The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
A history of education and recreation
The village of Hamilton has been home to the arts, entertainment and education for 200years.
HAMILTON, N.Y. >> For more than 200 years, the village of Hamilton has been home to the arts, entertainment, education and a vibrant sense of community.
According to Hamiltonny.gov, in 1816, the village obtained a charter to incorporate and the people change the name to Hamilton, in honor of Alexander Hamilton.
Samuel Payne and his wife, among the first settlers, donated their land to the Baptist Theological Society, which became Madison University and later Colgate University.
The Erie Canal was opened in 1825, with the Chenango Canal connecting the Erie from Utica and Binghamton in 1836. Its route passed through the village.
In 1895, a fire started which laid the whole business portion of the village in ashes. “Shanty town” sprang up as temporary buildings around the park. By that October, almost all the businesses had been rebuilt or were under construction.
Stagecoache s , t he Chenango canal, and now the Ontario and Western Railway were some of the means of transportation for local citizens.
Today, many consider the village of Hamilton to be a tiny city, according to www.thisishamiltonny.com. It owns and operates its ownmunicipal electric utility, village-owned gas utility, police and fire departments, as well as a municipal airport with a 5,300 foot runway and an adjacent industrial park zoned for light industry, service and professional office buildings. The village is also served by SOMAC, a volunteer ambulance service and Community Memorial Hospital.
A vibrant and quaint downtown area surrounds the Village Green with casual dining restaurants, cafes, specialty shops, movie theater, performing arts center, a natural health food store, Madison County’s first micro-brewery, a yoga/pilates studio, the historic Colgate Inn and the Colgate University Bookstore. Recreation abounds in the area including approximately nine miles of village-maintained trails along the former Ontario and Western Railroad right-of-way and the original Chenango Canal towpath. The village also supports Seven Oaks Golf Course, an award-winning Robert Trent Jones course, hiking trails, waterways and breathtaking cycling and running routes.
Hamilton radiates a vibrancy that represents the local sense of pride and place, and welcomes all our visitors, residents and neighbors.