Jump to content
Main menu
Main menu
move to sidebar
hide
Navigation
Main page
Recent changes
Random page
Help about MediaWiki
Special pages
Niidae Wiki
Search
Search
Appearance
Create account
Log in
Personal tools
Create account
Log in
Pages for logged out editors
learn more
Contributions
Talk
Editing
Fredonia, New York
(section)
Page
Discussion
English
Read
Edit
View history
Tools
Tools
move to sidebar
hide
Actions
Read
Edit
View history
General
What links here
Related changes
Page information
Appearance
move to sidebar
hide
Warning:
You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you
log in
or
create an account
, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
Anti-spam check. Do
not
fill this in!
==History== The village that is now Fredonia was most likely first occupied by early [[Mound Builders]], then the [[Erie people]] (13th to 17th centuries), then the [[Iroquois]] (specifically, the [[Seneca people|Seneca]]).<ref name="Daniel D. 1997, p. 26">Daniel D., ''Architecture in Fredonia, New York, 1811-1997'', p. 26, [[White Pine Press]] (1997) ({{ISBN|1-877727-86-5}})</ref> In 1791, [[Robert Morris (financier)|Robert Morris]] purchased the Fredonia land from [[Massachusetts]] and sold it to the [[Holland Land Company]].<ref name="Daniel D. 1997, p. 26"/> Parcels were sold to pioneers around 1800, and the first settlers came around 1803 or 1804.<ref name="Daniel D. 1997, p. 26"/> Among the first settlers included [[Zattu Cushing]], the county's first judge, and [[David Eason]], the county's first sheriff. In 1821,<ref>https://www.nationalfuel.com/fr/seneca-resources-company/the-history-of-seneca-resources/</ref> William Hart dug the first well specifically to produce [[natural gas]] in the United States on the banks of [[Canadaway Creek]] in Fredonia. It was {{convert|27|ft}} deep, excavated with shovels by hand, and its [[gas pipeline]] was hollowed out logs sealed with tar and rags.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/energy_in_brief/print_pages/natural_gas_production.pdf|title=Home - Energy Explained, Your Guide To Understanding Energy - Energy Information Administration|website=tonto.eia.doe.gov|access-date=April 17, 2018|archive-date=June 1, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090601064318/http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/energy_in_brief/print_pages/natural_gas_production.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> It supplied enough natural gas for lights in two stores, two shops and a [[gristmill]] (currently the village's fire station) by 1825. Expanding on Hart's work, the [[Fredonia Gas Light Company]] was formed in 1858, becoming the first American natural gas company. A stone monument in downtown Fredonia marks the site of the first gas well. The village of Fredonia was incorporated in 1829. The area's original name was '''Canadaway''' (from the Indian word ''Ganadawao'', meaning "among the [[Tsuga|hemlock]]s"). The name "Fredonia" was coined by [[Samuel Latham Mitchill]], coupling the English word "freedom" with a Latin ending. Mitchill proposed it as a replacement name for the United States. It failed in that regard, but became the name of many towns and cities.<ref>[[George R. Stewart]]. ''Names on the Land''. Houghton Mifflin Company: Boston (1967)</ref> Established within 20 years of the founding of Fredonia, the [[Fredonia Academy]] was the first higher educational institution in Chautauqua County. It was started in 1824 and opened in 1826. The academy became a [[State Normal School]] in 1866. On August 8, 1867, the cornerstone of the Fredonia Normal School was laid on a site where the Old Main building stands today. The Normal School used the academy's building, which stood on the site of the present [[village hall]], until the Old Normal was completed in 1868. The Fredonia Normal School is now One Temple Square and Association, a 91-unit, NY HUD housing project for the disabled and the elderly that was started by Henry F. Sysol Jr. in the late 1970s. Thereafter the academy building was used for some time as fire department headquarters. Today the building houses the village offices and includes the 1891 [[Fredonia Opera House]], a former [[vaudeville]] theater that fell into disrepair in the 1970s while being operated as a movie house. The theater underwent a complete nine-year restoration in the 1980s by the Fredonia Preservation Society and a cadre of volunteers. It now serves as a year-round performing arts center. In 1930 under the director of the Normal School, [[Hermann Cooper]], {{convert|58|acre|m2}} of land west of Central Avenue were bought with the dream that one day it would become a campus. The construction of a music building took place in 1939, and in 1942 the [[Feinberg Law]] converted the Normal School into a [[school of education|teachers college]]. In 1948 the college became a vital part of the new [[State University of New York]] (SUNY) system. In the mid-19th century Fredonia became the home of the first dues-paying [[The National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry|Grange]]. The United States' first Grange Hall was erected in Fredonia in 1868, and the original building (Grange Hall #1) still stands on Main Street. Fredonia was also host to the first meeting of the [[Woman's Christian Temperance Union]], which was held at the Fredonia Baptist Church in 1873.<ref name=wittenmyer>{{cite book|last1=Wittenmyer|first1=Annie|title=History of the Woman's Temperance Crusade|date=1882|publisher=James H. Earle|location=Boston, MA|page=507|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofwomanst00witt|access-date=July 15, 2015}}</ref> ===Italian Immigration=== Beginning in the late 1880s, Fredonia began seeing a large number of Sicilian immigrants from [[Valledolmo|Valledolmo, Sicily]]. Subsequent the [[Italian unification|unification of the Kingdom of Italy]] many immigrants moved to the lush grape growing region to have a better life and seeking the ability to purchase land their ancestors were denied for centuries by the despotic Bourbon Kings of Sicily. You can still see the impact these immigrants made in growth of the town. Most predominantly, Saint Anthony of Padua Roman Catholic Church, originally San Antonio's, named after the patron saint of Valledolmo, Italy. You can also see the strong Italian influence in the arts, music and culinary traditions which remain similar to foods and traditions back in Italy. During the [[Olympic torch]]'s trip in the [[1996 Summer Olympics|1996 Atlanta Summer Games]], sixth-grade teacher Kate Leary from Fredonia Middle School carried the torch as it went through the town on [[U.S. Route 20]]. The Fredonia State campus was the location of training camps for two major professional sports teams: the [[Buffalo Bills]] of the [[NFL]], and the [[Buffalo Braves]] of the [[NBA]]. The Braves relocated to [[San Diego]] (as the renamed [[Los Angeles Clippers#1978β1984: San Diego Clippers|San Diego Clippers]]) in 1978, and the Bills moved their training camp in 2000 to [[St. John Fisher College]] near [[Rochester, New York]]. [[Samuel L. Clemens]], better known as [[Mark Twain]], had connections to Fredonia, via relatives. The [[Fredonia Commons Historic District]] was listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]] in 1978.<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|2009a}}</ref> The [[United States Post Office (Fredonia, New York)|U.S. Post Office]] was listed in 1988.<ref name="nris"/> On January 28, 2020, Fredonia was named the winner of the 2020 Small Business Revolution reality show, which aired on Hulu and Amazon Prime. The show began filming in March 2020 just before the COVID-19 pandemic was declared.
Summary:
Please note that all contributions to Niidae Wiki may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here.
You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see
Encyclopedia:Copyrights
for details).
Do not submit copyrighted work without permission!
Cancel
Editing help
(opens in new window)
Search
Search
Editing
Fredonia, New York
(section)
Add topic