Owego Heritage - Hickories Park, Owego, NY - Signs of History on Waymarking.com

"Town of Owego History In 1784 James McMaster, a former Revolutionary War soldier came to this area. With the help of Amos Draper, an itinerant trader and friend of the local native Americans, he was able to purchase 18 square miles of land from them. The area encompasses the village of Owego and a portion of what is now the Town of Owego.
The town was created in 1791 and formed as the Town of Tioga in 1800. Confusion over the location of the village of Owego caused the legislature to have the Town of Owego and the Town of Tioga to switch names in 1813 so that Owego village was in the same named town."

"Chenango Canal Extension A historic marker erected by the Town of Owego in 1993 and located on route 434 in Apalachin marks the site of a proposed extension of the successful Chenango Canal. The extension would run through Tioga County on the south side of the Susquehanna River and would connect the North Branch Canal near the state line at Athens, Pennsylvania. Progress was slow and by 1872 it was finished to about Nichols, but taxpayers had had enough, and it was never completed."

"International Business Machines The Town of Owego was primarily an agricultural community until the IBM Federal Systems Division was located here in 1957 and created thousands of jobs. IBM produced defense systems for the United States Government in response to the cold war. With IBM bringing in thousands of people, it caused an economic boom."

"Barbara Organized Crime Raid On Nov. 14, 1957 more than 60 "gangland guests arrived to attend a "barbeque" hosted by Joseph Barbara, Sr. in what the New York Times called a conference of the "hierarchy of the Eastern seaboard criminal world". Their capture drew national attention including the US Senate Select Committee on the Improper Activities in Labor or Management, with Robert Kennedy as counsel. Trials were held at the Tioga County Courthouse and most of those arrested took the fifth amendment."

"Hiawatha Island Originally known as the Big Island, Hiawatha Island is the largest island in the New York section of the Susquehanna River. Archeological Evidence proves Native Americans farmed there. For many years it served as a recreational destination for picnics and group activities, and was the site of the Hiawatha Hotel and working farm."

Group that erected the marker: Two Rivers Greenway Project. Address of where the marker is located. Approximate if necessary: Hickories Park Owego, NY US 13827 URL of a web site with more information about the history mentioned on the sign: Not listed

Visit Instructions:
Take a picture of the marker, preferably including yourself or your GPSr in the photo. A very detailed description of your visit may be substituted for a photo. In any case please provide a description of your visit. A description of only "Visited" or "Saw it while on vacation" by anyone other than the person creating the waymark may be deleted by the waymark owner or the category officers.

Recent Visits/Logs:

There are no logs for this waymark yet.