in the early 19th century.-Early life:...
. They rapidly built eleven warships, whose operations were critical to the United States' ability to defeat Great Britain for control of the Great Lakes.
In the second Battle of Sackett's Harbor
Battle of Sackett's Harbor
The Second Battle of Sacket's Harbor or simply the Battle of Sacket's Harbor, took place on 29 May 1813, during the War of 1812. A British force was transported across Lake Ontario and attempted to capture the town, which was the principal dockyard and base for the American naval squadron on the lake...
in May 1813, British forces landed and attacked the village, but they were again driven off. Most of the American garrison and ships were at the opposite end of the lake at the time. The American defense was marred by officers' mistaken orders at Navy Point to destroy stores and a partially constructed ship, to prevent capture by the British.
Until the federal government established the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland
Annapolis, Maryland
Annapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Maryland, as well as the county seat of Anne Arundel County. It had a population of 38,394 at the 2010 census and is situated on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, south of Baltimore and about east of Washington, D.C. Annapolis is...
, it had several schools for the training of midshipmen. Commodore Isaac Chauncey
Isaac Chauncey
Isaac Chauncey was an officer in the United States Navy.-Biography:Chauncey, born in Black Rock, Connecticut, 20 February 1779, was appointed a Lieutenant in the Navy from 17 September 1798...
, writing to the Secretary of the Navy on 30 November 1814, described a school established at Sacket’s Harbor on Lake Ontario in that year:
"Sir. I have the pleasure to inform you that I have established a Mathematical School under the direction of my Chaplain the Revd. Mr. Felch who is fully competent to the duties of such a School. More than One hundred Officers attend this School, as they can be spared from
duty and about Sixty Lieutenants and Midshipmen attend daily who make great progress in the various branches of Mathematics Navigation. etc."
The end of the war came in 1815 before the Navy completed construction of the last warship, the USS New Orleans
USS New Orleans (1815)
New Orleans was a ship-of-the line intended for the U.S. Navy that was never finished.New Orleans was laid down on 15 December 1814 by Henry Eckford and Adam and Noah Brown at Sackets Harbor, New York. She was intended for U.S. Navy use on Lake Ontario during the War of 1812 and was the largest of...
. She was put into storage and never completed. She was scrapped in 1883.
19th through 20th centuries
The military recognized the continued importance of Sackets Harbor's strategic location. The Navy Shipyard operated until 1874. In 1848 a new Sackets Harbor Naval Station was constructed. After 1884, it was used mostly for training.The Army took over privately owned land just north of the village to build Madison Barracks (c.1814-1819). Well into the late 19th c., this was a substantial military installation; the Army added new construction including housing, a school, a hospital, stables for horses, and supporting infrastructure. During World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, the base was used primarily as a hospital post, and in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
as a training post.
Madison Barracks has been designated an Historic District and listed on the NRHP. The New York State Museum of Military History calls it "a living museum of military architecture". http://www.dmna.state.ny.us/forts/fortsQ_S/sackettsHarborForts.htm Comprising the northeastern quarter of the village, the Madison Barracks is being slowly redeveloped as a planned commercial/residential area http://www.madisonbarracks.com/. The New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
consortium Fort Pike Associates holds title to unsold land in the complex.
Sackets Harbor was an important lake port through most of the 19th century. Commercial shipyards adjoined Navy Point. In 1817 a local consortium of military officers and businessmen: General Jacob Brown
Jacob Brown
Jacob Jennings Brown was an American army officer in the War of 1812. His successes on the northern border during that war made him a hero. In 1821 he was appointed commanding general of the U.S. Army and held that post until his death.-Early life:Born in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, Jacob Jennings...
, Commodore Melancthon Taylor Woolsey
Melancthon Taylor Woolsey
Commodore Melancthon Taylor Woolsey was an officer in the United States Navy during the War of 1812 and battles on the Great Lakes. He supervised warship construction at Navy Point in Sackets Harbor, New York, and later had a full career in the Navy.-Biography:Woolsey was born near Plattsburgh,...
, Charles Smyth, Eric Lusher, Elisha Camp, Samuel F. Hooker and Hunter Crane, financed the construction of the 240-ton Ontario. It was the first US steamboat
Steamboat
A steamboat or steamship, sometimes called a steamer, is a ship in which the primary method of propulsion is steam power, typically driving propellers or paddlewheels...
to be built west of the Hudson River and operated on the Great Lakes
Great Lakes
The Great Lakes are a collection of freshwater lakes located in northeastern North America, on the Canada – United States border. Consisting of Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario, they form the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth by total surface, coming in second by volume...
. This was the beginning of extensive steamboat traffic on the Great Lakes, including passenger boats that stopped at towns around the lakes.
On July 12, 1834, the schooner
Schooner
A schooner is a type of sailing vessel characterized by the use of fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts with the forward mast being no taller than the rear masts....
Illinois from Sackets Harbor was the first commercial ship to enter Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
harbor, a sign of what was soon to be greatly increased Great Lakes trade with that area. Samuel F. Hooker and his sons had shipping interests in Sackets Harbor with national networks; their firm had steamboats based in Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...
, which were part of the Mississippi River
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
trade to New Orleans, a major port before the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
. This meant that he and similar upstate New York businessmen gained some of their wealth from the slave trade, as Louisville was a major shipping point for slaves sold to New Orleans markets and the Deep South
Deep South
The Deep South is a descriptive category of the cultural and geographic subregions in the American South. Historically, it is differentiated from the "Upper South" as being the states which were most dependent on plantation type agriculture during the pre-Civil War period...
.
As cities industrialized and major economic development moved West, from 1870-1930 the village became a popular destination for summer vacations. It attracted visitors from Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
and other major cities around the Great Lakes, many of whom had family who had lived in Sackets Harbor before the mid-19th century westward migration.
Today heritage tourism
Heritage tourism
Cultural heritage tourism is a branch of tourism oriented towards the cultural heritage of the location where tourism is occurring...
and summer recreation are renewed sources of growth for the village. Navy Point is a marina providing moorings and facilities for private boats. Developments of new houses are in planning and village review.
Notable people
- American military officer and explorer Zebulon PikeZebulon PikeZebulon Montgomery Pike Jr. was an American officer and explorer for whom Pikes Peak in Colorado is named. As a United States Army captain in 1806-1807, he led the Pike Expedition to explore and document the southern portion of the Louisiana Purchase and to find the headwaters of the Red River,...
was killed in 1813 during military operations in OntarioOntarioOntario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
and was buried at the military cemetery in the village. The USS General Pike , the second warship built at Sackets Harbor, was named after him. - President Ulysses S. GrantUlysses S. GrantUlysses S. Grant was the 18th President of the United States as well as military commander during the Civil War and post-war Reconstruction periods. Under Grant's command, the Union Army defeated the Confederate military and ended the Confederate States of America...
served two tours of duty in Sackets Harbor as a junior army officer. - General Mark Wayne ClarkMark Wayne ClarkMark Wayne Clark was an American general during World War II and the Korean War and was the youngest lieutenant general in the U.S. Army...
was born at the Madison Barracks. - Bartender Jerry Thomas, considered "the father of American mixology," was born in Sacket Harbor in 1830.
- E. M. Crane, award-winning author, is a resident of Sackets Harbor.
- Martha Foote CrowMartha Foote CrowMartha Emily Foote Crow was an educator and writer. Born in Sackets Harbor, New York, she played an important role in the development of higher education for women in the United States....
, writer, literary scholar and pioneer in women's higher education in the United States, was born in Sackets Harbor in 1854.
Additional facts
- Company B of the United States Regiment of Dragoons, which is today 2nd Squadron, 1st Cavalry Regiment, was organized at Sackets Harbor on July 29, 1833. It moved west to join the rest of the regiment at Jefferson Barracks, Lemay, MissouriLemay, MissouriLemay is a census-designated place in St. Louis County, Missouri, United States. The population was 16,645 at the 2010 census.-History:Lemay was named after Francois Lemai, who operated a ferry boat across the Mississippi River in the early nineteenth century.-Geography:Lemay is located at ...
, arriving September 6, 1833.
- Sackets Harbor is the hometown of "Funny CideFunny CideFunny Cide is a Thoroughbred race horse who won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes in 2003. He is the first New York-bred horse to win the Kentucky Derby and the first gelding to win since Clyde Van Dusen in 1929.-Bloodlines:...
", the famous gelding owned by Sackatoga Stable. In 2003 he won the first two races in the Triple CrownUnited States Triple Crown of Thoroughbred RacingIn the United States, the "Triple Crown" is usually the Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing, a series of three Thoroughbred horse races for three-year-old horses run in May and early June of each year consisting of the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, and Belmont Stakes.While Daily Racing Form...
: the Kentucky DerbyKentucky DerbyThe Kentucky Derby is a Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbred horses, held annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The race is one and a quarter mile at Churchill Downs. Colts and geldings carry...
and the Preakness.
- The World War IIWorld War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
tanker, the SS Sackets Harbor, was named after the village.
Geography
Sackets Harbor is located at 43°56′47"N 76°7′4"W (43.946503, -76.117758).According to the United States Census Bureau
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...
, the village has a total area of 2.3 square miles (6 km²), all of it land.
The village is on Black River Bay, southwest of the mouth of the Black River
Black River (New York)
The Black River is a blackwater river that empties into the eastern end of Lake Ontario on the shore of Jefferson County, New York in the United States of America...
, on Lake Ontario. Its protected harbor was critical to the founding and early history of the village. Much of Lake Ontario was gouged out of rock by glaciers. There were few protected harbors on the south shore deep enough for major shipping in the early 19th century.
New York State Route 3
New York State Route 3
New York State Route 3 is a major east–west state highway in New York, United States, that connects central New York to the North Country region near the Canadian border via Adirondack Park. The route extends for between its western terminus at an intersection with NY 104A in the Cayuga...
passes east of the village, which is at the convergence of County Roads 62 (Sulphur Springs Road) and 75 (Adams Road/Dodge Avenue).
Demographics
As of the censusCensus
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
of 2000, there were 1,386 people, 653 households, and 370 families residing in the village. The population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...
was 609.1 people per square mile (234.7/km²). There were 791 housing units at an average density of 347.6 per square mile (134.0/km²). The racial makeup of the village was 97.26% White, 0.43% African American, 0.29% Native American, 0.29% Asian, 0.36% from other races
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
, and 1.37% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.73% of the population.
There were 653 households out of which 23.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.2% were married couples
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
living together, 8.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 43.3% were non-families. 35.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.11 and the average family size was 2.72.
In the village the population was spread out with 18.8% under the age of 18, 11.0% from 18 to 24, 37.7% from 25 to 44, 21.7% from 45 to 64, and 10.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females there were 113.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 113.3 males.
The median income for a household in the village was $42,629, and the median income for a family was $51,397. Males had a median income of $33,696 versus $26,917 for females. The per capita income
Per capita income
Per capita income or income per person is a measure of mean income within an economic aggregate, such as a country or city. It is calculated by taking a measure of all sources of income in the aggregate and dividing it by the total population...
for the village was $23,269. About 5.8% of families and 7.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 10.9% of those under age 18 and 7.7% of those age 65 or over.
External links
- "Sackets Harbor History & Genealogy", American Local History Network,
- "Sackets Harbor Battlefield State Historic Site", New York State Parks
- "Madison Barracks", New York State Military Museum
- "National Register of Historic Places", National Park Service
- Village of Sackets Harbor, NY
- Sackets Harbor Information
- Sackets Harbor Battlefield, 1000 Islands
- "Early History of Sackets Harbor, NY"