Oswego, New York

The British established a trading post in the area in 1722 and fortified it with a log palisade later called Fort Oswego, named after the native Iroquois place name "os-we-go" meaning "pouring out place."[4] The first fortification on the site of the current Fort Ontario was built by the British in 1755 and called the "Fort of the Six Nations."

Fort Ontario was destroyed by the French upon capturing it in the Battle of Fort Ontario, during the French and Indian War. Construction of a second British fort began on the same site in 1759, but Fort Ontario was only used as a cannon emplacement. During the American Revolution, the British abandoned the Fort, and in 1778, American troops destroyed it. In 1782, the British reoccupied Fort Ontario, and didn't forfeit it to the U.S. until 1796, thirteen years after the cessation of hostilities in the Revolution.

Attack on Oswego, War of 1812

During the War of 1812, a weaker American garrison at Fort Ontario was overwhelmed by superior British forces[5] in order to stem the flow of supplies from the interior of New York state, but were later defeated near Oswego later that month. Throughout the 19th Century, the U.S. military maintained a presence at Fort Ontario.

Oswego was incorporated as a village on March 14, 1828,[6] and the Oswego Canal, a branch of the Erie Canal, reached the area in 1829. The city was incorporated in 1848. When the city incorporated, its area and population were removed from the figures reported for the towns.

In the 1850s, at the height of a popular water-cure movement occurring in the United States, in turn stimulating growth, Oswego was the home of the Oswego Water Cure establishment, which Stonewall Jackson reportedly visited in August 1850.[7]

Oswego is home to the Port of Oswego and once was a hub for several major railroads: the New York Central Railroad (NYC), the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad (DL&W), and the New York, Ontario and Western Railway (O&W) railways. Both railways operated a coal trestle for fueling steamships at the Port of Oswego. Into the mid-1940s the DLW had daily passenger service from Hoboken, through Binghamton, to Syracuse and ending in Oswego.[8] The New York Central last had passenger service between Oswego, Fulton and Syracuse in 1951.[9] Former NYC and DL&W passenger stations remain, as does a NYC freight station. Nothing remains of the O&W, which was abandoned in its entirety in 1957. The tunnel from the former O&W is used as a rail trail.

1909 panorama

Fort Ontario was built between 1839 and 1844. Major masonry improvements to the forts outer wall were undertaken, but left incomplete when Congress canceled its funding in 1872. By 1901, the old fort was abandoned.

The 2nd Brigade of the U.S. 1st Infantry Division called Fort Ontario home until the brigade was deactivated on June 1, 1940. During World War II it was used for interning Jewish refugees from Europe (see section below).

In 1946, the fort was transferred to the state of New York. At that time, it was used to house veterans and their families during the post-war period. Development of the fort as a historic site began in 1949, which included the "Safe Haven Museum."

Today, Fort Ontario is being restored to its 1867–1872 appearance. Costumed interpreters recreate the lives of the officers, men, and civilians who garrisoned the fort in 1868–1869.

In 1944 amidst World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt established a camp at the fort for survivors of the Holocaust.[10]

The fort was used as Fort Ontario Emergency Refugee Shelter also known as "Safe Haven," home to approximately 982 Jewish refugees, survivors of the Nazi Holocaust, from August 1944 to February 1946. This was the only attempt by the United States government to shelter Jewish refugees during the war.[11]

Approximately 1,000 refugees were transferred to the fort from the Ferramonti di Tarsia, a concentration camp in Cosenza, Calabria, Italy.[12] The refugees came from 18 different European countries.

They refugees were placed behind barbed wire, and given no official status, having been required to sign papers accepting their eventual return to their home countries in Europe at the end of the war. Due to political pressure, President Harry S. Truman allowed them to apply for citizenship.[13][14]

The camp comprised 200 buildings of converted army barracks.[15] The site is now the Safe Haven Museum.

• Oswego: the town of Oswego
• Minetto: the town of Minetto south of the city
• Scriba: the town of Scriba east of the city
• Southwest Oswego: a hamlet located west of the city
• Fruit Valley: a hamlet located west of the city

Oswego has a humid continental climate (Köppen Dfb), typical of the Interior Northeast. The city experiences four distinct seasons, and is located in USDA hardiness zone 6a. The region typically experiences cold and relatively wet winters, and with its location in the Great Lakes Snowbelt, frequently receives heavy snowfall.

In September 2005, Oswego Mayor John Gosek was arrested by the FBI and state police in a sting operation outside of a motel near Syracuse after allegedly giving a woman $250 to arrange a sexual encounter with two 14-year-old girls. The arrest came after a three-year investigation that led to charges of the mayor using his city-issued cell phone to “persuade, induce, entice and coerce an individual under the age of 18 years to engage in sexual activity.” The charge alleged that Gosek used his phone as interstate commerce for the purposes of illegal sex and falls under a federal law that is commonly known as the Mann Act. Gosek's term wasn't due to expire until 2007, but he resigned from office five days after his arrest.

Pursuant to Section 70 of the Public Service Law, NRG Energy, Inc. (now operating as NRG Power Marketing LLC) officially received ownership of the Oswego generating station from previous owners Niagara Mohawk Power Corporation and Rochester Gas and Electric in 1999. NRG was the lowest bidder in an auction arranged by Niagara Mohawk. The facility is a 1,803-megawatt (MW) (nameplate) plant with two steam turbines powered by steam heated in boilers from fuel oil (although one of the units has natural gas listed as a backup fuel). The facility went into service in 1976 (for unit 5) and 1980 (for unit 6). In 2017, it injected 39.7 GWh of electric energy into the electric transmission system. This is equivalent to operating at full capacity for approximately 0.3% of the year. For comparison, the central region consumed 15,819 GWh of electric energy in 2017. Its power is sold into the electric wholesale market administered by the NYISO. Since the plant does not produce much electric energy on an annual basis, it is fair to assume that most of its revenue comes from the NYISO's capacity market. For example, at 1.0 ($/kW - Month), the plant would receive annual revenue of $21.6 million from the capacity market without accounting for actual energy production.[33][34][35][36]

According to the New York State Public Service Commission's database management system, DMM, there was a whistle blower complaint filed against the facility (case no. 92-E-0306) in 1992, however, the DMM website for that case number says its contents were moved to the DMM website for case number 92-M-0016. As of November 2018, there are 5 orders on the DMM case number 92-M-0016 website, none of which have to do with a whistle blower complaint against Oswego generating station.