Upstate New York Little Known Facts

Some of us know one or two of these facts about the upstate New York area, but here is a list of documented things about the region that are not widely known.  Did you know that...

Oneida is the home of the world's smallest church.

Chittenango is the home of L. Frank Baum, author of The Wizard of Oz.

Francis Bellamy, author of the Pledge of Allegiance, lived and is buried in Rome, NY.

Rome was the home of the first cheese factory in the US.

Oneida Lake is the largest lake in the state.

Because of alleged political corruption and organized crime in the 1950's and 1960's, Utica was known as "Sin City."

Utica Club was the first beer sold in the U.S. after the end prohibition in 1933.

The Genesee River is one of the few rivers in the world that flows from south to north.

The second-ever built water powered electric dynamo was purchased by Alfred Dolge to power his factories in Dolgeville.

Dolgeville was the first upstate village lit by electricity.

Until the late 1950's, Little Falls was the home of the world's tallest lift-lock.

The New York State Thruway is the longest toll road in the U.S.

Adirondack Park is larger than Yellowstone, Yosemite, Grand Canyon, Glacier and Olympic parks COMBINED.

Howe Caverns, located 38 miles west of Albany is the largest cave open to the public in the northeastern U.S.

Gloversville, NY was the home of one of the largest record pressing plants in the U.S.  It employed over 600 people and made vinyl records, cassettes, 8-tracks and compact discs.

The very first passanger train in American ran from Albany to Schenectady.   It was a distance of 11 miles.

Syracuse had the country's first drive-thru back teller window.

The New York State Fair is the longest-running state fair in the U.S.  It began in 1848.

The country's first traffic light ever used was manufactured in Syracuse.

Shortly after being elected, President Abraham Lincoln was in Albany at the same time as his assassin, John Wilkes Booth.  The Lincolns were visiting friends, Booth was performing at an Albany theater.