Stop 14- Clinton Square: The Commercial Hub

GPS- 43.050882, -76.152308

So how did Clinton Square become the hub and heartbeat of downtown? 

Two main reasons: the Genesee Turnpike intersecting the Erie Canal! This 1810 map would be one of the last showing an unbroken Genesee Turnpike Road.

c1810 map by James Geddes

This area was swamp...but many saw potential with the salt to the north, mills on the creek, and the coming of the Erie Canal...enter Bogardus...whose name was lent to the crossroads...he invested in what would become Clinton Square!

About Hendrick Bogardus:
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/28021436/hendrick-bogardus?fbclid=IwAR2b9uo7NgtN84OEqy9z0qWKIhsJHqGheinc5xKwOPXe2L6PBHnS0D3sPvY

When the canal opened in 1825, the growing village along the canal needed a proper name...a history by Dennis Connors on "what's in a name"

chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://yuripavlov.ru/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/HowDidSyracuseGetItsName-DennisConnors2015.pdf?fbclid=IwAR1lVpAFrpdG-QwXeOlu7AK1qGF_HOuSk1U1IL5qP0gx0GrnfO2zyShP8SM

And so Syracuse grew around the canal...

so much that 13 years later, it has quite became quite the hub of commerce

This Village of Syracuse in 1834 in the map above, 

while still in its infancy, 

grew up with both the Genesee Turnpike and the Erie Canal 

transecting the heart of the new village through

"Clinton Square" so named after Gov. DeWitt Clinton and the canal.

By the 1850's there was boat traffic, businesses, and a place to get goods to and from market. In this pic you can see the original Syracuse Savings Bank Building on the left and the Coffin Block that proceeded the Gridley Building in the middle

And the market did not always look as appetizing as our local farmer's markets do today

By 1868, this area was continuing its growth

By 1875, it truly was the city center!

Sometimes this square was even used just for fun...

like the infamous Greenways New Years Picnic!

Or even a balloon demonstration

Or ice skating when it was drained back for winter maintenance!

Then it was used to commemorate our Soldiers and Sailors Monument

The Syracuse Savings Bank Building on the eastern edge of the square 

was designed by J Lyman Silsbee

Although the exterior was remodeled in the 1920's, 

the walls hide a secret...

...that was covered in retrofitting it for "modern banking".

This bank building was built with a drive up...er...float up canal access window. Being on the towpath, this bank could be easily accessed by canal boaters. This was a convenience for the captains and kept the dirt off the floor of the "new" bank. Here is a pic of it under construction which actually took from 1875-1877.

You couldn't get around Clinton Square ...and its neighbor Hanover Square without nearly tripping into a bank...there were so many! 

The Gridley Building was originally built as the Onondaga Savings Bank

The "newer" Onondaga Savings Bank Building

And the Gere Bank Building around the corner

And the Flagship Securities Building next to the 

"new" Onondaga Savings Bank Building

And don't forget about the Third National Bank Building Red building on left on James and N Salina just north of the Syracuse Savings Bank Building...and several other financial institutions nearby

And if you'd rather play than bank, well, 

there was always the
Bastable Block with plays at the right edge of the pic above 

or
the Wieting Opera House in the pic below

There were plenty of places to stay, eat, or be entertained 

only a mule shoe throw from the canal

Some more info about the buildings around Clinton Square:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clinton_Square#:~:text=Clinton%20Square%20is%20surrounded%20by,Savings%20Bank%20Building%20(1897).

But times change and the use of the square has changed...once the canal boats used the northern route of the Barge Canal, it became a parking lot...

Then, a series of public gathering parks, culminating in Clinton Square today...

which gives a nod to the canal when there are no gatherings in the square...

the fountain which sits in the path of the old canal

And easily drained back when large festivals fill the square with people once again

Here to you can see a few feet of the upper layers of the canal wall that goes much deeper below the street surface...history buried under our feet...as is most of the old canal in Syracuse proper due to Syracuse being a low elevation point.

But our time in the commercial corridor of Clinton Square has come to an end...we may stay a day here...stopping at the bank, getting supplies from the shops, loading and unloading goods...and maybe even seeing a show at at the Wieting Opera House. We'll give the mules a rest for the night, then off our journey will continue to our next stop...