EARLY CORTLAND RAILROAD HISTORY

 

Cortland Evening Standard, Tuesday, December 1, 1896.

SOME EARLY HISTORY

Connected with the Opening of Railroads to Cortland

   A very serious question has recently been raised between friends in Homer as to the time of the opening of the old New York and Oswego Midland R. R. from Cortland to Utica. One declared that it was in 1872, and the other claimed that it was not until 1874. The discussion waxed warm and other friends were called upon to settle it, but their memories were defective and they also differed widely in their recollections. Our files have been consulted by different parties and the question was settled. As it appeared that so few could remember when the road was actually put in active operation and as it may be a matter of interest to others, we quote from our file of June 11, in 1872:

   Trains commenced running over the Midland from this place to Utica on Wednesday last. (June 5, 1872.) Passengers can leave Cortland on the 6:25 A. M. train and reach Utica without change of cars at 10 A. M.

   It will be borne in mind that the Midland road then extended from Cortland to DeRuyter and from DeRuyter to Norwich, where it connected with the main line to Utica; also that the Midland road and the Ithaca and Cortland road were separate organizations, built separately by separate companies.

   Inquiry has been made of Mr. H. P. Goodrich who was for nearly seven years a director and superintendent of the Ithaca and Cortland road, and that gentleman said that the road was built from the Ithaca end toward Cortland and that trains were run from Ithaca as far as the rails were laid toward Cortland and that a stage transfer came the rest of the way.

   From our files again we find that the road was put in active operation from Ithaca to McLean on Sept. 14, 1871, and that the people of McLean on that day had a celebration over the event. Again we find that on Oct. 7, 1871, the stockholders of the Ithaca and Elmira road met at Breesport and voted to consolidate with the Ithaca and Cortland road, the two to form the Utica, Ithaca & Elmira road. The stockholders of the Ithaca and Cortland road had a few days before passed a similar vote to consolidate.

   On Oct. 16, 1871, the directors of the Ithaca and Cortland road decided upon the route of approach to Cortland and ratified a line proposed by the engineers from the Chatterton farm to Maln-st., "terminating on the property of D. Crawford just south of Dr. F. O. Hyatt’s residence.”

   On Dec. 5 the file tells us that the Ithaca and Cortland road was running trains as far as the marl ponds and selling coal there at $6.25 per ton, or delivered in the corporation by teams 40 cents cheaper than that brought over the Syracuse and Binghamton road.

   On Jan. 9, 1872, it appears from the file that the track of the Ithaca and Cortland road was that day laid as far as the Tompkins-st. crossing, and that the rails on the Midland road from the east were laid and trains were running from Norwich as far toward Cortland as across the farm of A. D. Blodgett to the river and that the next day the work of laying the stringers across the bridge was to begin.

   On Tuesday, Jan. 23, 1872, our files state that the Ithaca and Cortland road was running its trains as far as Owego-st. Arrangements were about completed to obtain the residence of Mrs. F. W. Freeman for a temporary station, and that trains were expected to run through from Ithaca to Main-st. by the end of that week, and the paper of the following week says that that work was accomplished.

   At the same time that the Midland company was completing its road to Cortland it built a line from Freeville to Scipio, and Mr. Goodrich informs us that this railroad made a contract with the Ithaca and Cortland road to haul its trains from its terminus in Cortland to Freeville, where they were switched upon its other division to go to Scipio. This division has since been abandoned.

   So that, to summarize, we may say that the railroad from Utica to Cortland was opened to Cortland June 5, 1872, and the road from Ithaca to Cortland was opened to Main-st. in Cortland, on Jan. 27, 1872. It may also be remembered that a few years later the portion of the Midland division from DeRuyter to Norwich was abandoned, when the road was built from DeRuyter to Cazenovia to connect with the Cazenovia and Canastota railroad, which last mentioned road was also built in 1872. Trains after that ran as they do now from Cortland to Canastota instead of from Cortland to Norwich and then on to Utica.

   It may also be added to complete Cortland's railroad history that the Syracuse and Binghamton railroad was formally opened on Oct. 15, 1854. We wish we could give the exact date of the opening of the Erie & Central New York R. R. from Cortland to Cincinnatus, and also of its projected extension to Deposit on the Erie road, and to Hancock, thirteen miles further, which is on both the Erie and the Ontario & Western roads, but unfortunately that is a matter which only the future can make plain.

Marathon Independent, Tuesday, June 4, 1872

ITEMS FROM CORTLAND.

   The laying of track of the Truxton & Cortland branch of the Midland R. R. is progressing favorably, and is now being pushed from Port Watson street across the D. L. & W. R. R. and thence over the lands of Wm. R. Randall to south Main street, where it connects with the Cortland-Ithaca line, and in the course of next week it is confidently expected the connection will be made, and then a through line will be opened east and west through Cortland, and on and after June 15, the trains for Truxton, DeRuyter and other towns on the route will be carried by this line.

   The Messenger House has been thoroughly renovated, a beautiful new carpet on the parlor, new mattings on the halls, and all put in apple pie order for the guests of the Summer.

Marathon Independent, Tuesday, June 11, 1872.

ITEMS FROM CORTLAND.

   The Western branch of the New York and Oswego Midland  Railroad was opened to this place on Wednesday last, by the arrival of the first regular passenger train from  Norwich and Utica, at noon of that day, with a full load of passengers from the various stations along that line—Truxton and DeRuyter furnishing their full share. Two regular passenger trains are to arrive and depart daily, and a close connection is to be made with the trains for Ithaca and the west, and Cortland is already showing increased activity by reason of the opening of these converging lines. And right here we are reminded that these operations are to be duplicated, by the opening, at an early day, cantering to this point. And now all that is wanted to change Cortland from a thriving country town to a bustling city is for her people to fairly wake up to a realizing sense of the advantages they possess, and put forth a reasonable, united and liberal effort to advance very interest that tends to increase her population and enlarge her commercial transactions.
 

Editor's note:
   Wallace Kelley was editor of the Marathon Independent. 
   Here is a link to an earlier post on the Cortland-Cincinnatus branch of the Erie & Central R. R.: http://jeffpaine.blogspot.com/2012/07/cortland-cincinnatus-branch-erie-and.html
and a link to another post, Railroad Beginnings in Cortland County: http://jeffpaine.blogspot.com/2013/01/railroad-beginnings-in-cortland-county.html