History of Oneonta

Historic Perspective

The first settlers to make this area their home were Palatine Germans and Dutchmen from the Schoharie and Mohawk Valleys who settled here shortly before the Revolutionary War. The pioneer settler was Henry Schramling, who acquired a thousand acres on the Plains near the mouth of Otego Creek. He was followed by John Vanderwerker who in 1775 built a log cabin in the dense hemlock forest near the lower entrance to Neawha Park.

The early settlers in the region were driven from their log cabins when the Revolutionary War turned Otsego County into a bloody battlefield and there were frequent clashes between patriots and the British, Tories and Indians.

In 1779, General James Clinton's Continental Army passed down the Susquehanna from Otsego Lake to join General John Sullivan's forces to the west. On their march, they laid waste to the Indian villages along the river.

When danger was over, many of the original settlers returned and others came in from the eastern New York counties. John Vanderwerker, who had been a captain during the war, brought in parts of a sawmill which he erected on the banks of the Susquehanna in 1780. At about the same time Aaron Brink erected a log house near the present viaduct, and this became the first hotel in the hamlet. Four years later Simeon Walling, who had gone down the river with the Clinton expedition and had liked the looks of the land, came in from Massachusetts and built a log cabin where the United Presbyterian Church now stands at the corner of Walling Avenue and Main Street.

At first the hamlet was called either McDonald's Mills or McDonald's Bridge. In 1808, John McDonald had built a second bridge across the river, a crude affair which replaced one erected by Vanderwerker in 1786.

When McDonald opened the first post office in his tavern in 1817, the community was officially called Milfordville, the area being then in the southern part of the town of Milford. It acquired the name Oneonta in 1832. The name first applied to the creek in the East Street valley which means "place of open rocks", according to Willard Yager, the reference probably referred to the so-called table rocks overlooking lower Chestnut Street.

The village developed slowly. For many years the village was a picturesque frontier community. Because of the frequent tavern brawls, it acquired at that time the descriptive name of Klipnockie.

In 1822 Eliakin Ford came to town, and until he died in 1873 he was the town's leading citizen. He first opened a general store at the corner of Main and Maple Streets, later moved to the corner of Chestnut and Main and then to River Street opposite the McDonald Tavern.

When the Charlotte Turnpike opened in 1843, it shifted the center of activity from the section around the McDonald mills to what is now the main business center of the city. E.R. Ford then bought the Frederick Brown farm and built a stone store at the corner of Main and Broad Streets and a large stone mansion where the Wilber Bank is now.

E.R. Ford, Harvey Baker and Colonel W.W. Snow, the first congressman from the area, were greatly instrumental in the building of the Albany and Susquehanna Railroad, or more commonly known today as the Delaware and Hudson. When the railroad reached Oneonta in 1885 and adequate transportation was assured, the town began to grow. In the early 1870's extensive railroad shops were built, and Oneonta became a railroad center of national importance.

The D & H roundhouse was once the largest and its turntable the longest in the world. Almost 72 passenger trains operated in and out of Oneonta each day on the two steam railroads and the electric line which then served the community.

Around the turn of the century, cigar making was a big industry in Oneonta with several million being hand rolled each year. Cigar rolling in Oneonta ended in 1945. At the same time in history, more milk was produced within 25 miles of Oneonta than in any other area of like size in the world, and more grain was handled here than any place in the state except Buffalo and New York City.

Oneonta was most important in the formation of IBM. In 1889, Harlow E. Bundy patented the "International Time Recorder" and used it at the local post office where he was postmaster. The Bundy Electric Manufacturing Company joined with George W. Fairchild's International Time Recording Company later that year becoming the forerunner to IBM.

The Village of Oneonta was incorporated as a city in 1908.

Oneonta's second major endeavor in its history, next to the railroad, was in the field of education. Two major colleges were founded: Hartwick College, originally Hartwick Seminary, and the SUNY Oneonta, originally Oneonta Normal School. Their history is very much a part of Oneonta's past and very much part of the City's future.

Hartwick College was founded in Oneonta in 1928. It is an outgrowth of Hartwick Seminary established in 1797 by the executors of the Will of John Christopher Hartwick, a Lutheran missionary.

In 1928 there were 235 students enrolled at the college. Hartwick College experienced steady growth with the enrollment today approximately 1,465 students with a staff of 486 employees.

SUNY Oneonta is an outgrowth of the Oneonta Normal School. The early curriculum provided for two-year training after the achievement of the college entrance high school diploma. In 1923, the three year curriculum was established, and in 1938, the four year program. The first Bachelor of Education degrees were awarded in 1942. Enrollment today is approximately 5,800 students with a staff of 965 employees. This employment figure includes full- and part-time faculty, staff, support personnel and Oneonta Auxiliary Services (OAS) employees.

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