Early history The region was in the domain of the
Cayuga tribe and visited by
Jesuit missionaries in the 17th-century.
American Revolution and aftermath The Cayuga were allies of the
British and attacked American settlements from the outset of the revolution. The
Sullivan Expedition of 1779 was sent to destroy native villages and kill the warriors. After the war, the village and surrounding land became part of the
Central New York Military Tract, land reserved for veterans of the war. The north end of Cayuga Lake was set aside as a reservation for returning Cayuga tribal members.
The early village The first pioneers arrived around 1790. The first settlers chose the area for its easy access to water and close proximity to the Iroquois trail. When the village was first incorporated in 1831, it was named after the series of small falls and rapids on the
Seneca River which drains
Seneca of the
Finger Lakes. The river was partially
canalized for navigation in 1818, and connected the lakes with the
Erie Canal in 1828. The village was re-incorporated in 1837, 1860, and 1896 with new charters. The New York State Barge Canal project in 1915 eliminated what remained of the rapids, canalizing the entire river and building a pair of locks to replace the three smaller locks which had made it possible for boat and barge traffic to pass through the village.
The growth of Seneca Falls through technology The falls were also the cause of the village's existence, providing
water power for
mills,
distilleries,
tanneries, and other
factories. By the mid 19th Century, Seneca Falls was the third largest
flour milling center in the world, after
Rochester and
Oswego. There is still a small
hydroelectric power generating station in the village. A young man, Birdsall Holly, moved to Seneca Falls from
Auburn to work as a mechanic in one of these mills. His son, Birdsall Holly Jr., was entranced by the water power, studying
hydraulics and
mechanics until he became one of the foremost American
inventors. Holly became a partner in the Silsby Company, also called "The Island Works". While working for this company, he obtained his first
patent, which was for a rotary
water pump. He later moved to
Lockport, New York, where he continued inventing, but his work with pumps was continued by Seabury S. Gould Sr. who cast the first all-metal (cast iron) pump and founded
Goulds Pumps, a worldwide pump
manufacturer, which was the world's largest company dedicated to producing only pumps when it was taken over by ITT Technology in 1997. While working for the Silsby Company, Holly also developed the rotary steam engine. This technology was married to the pump technology and was utilized in making the first successful steam fire engine. The Silsby Company eventually moved to
Elmira, New York and became
American LaFrance, famous for its fire engines.
Social movements in the village and surrounding area Seneca Falls played a prominent role in the
Women's Rights Movement. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, one of the organizers of the 1848 Seneca Falls Women's Rights Convention and recognized as "the philosopher and chief publicist of the radical wing of the 19th century women's rights movement", lived in Seneca Falls from 1847 to 1863.
Amelia Bloomer, popularized a dress reform in her newspaper, The Lily, which became known as
bloomers, a design believed to be influenced by native women of the area.
Abolitionist causes against
slavery were popular in Seneca Falls. In August 1843,
Abby Kelley, an outspoken abolitionist, came to Seneca Falls and addressed a crowd on the south side of the Seneca River. She confronted the nation and its institutions, including a local Presbyterian Church and its minister, over slavery. Within a year, a member of that church was found guilty of "disorderly and unchristian conduct" after she personally confronted that minister on the issue of slavery. Early women's rights leaders
Elizabeth Cady Stanton,
Lucretia Coffin Mott,
Martha Coffin Wright, Mary Ann M'Clintock and Jane Hunt hastily organized the
Seneca Falls Convention, the first
women's rights convention, held in 1848 at the
Wesleyan Methodist Chapel. A "
Declaration of Sentiments" was adopted, drafted by Stanton, M'Clintock and two adult M'Clintock daughters, which included support for
women's suffrage.
Frederick Douglass, a former slave and publisher of a Rochester, New York, abolitionist newspaper, attended the convention. His eloquent support for the women's suffrage resolution was instrumental in its passage. Nearby
Waterloo was the planning location for the convention, which is commemorated by the
Women's Rights National Historical Park in the two villages. In July 1923 the
National Woman's Party celebrated the 75th anniversary of the 1848 Seneca Falls convention with a pageant and pilgrimage to
Susan B. Anthony’s grave in nearby Rochester, though Anthony did not attend in 1848.
Alice Paul presented the draft of the
Equal Rights Amendment, referred to as "the Lucretia Mott Amendment", for the delegates’ approval at the general conference held at the First Presbyterian Church in Seneca Falls. The
National Women's Hall of Fame was established in Seneca Falls in 1969. It honors American women for their contributions to society. The first woman mayor of Seneca Falls was the village's last mayor. Diana M. Smith, first elected in 2004,
Dissolution On March 16, 2010, Seneca Falls village residents voted to dissolve the village effective December 31, 2011. The village began investigating the possibility of dissolution in 2006, commissioning three different studies covering continuity of village services and disposition of village assets and debt. It was postulated that by dissolving the village, the average village property tax payer would save $950 a year. It is, to date, the largest New York village ever to approve dissolution. == Geography ==