Onondaga Creek
The settlement that became Syracuse arose in a forested swampy area at the creek outlet in the early 1800s as a result of the state of NY constructing the Erie Canal and developing salt production on the shores of Onondaga Lake. From this time forward, the natural meandering flood plain of the creek was periodically channelized and straightened to facilitate uncontrolled development of the creek-side and flood plain upstream towards the Onondaga Nation Reservation. A "progress"-based economic cycle involved land developers purchasing farmland and building in the adjacent rural towns, followed by flooding, sewage, water supply, and school crises. The city of Syracuse would then respond to petitions by the new homeowners and businesses to formally ask the state legislature to annex these lands. By the turn of the twentieth century, this cycle accelerated due to the city acquiring water rights to Skaneatles lake, and the development of street car lines.
Church of the Saviour (Syracuse, New York)
The Church of the Saviour (Syracuse) is a chapel in the Episcopal Diocese of Central New York. It is an Anglo-Catholic Episcopal parish noteworthy for its historically significant architecture and decor, which took shape in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
The Church of the Saviour was first organized in Syracuse, New York in 1848 as St. James Church. It was only the second church established in the state of New York to have entirely free pews. After a series of fires, the building was replaced in 1891 with one designed by Syracuse architect Asa L. Merrick. Seven years later, after a bankruptcy auction, the parish was reorganized as the Church of the Saviour. Finally, after yet another fire, in 1912, the building interior was redesigned by the firm of Ralph Adams Cram, one the country's leading exponents of Gothic Revival architecture and proponent of Anglo-Catholic worship.