ROME, N. Y., city in Oneida County, on the Mohawk River and at the junction of the Barge, Erie and Black River canals, and on the New York Central and New York, Ontario and Western railroads. The city is about 110 miles west by north of Albany and 15 miles northwest of Utica. It is at the head of the Mohawk Valley, on a plateau about 450 feet above sea-level. The first settlement was made in 1760 by John Roof. The central part of the city is the site of Fort Stanwix, erected here in 1758 at a cost of over $200,000. It was then a place of great importance as it was the de fensive point in the °carrying place,'' or port age, that part of the route between the Atlantic and the Great Lakes, where the journey had to be made by land. Fort Stanwix was a storm centre in the French War and also in the Revolutionary War. At Rome the Stars and Stripes were first unfurled in battle; for here in July and August, 1777, there were many sharp engagements, and finally the Tryon County Militia under Herkimer defeated the British under St. Leger in the battle at Oris kany. A government arsenal was established here in 1814, but in 1873 was sold for a factory. In 1819 Rome became a village and in 1870 was chartered as a city.
The greater part of the water supply is taken from Fish Creek, about 13 miles from the city. The surrounding country is devoted to farming and dairying; but Rome is a manu facturing city. The chief industrial establish ments are brass and copper mills, locomotive works, knitting mills brick yards, canneries, metal bedstead factories, wire works, automo bile and radiator factories, and creameries. The facilities for transportation give Rome con siderable commercial advantages, The prom inent public buildings are the Rome State Cus todial Asylum for incurable insane, the Oneida County Home, the municipal buildings and some of the business blocks. There are several churches and missions. The educational insti tutions are the Central New York Institution for Deaf-Mutes, Academy of the Holy Names (Roman Catholic), opened in 1865, several graded public and parish schools, .public kinder
gartens, private schools and libraries. The li braries are the high school, the Jervis Public and the Y. M. C. A. There are national banks with a combined capital of over $200,000 and savings banks. The city debt is $915,614.55, largely due to the amounts paid for city sewer age, waterworks and new schools. The as sessed valuation is about $10,955,875 yearly. The government is vested in a mayor and a council of 15 members, who hold office three years. Pop. 23,868.
ROME, (Ecumenical Councils of, are six in number, namely, five Lateran Councils, so called as having been held in the Lateran Palace, and the Vatican Council, held in the palace of the Vatican. 1. The ninth general Council of the Church, the first Lateran Coun cil, was held in the reign of Calixtus II in 1123; it confirmed the concordat of Worms regarding Investiture (q.v.). 2. The second Lateran (10th general) Council, held in 1139 under Innocent II, condemned the Manichwan errors of Arnold of Brescia (q.v.). 3. The third Lateran (11th general) Council, under Alexander III in 1179, condemned the heresies and impieties of the Waldenses and Albigenses. 4. The 12th general Council (4th Lateran) held in 1215 in the pontificate of Innocent III, con firmed the doctrine of transubstantiation and promulgated decrees for the reformation of abuses in the Church and the extirpation of heresies. 5. The 19th general Council (5th Lateran) under Julius II, assembled in 1511, was in session till 1517 when Leo X was Pope; it enacted some laws for the reformation of clerical discipline and procured from the king of France, Francis I, the revocation of the Pragmatic Sanction (q.v.) which the French clergy had ever regarded as the bulwark of the Gallican Liberties. 6. The Council of the Vatican (20th oecumenical council), which was opened 8 Dec. 1869 and closed 20 Oct. 1870, under Pius IX, affirmed as the teaching of the Catholic Church the doctrine that the Pope when teaching ex cathedra and defining matters of faith or morals is always divinely aided and is infallible.