Where the names of Ogdensburg’s streets, avenues, and parks came from

By Ted Como

In Ogdensburg’s bicentennial year of 1976, City Historian Elizabeth Baxter wrote a series of stories identifying the origin of the city’s street names and parks, which published From April 29 through July 14. I have consolidated them, as follows.
Ogdensburg has, or in the past century and a half has had, 101 streets, 18 avenues, at least 11 lanes, and two places, a total of 132 public ways, all named by its legislators. In addition, at least 17 parks and one square have been given names. For such titles, names of early presidents, generals and congressmen were the most popular. Nathan Ford, founder of Ogdensburg, had the distinction of having both a street and an avenue named for him.
The streets are or were: Allen, Anthony, Arnold, Barker, Barre, Bigelow, Broad, Brown, Canton, Caroline, Carroll, Catharine, Cedar, Champlain, Channing, Chatham, Cherry, Clark, Commerce, Congress, Courtland, Covington, The Crescent, Curtis, David, Dearborn, de Viller, Denny, Division, East Cedar, East David, East River, East South, Elizabeth, Ellen, Fine, Ford, Franklin, Gates, Gibbs, Gilbert, Grant, Greene. Also, Grove, Hamilton, Hasbrouck, Hayward, Iryin, Isabella, Jackson, James, Jay, John, Judson, Kenrick, Kiah, King, Knox, Lafayette, Lake, Linden, Lisbon, Main, Marine, Market, Mechanic, Mill, Montgomery, Morris, North Railroad, North Rosseel, North Water, Oak, Ogden, Park, Patterson, Pearl, Philip (or Phillip), Pickering, Pine, Railroad, River, Rose, Rosseel, Scott, Seymour, South Railroad, South Rosseel, South, Spinner, Spring, Spruce, State, Tate, Wadham, Wall, Warren, Washington, Water, William, and Willow.
As of 2022, streets on the above list that have since been eliminated are: Allen, Barker, Broad, Carroll, Channing, Chatham, Courtland, Division, East Cedar, Ellen, James, Marine, North Railroad, North Water, Rose, Scott, South Railroad, South Rosseel, Spruce, Warren, Water, and Willow.
Streets that have been added since Baxter’s report (mostly in the area of the former psychiatric center) are: Acco Way, Center Cir, Center E Dr, Center W Dr, Chapel Dr, Chapel Spur Dr, Chimney Point Dr, Commerce Point Dr, Correction Way, Cottage Dr, Curtis Hill Dr, E Hayward St, East River St, Entrance Av, Flower Dr, Flower Spur Dr, Horwood Pl, Kendrick St, Letechworth Ln, Lower Covington St, N Meadow Dr, N Water St, Nevin St, Picquet Dr, Pritchard Av, Quinn Dr, Remington Cir, S Water St, St Denny St, Ribbitts Dr, Trinity Ln, W River St, and W South St.
The avenues are or were: Adams, Albany, Ford, Harrison, Jefferson, Jersey, Lincoln, Madison, Mansion, Monroe, Morris, New York, Pleasant, Plover Hill, Proctor, Rensselaer, Riverside, and Woodford. The lanes (undoubtedly there are others) are or were: Burton, Howard, Keefe, Linden, McCarrier, Mccarty, Pero, Pottery, Proctor’s, and Denny.
The places are Academy and Crescent. The single square is Prospect. The parks are or were Crescent, D.D., Groulx, Grove, Haley, Hamilton, Library, Lions Recreation, Lyon, Madison, Mansion, Morissete, Proctor, Railroad, Riverside, Triangle, and West End.
Eliminatated since Baxter’s report have been Morris Avenue and McCarty and Denny Lanes.
A plot plan of the very early Village of Ogdensburgh shows now streets and lots on the west side of the Oswegatchie River. The original streets were Ford, Washington, Greene, Knox, Isabella, Catherine, Euphemia, Gertrude, Caroline, Elizabeth, Water, Morris, Jay, Hamilton and Paterson. The village plan apparently was made between April 5, 1817, when the village was incorporated, and 1824, when Euphemia became State Street and Gertrude became Franklin Street. Water Street included what is now the Crescent.
An invaluable early map of the Village of Ogdensburgh was made in 1835 from surveys by Robert Tate & Sons, civil engineers of Ogdensburgh. The village then had a population of 2,500, while the population of St. Lawrence County totaled 42,000, according to information listed on the map. The map showed Water, Washington, Ford, Greene, Knox, Jay, Montgomery, Fayette, David, South, Catharine, Isabella, State, Caroline, Franklin, Elizabeth, Morris, Hamilton, Paterson, Pickering and Mechanic Streets and Jersey Avenue, all east of the Oswegatchie River. West of the Oswegatchie were Garrison, Middle, Main, River and Lake Streets and Rensselaer, Mansion, St. Lawrence and New York Avenues.
Here are the origins of city streets as listed by Baxter in 1976:
ACADEMY PLACE was named for its proximity to the Ogdensburg Free Academy.
ADAMS AVENUE was named for John Adams, 1735-1826, second president and a drafter of the Declaration of Independence. One of his sons John Quincy Adams, became the sixth president.
ALBANY AVENUE was named for the capital of the state.
ALLEN STREET was named for Elijah Ball Allen, 1791- 1869, a native of Mendon, MA, who in 1821 at the age of 30 became an Indian agent for the U.S. at Sault Sainte Marie, MI, having been a fur trader at Fort Dearborn, later Chicago. He married Harriet Seymour of Springfield, VT. They moved in 1827 to the Village of Ogdensburgh, where he established a hardware store, general commission business, and a fleet of vessels and barges operating between Ogdensburgh and Montreal. He owned a number of houses, stores and lots, wharves, an ashery, and tracts of land, including 58 acres at Pidgeon Point. He died Feb. 16, 1869, at his home, 2 Greene St. (old numbering).
ANTHONY STREET may have been named for Anthony C. Brown, a well-to-do lawyer, who owned considerable real estate. His son, William C, was St. Lawrence County judge and the frst mayor of Ogdensburg. Anthony Steet could have been named for Mad Anthony Wayne, 1745-1796, an American general engaged at Brardywine, whose troops captured Stony Point in 1779. Wayne was also active in the Yorktown campaign.
ARNOLD STREET probably was named for Anna Maria Spencer Ford, niece of Nathan Ford, who married Brigadier General Jacob Arnold, a second cousin of Nathan Ford. Arnold, who commanded the 123rd Regiment of New York State Militia, served in the War of 1812. He was supervisor of the Town of Oswegatchie in 1836.
BARKER STREET possibly was named for Hiram Barker, who owned a number of blocks and lots in the old Village of Ogdensburgh in the 19th century. Another possibility is that the street took its name from James William Barker, 1817-69, a Know-Nothing Party leader about 1854 and an unsuccessful candidate for mayor of New York City.
BARRE STREET apparently was named for Barre, VT.
BIGELOW STREET was named for Samuel Bigelow, who in 1855 owned three acres near the bridge and a steam mill here in the 19th century.
BROAD STREET, near the old shipyards, possibly was a descriptive title, and could have referred to women of the section.
BROWN STREET was named for two lawyers, Anthony C. Brown, who owned a mansion, two houses and 95 acres of land, and his son, William C, St. Lawrence County judge and the first mayor of the City of Ogdensburg, in 1868-69. The latter owned a mansion, several houses and stores, and about 20 acres of land.
BURTON LANE, between Washington and Ford Streets, may have been named for William Burton, who in the 19th century owned a block and five houses on Ford Street, three lots near the railroad bridge, and 16 lots near the Lisbon Road.
CANTON STREET was named for the Ogdensburgh-Canton Road. The Village of Ogdensburgh was incorporated in 1817; Canton was incorporated in 1845.
CAROLINE STREET was named for a daughter of Colonel Samuel Ogden, early owner of this area, and Euphemia Morris Ogden.
CATHERINE STREET also was named for a daughter of Colonel and Mrs. Ogden.
CEDAR STREET tooks its name from cedars.
CHAMPLAIN STREET probably was named for Samuel de Champlain, 1567-1635, French explorer and the chief founder of New France, who established a coloney at Quebec and discovered Lake Champlain.
CHANNING STREET apparently was named for an early owner or local association.
CHATHAM STREET apparently also took its name from an early local association or owner.
CHERRY STREET derived its name from cherry trees.
CLARK STREET was apparently was named for Edwin Clark who in the 19th century owned a mansion on State Street, three offices adjoining, four brick stores, and a number of lots, including a very valuable water power lot.
COMMERCE STREET was named for the river trade.
CONGRESS STREET commemorated the U.S. Congress.
COURTLAND STREET apparently derived its name from an early owner or local association.
COVINGTON STREET may have been named for Gen. Leonard Covington, 1768-1813, who was fatally wounded at the Battle of Chrysler’s Field in Canada and died on Nov. 14,1813. He was a congressman.
THE CRESCENT was named for its shape.
CRESCENT PLACE derived its name from its proximity to the Crescent. The Common Council on June 22, 1886, changed the name River Street to the Crescent and the name River Bank Park to Crescent Park.
CURTIS STREET took its name from an early local association or owner. Ogdensburgh Village highway records show that this street was dedicated by the village trustees in 1851.
DAVID STREET was surveyed in 1836 by Robert Tate & Son, and was listed by Tate as David’s Street. The name undoubtedly related to an early owner or settler, possibly to a child of his.
DEARBORN STREET seems to have been named for Henry Dearborn, army officer, congressman, physician, and secretary of war under President Thomas Jefferson. Dearborn in 1781 was named deputy quartermaster on General George Washington’s staff, with rank of colonel. He was a major general in the War of 1812. Dearborn, Michigan, was named for him.
DENNY STREET was named for Thomas Denny, a Canadian, who owned 14 acres of land here. A.B. James at one time was agent for Denny.
DEVILLER STREET derived its name from Nancy Mary de Villers, daughter of Louis de Villers, native of France. She married Silvius Hoard, an agent for George Parish, and was the mother of Louis de Villers Hoard. Charles de Villers Hoard, son of the latter, was mayor of Ogdensburg in 1913-14.
DIVISION STREET extending from State Street to Isabella Street, was a dividing line between Ford Street and Washington Street. It now is lost in an Ogdensburg Mall parking lot.
DIVISION STREET (2) in the 1850s extended from Greene Street to Jay Street, between Hasbrouck Street and Park Street.
EAST CEDAR, EAST DAVID, EAST LAKE (or BRIDGE), EAST RIVER and EAST SOUTH STREETS were named for their easterly locations.
ELIZABETH STREET was possibly named for a relative of Colonel Samuel Ogden, early owner of all the land that is Ogdensburg, and Euphemia Morris Ogden. It originally was called Wilkinson Street.
ELLEN STREET apparently took it name for its association with an early owner. Off the 1000 block of Washington Street: toward the St. Lawrence River, it is next to 1034-36 Washington Street. A dead end paper street with no houses, it is 56 feet long and 40 feet wide, between Denny and Tate Streets. Ellen Street is Ogdensburg’s shortest street.
EUPHEMIA STREET, now State Street, was named for the wife of colonial Ogden, The name existed from 1817, when the Village of Ogdensburgh was incorporated, until 1824.
FINE STREET took its name from Judge John Fine, 1794-1867, a prominent, wealthy lawyer, who became a congressman. He was treasurer of St. Lawrence County from 1821 until 1833, and judge of the Court of Common Pleas from 1824 until 1839. He started his law practice in Ogdensburg in 1815.
FRANKLIN STREET was, no doubt, named for Benjamin Franklin, 1706- 90, American statesman who helped draft the Declaration of Independence, was largely instrumental in gaining French recognition of the cause of the American Revolution, and negotiated the Treaty of Paris.
FORD AVENUE and FORD STREET were both named for Nathan Ford, founder of Ogdensburg. Ford, who served as assistant deputy quartermaster general in 1780, was agent for Colonel Ogden, and arrived here with his party on Aug. 11, 1796, the date of Ogdensburg’s American beginning. Ford, who was born Dec. 8,1763, at Morristown, N.J., died here on March 29,1829. His remains rest in the Ford family vault.
GATES STREET was named for Horatio Gates, American general, who led forces at the Battle of Saratoga. He was defeated at Camden, S.C., in 1780. Gates was born in 1728 and died in 1806.
GERTRUDE STREET received its name from Gertrude Ogden, daughter of Colonel Samuel Ogden and Euphemia Morris Ogden.
GIBBS STREET probably was named for Calvin W. Gibbs, Ogdensburgh merchant. The short street is unusual, in that one side measures 150 feet and the other, 124 feet, according to certain maps.
GILBERT STREET was named for Silvester Gilbert, 1787-1865, hatter and merchant, who had a brokerage business and was president of the Drovers Bank. Owner of numerour parcels of real estate, he served in the state Legislature. He was one of the presidential electors who placed William 1 Henry Harrison at the head of the nation. Gilbert was president of the old Village of Ogdensburgh in 1835-36 and 1856-57.
GRANT STREET apparently was named for Ulysses Simpson Grant, 1822-1885, 18th president of the United States. During the War Between the States, he became commander-in-chief of the U.S.Army. In 1866 he was promoted to full general (the first since George Washington to hold such rank).
GREENE STREET took its name from General Nathanael Greene, 1742-1816, who commanded troops at Boston, in New Jersey, around New York, at the Battle of Trenton, at the Battle of Monmouth, and in the Carolinas. He was in supreme command of the Continental Army in September 1780, during Washington’s absence.
GROVE STREET derived its name from the great trees that originially were there.
HAMILTON STREET was named for Alexander Hamilton, 1755-1804, a noted lawyer and the first secretary of the treasury, who served as secretary and aide-de-camp to Washington during the Revolutionary War.
HARRISON AVENUE took its name from William Henry Harrison, ninth president, who served only 31 days.
HASBROUCK STREET was named far Louis Hasbrouck, 1777-1834, who, with Nathan Ford, was a founder of Ogdensburg. A lawyer, he was the first clerk of St. Lawrence County, a member of the county Board of Supervisors, the first postmaster of Ogdensburg, president of the Ogdensburgh Bank (Ogdensburg was spelled with an-h), a militia captain, and state senator. When President James Monroe visited Ogdensburgh on Aug. 1, 1817, it was Louis Hasbrouck who made the address of welcome, being president of the village, which had been incorporated on April 5 of that year. Hasbrouck’s home, one of the first here, was in the Triangle Block, bounded by Ford, Isabella and Water Streets. (Water Street at this section later was known as the Crescent.)
HAYWARD STREET, which dates to 1851, took its name from an early owner or association, probably connected with the Northern Railroad, completed in 1850. The first passenger tram to arrive at Ogdensburgh, the line’s northern terminus, came on Sept. 26, 1850.
HOWARD LANE, from Montgomery Street to Jersey Avenue, apparently was named for an early owner, possibly Porter Howard, who was listed in a tax roll of the 1850s.
IRVIN STREET was named for Irvin Flagg, young son of Harvey Flagg. A well-to-do book store proprietor, Harvey Flagg died Dec. 16, 1876, aged 82 years. The boy, Irvin, drowned accidentally, leaving his father forever stricken with grief. Flagg in 1855 owned a mansion, lot, a store and half a lot on Ford street, 34 acres purchased from Bigelow, and two lots on the Lisbon Road.
ISABELLA STREET was named for a daughter of Colonel Samuel Ogden and Euphemia Morris Ogden. Much of Isabella Street was swallowed up by the Ogdensburg Mall (formally named the Ford Street Mall).
JACKSON STREET got its name from Andrew Jackson, seventh president, who was born in 1767 and died June 8, 1845.
JAMES STREET was named for Judge Amaziah Bailey James, 1812-83, a lawyer, who settled in Ogdensburgh in 1831. He was, successively, a Supreme Court justice, a member of the Court of Appeals, and a member of the House of Representatives. He established The Northern Light, a weekly newspaper in Ogdensburgh, and was part owner of another local weekly, The Times and Advertiser. Captain of the Ogdensburgh Artillery Company, established in 1836, he was a major-general of New York militia. His home was south of St. John’s Church at 92 Caroline Street in the old numbering.
JAY STREET took its name from John Jay, 1745- 1829, president of the Continental Congress. 1778-79. who helped to negotiate the Treaty of Paris. He was the first chief justice of the United States. He is best known in this border city for his treaty, called Jay’s Treaty, concluded in 1794 between the United States and Great Britain, which, among other thines. provided for British evacuation of military posts in the north and west, including Fort Oswegatchie.
JEFFERSON AVENUE was named far Thomas Jefferson, third president of the United Sltates, who was born April 13,1743, and died July 4,1826.
JERSEY AVENUE may have taken its name from Jersey cattle, having been farm land.
JOHN STREET apparently was named for an early owner.
JUDSON STREET was named for David C. Judson, who came to the city in 1808 from Washington, CN. He was, successively, an early sheriff of St. Lawrence County, a state senator, a county judge, cashier of the Ogdensburgh Bank, and collector of the Oswegatchie Customs District, by appointment from President Martin Van Buren. Judson in 1853, with his brothers Daniel and John D. Judson and others, established the Judson Bank. In 1862, David C. Judson was elected president of the old Village of Ogdensburgh and was re-elected in 1863. In 1868, he was a member of the city charter committee. He died May 5,1875, at the age of 89 years.
KEEFE LANE, south from the 300 block of Ford Street to Greene Street, apparently got its name from a Mr. Keefe.
KENRICK STREET, which dates to June 5, 1852, was named for the then owner, William A. Kenrick, an early land owner.
KIAH STREET commemorates an early owner.
KING STREET was named for John King, who arrived here from New Jersey in 1801 to work as a clerk for Colonel Samuel Ogden and Nathan Ford. It was John King was delivered the July 4 oration in 1802, at the old Fort Oswegatchie barracks. Hie was the paymaster of Lt. Alexander J. Turner’s St. Lawrence County regiment of militia, appointed in 1806. King, who died in 1816, was the father of Preston King, 1806-1865, who became a congressman and U.S. senator.
KNOX STREET took its name from General Henry Knox, 1750-1806, who served throughout the Revolutionary War as a close friend and advisor to Washington, and took part in all notable engagements, directing artillery. He was secretary of war from 1785 through 1794.
LAFAYETTE STREET was named for Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, otherwise known as the Marquis de Lafayette. He was a French general who in 1777 joined Washington’s army, was made a major general by Congress, was wounded at Brandywine in 1777, and was at Valley Forge. He played a vital part in the Yorktown campaign.
LAKE STREET no doubt was named for the waters in the canal and above the Ogdensburg dam.
LINCOLN AVENUE was named for Abraham Lincoln, 1809-65, the 16th president and hero of the common man.
LINDEN STREET and LINDEN LANE (between Washington and Ford Streets) were named for linden trees. The street was released in 1852, by Dr. Socrates N. Sherman, Harvey Flagg and Samuel Bigelow.
LISBON STREET was named for the Town of Lisbon.
McCARRIER LANE got is name from David C. Judson for whom Judson Street was named.
McCARTY LANE took its name from Timothy McCarty.
MADISON AVENUE was named for James Madison, 1751-1836, the fourth president of the United States.
MAIN STREET got its name for its geographical prominence, being a prinicpal thoroughfare.
MANSION AVENUE got its name from Nathan Ford’s mansion, completed in 1805 and now a parking lot for the A. Barton Hepburn Hospital.
MARINE AVENUE and MARINE STREET were named for proximity to the Ogdensburg shipyard and the St. Lawrence River.
MARKET STREET got its name from its use, a bazaar for products arriving by ship.
MECHANIC STREET was named for mechanics who lived there.
MILL STREET was named for the mills powered by the Oswegatchie River canal.
MONROE AVENUE took its name from.James Monroe, fifth president, who was born in 1758 and died on 1831.
MONTGOMERY STREET was named for General Richard Montgomery, 1738-75, who captured Montreal in 1775. He was killed in the Quebec campaign.
MORRIS AVENUE no doubt commemorated Robert Morris, 1734-1806, an American merchant who was the finance director of the Revolution, although some claimed it was Gouverneur Morris, a North Country landowner born in 1752.
NEW YORK AVENUE was named for New York State, which took its title from the Duke of York and Albany, who received the patent to New Netherland from his brother Charles II, and sent an expedition to capture it in 1664.
NORMAND AVENUE was once the name of Mill Street, for an early owner.
NORTH RAILROAD STREET, RAILROAD STREET, and SOUTH RAILROAD STREET were named for the Northern Railroad. The first passenger train arrived at the Ogdensburg terminus Sept. 26, 1850.
NORTH ROSSEEL STREET and ROSSEEL STREET got their names from Joseph Rosseel, agent for George Parish. The original building of the Ogdensburg Public Library was constructed in 1809-10 as a residence for, Rosseel. His son, John F. Rosseel, was mayor of Ogdensburg in 1875-76.
NORTH WATER STREET was part of old WATER STREET, which extended along the Oswegatchie River to the St. Lawrence River and thence to Patterson Street. Water Street included the Crescent, North Water Street, and Riverside Avenue (the present names.)
OAK STREET was named for oak trees.
OGDEN STREET was named for Samuel Ogden, wealthy landowner, manufacturer, and American militia colonel, whose agent, Nathan Ford, developed Ogdensburg. This city is named for Ogden, who was born Dec. 9, 1746, in Newark, N. J., son of David and Gertrude Gouverneur Ogden. Samuel Ogden married Euphemia Morris, sister of Gouverneur and Lewis Morris, Feb. 5, 1775, and was the father of 12 children, including David B. During the Revolutionary War, Ogden manufactured iron used as ammunition, and later manufactured nails and other iron products. He invested heavily in land in upstate New York. He died Dec. 1, 1810.
PARK STREET may have been so titled for its original greensward and sylvan aspects.
PATERSON STREET (the original spelling) was named for General John, Paterson of Revolutionary War fame, congressman and land owner. He and his troops fought at Bunker Hill, Trenton and Princeton.
PEARL STREET apparently was named for a member on the distaff side of an early owner’s family.
PHILIP STREET (also Phillip), too, was apparently named for a member of an early owner’s family. It is between Paterson and Hasbrouck Streets.
PERO LANE, between Ford and Washington Streets, evidently was named for a Mr. Pero.
PICKERING STREET took its name from Timothy Pickering, 1745-1829, American Revolutionary general and statesman. He was quartermaster general, 1780-85, appointed by General Washington, postmaster general, secretary of war, 1791-95; secretary of state, 1795-1800, and U. S. senator, 1803-11.
PINE STREET was named for pine trees.
PLEASANT AVENUE got its name from its pleasing surroundings.
PLOVER HILL AVENUE got its name from small, short-billed wading birds known to have frequented the location.
POTTERY LANE, between Montgomery and Lafayette Streets, took its name from Hart Pottery, south of Montgomery Street, near Morris Street. Charles Hart opened a stone ware business in Ogdensburgh village in 1850. In five years, he was employing six men, making ware worth $7,000, annually. In 1856, the firm of C. Hart & Company was taken over by William Hart, who was succeeded by Joseph J. Hart. The firm made Rockingham ware, drain tile, and fire brick. In 1865, drained by the Civil War, the company had but one employe, James G. O’Hara. The firm closed in 1873. The building was destroyed by fire Oct. 2, 1874.
PROCTOR AVENUE and PROCTOR’S LANE, between Ford and Greene Streets, were named for William L. Proctor, 1837-1897, who was a trustee of the Village of Ogdensburg in 1866-67, a city alderman in 1868-69, and mayor of Ogdensburg in 1871-74 and 1884-86. He was president and manager of the Skillings, Whitney and Barnes Lumber Company. A native of Washington, NH., he married Dotty P. Howard in a ceremony performed by her father, the Rev. J. M. Howard, pastor of the Baptist Church here, on Feb. 12, 1861. The Ogdensburg Common Council on July 21,1898, named the 100-foot-wide avenue for Proctor.
RAILROAD STREET was named for the Northern Railroad, completed in 1850.
RENSSELAER AVENUE got its name from Henry Bell Van Rensselaer, West Pointer, army officer Ogdensburgh agriculturist, congressman, and descendant of wealthy Dutch patroons His great mansion, Woodford, was completed in 1834 and burned in 1855, after being hit by lightning. Commissioned a brigadier general, he was chief of staff under General Winfield Scott at the beginning of the Civil War. Born May 14, 1810, a t the Manor House in Albany, son of Stephen and Margaret Schuyler Van Rensselaer, he died March 23,1864, of typhoid, while serving as inspector general, in Cincinnati, Ohio. Henry Van Rensselaer on Sept. 13,1836, became the owner of 78,932 acres of land in the towns of Canton, Lisbon, and Oswegatchie, conveyed by his father. He was the president and principal owner of the Heuvelton and Canton Plank Road Company, which had its headquarters in his land office in the old Village of Ogdensburgh. About 1850, Canton Falls was named Rensselaer Falls in honor of Henry Van Rensselaer. His land office was at State and Greene Streets.
RIVER STREET commemorates the role of the Oswegatchie River in the development of Ogdensburg. That part of River Street extending easterly from Lake Street to the old Grist Mill was a public highway before it became part of the old Village of Ogdensburgh, and it was accepted by the Commissioners of Highways of the Town of Oswegatchie before that part of the town was annexed to the Village of Ogdensburgh (annexation of the Second Ward, 1851).
RIVERSIDE AVENUE took its name from its proximity to the St. Lawrence River.
ROSE STREET was named by an early owner, for a family member, apparently.
ROSSEEL STREET was named for Joseph Rosseel, agent for George Parish.
DENNY LANE, between Ford and Greene Streets, got its name from a Mr. St. Denny, an early owner.
SCOTT STREET was named for General Winfield Scott, 1786-1866, an army officer in the War of 1812 and in the Patriot War, during 1838. From July 1841 to November 1861, he was supreme commander of the U.S. Army. He was the Whig candidate for president in 1852.
SEYMOUR STREET took its name from Horatio Seymour, 1810-86, governor of New York, In 1868, he was the Democratic candidate for president.
SMITH STREET, between Greene and Knox Streets, was released to the old village of Ogdensburgh on July 6, 1858, by Mrs. Mary C. Smith. It was originally owned by George Parish.
SOUTH RAILROAD STREET commemorated the Northern Railroad.
SOUTH ROSSEEL STREET was named for Joseph Rosseel.
SOUTH STREET (a geographical name) was surveyed in i»36 by Robert Tate & Son.
SOUTH WILLIAM STREET took its name from its southerly location and association with an early owner, William C. Brown, who became the first mayor of Ogdensburg.
SPINNER STREET, 134 feet in length, just north of the Ogdensburg Post Office, was named for Francis Elias Spinner, 1802-90, who was appointed U.S. treasurer. He resigned in 1875 in a personal dispute with the Treasury Department.
SPRING STREET apparently was named for a nearby natural spring.
SPRUCE STREET got its name from spruce trees.
STATE STREET took its name from old State Road leading from the old Village of Ogdensburgh to the Village of Heuvel (later called Heuvelton), and beyond.
TATE STREET was named for Robert Tate and his son, Thomas B. Tate, 1814-1904, surveyors. The latter in 1823 assisted his father in the first survey of Ogdensburg. Thomas B. Tate in 1834 raised a uniformed company of light infantry, of which he was elected captain. He was one year a major and two years a lieutenant colonel of the 153rd New York Regiment, 49th Brigade, 19th Division, of Infantry (militia). He purchased and operated a bar iron mine in the Town of Hermon eight years. He ran the St. Lawrence and Lake Huron Railroad in. Canada and in 1854 constructed the Brighton and Mormon Line there. Thomas B. Tate was the surveyor for Ogdensburg, village and city, covering eight decades.
WADHAMS STREET took its name from Most Rev. Edgar Philip Wadhams, 1817-91, first bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Ogdensburg (1872). WALL STREET apparently was named from an early owner.
WARREN STREET may have been named for John Warren, 1753-1815, who took part in the Boston Tea Party (1773); established a hospital in Boston for inoculation against smallpox, when the disease was prevalent there; established the first school of medicine connected with Harvard University, and was grand master of the Free and Accepted Masons (1783- 84). His father was Joseph Warren, a physician who was shot by a British soldier at Bunker Hill.
WASHINGTON STREET was named for George Washington.
WATER STREET got its name from the St. Lawrence and Oswegatchie Rivers.
WILLIAM STREET, including Prospect Square, was given to the Village of Ogdensburgh on Aug. 7,1851 by William (C.) Brown, A. (Anthony) C. Brown and McLean, Brainard & Company.
WILLOW STREET was named for willow trees.
WOODFORD AVENUE took its name from Woodford, the estate of Henry Bell Van Rensselaer.
PARKS:
Origin of names of Ogdensburg’s parks, as compiled by then City Historian Elizabeth Baxter in 1976:
OLD CEMETERY PARK, now called Hamilton Park, was named for the burial ground it was from June 7, 1820, until the summer of 1863, jointly owned and administered by the Episcopalians and the Presbyterians. At a charter election Dec. 8, 1868, in the then infant City of Ogdensburgh, taxpayers voted, 234 to 70, to raise $500 for Cemetery Park.
The old burial ground actually had been a public park since Oct. l, 1863 On June 29 of that year, the village officials gave notice that after Oct. 1, Block 24, known as the old burying ground, would be thrown open and converted into a public park, for which purpose the ground will be leveled and monuments removed.
CRESCENT PARK got its name from its shape, curving along the Oswegatchie River. It was acquired by the City of Ogdensburgh on June 15, 1868, from George Parish and Elijah B. Allen for $1 out of regard for the happiness and welfare of the inhabitants of said city. It was known originally as River Bank Park., and the Crescent (street) as called River Street or Water Street.
The names were changed in 1886 to Crescent Park and the Crescent. Crescent Park was made possible by the women of Ogdensburg in the second half of the 19th century under the leadership of Mary Parker. The city during the spring of 1868 received, as a donation from George Parish and Elijah B. Allen, a grant of all the land between the center of Water Street (now the Crescent) and the center of the Oswegatchie River, from a point 20 feet south of the Parish cribbing to a point 300 feet north of Montgomery Street.
A condition was that the city spend an average of $500 a year for five years to improve it as a public ground. The city had already paid Parish $5,400 for water power for the then new water works and title to the rest of the river bank to the State Arsenal, about 400 feet above the dam. The east bank of the Oswegatchie from the dam to the bridge rose in a 35 to 40-foot bluff at the foot of Mongomery Street and fell gradually to about 25 feet at the bridge.
At the mid-point of the 19th century, the bank was a popular resort for the villagers. Young men of the village obtained and planted attractive shade trees the entire distance. But between 1850 and 1868, time, vandals, and the waters of the Oswegatchie destroyed much of the beauty of this natural amphitheater, and the site became, according, to the Daily Journal, more a receptacle and depository of filth and rubbish than a place of resort of pleasure seekers.
Voters, in a heavy majority, had rejected a proposition to improve the ground and make it a public park. Then Miss Parker conceived the idea of appealing to Geroge Parish, then living at his ancestral home in Austria, and, with other women of Ogdensburgh, addressed him. Their request was granted. The ladies, however, did not see all of their plan realized. They wanted Water Street (the Crescent) closed to carriage travel from Greene to Montgomery, the ends of Jay, Knox and Pickering Streets closed, a wall constructed at the water’s edge from Montgomery to Greene, the crest of the bank graded, Water Street included in the park, walks constructed, and shrubbery planted.
GROULX PARK was dedicated Nov. 11,1933, to Corporal Charles A, Groulx, who at 25 was the first Ogdensburg soldier to die in battle in World War I, near Chateau Thierry on the Marne front, July 5,1918. The Groulx memorial is a cairn; the stones are from the Ogdensburg shore of the St. Lawrence River.
GROVE PARK was named for its trees.
HALEY PARK is a memorial to the late Mrs. Charles Haley. At Ford and Bigelow Streets, its contains a flower urn, once a water font for annimals on Commerce Street. The font was dedicated in 1928 by the St. Lawrence County S.P.C.A. to the memory of Isabel Woodley Haley. The city council in 1959 set aside this small but beautiful site as a permanent tribute to Mrs. Haley.
HAMILTON PARK was named for Alexander Hamilton.
LIBRARY PARK dates to 1895 and, with the Ogdensburg Public Library, occupies an entire city block. At the park is the Soldiers and Sailors Monument, work of Sally James Farnham, 1869-1943, Ogdensburg native. The monument was dedicated Aug. 23, 1905, to the soldiers and sailors of the Town of Oswegatchie who served in the Civil War.
THE LIONS CLUB PARK is a popular center for sports
LYON PARK, former home of the Ogdensburg Volunteer Rescue Squad on Greene Street, was given to the city by the late Arthur S. O Neil former president of the Ogdensburg Trust Company, in 1961 for a public park to be known as Lyon Park in memory of the Lyon family. The property was acquired by the family following the death of Charles F. Allen, son of Elijah B. Allen, who bought it about 1827.
The late Charles P. Lyon was the last Lyon who lived there. He was a descendant of John Lyon, born in 1753 at Morristown who came to the city in 1796 with Nathan Ford’s party. John Lyon, a veteran ot the Revolutionary War, died Feb. 3, 1834. Mr. O’Neil acquired the Lyon property from the estate Helena G. Lyon, widow of Charles P. Lyon.
A house there was demolished in the fall of 1961 and the site was cleared, except for a few lilacs.Elijah Ball Allen, 1791-1869, native of Massachusetts, in 1821 went to Sault St. Marie, where he was an Indian agent and a fur trader, after having been a fur trader at Fort Dearborn, later Chicago, 111. He established a forwarding business, commission office, and hardware store in the Ogdensburg and owned and directed a fleet of vessels and barges operating between Ogdensburgh and Montreal. There are those who may remember Allen’s famous willow trees, long gone now.
One old willow had a history of many decades, In 1835, Allen’s daughter Louisa accompanied one of his employees, Charles Shepard, to Waddington, riding in a wagon pulled by a horse hired for the occasion. The story goes that on the return trip, while passing through woods near the Old Hack Tavern, Shepard thought he needed a whip to speed up the horse. Accordingly, he stopped to cut a switch from a bush near the road, and in his attempt broke his knife. He than pulled up a willow twig by the roots.
Louisa Allen forbade him to whip the horse, and said she would plant the root in the Allen garden. It was said that the other willows in the family garden were limbs of this willow, which became a mighty tree.
MANSION PARK was named for Nathan Ford’s mansion, completed in 1805.
FATHER MARTIN PARK, owned by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Ogdensburg, took its name from the late Msgr. Harold J. Martin, who was a famous baseball player before entering the priesthood.
MORISSETTE PARK was named for the late Mayor Ralph J. Morissette by the old Ogdensburg Board of Control on Oct. 9, 1934, and by the old Common Council on the day following. Mr. Morissette was credited with making this park a beauty spot and public playground. He served two terms as mayor.
PROCTOR PARKS were the names given the small plots at the intersection of Ford and Bigelow Streets and east of Champlian Street, where Greene Street and Proctor Avenue merged, in 1905, on petition of the late Edward P. Lynch. In 1906, the Board of Public Works turned them over to the Park Commissioners. These two small plots of ground near the easterly end of Ford Street com memorated the late William L. Proctor.
PROSPECT SQUARE consists of 45-foot strips of land on both sides of William Street between Curtis and Hayward Streets. It was received by the trustees of the Village of Ogdensburgh on Aug. 7,1851. The donors were William C. Brown, his father Anthony C. Brown and McLean, Brainard and Company, railroad car factory firm. William C. 1851 and the first mayor of the city in 1868-69.
Anthony C. Brown was president of the village in 1837. Both were lawyers. Another name for Prospect Square was William Street Square.
RENSSELAER PARK, a small plot at the westerly end of the city, com- memorates Henry Bell Van Rensselaer.
THIRD WARD PARK was another name for Hamilton Park, formerly the Old Cemertery Park.
TRIANGLE PARK, in the Second Ward, was named for its shape.
The URBAN RENEWAL PARK, between the Custom House and the Naval facility hasn’t been named yet. For it, the name LIBERTY PARK has been suggested.
Another of the city’s unnamed parks is an area north of Ford Street near Proctor Avenue. A monument there commemorates the Northern Railroad and subsequent railways, including the Rutland, for which Ogdensburg, village and city, was the western terminus.