Syracuse, << SIHR uh `kyoos` >> (pop. 148,620; met. area pop. 662,057), is an industrial center of New York. It lies along Onondaga Lake in the central part of the state.
The city’s factories manufacture such products as chemicals, drugs, electrical machinery, paper, and transportation equipment. Syracuse is a market center for nearby farming areas. Passenger trains and freight railroads serve the city. Syracuse Hancock International Airport lies just outside the city.
Syracuse’s central location has made it one of New York’s chief convention centers. The Oncenter, a complex of meeting, theater, arena, and exhibition space, covers three square blocks in downtown Syracuse. The Oncenter includes the Upstate Medical Arena at The Oncenter War Memorial, the Nicolas J. Pirro Convention Center, and the John H. Mulroy Civic Center Theaters. The city lies at the intersection of Interstates 81 and 90. The annual New York State Fair is held in the city in August and September.
Syracuse is an important educational center. It is the home of Syracuse University, Le Moyne College, State University of New York Upstate Medical University, and State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry. Cultural attractions include the Erie Canal Museum and the Everson Museum of Art. The Skä•noñh-Great Law of Peace Center, which focuses on the history and culture of Native Americans of central New York, stands near Onondaga Lake. The center also includes a replica of a French fort built in 1658. The nearby Salt Museum features exhibits of the area’s earliest industry, the drying of salt.
Syracuse is the seat of Onondaga County. It has a mayor-council government.
Iroquois Indians lived in what is now the Syracuse area when Ephraim Webster became the first permanent white settler there in 1786. Webster opened a trading post near the salt springs that surrounded Onondaga Lake. Veterans of the American Revolution (1775-1783) built a small settlement in the area in 1788. They established several saltworks in 1788 or 1789.
In 1825, the settlement was named after the ancient Greek city of Syracuse, which also lay near salt springs. Also in 1825, the Erie Canal was completed. The canal, which linked the Atlantic Ocean and the Great Lakes, ran through the settlement and stimulated economic and population growth. The community soon became a center of the salt industry. It was chartered as a city in 1848. The coming of railroads in the mid-1800’s brought new industries. The salt industry declined in the early 1900’s.
In the 1960’s and early 1970’s, urban renewal projects cleared land in Syracuse for banks, department stores, and office buildings. Carousel Center (now Destiny USA), a huge shopping and entertainment complex, opened in 1990. Development of the complex had stalled in 2005 because of a disagreement between the developer and the city over financing issues.
