Why do so many places Upstate have Greco-Roman names? (New York: middle schools, college)

[UpstaterInBklyn]

I've often wondered if this was part of some kind of plan or just coincidence.

The obvious ones are the biggest places: Syracuse, Rome, Utica and Troy but there is also Camillus, Cicero, Cincinnatus, Corinth, Fabius, Ilion, Junius, Macedon, Marcellus, Pompey, Romulus, Scipio, Sempronius, Sparta, Ulysses, and Virgil. Of course, there is also Greece, NY outside of Rochester

Most of these are concentrated in CNY. Almost none in WNY or Downstate.

[proulxfamily]

There's also Manlius, Minoa, Salina and former names of the city of Syracuse- Milan (1809) and Corinth (1817.) The background would be interesting to know. There *is* a strong Italian presence, here in Central New York, but otherwise, I haven't heard/read of a source behind the trend of using these kinds of names. Good question!

[ki0eh]

For CNY, see Townships of the Military Tract

[UpstaterInBklyn]

That link totally explains it. Interesting history. Thanks!

[just_sayin']

I know Greece was so-named because it was settled shortly after the Greek revolution in 1822 and was named to commemorate the event. Ironically enough the largest ethnic group in Greece is actually Italians! All of the local high schools and most of the middle schools have Greek names too....Olympia, Athena, Arcadia, Apollo.

[tchemgrrl]

And Ithaca, Ovid, Romulus.

[VA Yankee]

I believe that many of these communities were founded during the Federal Period (1775 - 1830).

Per Wikipedia: "Federal Period. In the early Republic, the founding generation consciously chose to associate the nation with the ancient democracies of Greece and the republican values of Rome" . This association most likely led to using the names we see.

[Jeromeville]

It was a single dude named Robert Harpur, who was in charge of dividing off the parcels in the Military Tract. He loved the Classics.

For some real fun, look at a map of Michigan, which has many towns the same name as NY towns, but all jumbled up geographically. This is because many people from NY moved to Michigan after the Erie Canal came through.

[ckhthankgod]

Originally Posted by Jeromeville

It was a single dude named Robert Harpur, who was in charge of dividing off the parcels in the Military Tract. He loved the Classics.

For some real fun, look at a map of Michigan, which has many towns the same name as NY towns, but all jumbled up geographically. This is because many people from NY moved to Michigan after the Erie Canal came through.

All very true. When I was going to college at Michigan State, there were nearby towns like Onondaga, DeWitt, Ovid, Dansville, Lyons, Williamston, Stockbridge and many more.

[ki0eh]

Originally Posted by Jeromeville

For some real fun, look at a map of Michigan, which has many towns the same name as NY towns, but all jumbled up geographically. This is because many people from NY moved to Michigan after the Erie Canal came through.

One of the pioneer Michigander leaders rebelled against that and started making up sneezy vaguely Indian sounding names. Henry Schoolcraft - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia