Solvay is a

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

located in the town of Geddes,

Onondaga County Onondaga County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 476,516. The county seat is Syracuse. The county is part of the Central New York region of the state. Onondaga County is the core of the ...

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, and a

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...

of the city of

Syracuse Syracuse most commonly refers to: * Syracuse, Sicily, Italy; in the province of Syracuse * Syracuse, New York, USA; in the Syracuse metropolitan area Syracuse may also refer to: Places * Syracuse railway station (disambiguation) Italy * Provi ...

. As of the 2020 census, the population was 6,645. The village is named after the Solvay brothers, Belgian inventors of the chemical process employed by the

Solvay Process Company The Solvay Process Company was an American chemical manufacturer that specialized in the manufacture of soda ash. A major employer in Central New York, the company was key in the origin of the village of Solvay, New York, where it was headquarter ...

, formerly the major industry of the village.

History

The area was within the former

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 ...

, but Solvay was in a location reserved for members of the

Onondaga tribe The Onondaga people (Onontaerrhonon, Onondaga: , "People of the Hills") are one of the five original nations of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy in the Northeastern Woodlands. Their historical homelands are in and around present-day Onon ...

. The village was initially founded in 1794 by James Geddes and was initially called "Geddesburgh." The first residents were mostly Irish, subsequently joined by Tyroleans and

Poles Pole or poles may refer to: People *Poles (people), another term for Polish people, from the country of Poland * Pole (surname), including a list of people with the name * Pole (musician) (Stefan Betke, born 1967), German electronic music artist ...

. Eventually the community became known for its population largely

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

in extraction. It still retains a large segment (about 35% in 2005) of population of Italian descent. More recently many families of Ukrainian descent have settled in the village. The village was renamed "Solvay" after 1884, when the Solvay Process Company built a

Solvay process The Solvay process or ammonia–soda process is the major industrial process for the production of sodium carbonate (soda ash, Na2CO3). The ammonia–soda process was developed into its modern form by the Belgian chemist Ernest Solvay during the ...

plant to produce

soda ash Sodium carbonate (also known as washing soda, soda ash, sal soda, and soda crystals) is the inorganic compound with the formula and its various hydrates. All forms are white, odourless, water-soluble salts that yield alkaline solutions in water ...

. The Village of Solvay was incorporated in 1895. Other major businesses of Solvay include the Frazer & Jones Company (Division of the Eastern Company), a foundry; Crucible Steel, producer of specialty steels; Iroquois China Company (Solvay China); Pass & Seymour, producing electrical wiring devices. The Solvay Process plant, by then owned by

Allied Chemical and Dye Corporation An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or sovereign state, states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not an explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an a ...

, closed in 1985. The community has remained stable despite this loss. Reflecting paternalistic programs of the Solvay Process Company and the Hazard family, the first village and school library was in Guild Hall. Then Solvay received a Carnegie library in 1902. James A. Randall of Syracuse was the architect (1902–05). The building was constructed with Hazard support. Since the Hazards' time, the village has provided superior services, as envisioned by the family. Solvay has its own municipal electric company which provides service to the village at one of the least expensive rates in the nation. A typical three bedroom home in the village which is completely electric (meaning no natural gas service) sees an average bill of around $225 per month in the winter and $160 in the summer (2009). The

Solvay Public Library The Solvay Public Library is a historic Carnegie library building located at Solvay in Onondaga County, New York. It was built between 1903 and 1905, and is a one-story, buff-colored brick building on a high basement. It has a hipped roof and ...

was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 2007.

Geography

Solvay is located at (43.057316, -76.214649), immediately west of

and south of the

New York State Fairgrounds The Empire Expo Center (also known as the New York State Fairgrounds) is an exhibition ground located in Geddes, a suburb of Syracuse, New York. It features eight exhibition halls and of ground space, which are used year-round for exhibitions and ...

(far westside). Its eastern boundary is shared with Syracuse. The village is south of the east end of

Onondaga Lake Onondaga Lake is located in Central New York, immediately northwest of and adjacent to Syracuse, New York. The southeastern end of the lake and the southwestern shore are industrial areas and expressways; the northeastern shore and northwestern ...

and is also south of

Interstate 690 Interstate 690 (I-690) is an auxiliary Interstate Highway that extends for through the vicinity of Syracuse, New York, in the United States. It is a spur of I-90 (here part of the New York State Thruway) that travels southeast from Thruwa ...

. 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, ...

passes through the village. 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 village has a total area of , all land.

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 2000, there were 6,844 people, 3,030 households, and 1,766 families residing in the village. The population density was . There were 3,291 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the village was 95.81%

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 ...

, 0.67%

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 ...

, 1.02% Native American, 0.39% Asian, 0.06%

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 ...

, 0.29% from other races, and 1.75% 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 2.37% of the population. There were 3,030 households, out of which 26.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 39.4% 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, 14.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 41.7% were non-families. 35.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 16.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.26 and the average family size was 2.94. In the village, the population was spread out, with 23.3% under the age of 18, 8.5% from 18 to 24, 27.7% from 25 to 44, 20.6% from 45 to 64, and 20.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females, there were 85.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 82.5 males. The median income for a household in the village was $34,084, and the median income for a family was $40,057. Males had a median income of $34,045 versus $23,822 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 $19,441. About 10.6% of families and 12.0% 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 20.2% of those under age 18 and 7.3% of those age 65 or over.

Education

The school district is

Solvay Union Free School District Solvay may refer to: Companies and organizations * Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management, Brussels, Belgium * Solvay Institute of Sociology, Brussels, Belgium, part of the Université Libre de Bruxelles * Solvay Process Company (188 ...

.
Text list
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References

* Rivette, Judith Lamanna. ''Solvay Stories'', 2003, and ''Solvay Stories II'', 2004. * ''Onondaga Landmarks: A Survey of Historic and Architectural Sites in Syracuse and Onondaga County'', 1975. * Darlington, James W. "Solvay." ''Encyclopedia of New York State''. Syracuse University Press, 2005.

External links

Village of Solvay official website

Solvay Public Library

Solvay statistics, 2000 Census

Solvay-Geddes Historical Society
{{authority control Villages in New York (state) Syracuse metropolitan area Villages in Onondaga County, New York Ukrainian communities in the United States