U'TICA. The county-seat of Oneida County, N. Y., 95 miles west by north of Albany; on the south bank of the Mohawk River, on the Erie Canal, and on the New York Central and Hudson River, the New York, Ontario and Western. the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western, the West Shore, the Rome, Watertown and Ogdensburg, and the Mohawk and Malone railroads (Map: New York, E 2). it is finely situated at an elevation of about 430 feet. and is regularly laid out. Noteworthy are the city hall, the United States Government building, the State Armory. the Young Men's Christian Association building, the Utica Free Academe•. and the Masonic Home. The Public Library has 30.000 volumes. Other collections include the Oneida Historical Society Library with more than 7200 volumes, the Utica Law Library, thee Utica State Hospital Medical Library, the Young Men's Christian Association Library. the Deutseher Leserverein, and the Faxtan Hall Library. Utica has been termed 'the city of charities' because of the num ber of its charitable institutions, the value of their property. and the large amount expended for their maintenance. The more im portant of these institutions include the Home for the Homeless, Home for the Aged, Utica Orphan Asylum. Saint Vincent's Protectory, and the City, flonucopathie. FaXi. OD'S, and Saint Luke's hospitals. A State lunatic asylum also is here.
Utica is of considerable prominence as a com mercial and industrial centre. It is in a rich dairy-farming country and is widely known for its large output of cheese. Hop-growing and the cultivation of roses are other important indus tries of the surrounding district. In manufac
turing Utica ranks eighth among the cities of the State, its various industrial establishments in the census year 1900 having $19,289,502 in vested capital and a production valued at $19, 550,850. The leading manufactures are men's clothing, hosiery and knit goods, cotton and woolen goods, steam fittings and heating appa ratus. foundry and machine-shop products, malt liquors, lumber products, and saddlery and har ness. For maintenance and operation the city spends annually about $650.000. The chief items are: schools, $200,000; fire department, $75,000; municipal lighting, $63,000; police department, $41,000; interest on debt, $33,000; streets, $30, 000; and garbage removal, $23,000. The net debt in 1902 was $664,085; and the assessed valuation of property (real and personal) was $32,754.592. The population in 1S20 was 2972; in 1850, 17,565; in 1880, 33,914; in 1890, 44,007; in 1900, 56,3S3.
Utica was settled about 1786 on the site of Fort Schuyler, which in 1758 had been erected to control the fording place of the Mohawk. Un til 1798, when it was incorporated as a town under its present name, Utica was known as 'Old Fort Schuyler.' It was reincorporated in 1805, and received a city charter in 1832. Its growth was slow until after the completion of the Erie Canal in 1825. Consult: Fagg (editor), Memorial History of Utica (Syracuse, 1892) ; and Brown, Butcher, and Goodale. Outline His tory of Utica and Vicinity (Utica. 1900).