Iroquois and colonial settlement is at the top, and Bagg's Tavern is at the center right. Utica was established on the site of
Old Fort Schuyler, built by American colonists for defense in 1758 during the
French and Indian War, the North American front of the
Seven Years' War against
France. Prior to construction of the fort, the
Mohawk,
Onondaga and
Oneida nations of the
Iroquois (Haudenosaunee) Confederacy had controlled this area southeast of the
Great Lakes region as early as 4000 BC. The Mohawk were the largest and most powerful nation in the eastern and lower Mohawk Valley. Colonists had a long-standing fur trade with the Mohawk, in exchange for firearms and rum. The Iroquois nations' dominating presence in the region prevented the
Province of New York from expanding past the middle of the Mohawk Valley until after the American victory over the British and
British-allied Iroquois in the
Revolutionary War. Following the war several Iroquois nations were forced to cede lands to the new State Of New York. The land housing Old Fort Schuyler was part of a portion of
marshland granted by
King George II to New York governor
William Cosby on January 2, 1734. Since the fort was located near several trails (including the
Great Indian Warpath), its position—on a bend at a shallow portion of the Mohawk River—made it an important
fording point. The Mohawk call the bend
Unundadages ("around the hill"), a name that now appears on the city's seal. During the American Revolutionary War, border raids from British-allied Iroquois tribes harried the settlers on the frontier. George Washington ordered America’s first
Rangers to enter
Central New York and suppress the Iroquois threat.
Sullivan's Expedition destroyed more than 40 Iroquois villages and their winter stores, causing starvation. In the aftermath of the war, numerous colonial settlers migrated into the region of New York from New England, especially
Connecticut. In 1794 a state road,
Genesee Road, was built from Utica west to the
Genesee River. That year a contract was awarded to the Mohawk Turnpike and Bridge Company to extend the road northeast to Albany, and in 1798 it was extended. The village became a rest and supply area along the Mohawk River for goods and the many people moving through
Western New York to and from the Great Lakes.
Incorporation of Utica The boundaries of the village of Utica were defined in an act passed by the
New York State Legislature on April 3, 1798. Utica expanded its borders in subsequent 1805 and 1817
charters. On April 5, 1805, the village's eastern and western boundaries were expanded, and on April 7, 1817, Utica separated from
Whitestown on its west. Utica's economy centered on the manufacture of furniture, heavy machinery, textiles and lumber. The combined effects of the
Embargo Act of 1807 and local investment enabled further expansion of the textile industry. In addition to the canals, transport in Utica was bolstered by railroads running through the city. The first was the
Mohawk and Hudson Rail Road, which became the
Utica and Schenectady Railroad in 1833. Its connection between
Schenectady and Utica was developed in 1836 from the
right-of-way previously used by the Mohawk and Hudson railroad. Later lines, such as the
Syracuse and Utica Railroad, merged with the Utica and Schenectady to form the
New York Central Railroad, which originated as a 19th-century
forest railway of the
Adirondacks. In the early 1800s,
William Williams and his partner published Utica's first newspaper,
The Utica Club, from their printing shop on Genesee Street. In 1817 Williams also published Utica's first directory. Utica went on to become a printing and publishing center, with many newspapers. The route, used by
Harriet Tubman to travel to
Buffalo, guided slaves to pass through Utica on the New York Central Railroad right-of-way en route to Canada. Utica was the locus for
Methodist preacher
Orange Scott's antislavery sermons during the 1830s and 1840s, and Scott formed an
abolitionist group there in 1843.
Beriah Green organized the 1835 initial meeting of the
New York State Anti-Slavery Society in Utica, which was disrupted by an anti-abolitionist mob led by local congressman
Samuel Beardsley and other "prominent citizens". (It adjourned to
Gerrit Smith's home in nearby
Peterboro, New York.) This mob was part of a national campaign of anti-abolitionist
violence in the 1830s.
20th century for the
Utica Saturday Globe, 1910. Photo by
Lewis Hine. The early 20th century brought rail advances to Utica, with the New York Central electrifying of track from the city to Syracuse in 1907 for its West Shore
interurban line. In 1902, the Utica and Mohawk Valley Railway connected Rome to
Little Falls with a electrified line through Utica. s can be seen crossing a bridge over the Erie Canal. Waves of Lebanese
Maronite, Italian, Irish, and Polish immigrants worked in the city's industries in the early part of the 20th century. Like many other industrial centers, labor unrest affected Utica in the 1910s; on April 5, 1912 martial law was proclaimed to stop riots in Utica,
Yorkville, and
New York Mills, while on October 28 during the
strike wave of 1919, city police shot six or more striking textile workers. In 1919, two-thirds of employed Uticans worked in the textile industry. As in some other US cities during the decade, scandals involving
political corruption,
vice, and
organized crime tarnished Utica's reputation. Organized crime in Utica received national attention after three Utican
mafiosos were reported to have attended the
Apalachin meeting of
American Mafia leaders in 1957. The
New York Journal American dubbed Utica the "Sin City of the East", and reporting from sources like the
Journal American and
Newsweek gave Utica a national reputation for Mafia activities. Local business interests, as well as other media sources such as
Look magazine, asserted that these reports were exaggerated, and corruption and crime in Utica were no worse than that in similar American cities. In 1959, the scandals culminated in criminal investigations of city employees and officials: many were arrested on charges related to
prostitution,
gambling,
fraud, and
conspiracy, and others were forced to resign. The
Utica Daily Press and Utica Observer-Dispatch were awarded the 1959
Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for their investigations of local corruption. Elefante's machine lost dominance. Organized crime in Utica was curtailed, but resurged in the late 1970s. The local Mafia, present since the 1930s, ended with the indictment of local associates of the
Buffalo crime family in 1989. Strongly affected by the
deindustrialization that took place in other Rust Belt cities, Utica suffered a major reduction in manufacturing activity during the second half of the 20th century. The remaining textile mills continued to be undercut by competitors in the South. The 1954 opening of the
New York State Thruway (which bypassed the city) and declines in activity on the
Erie Canal and
railroads throughout the United States also contributed to a poor local economy. During the 1980s and 1990s, major employers such as
General Electric and
Lockheed Martin closed plants in Utica and Syracuse. Some Utica businesses relocated to nearby Syracuse, with its larger and more educated workforce. Utica's population fell while population in the county increased, reflecting a statewide trend of decreasing urban populations outside
New York City. Eccentric populist mayor
Ed Hanna, who served from 1974 to 1978 and from 1996 to 2000, brought himself national media attention but was unable to stem Utica's decline.
21st century refugees from
Myanmar established a
Wesleyan Church on South Street. The low cost of living in Utica has attracted immigrants and
refugees from around the world. The largest refugee groups in Utica are
Bosnians, with 4,500 refugees resettled following the
Bosnian War, and the
Karen people of
Myanmar, with about 4,000 resettled. Utica also has sizable communities of refugees from the former
Soviet Union,
Southeast Asia,
Africa, the
Middle East, and elsewhere. Between 2005 and 2010, Utica's population increased for the first time in decades, largely because of refugee resettlement. In 2015, about one quarter of the population of Utica were refugees, and 43 languages were spoken in city schools. The
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees described Utica as the "town that loves refugees" in 2005, although issues of discrimination still occur. In 2016, the
Utica City School District settled lawsuits alleging refugee students were excluded from attending high school. Local, regional and statewide economic efforts have been proposed to revitalize the area economy. In 2010 the city developed its first
comprehensive master plan in more than a half-century. After a decade of delays and false starts, plans to create a
nanotechnology center in the area came to fruition when semiconductor manufacturer
Wolfspeed opened a plant in
Marcy just north of Utica in 2022. In October 2023,
a new hospital in downtown Utica opened, replacing Utica's two existing hospitals. ==Geography==