The state immediately re-sold the pre-emptive rights to Robert Morris in 1791 for $333,333.33 (about $28.6 million today). This land, about 3,750,000 acres (15,000 km 2), reverted to Massachusetts. They lost the right to buy the pre-emptive rights to remaining lands of the Phelps and Gorham Purchase west of the Genesee River. They defaulted on their second payment in 1790. When the land didn't sell as well as they had hoped, Phelps and Gorham were unable to come up with the funds to extinguish the Native American titles. In order to obtain title to such land, Phelps and Gorham would have to extinguish all Native American titles. The right sold applied to all land west of a line running from the mouth of Sodus Bay on Lake Ontario, due south through Seneca Lake, to the 82nd milestone on the Pennsylvania border near Big Flats (the "Pre-emption Line"), and all the way to the Niagara River and Lake Erie (the " Phelps and Gorham Purchase"). The sales price was $1,000,000, payable in three equal annual installments of certain Massachusetts securities then worth about 20 cents on the dollar. On April 1, 1788, after extensive machinations by various speculators, Massachusetts' pre-emptive right over all western New York Lands - comprising some 6,000,000 acres (24,000 km 2) - was sold to Oliver Phelps and Nathaniel Gorham, both of Massachusetts. The compromise was that, while New York would have political sovereignty over the land, Massachusetts would have pre-emptive rights to obtain title from the Native Americans and own (and profit from selling) the land. These include: Rochester, Indiana Rochester, Texas Rochester, Iowa Rochester, Kentucky Rochester, Michigan Rochester, Minnesota Rochester, Nevada and Rochester, Ohio.įollowing the American Revolution, western New York was opened up for development as soon as New York and Massachusetts compromised and settled their competing claims for the area in December 1786 by the Treaty of Hartford. Of the 19 places in the United States named Rochester, at least 8 were named directly after Rochester, New York, having been founded or settled by former residents. Rochester, with the presence of Ritter-Pfaulder, Bausch and Lomb, Eastman Kodak, Xerox, Gannett and other major industries, defied the trend for many decades following WWII. In the 1970s it became fashionable to call the industrial cities along the Great Lakes 'rustbelt cities' following the move away from steel, chemical and other hard goods manufacturing. It was famous as the center of the American photography industry, with headquarters of Eastman Kodak. The Yankees made Rochester the center of multiple reform movements, such as abolitionism and women's rights. It became a major manufacturing center, and attracted many Italians, Germans, Irish and other immigrants, as well as a dominant group of Yankees of New England origin. Settlement began in the late 18th century, and the city flourished with the opening of the Erie Canal. This article documents the history of Rochester, New York, in western New York State.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |