Seneca Falls is a

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

and

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

in Seneca County,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

, United States.United States Census Bureau U.S. Census website (Seneca Falls CDP)
Retrieved May 27, 2015. The population was 6,681 at the 2010 census. The 2020 census population of Seneca Falls CDP was 6,809. The hamlet is in the Town of Seneca Falls, east of

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

. It was an incorporated village from 1831 to 2011. Finger Lakes Regional Airport (0G7) is south of the hamlet. Seneca Falls was the site of the

Seneca Falls Convention The Seneca Falls Convention was the first women's rights convention. Its organizers advertised it as "a convention to discuss the social, civil, and religious condition and rights of woman". Held in the Wesleyan Chapel of the town of Seneca ...

, a foundational event in the

Women's Rights Movement Women's rights are the rights and Entitlement (fair division), entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st c ...

. The town is believed by some to have been the inspiration for the fictional town of "Bedford Falls, N.Y." portrayed in filmmaker

Frank Capra Frank Russell Capra (born Francesco Rosario Capra; May 18, 1897 – September 3, 1991) was an Italian-American film director, producer, and screenwriter who was the creative force behind Frank Capra filmography#Films that won Academy Award ...

's classic 1940s film " It's a Wonderful Life".

History

Early history

The region was in the domain of the

Cayuga tribe The Cayuga ( Cayuga: Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫʼ, "People of the Great Swamp") are one of the five original constituents of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois), a confederacy of Native Americans in New York. The Cayuga homeland lies in the Finger Lakes regio ...

and visited by

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

missionaries in the 17th-century.

American Revolution and aftermath

The Cayuga were allies of the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

and attacked American settlements from the outset of the revolution. The

Sullivan Expedition The 1779 Sullivan Expedition (also known as the Sullivan-Clinton Expedition, the Sullivan Campaign, and the Sullivan-Clinton Campaign) was a United States military campaign under the command of General John Sullivan (general), John Sullivan duri ...

of 1779 was sent to destroy native villages and kill the warriors. After the war, the village and surrounding land became part of the

Central New York Military Tract The Military Tract of Central New York, also called the New Military Tract, consisted of nearly of bounty land set aside in Central New York to compensate New York's soldiers after their participation in the Revolutionary War. Establishment ...

, land reserved for veterans of the war. The north end of Cayuga Lake was set aside as a reservation for returning Cayuga tribal members.

The early village

The first pioneers arrived around 1790. The first settlers chose the area for its easy access to water and close proximity to the Iroquois trail. When the village was first incorporated in 1831, it was named after the series of small falls and rapids on the Seneca River which drains Seneca of the

Finger Lakes The Finger Lakes are a group of eleven long, narrow, roughly north–south lakes located directly south of Lake Ontario in an area called the ''Finger Lakes region'' in New York (state), New York, in the United States. This region straddles th ...

. The river was partially

canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface ...

ized for navigation in 1818, and connected the lakes with the

Erie Canal The Erie Canal is a historic canal in upstate New York that runs east–west between the Hudson River and Lake Erie. Completed in 1825, the canal was the first navigability, navigable waterway connecting the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes, ...

in 1828. The village was re-incorporated in 1837, 1860, and 1896 with new charters. The New York State Barge Canal project in 1915 eliminated what remained of the rapids, canalizing the entire river and building a pair of locks to replace the three smaller locks which had made it possible for boat and barge traffic to pass through the village.

The growth of Seneca Falls through technology

The falls were also the cause of the village's existence, providing

water power Hydropower (from Ancient Greek -, "water"), also known as water power or water energy, is the use of falling or fast-running water to produce electricity or to power machines. This is achieved by converting the gravitational potential or kin ...

for

mills Mills is the plural form of mill, but may also refer to: As a name * Mills (surname), a common family name of English or Gaelic origin * Mills (given name) *Mills, a fictional British secret agent in a trilogy by writer Manning O'Brine Places U ...

distilleries Distillation, also classical distillation, is the process of separating the component substances of a liquid mixture of two or more chemically discrete substances; the separation process is realized by way of the selective boiling of the mixt ...

tanneries Tanning may refer to: *Tanning (leather), treating animal skins to produce leather *Sun tanning, using the sun to darken pale skin **Indoor tanning, the use of artificial light in place of the sun **Sunless tanning, application of a stain or dye t ...

, and other

factories A factory, manufacturing plant or production plant is an industrial facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with machinery, where workers manufacture items or operate machines which process each item into another. Th ...

. By the mid 19th Century, Seneca Falls was the third largest

flour Flour is a powder made by Mill (grinding), grinding raw grains, List of root vegetables, roots, beans, Nut (fruit), nuts, or seeds. Flours are used to make many different foods. Cereal flour, particularly wheat flour, is the main ingredie ...

milling center in the world, after Rochester and Oswego. There is still a small

hydroelectric Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is Electricity generation, electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies 15% of the world's electricity, almost 4,210 TWh in 2023, which is more than all other Renewable energ ...

power generating station in the village. A young man, Birdsall Holly, moved to Seneca Falls from Auburn to work as a mechanic in one of these mills. His son, Birdsall Holly Jr., was entranced by the water power, studying

hydraulic Hydraulics () is a technology and applied science using engineering, chemistry, and other sciences involving the mechanical properties and use of liquids. At a very basic level, hydraulics is the liquid counterpart of pneumatics, which concer ...

s and

mechanic A mechanic is a skilled tradesperson who uses tools to build, maintain, or repair machinery, especially engines. Formerly, the term meant any member of the handicraft trades, but by the early 20th century, it had come to mean one who works w ...

s until he became one of the foremost American

inventor An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea, or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an ...

s. Holly became a partner in the Silsby Company, also called "The Island Works". While working for this company, he obtained his first

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an sufficiency of disclosure, enabling discl ...

, which was for a rotary

water pump A pump is a device that moves fluids (liquids or gases), or sometimes slurries, by mechanical action, typically converted from electrical energy into hydraulic or pneumatic energy. Mechanical pumps serve in a wide range of applications such ...

. He later moved to

Lockport, New York Lockport is both a city and the town that surrounds it in Niagara County, New York, United States. The city is the Niagara county seat, with a population of 21,165 according to 2010 census figures, and an estimated population of 20,305 as of 20 ...

, where he continued inventing, but his work with pumps was continued by Seabury S. Gould Sr. who cast the first all-metal (cast iron) pump and founded

Goulds Pumps ITT Inc., formerly ITT Corporation, is an American worldwide manufacturing company based in Stamford, Connecticut. The company produces specialty components for the aerospace, transportation, energy and industrial markets. ITT's three businesses ...

, a worldwide pump

manufacturer Manufacturing is the creation or Production (economics), production of goods with the help of equipment, Work (human activity), labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of the secondary se ...

, which was the world's largest company dedicated to producing only pumps when it was taken over by ITT Technology in 1997. While working for the Silsby Company, Holly also developed the rotary steam engine. This technology was married to the pump technology and was utilized in making the first successful steam fire engine. The Silsby Company eventually moved to

Elmira, New York Elmira () is a Administrative divisions of New York#City, city in and the county seat of Chemung County, New York, United States. It is the principal city of the Elmira, New York, metropolitan statistical area, which encompasses Chemung County. ...

and became American LaFrance, famous for its fire engines.

Social movements in the village and surrounding area

Seneca Falls played a prominent role in the

. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, one of the organizers of the 1848 Seneca Falls Women's Rights Convention and recognized as "the philosopher and chief publicist of the radical wing of the 19th century women's rights movement", lived in Seneca Falls from 1847 to 1863.

Amelia Bloomer Amelia Jenks Bloomer (May 27, 1818 – December 30, 1894) was an American newspaper editor, women's rights and temperance advocate. Even though she did not create the women's clothing reform style known as bloomers, her name became associa ...

, popularized a dress reform in her newspaper, The Lily, which became known as

bloomers Bloomers, also called the bloomer, the Turkish dress, the American dress, or simply Victorian dress reform, reform dress, are divided women's garments for the lower body. They were developed in the 19th century as a healthful and comfortable a ...

, a design believed to be influenced by native women of the area.

Abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the political movement to end slavery and liberate enslaved individuals around the world. The first country to fully outlaw slavery was Kingdom of France, France in 1315, but it was later used ...

causes against

slavery Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...

were popular in Seneca Falls. In August 1843,

Abby Kelley Abby Kelley Foster (January 15, 1811 – January 14, 1887) was an American abolitionist and radical social reformer active from the 1830s to 1870s. She became a fundraiser, lecturer and committee organizer for the influential American Anti-S ...

, an outspoken abolitionist, came to Seneca Falls and addressed a crowd on the south side of the Seneca River. She confronted the nation and its institutions, including a local Presbyterian Church and its minister, over slavery. Within a year, a member of that church was found guilty of "disorderly and unchristian conduct" after she personally confronted that minister on the issue of slavery. Early women's rights leaders

Elizabeth Cady Stanton Elizabeth Cady Stanton ( Cady; November 12, 1815 – October 26, 1902) was an American writer and activist who was a leader of the women's rights movement in the U.S. during the mid- to late-19th century. She was the main force behind the 1848 ...

, Lucretia Coffin Mott,

Martha Coffin Wright Martha Coffin Wright (December 25, 1806 – January 4, 1875) was an American feminist, abolitionist, and signatory of the Declaration of Sentiments who was a close friend and supporter of Harriet Tubman. Early life Martha Coffin was born in Bos ...

, Mary Ann M'Clintock and Jane Hunt hastily organized the

, the first

women's rights Women's rights are the rights and Entitlement (fair division), entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st c ...

convention, held in 1848 at the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel. A "

Declaration of Sentiments The Declaration of Sentiments, also known as the Declaration of Rights and Sentiments, is a document signed in 1848 by 68 women and 32 men—100 out of some 300 attendees at the first women's rights convention to be organized by women. Held in Se ...

" was adopted, drafted by Stanton, M'Clintock and two adult M'Clintock daughters, which included support for

women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the women's rights, right of women to Suffrage, vote in elections. Several instances occurred in recent centuries where women were selectively given, then stripped of, the right to vote. In Sweden, conditional women's suffra ...

Frederick Douglass Frederick Douglass (born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, February 14, 1818 – February 20, 1895) was an American social reformer, Abolitionism in the United States, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. He was the most impor ...

, a former slave and publisher of a Rochester, New York, abolitionist newspaper, attended the convention. His eloquent support for the women's suffrage resolution was instrumental in its passage. Nearby Waterloo was the planning location for the convention, which is commemorated by the

Women's Rights National Historical Park The Women's Rights National Historical Park is a United States National Historical Park in Seneca Falls and Waterloo, New York, United States. Founded by an act of Congress in 1980, the park was first opened in 1982. It gradually expanded thr ...

in the two villages. In July 1923 the

National Woman's Party The National Woman's Party (NWP) was an American women's political organization formed in 1916 to fight for women's suffrage. After achieving this goal with the 1920 adoption of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, the NWP ...

celebrated the 75th anniversary of the 1848 Seneca Falls convention with a pageant and pilgrimage to Susan B. Anthony’s grave in nearby Rochester, though Anthony did not attend in 1848.

Alice Paul Alice Stokes Paul (January 11, 1885 – July 9, 1977) was an American Quaker, suffragette, suffragist, feminist, and women's rights activist, and one of the foremost leaders and strategists of the campaign for the Nineteenth Amendment to the Unit ...

presented the draft of the

Equal Rights Amendment The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) was a proposed amendment to the Constitution of the United States, United States Constitution that would explicitly prohibit sex discrimination. It is not currently a part of the Constitution, though its Ratifi ...

, referred to as "the Lucretia Mott Amendment", for the delegates’ approval at the general conference held at the First Presbyterian Church in Seneca Falls. The

National Women's Hall of Fame The National Women's Hall of Fame (NWHF) is an American institution founded to honor and recognize women. It was incorporated in 1969 in Seneca Falls, New York, and first inducted honorees in 1973. As of 2024, the Hall has honored 312 inducte ...

was established in Seneca Falls in 1969. It honors American women for their contributions to society. The first woman mayor of Seneca Falls was the village's last mayor. Diana M. Smith, first elected in 2004, was re-elected for a 2nd term in 2008. She would remain the mayor until the village was officially dissolved in 2011.

Dissolution

On March 16, 2010, Seneca Falls village residents voted to dissolve the village effective December 31, 2011. The village began investigating the possibility of dissolution in 2006, commissioning three different studies covering continuity of village services and disposition of village assets and debt. It was postulated that by dissolving the village, the average village property tax payer would save $950 a year. The final vote was 1,198 in favor, 1,112 opposed, and five blank ballots. It is, to date, the largest New York village ever to approve dissolution.

Geography

Seneca Falls is located at (42.908713, -76.797986). According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the hamlet has a total area of 4.6 square miles (11.9 km²), of which 4.4 square miles (11.5 km²) is land and 0.2 square mile (0.4 km²) (3.28%) is water. Seneca Falls is intersected by conjoined U.S. Route 20 and New York State Route 5 (NY 5). NY 414 intersects both routes in the hamlet. The Seneca River/ Cayuga-Seneca Canal bisects the hamlet.

Demographics

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2010, there were 6,681 people, 2,913 households, and 1,732 families residing in what was then a village. The population density was . The racial makeup of the village was 95.1%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 1.2%

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.4% Native American, 1.6% Asian, 0.0%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 0.4% from other races, and 1.3% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 1.7% of the population. There were 2,913 households, out of which 24.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 42.7% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 11.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 40.5% were non-families. 32.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 13.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.27 and the average family size was 2.85. In the village, the population was spread out, with 22.8% under the age of 20, 7.1% from 20 to 24, 25.6% from 25 to 44, 28.0% from 45 to 64, and 16.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 41.0 years. For every 100 females, there were 95.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.8 males. The median income for a household in the village was $43,947, and the median income for a family was $60,101. Males had a median income of $51,484 versus $36,385 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the village was $24,534. About 11.0% of families and 15.4% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 15.3% of those under age 18 and 7.6% of those age 65 or over.

Housing

There were 3,131 housing units at an average density of . 7.0% of housing units were vacant. There were 2,913 occupied housing units in the village. 1,840 were owner-occupied units (63.2%), while 1,073 were renter-occupied (36.8%). The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.4% of total units. The rental unit vacancy rate was 6.7%.

Notable people

, suffragist *

Matilda Joslyn Gage Matilda Joslyn Gage ( Joslyn; March 24, 1826 – March 18, 1898) was an American writer and activist. She is mainly known for her contributions to women's suffrage in the United States, but also campaigned for Native American rights, aboli ...

, suffragist * George Dashiell Bayard, Union Army Brigadier General *

Ira Sprague Bowen Ira Sprague Bowen (December 21, 1898 – February 6, 1973) was an American physicist and astronomer. In 1927 he discovered that nebulium was not really a chemical element but instead doubly ionized oxygen. Life and work Bowen was born in Sen ...

, astronomer * Frederick S. Armitage, cinema pioneer * Jacob P. Chamberlain, former US Congressman *

Dave Giusti David John Giusti, Jr. (born November 27, 1939) is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a right-handed pitcher from 1962 to 1977, most notably as a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates teams that won ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

pitcher * Norman J. Gould, former US Congressman * William A. Sackett, former US Congressman * Michael Nozzolio, former New York State Senator *

Judith Pipher Judith Lynn Pipher (, June 18, 1940 – February 21, 2022) was a Canadian-born American astrophysicist and observational astronomer. She was Professor Emerita of Astronomy at the University of Rochester and directed the C. E. K. Mees Observato ...

, astrophysicist * Bob Valesente, college and pro football coach *

Susan B Anthony Susan B. Anthony (born Susan Anthony; February 15, 1820 – March 13, 1906) was an American social reformer and women's rights activist who played a pivotal role in the women's suffrage movement. Born into a Quaker family committed to so ...

, woman's rights activists

References

External links

Town of Seneca Falls

New York State Heritage Areas

Seneca Falls Fire Department
{{DEFAULTSORT:Seneca Falls (Hamlet), New York New York State Heritage Areas Former villages in New York (state) Populated places established in the 1780s Hamlets in Seneca County, New York Census-designated places in New York (state) Seneca Falls, New York Populated places disestablished in 2011 1831 establishments in New York (state)