Yesterday, marked the 193rd birthday of my hometown, Utica, NY.

"When Utica became a city in 1832, it had 8,323 people in it," according to the book "Utica for a Century and a Half" by T. Wood Clarke.

He goes on to say that "at the time, there were forty-four dry goods stores in Utica, sixty-three groceries and general food stores, ten hardware stores, nineteen stores for millinery and dressmaking, six jewelry and five bookstores, twenty blacksmith shops, seventy-nine cabinetmakers and four lottery offices."

Wow, all that for 8,323 people.

Today, with a 2020 census population of 65,283, excluding the suburbs that have grown up around it, most of Utica's needs are supplied by Walmart, Lowe's, and a few supermarkets, namely Price Chopper (out of Schenectady), Hannaford (out of Maine). and Aldi (out of Germany). And a Walgreens, of course.

These have replaced what were essentially 250 small businesses in 1832, and if proportioned out to today's population, would have taken 1,961 small businesses to fill.

Of course times change, but just saying.

Utica was originally incorporated as the Village of Old Fort Schuyler on April 3, 1798.

SkyHoop

https://www.wktv.com/news/history/happy-birthday-utica-celebrating-193-years-as-a-city/article_548909f0-ea60-11ef-8799-3332b94f3735.html