UTICA, a city of central New York, U.S.A., the county seat of Oneida county; on the Mohawk river and the State Barge canal, 85 m. from Albany, with a municipal airport. Pop. (1920) 94,156 (20% foreign-born white, including 1,376 from Wales) ; and in 1930 it was 101,740.
The city covers 22 sq.m., at an altitude of 45o ft. Also, it is the seat of a State hospital for the insane (1843) and the exten sive State Masonic home (1893). There are 200 m. of paved streets, and a park system embracing over 600 ac. The valuation for 1927 was $131,482,683. The (privately owned) comes from the Adirondacks. Hydro-electric power is developed at Trenton falls (15 m. N.) and the city is one of the loading centres of the system serving the eastern States. There are two daily papers: the Observer-Dispatch, established in 1793, and the Press (1882). 'Weeklies are published in Welsh, German, Polish and Italian. Utica has several musical organizations of long standing and a wide reputation. A Welsh eisteddfod lasting through several days is held annually, under the auspices of the Cymreigyddion Society.
Utica manufactures a third of the knitted underwear made in the country, also producing cotton cloth, ventilating and heating apparatus, cotton yarn, sheets and pillowcases and men's clothing. The total output in 1927 was $70,240,110, produced in 191 facto ries, employing 14,175 wage-earners.
The site of Utica was in the 22,000 ac. manor granted by George II. in 1734 to William Cosby and his associates. During the Seven Years' War a palisaded fort was built here, at the ford of the Mohawk, and named after Col. Peter Schuyler. Later, when Ft. Stanwix at Rome was renamed Ft. Schuyler, the Utica fort was known by the name Old Ft. Schuyler. In 1792 Cosby's manor was put up for sale by the sheriff, and was bid in by Gen. Philip Schuyler, Gen. John Bradstreet, John Morin Scott and others, for £1,387 (about 15 cents an acre). After the close of the Revolution settlers began to come in, largely Palatinate Germans from the lower Mohawk. In 1786 the proprietors had the manor surveyed, and in 1788 an inn was built. New settlers came, from New England, among whom in 1789 was Peter Smith (1768 5837), later a partner of John Jacob Astor, and father of Gerrit Smith, born here in 1797. In 1792 a bridge was built across the Mohawk. In 1797 Oneida county was established and the village was incorporated under the name of Utica. It was chartered as a city in 1832. By 186o it had a population of 22,529, which grew to 33,914 in 188o and 56,383 in 1900. In the next two decades it increased 32% and 26.5% respectively, and between 1910 and 1925 the area within the corporate limits was more than doubled.