Editing Chittenango, New York (section)

== History ==
The name of the village is derived from the [[Oneida people|Oneida]] name for [[Chittenango Creek]], ''Chu-de-nääng′'', meaning "where waters run north".<ref>American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society. ''Annual Report of the American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society to the Legislature of the State of New York''. Vol. 27. Albany: J.B. Lyon, State Printers, 1922.</ref> While the name "Chittenango" is often thought by locals to mean "river flowing north" or "where the waters divide and run north", a reference to the direction of water flow from the creek's point of origin to [[Oneida Lake]], there is no derivation for these alternatives. On an 1825 map of the area, the village is called ''Chittening'', a name used by early settlers which is thought to be derived directly from ''Chu-de-nääng′''.<ref>Beauchamp, William M. ''Aboriginal Place Names of New York''. New York State Education Department. Albany. 1907. p. 112.</ref> According to American [[Anthropology|anthropologist]] [[Lewis H. Morgan]], who studied [[Iroquois]] customs and language in his 1851 book ''League of the Iroquois'', the name "Chittenango" may have come from ''Chu-de-nääng′ Ga-hun′-da'', a [[Redundancy (linguistics)|redundant]] combination of the Oneida terms for "Chittenango Creek" (''Chu-de-nääng′'') and "creek" (''Ga-hun′-da'').<ref>Morgan, Lewis H. ''League of the Iroquois''. Corinth, NY. Corinth Books (1851). pp. 65, 137.</ref>

Initial growth of the village is largely attributed to the construction of the [[Erie Canal]], which officially opened in 1825, joining [[Buffalo, New York|Buffalo]] on [[Lake Erie]] with [[Albany, New York|Albany]], the capital of [[New York (state)|New York]], and the [[Hudson River]]. The Erie Canal passes just north of the village. The Chittenango Canal Company, incorporated in 1818, constructed a canal {{convert|1.5|mi|1}} in length connecting Chittenango to the Erie Canal.<ref>Mitchell, Samuel Augustus. ''An Accompaniment to Mitchell's Reference and Distance Map of the United States''. Philadelphia, PA. Mitchell and Hinman (1834). {{ISBN|1-149-26923-5}} p. 228.</ref> The village became a virtual canal town upon the construction of the Chittenango Canal Boat Landing, which featured a three-bay [[dry dock]] where canal boats were built and repaired. The canal brought prosperity, growth and expansion to the village. It created a need for inns, hotels and restaurants, and area farms and factories found the canal useful as an inexpensive and easy way to ship goods further along the canal or beyond. Because the canal connected to the Hudson River, boats were able to ship goods south to the metropolis of [[Manhattan]].<ref>Wyld, Lionel D. ''Canastota and Chittenango: Two Historic Canal Towns''. Charleston, SC. Arcadia Publishing (1998). {{ISBN|0-7524-0971-9}} pp. 7-10.</ref>

Development increased considerably with the activities of [[John B. Yates]], who opened and operated [[Gristmill|grist]] and [[Sawmill|saw mills]], a woolen mill, stores, and founded the village's first church in 1828, the [[Dutch Reformed Church]], now the First Presbyterian Church of Chittenango.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://history.rays-place.com/ny/sullivan-ny.htm | archive-url=https://archive.today/20120711151910/http://history.rays-place.com/ny/sullivan-ny.htm | url-status=dead | archive-date=July 11, 2012 | title=The Town of Sullivan | year=2009 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.firstpreschittenango.com/history.htm | title=History of Our Church | access-date=June 28, 2010 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110128194248/http://www.firstpreschittenango.com/history.htm | archive-date=January 28, 2011 | url-status=dead }}</ref>

The village was [[Municipal corporation|incorporated]] on March 15, 1842.<ref>Smith, John E. ''Our country and its people; a descriptive and biographical record of Madison County, New York''. Boston, MA. The Boston History Company (1899). pp. 326-327.</ref> At the time, it contained between 900 and 1,000 inhabitants, about 180 dwellings, three churches, the [[Yates Polytechnic Institute]], a large woolen factory, two large water lime factories, one flouring mill, three [[tavern]]s and ten stores.<ref>Whitney, Luna M. Hammond. ''History of Madison County, state of New York''. Syracuse, NY. Truair, Smith & Co., Book and Job Printers (1872). p. 674.</ref> In 1853, the first bank in the village, the Chittenango Bank, was organized and began business with capital of $110,000, which increased to $150,000 one year later. The bank closed business nearly one decade later, and in December 1863 the First National Bank of Chittenango was organized, occupying the same building erected by the first bank. This bank also closed down in 1883.<ref>Smith. pp. 322-325.</ref>

Soon after the incorporation of the village, the first [[fire company]] and [[Motive power depot|engine house]] was built in 1843.<ref>Smith. p. 620.</ref>

The first newspaper in the village was the ''Chittenango Herald'', established in 1831 by Isaac Lyon. It later bore successively the name of the ''Chittenango Republican'', ''Chittenango Phoenix'', and ''Democratic Gazette'', until it was discontinued in 1853.<ref>Smith. p. 675.</ref> In 1869 the ''Madison County Times'' was established and papers were published until 1975, at which time the ''Chittenango-Bridgeport Times'' was formed. This paper ran until 2009 when it merged with other [[Syracuse, New York|Syracuse]] area papers to form the current ''Eagle Newspapers''.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.eaglenewsonline.com/about/ | title=Eagle News Online: About}}</ref>

The Chittenango Pottery Company, largely owing its early success to its location near the Chittenango Landing, was established in 1897. After burning down twice, the present, now abandoned brick structure was erected.  After years of neglect and disrepair, the building was demolished in 2015.<ref>Smith. pp. 619-620.</ref>

The [[Chittenango Pottery]] and [[St. Paul's Church (Chittenango, New York)|St. Paul's Church]] are listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]].<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|2009a}}</ref>