Delhi, Delaware county, New York
Delhi is a town in Delaware County, New York, United States. The population was 5,117 at the 2010 census.
The town is in the east-central part of the county and contains the village of Delhi, New York.
The town is named after the city of Delhi, the capital territory of India. The name was in honor of founder Ebenezer Foote, who was known as "The Great Mogul". Another founder, Erastus Root, a rival of Foote, is responsible for the pronunciation. Root preferred the name "Mapleton". When he learned the town was to be named Delhi, he exclaimed, "Delhi, Hell-high! Might as well call it Foote-high."
The town is the setting for the classic 1959 novel My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George. The State University of New York at Delhi is located in the town.
Contents
History
Delhi was formed from the towns of Kortright, Middletown, and Walton, March 23, 1798. It was named after Delhi in India.<ref></ref>
"Named through the influence of Judge Ebenezer Foote. The name 'Mapleton' was suggested by several prominent citizens," Gazetteer of Delaware County, New York, J.H. French, 1859
Delhi—was formed from Middletown, Kortright, and Walton, March 23, 1798. A part of Bovina was taken off in 1820, and a part of Hamden in 1825... It occupies a nearly central position in the co. Its surface is a hilly upland, broken by the deep valleys of the streams. The w. branch of hte Delaware flows s. w. through the center of the town, receiving from the n. w. Platners, Peeks, Steels and Elk Creeks, and from the s. e. Little Delaware River. The valleys are generally narrow and bordered by steep hills. The soil is a clay loam, and the surface is very stony in places. Delhi, the county seat, if finely situated on the n. bank of the w. branch of the Delaware. It was incorp. March 16, 1821. Besides the co. buildings, it contains the Delhi Academy, 4 churches, a bank, 2 printing offices, a woolen factory, an iron foundry, a gristmill and a sawmill. Pop. 919. The first religious meetings were commenced by Abel and John Kidder in 1785. The first church (Cong.) was formed in 1798.
Jay Gould, "How it was Named Delhi,” History of Delaware County, 1856, p. 449
Judge Foote, who was in the Legislature of 1796–97 from Ulster county, was instrumental in the formation of Delaware county, and was much interested, with many others, in the location of its county seat. The judge was appointed, from his earnest support of the formation of the new county, to give a name to the town so soon to be brought forth, and the clique with which he boarded and was intimate requested him to allow them to suggest a name; he consented. His nick-name was “The Great Mogul,” and they, knowing he was to reside here, suggested the name of Delhi, that being the city of the Mogul, and he, agreeable to his promise, so named it. This is the proper account, and will explain why so singular a name appears among the many that followed naturally. A former history of this county gives a ludicrous scene that occurred among other warm friends of the new county, who wished the name to be “Mapleton.” General Erastus Root, who was an impulsive gentleman, and leader of those who insisted upon the latter name, when told that the name should be Delhi, said: “Del-hi—hell-hi! Better call it Foote high!” The name was thus given, and the town formed took rank among sister towns in the general work of the new county.
Geography
The town is in the center of Delaware County. According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of Template:Convert, of which Template:Convert is land and Template:Convert, or 0.62%, is water.<ref name="Census 2010">Template:Cite web</ref> The West Branch Delaware River flows through the center of the town. The Little Delaware River enters the West Branch from the east, just south of Delhi village.
There were 1,493 households out of which 26.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 50.2% were married couples living together, 8.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 37.8% were non-families. 30.0% of all households were made up of individuals and 13.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.29 and the average family size was 2.84.
In the town, the population was spread out with 16.0% under the age of 18, 27.5% from 18 to 24, 18.0% from 25 to 44, 20.6% from 45 to 64, and 17.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females, there were 100.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 98.3 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $35,861, and the median income for a family was $48,125. Males had a median income of $31,136 versus $25,542 for females. The per capita income for the town was $16,842. About 5.9% of families and 9.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 13.1% of those under age 18 and 5.9% of those age 65 or over.
Communities and locations in the Town of Delhi
- Delhi – a village in the center of the town
- East Delhi – a hamlet northeast of Delhi village. The Christian Church and Fitches Covered Bridge are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
- Fraser – a hamlet southwest of Delhi village on New York State Route 10
- West Delhi – a hamlet west of Delhi village.
Landmarks
- Delaware County Courthouse
- Gideon Frisbee House, where Delaware County was formed in 1797, now the site of the Delaware County Historical Association
- Soldiers Monument, erected to honor Civil War veterans, on the Courthouse Square
- Delhi Village Hall, formerly the Delaware County Courthouse, where trials were held during the Anti-Rent War
- Fitches Covered Bridge, built in 1870
- The Judge Gideon Frisbee House, Murray Hill, and Sherwood Family Estate are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.<ref name="nris"/>
Delhi, New York, and the Naming of Delhi
A place’s name is not the place itself, but it can be a snapshot of its history, if it’s old enough to have one — and I’m not unaware of how peculiarly American it must seem to others, to have “places” too young to have a history.
The standard local history of my hometown maintains that after a church was burnt down by a carpenter who wasn’t paid for his work, the town fathers were so embarrassed that they renamed the place in honor of a War of 1812 naval hero. The hero’s subsequent career didn’t add much to the village’s luster, but the name remains, pinning the town to the early 19th century. Around it is a welter of places named for home by the ex-New Englanders who settled the region: Sherburne, Mt. Upton, Afton, Coventry and places with names borrowed from a vague understanding of Indian languages, like Otsego, Otego, Otsdawa, Chenango and Susquehanna.
When the interior of New York opened up after the Revolution, the state parceled out names as fast as Adam must have and the tracts given as pay to Continental Army soldiers drew a library of names from classical literature, then very much in fashion: Syracuse, Manilius (now Manlius), Clay, Cicero, Pompey, Apulia and many more. D.G. Rossiter of Ithaca posits that the names came from John Dryden's translation of Plutarch's "Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans." Whatever -- The stately architecture of the region’s oldest buildings echoes the theme.
Among my favorite origin stories, though, is that of Delhi, a county seat in the northern Catskills: When the time came to give the narrow valley and the township around it a name in 1802, politicians thought to honor Judge Ebenezer Foote, a landowner and state senator known as “the great mogul” to his buddies — for wealth, but also because he was short and fat. They offered “Delhi,” it being the Indian potentate’s home.
Proponents of “Mapleton” grouched about the choice, and Erastus Root, a fellow politican who eventually became lieutenant governor (he was buried in Delhi for a while), quipped: “Dell-high, hell-high — better call it Foote-high!”
The maple lovers got Maple Grove on the East branch of the Delaware River, but Delhi became the county seat — graced by a lovely, warm-brick French Empire courthouse and the ample homes of well-to-do 19th-century lawyers — while Maple Grove remains only in the bitter memories of onetime residents; it was lost under the Pepacton reservoir.
Now, you should take origin stories with a grain of salt. They’re no more provable than Homer’s (another Upstate New York placename) tale of the Trojan Horse, but they’re just as important to the town’s identity, and you question them at your peril.
"P." http://www.placeblogging.com/place_names retrieved 6 Feb, 2011.
New York, a guide to the Empire state. American guide series, US History Publishers, 1949
Delhi, (1,370 alt., 1,840 pop.) home of a State School of Agriculture, is a neat, modern town. Shortly after the Revolutionary War Ebenezer Foote was so influential locally and as a member of the State legislature that he was nicknamed 'the Great Mogul.' At the suggestions of facetious citizens the community was named after Delhi, India, the capital city of the real Great Mogul. At Delhi is the junction with State 10, which follows the valley of the West Branch of the Delaware, locally known as Cat Hollow since 1843. At that time there was a lumber camp operating in the valley that was dominated by an Amazon of a cook. Not only did she knock out the bully who killed her cat but further punished the whole crew by serving the pet in a surprise meat pie.
"Reminiscences of Delhi Forty Years Ago, Professor Milton S. Terry, D.D.," Delaware Gazette, Delhi, New York, 4 September, 1907, p.1.
Editor Republican:
Sir:—I doubt not it will interest you and many of your readers to recall with me some of the persons and events of Delhi of forty years ago.
Your honored father, along with Mr. Sturtevant, then conducted the paper and I may be pardoned for now telling you that it was in the Delaware Republican of 1864 and 1865, that I first "saw myself in print."
DELHI AND VICINITY ILLUSTRATED. CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR. The village of Delhi is situated in the heart of Delaware county, being the terminal of the Delhi branch of the New York, Ontario & Western railway. The elevation above the sea on the main street in the village is 1,453 feet. The population is about 2,000. It is located in a deep valley protected by a high range of mountains, spurs of the Blue Mountain range, on each side. The distance to Walton, where the branch unites with the main line of the railway is seventeen miles; the distance to New York is 196 miles; to Albany, via the N.Y., O.&W. And the D.&H. Railroads, is 142 miles; to Binghamton, via D.&H., 77 miles. The Delaware river, commonly known as the West Branch, flows nearly west through the valley at this point separating the mountain range on the south from the village. Upon the foot or slope of these mountains are the sites of beautiful villas, some of them the homes of families of men who have acquired a competence in active business life. One of the finest of these residences and grounds is that of E. B. Sheldon, well known as a prosperous Chicago business man. Across the valley are rich hillside farms stretching over the summit of mountains, and below with a perspective that delights the eye are numerous elevated sites for pretty homes. Towering on the south of the river, overlooking the main part of the village, is Mount Crawford, with a forest clad summit which presents to the eye a nearly perfect dome. Federal Hill stands to the east presenting a view up the river which is grand. Two miles above, Elk Creek empties into the Delaware, the two streams coming down separate valleys which unite at the base of a bold and lofty mountain from the summit of which the view down the valley is remarkably str(illegible). Opposite the village on the north rises what is locally termed Youmans' Hill, a succession of rolling summits which shut off from the cast a narrow valley through which Steele's Brook flows to a junction with the Delaware in the western end of the village. Farther below, the mountains close in upon the river, terminating with a lofty barrier which presents a gracefully curved sky line-the summit of Mount McGregor. One mile below the village the Little Delaware empties into its more pretentious namesake. Near this point in the valley is the home of Mrs. John Sherwood, the well known authoress. The scenery in summer has a setting of dark green foliage wherever the eye turns. It presents all of the richness and none of the harsh lines of the virgin forests. In fold after fold this beautiful curtain drops on all sides, broken here and there with light green patches of lawn dotted with pretty specimens of modern architecture. The railroad winding along the river enters the west end of the village. There it stops, not venturing farther intrusion where nature sits enthroned in all its rural loveliness. The village stretches along the Delaware for nearly a mile. A broad evenly graded avenue guarded by majestic trees constitutes the business street of the village, intersected with numerous streets laid out at right angles. The average dwelling is of the better class of houses, surrounded with a pretty lawn and an abundance of shade and having an am(illegible) garden plat. The soil is fertile and (illegible) in fair seasons are abundant. Delhi is the (illegible) of a class of people in good circumstances. Many of the families trace their ancestry to the early settlers of the county and village. There are several churches, an academy in which the scholars may prepare for college and a public school. A reservoir of clear spring water furnishes an inexhaustible supply distributed by gravity. The waterworks include modern conveniences and are owned by the village. There are two staunch and conservative banking institution, which do a large business and are really indispensable. Three weekly newspapers with an extended circulation among the farmers and the residents of the several villages throughout the county are conducted by able and intelligent editors. A large condensary furnishes the extended dairy farms a market for from twenty to thirty thousand quarts of milk a day, which is shipped to New York. The Crawford wagon works furnishes employment to numerous mechanics and supplies the market with all styles of vehicles with a special manufacture of running gear which has proven to be very popular with horsemen. Then there is a woolen mill, a tannery, saw mills and feed mills. The stores are well stocked with all classes of goods and the retail business of the town is quite extensive, a few neighboring villages contributing not a small portion of the customers. The first Board of Supervisors was as follows: Colchester, William Harper; Franklin, Enos Parker; Harpersfield, Roswell Hotchkiss; Kortright, Benajah Beardsley; Middletown, Benjamin Milk; Stamford, John Lamb; Walton, Robert North. Village Officers. PRESIDENT-HENRY S. GRAHAM; TRUSTEES-JAMES E. HARPER, CHARLES E. KIFF, JOHN D. FERGUSON, W. BLAIR WOODRUFF; CLERK-J. C. STODDART; TREASURER-S. FORMAN ADEE; COLLECTOR-ARTHUR G. FRISBEE; STREET COMMISSIONER-N. EVERY; FIRE WARDENS-JOHN BLAKE, (ILLEGIBLE) E. STOUTENBURG; JANITOR-J(ILLEGIBLE) (ILLEGIBLE)LAKE; STREET SPRINKLER-R. H. NEAL. Charles S. Woodruff, the County Treasurer and the Vice-President of the Delaware Bank, is personally active, and a good contributor, in all matters tending to promote public improvement and to advance the interests of the village. Being a member of the firm of J. W. and C.S. Woodruff, of which his father is the head, and which conducts a large business in dry goods that was established many years ago; also being an active worker in the Republican party, Mr. Woodruff is well known throughout the county. On different occasions he has represented the county in state conventions and has made many friends among Republicans who are distinguished in state politics. On the occasion of the state ball and subsequently the complimentary dinner to Senator Platt, both of which were given in Albany last winter and were notable functions of a political character exceeding in importance any state event for years and attended by distinguished statesmen, Mr. Woodruff served on the reception committee. He is a member of the executive committee of the State League of Republican Clubs and represented that important organization as delegate to the National Republican League at Milwaukee in 1896. He has been honored with a number of local offices, having served as treasurer of the village of Delhi in 1892-3; treasurer of the village fire department in 1891-2; president of the Delaware County Agricultural Society in 1889-90, of which he is still a director, and one of the pro(illegible) and most active of members in the village (illegible) of trade, of which he was the secretary and (illegible). He became connected with the Delaware bank in 1894. For the past three years he has been one of the directors and for the past two years the vice-president. In the fall of 1893, being candidate for county treasurer he made such a spirited canvass in the face of several other aspirants for the position that when the convention was called it was found that he had shut out all opposition, having all the delegates, and was consequently nominated by acclamation. Last fall at the expiration of the term he was renominated and re-elected, that office being conceded a two-term office. Mr. Woodruff was secretary of the county committee in 1891-2. His services in public office give satisfaction generally through the county. He is broad in his views, genial to meet, and like all men who succeed on their own merits courteous to all with whom he comes in contact. He is a member of Delhi Chapter, No. 240, R. A. M., of which he is one of the officers, and the Delhi Lodge, No. 439, F. & A. M. He was born in Delhi, March 5, 1857, and was educated in the Delaware Academy in that village, from which he was graduated in 1877. While attending school he clerked in his father's store and in 1880 he bought an interest in the business. On April 30, 1890, he married Miss Ida, the daughter of John Hutson, of Delhi. In 1895 he built one of the prettiest residences in Delhi. It stands at Main and Clinton streets surrounded with fine grounds. The house is lighted with electricity and the interiors are fitted in modern style in hard wood with oak and sycamore trimmings. The plumbing is perfect throughout. Mr. Woodruff was deeply interested and took an active part in the movement for observing Centennial year with an appropriate celebration. He was a member of the General Committee and spent a good deal of time in assisting to make the celebration a success. Delhi Lodge, No. 439, F. & A. M., was instituted in 1858, with P. B. Merwin as Master. Mr. Merwin was re-elected Master in '59, '60 and '61; Robert Parker was Master for the next four years and H. S. Page for three years; in 1868 and 1870 O. W. Smith was Master and was followed by R. P. Cormack for one year and then Thomas Jackson, J. M. Preston, A. W. Abbott and J. H. McIntosh each serving two years. T. W. Robertson was Master in 1880 and was followed for two years each by W. H. Fisher and M. Farrington; Frank L. Norton was Master in 1885, '86 and '87; W. R. Bill and M. O. Landon then served two years each; W. G. Edgerton was Master in 1892, '93 and '94, and W. J. Humphries in 1895, '96. The Lodge has a membership of about 140 and meets on the first and third Thursdays of each month, at 8 p.m., in pleasant rooms on the third floor of the Page Block. The present officers are: W. M., Howard Bell; S. W., John J. Burke; J. W., Elbridge L. Hitt; Treasurer, Aaron Stern; Secretary, Frank L. Norton; S. D., A. C. Douglas; J. D., C. L. Huber; S. M. C., Edward Boyd; J. M. C., James Arbuckle; Chaplain, R. P. Cormack; Organist, W. L. Bell. __________________ The first consignment of freight to Delhi over the New York, Ontario & Western railway were a carload of flour for Messrs. Hutson and a carload of coal for Mr. Edgerton. HISTORICAL REVIEW OF DELHI. Delhi is one of the oldest incorporated villages in this State. The act was passed by the legislature March 16, 1821, and on the 1st of the following May the voters met at the court house and elected village officers. The board met on the 21st of that month and organized. In June, 1822, an ordinance was passed providing for village hay scales and the board adopted a village seal. In 1824 Charles A. Foote was chosen president. The public square was planted with threes in 1825. That was the year in which the people of the village were greatly frightened over the appearance of a case of small-pox. A record of the first settlers of a town is interesting to study, as many names well known in contemporaneous history are brought up bringing to the older residents a flood of recollections. It will be noted that in the very large list of Delaware county men named in this brief review there are many whose descendants are still living here, honored and respected by all. The first village officer, elected in 1821, were: PRESIDENT-CHARLES A. FOOTE; TRUSTEES-ERASTUS ROOT, JABEZ HITCHCOLK, G. H. EDGERTON, NATHANIEL STEELE, JR.; CLERK-GUERDON H. EDGERTON; OVERSEER OF HIGHWAYS-JABEZ HITCHCOLK. The First State Lines. In 1799 Amon Bostwick commenced a weekly mail stage between Kingston and Bainbridge (then Jericho), running through Delhi. In 1805 Amon drove the state to Catskill. In 1825 or '30 William Moscript started a stage line between Delhi and Liberty. Stage lines since then were run from Delhi to Andes, Franklin, Bovina, Meridith, Stamford and Oneonta. Early Hotels. The first taverns, built of logs, were opened in 1790 by Gideon Frisbee in the upper end and Geor. Yendes further down. In 1798 Mr. Denio opened a log tavern on a knoll now enclosed by the fair grounds. In 1880 Levi Baxter constructed a log tavern. This was purchased in 1807 and afterward conducted by Elijah Smith. This was afterward replaced by a modern hotel. In 1812 Matthew Ray opened a tavern. The present hotels are the Edgerton, the American, the Central and the Kingston. Early Business Enterprises. In 1795 Mat Ray opened a blacksmith shop. In 1819 D. Newcomb, William Collins and J. McPherson opened a shop. Thomas L. Landon opened a shop in 1820. In 1797 James Tift started brickmaking. John Doll opened a general store in 1806. In 1819 H. D. Gould and Jabez Hitchcolk opened stores. In the same year T. B. Whitmarsh began the drug business. Next followed a hat store by A. & C. Thurber. In 1796 Clark Green went into the cooper business. In 1798 Benajah Bill was engaged in turning wooden ware on the Little Delaware. In 1820 Edward Flint started a harness shop. In 1827 R. D. Paine began business. Early in the century the tannery near Bridge Street was in operation. In 1870 Mr. Frederick Stiefel purchased it. In 1826 a grist mill was constructed by George Sherwood who operated it until 1839 when it passed into the hands of Richard Titus. In 1870 Smith & Penfield purchased the property and constructed a new building, equipping it with improved machinery. The Woolen Mill. In 1821 the Delaware Woolen Factory Company commenced the construction of the dam and works. The company was composed of Samuel Sherwood and H. D. Gould, principal owners. In 1839 it was purchased by Richard Titus, who operated it until the business was assigned to the Delaware Bank, which corporation continued it for a few years. In 1865 the firm of O. S. Penfield & Co. took possession and continued until 1870, when it was succeeded by the firm of Smith & Penfield. For some years following it did a large business giving employment to several men and women, manufacturing annually from 20,000 to 25,000 yards of woolen cloth and furnishing a market for about 30,000 pounds of wool annually. The Banks. The Delaware Bank was organized April 4, 1839, Herman D. Gould president and Giles M. Shaw cashier. On October 1, 1850, Mr. Gould resigned and Charles Marvine succeeded him. In 1842 Mr. Shaw was succeeded by Dubois Burhans. On April 27, 1845, John W. Sherwood was elected cashier. He was succeeded August 5, 1848, by Walter H. Griswold. In 1865 the organization became a National Bank. The original capital was $100,000. The first board of directors were H. D. Gould, G. H. Edgerton, Amasa J. Parker, S. Gordon, N. K. Wheeler, Charles Hathaway, D. Burhans, C. Marvine, John H. Gregory, Darius Maples, Jonas More, Martin Keeler, Jr., Orrin Griffin. The Railway Bank, a private institution, was organized March 1, 1872, with Seth H. White as president and William F. White cashier. Physicians. We have been able to find in records the following names of early physicians: Dr. Thomas Fitch practiced from 1803 to 1810, then moving to Philadelphia. Dr. Asahel A. Paine began in 1807. Dr. Ambrose Bryan joined the medical society in 1807. Dr. David S. Denio, born in Delhi in 1793. Dr. Ebenezer Steele, admitted to the society in 1821. Died December 3, 1865. Dr. Turner Vermilyea, admitted in 1828. Died September, 1830. Dr. Cornelius Root Fitch joined the society in 1815. Dr. Feris Jacobs came to Delhi in 1833. Dr. Abraham Miller joined the medical society in 1834. Dr. Almeron Fitch came to Delhi in 1839. Died January 6, 1877. Dr. Calvin Howard was located at Hobart many years but prominent in this section long before he moved to Delhi, in 1847. He died in 1873. Dr. John Calhoun moved to Delhi in 1865.
