The Greatest Highway in the World / Historical, Industrial and Descriptive Information of the Towns, Cities and Country Passed Through Between New York and Chicago Via the New York Central Lines. Based on the Encyclopaedia Britannica.

by New York Central Railroad Company

251 M. ROME. Pop. 26,341.

(Train 51 passes 1:37; No. 3, 2:47; No. 41, 7:07; No. 25, 7:57; No. 19, 11:23. Eastbound: No. 6 passes 3:28; No. 26, 4:15; No. 16, 9:28; No. 22, 11:24.)

The portage at this place, between the Mohawk River and Wood Creek (to the northwest), which are about a mile apart, gave the site its Indian name, De-i-wain-sta, "place where canoes are carried from one stream to another," and its earliest English name, "The Great (or Oneida) Carrying Place." Its location made it of strategic value as a key between the Mohawk Valley and Lake Ontario. Wood Creek flows into Oneida Lake, and thus formed part of a nearly continuous waterway from the Hudson to the Great Lakes. Two primitive forts were built in 1725 to protect the carrying place, but these were superseded by Ft. Stanwix, erected about 1760 by Gen. John Stanwix, at an expense of £60,000. The first permanent settlement dates from this time. In Oct. and Nov. of 1768, Sir William Johnson and representatives of Virginia and Pennsylvania met 3,200 Indians of the Six Nations here and made a treaty with them, under which, for £10,460 in money and provisions, they surrendered to the crown their claims to what is now Kentucky, West Virginia and the western part of Pennsylvania.

This treaty, the last great act of Sir William Johnson, probably averted another Indian war. Great preparations were made for feasting the Indians who attended the council. It is said that 60 barrels of flour, 50 barrels of port, 6 barrels of rice and 70 barrels of other provisions were sent to the meeting place. There was a prolonged period of speech making, but the treaty was finally signed on Nov. 5, 1768. One of the features of this treaty was the sale to Thomas Penn (1702-1775) and Richard Penn (1706-1771), second and third sons of William Penn (founder of Pa.), of the remaining land in the province of Pa., to which they claimed title. This transaction involved £2,000 of the total payment made to the Indians.

The fort was immediately dismantled, but was repaired by the Continentals after 1776 and renamed Ft. Schuyler, in honor of Gen. Philip Schuyler and so is sometimes confused with Old Ft. Schuyler at Utica. The 3rd Regiment of New York line troops under Col. Peter Gansevoort, occupied the fort in 1777. The first U.S. flag made according to the law of June 14, 1777, was raised over Ft. Schuyler on Aug. 3rd of that same year, one month before the official announcement by Congress of the design of the flag, and was almost immediately used in action. The first fight under the colors was the battle of Oriskany in which the soldiers of the fort became involved.

The basic idea of the present flag was evolved by a committee composed of George Washington, Robert Morris, and Col. George Ross with the assistance of Betsy Ross. The flag made by Mrs. Ross, though it is sometimes referred to as the first U.S. flag, was actually prepared as a tentative design or pattern for submission to Congress. On the 14th of June, 1777, Congress resolved "that the flag of the U.S. be thirteen stripes, alternates red and white, that the Union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation." This was the original of the national flag. The flag at Ft. Stanwix was a hasty makeshift put together under direction of Col. Marinus Willet, who found it difficult to obtain materials because the fort was hemmed in by the British. In his diary Col. Willet relates that "white stripes were cut out of an ammunition shirt; the blue out of a camlet cloak taken from the enemy at Peekskill, while the red stripes were made of different pieces of stuff procured from one and another of the garrison."

After the War of Independence, three commissioners for the U.S. made a new treaty with the chiefs of the Six Nations at Ft. Schuyler (1784). In 1796 a canal was built across the old portage between Wood Creek and the Mohawk. In the same year the township of Rome was formed, receiving its name, says Schoolcraft, "from the heroic defence of the republic made here." The country surrounding Rome is devoted largely to farming, especially vegetables, gardening and to dairying. Among the manufactures are brass and copper products, wire for electrical uses, foundry and machine-shop products, locomotives, knit goods, tin cans and canned goods (especially vegetables).