Peterboro, New York

Peterboro, located approximately 25 miles (40 km) southeast of Syracuse, New York, is a historic hamlet and currently the administrative center for the Town of Smithfield, Madison County, New York, United States. Peterboro has a Post Office, ZIP code 13134.[2]

Peterboro, New York
Hamlet
1875 map
1875 map
Peterboro, New York is located in New York
Peterboro, New York
Peterboro, New York
Peterboro, New York is located in the United States
Peterboro, New York
Peterboro, New York
Coordinates: 42°58′00″N 75°41′10″W
CountryUnited States
StateNew York
CountyMadison
TownSmithfield
Elevation
1,296 ft (395 m)
Time zoneUTC-5 (Eastern (EST))
 • Summer (DST)UTC-4 (EDT)
ZIP code
13134
Area code(s)315 & 680
GNIS feature ID960231[1]
Smithfield Town Hall and town clerk's office (small sign at right), Peterboro, New York. On upper floor, the National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum. Built in 1820 as Presbyterian church.

Because of its most famous resident—businessman, philanthropist, and public intellectual Gerrit Smith—Peterboro was before the U.S. Civil War the capital of the U.S. abolition movement. Peterboro was, according to Rev. Henry Highland Garnet, the only place in the country where fugitive slave catchers did not dare show their faces,[3] the only place the New York Anti-Slavery Society could meet (a mob chased it out of Utica),[4] the only place where fugitive slaves ever met as a group—the Fugitive Slave Convention of 1850, held in neighboring Cazenovia because Peterboro was too small for the expected crowd. Abolitionist leaders such as John Brown, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, and many others were constant guests in Smith's house. So many fugitive slaves headed for Peterboro, and Smith, that there is a book about them,[5] and some never left Peterboro, forming a Black community from an early date.

Here is the comment of a minister, visiting in 1841:

At Peterboro (the residence of Gerrit Smith), I found as may well be expected, it was all Abolition—Abolition in doors and out—Abolition in the churches and Abolition in the stores—Abolition in the field and Abolition by the wayside. If I should use a figure, I would say that Peterboro is Bible-baptized into Abolition, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.[6]: 5 

According to abolitionist Julia Griffiths:

I always breathe more freely in Peterboro, than elsewhere. The moral atmosphere is so clear here...[7]

This was not true elsewhere in Madison County.[6]: 5 

In the 1850 census, the population of Peterboro was 347. In 1859 there were two drug stores, a tailor's shop, two groceries, a country dry goods store, the Peterboro Academy, the Fay House (a hotel), and the closed Peterboro Hotel.[8]

The Presbyterian church, not needed by the Presbyterians after 1870, was bought by Gerrit Smith for use as an academy and public hall.[9] It held a small public school for many years. Currently, besides the Town of Smithfield office, it houses the National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum. Gerrit Smith's mansion was lost to fire in 1936, but his office, the Peterboro Land Office, has survived. A Peterboro Area Museum is located in the former schoolhouse of the Home for Destitute Children of Madison County; in 2022 it is open only on Sundays.[10]

Founding

In 1795, Peter Smith Sr., a partner of John Jacob Astor's who built his fortune in the fur trade, founded Peterborough, naming the town after himself. Smith moved his family to Peterborough in 1804 and built the family home there, in what at the time was near-wilderness. His son Gerrit changed the spelling of the name to Peterboro.

Notable people

Gerrit Smith

In the 1820s, Gerrit Smith took over the business interests of his father, Peter Smith Sr., managing his family's property holdings in the town and the surrounding area. The Peterboro Land Office—the most important surviving building of the Smith estate—was built as his office for these activities.

Gerrit Smith's commitment to both the abolition and temperance movements led to the Smith estate in Peterboro becoming a stop on the underground railroad. Less successful was Smith's temperance campaign, which did not enjoy local support; he built one of the first temperance hotels in the country in Peterboro, but it was not commercially successful.[11]

He was reported to be liked by almost all the people of Peterboro. "He does a vast deal of good here." After John Brown's raid, when Smith expected to be indicted, the people of Peterboro were prepared to use force (guns) to prevent his arrest.[8]

Others

Historic sites

See also

References
  1. "Peterboro". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
  2. United States Postal Service. "USPS - Look Up a ZIP Code". Archived from the original on August 5, 2022. Retrieved October 12, 2017.
  3. "(Untitled)". The North Star. Rochester, New York. December 8, 1848. p. 1.
  4. (34 signatures) (September 15, 1848). "To the Liberty Party of the County of Madison". The North Star. Rochester, New York. p. 2. Archived from the original on August 5, 2022. Retrieved August 3, 2022. Calls for nominating Smith for President.
  5. Dann, Norman K. (2008). When we get to heaven : runaway slaves on the road to Peterboro. Hamilton, New York: Log Cabin Books. ISBN 978-0975554845.
  6. Humphreys, Hugh C. (1994). "'Agitate! Agitate! Agitate!' The Great Fugitive Slave Law Convention and its rare Daguerrotype". Madison County Heritage (19): 3–66.
  7. Dann, Norman K. (2011). Whatever It Takes. The Antislavery Movement and the Tactics of Gerrit Smith. Hamilton, New York: Log Cabin Books. p. 32. ISBN 9780975554883.
  8. "Gerrit Smith and the Harper's Ferry Outbreak.—A Visit to the Home of Gerrit Smith—The People of Madison Determined to Resist His Surrender—Mr. Smith's Alarm and Probable Complicity with the lnsurrection—His Frlends Dissuade Him from Publishing a Full Statement, which would Show Others more Implicated than himself—His Preparations for Defence, &c., &c". New York Daily Herald. November 2, 1859. p. 1. Archived from the original on August 4, 2022. Retrieved August 4, 2022.
  9. Sernett, Milton C. (2002). North star country : upstate New York and the crusade for African American freedom. Syracuse, New York: Syracuse University Press. p. 51.
  10. Smithfield Community Association. "Historic Sites". Archived from the original on July 24, 2021. Retrieved August 3, 2022.
  11. Wurst, LouAnn (2002). "'For the Means of Your Subsistence : : : Look Under God to Your Own Industry and Frugality': Life and Labor in Gerrit Smith's Peterboro". International Journal of Historical Archaeology. 6 (3): 159–172. doi:10.1023/A:1020381019382. S2CID 141414858. Archived from the original on March 31, 2022. Retrieved April 10, 2022.
  12. "George Willis Pack (June 6, 1831 – August 31, 1906) A Name That Will Endure". A Virtual Exhibit. University of North Carolina at Asheville. August 2006. Archived from the original on May 25, 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  13. Eyle, p. 2
  14. 'Wisconsin Blue Book 1879,' Biographical Sketch of Alexander Preston Ellinwood, pg. 504
  15. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
  16. Potrikus, Alaina (February 10, 2005), "Peterboro Church rang with fervor", The Post-Standard, Syracuse, New York, archived from the original on April 14, 2022, retrieved April 14, 2022

Further reading
  • Nolan, David. 1984. Fifty Feet in Paradise: The Booming of Florida. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. (About Gen. Peter Sken Smith of Peterboro, brother of Gerrit Smith.)
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