1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Oneida (New York)

ONEIDA, a city of Madison county, New York, U.S.A., on Oneida Creek, about 6 m. S.E. of Oneida Lake, about 26 m. W. of Utica, and about 26 m. E.N.E. of Syracuse. Pop. (1890) 6083; (1900) 6364, of whom 784 were foreign-born; (1910, U.S. census) 8317. It is served by the New York Central & Hudson River, the New York, Ontario & Western, the West Shore and the Oneida (electric) railways (the last connecting with Utica and Syracuse), and by the Erie Canal. The city lies about 440 ft. above the sea on a level site. Across Oneida Creek, to the south-east, in Oneida county, is the village of Oneida Castle (pop. in 1905, 357), situated in the township of Vernon (pop. in 1905, 3072), and the former gathering place of the Oneida Indians, some of whom still live in the township of Vernon and in the city of Oneida. In the south-eastern part of the city is the headquarters of the Oneida Community (q.v.), which controls important industries here, at Niagara Falls, and elsewhere. Immediately west of Oneida is the village of Wampsville (incorporated in 1908), the county-seat of Madison county. Among the manufactures of Oneida are wagons, cigars, furniture, caskets, silver-plated ware, engines and machinery, steel and wooden pulleys and chucks, steel grave vaults, hosiery, and milk bottle caps. In the vicinity the Oneida Community manufactures chains and animal traps. The site of Oneida was purchased in 1829–1830 by Sands Higinbotham, in honour of whom one of the municipal parks (the other is Allen Park) is named. Oneida was incorporated as a village in 1848 and chartered as a city in 1901.