Warsaw, New York
Warsaw, New York, located at the intersection of Routes 20A (Buffalo Street) and 19 (Main Street), was incorporated in 1843. Before the New England settlers came to this valley of the Oatka Creek, the Senecas used it as one of their favorite hunting and fishing areas. The village sits at 1000' elevation, with hills rising sharply on the east and west sides to 1600'. (View the Slideshow of old photos here)
It was served by two railroads during the 19th and most of the 20th century, the Erie RR and the Buffalo, Rochester and Pittsburgh RR. As of 1870, the village had 6 churches, two printing offices, 2 newspapers, 3 hotels, a bank, carriage shops, tannery, planing mill, foundry, barrel manufactory, sawmill, two grist mills, various stores and machine shops and 1,800 residents.
The discovery of salt deposits nearby in 1880 had an explosive impact on Warsaw's growth. Within a few years 8 salt wells were established and before the industry faded around 1900, there were a total of 13 companies mining salt, making Warsaw the largest salt-producing area in the United States. The population of Warsaw grew accordingly, from 1,900 in 1890 to 3,300 in 1892.
The
residents of Warsaw contacted Andrew Carnegie in 1903, requesting $10,000 to
construct a library. The funds were forthcoming after the Town of Warsaw agreed
to fund the library's maintenance at the annual rate of $1,000. The vote to
approve this was held on a winter day which saw a heavy snowstorm. Despite this
obstacle and the expectation of an easy approval of the necessary tax increase,
farmers nevertheless drove their sleighs through the January storm to voice
their approval.
Warsaw
is also known for its contributions to the abolition movement and Underground
Railroad. Seth Merrill Gates, congressman and politician, was so widely known
as an abolitionist that a Savannah planter offered a $500 reward for his delivery,
dead or alive, to that city. His home, now the property of the Warsaw Historical
Society, was too well-known to be a station on the Underground Railroad, but
7 of the 13 known Wyoming County Underground Railroad stationmasters lived in
Warsaw. Only Monroe County in New York State had more stations.
And Warsaw resident Dr. Augustus Frank, U.S. Congressman, an organizer of the Republican Party, co-sponsored the 13th amendment to the Constitution in 1865 which abolished slavery forever in the U.S.
The images below are from postcards made in the early 20th century. Each was taken from the center of the Buffalo Street/Main Street intersection and represented what you would have seen on the west side and east side, looking north. Downtown Warsaw avoided the "urban renewal" movement of the 60's.
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 Beardsley's Menswear store at the corner (brick building). |
Historical information references: Historical Wyoming magazines, publications of the Office of the Wyoming County Historian, 26 Linwood Avenue, Warsaw, NY 14569.
