Cayuga Nation (pre 1790's )
This section is in progress.

Early White Settlement (1750 - 1809)

1750 Missionaries Cammerhof and Zeisberger pass through the Inlet Valley and camp near what is now Stewart Park.
1753 Tutelo Indians travel north from Virginia and establish village of Coreogonel on Inlet Creek near Buttermilk Falls.
1779
 Sullivan campaign destroys Iroquois crops and settlements.
1789 The first white settlers stay through the winter in what is now Ithaca. Cayugas sign an agreement to sell land.
1790 Military Tract lands are awarded as payment to soldiers for their military service in the Revolutionary War. Andrew Moodie sells lot #88 to James Renwick. Lightfoot sells trade goods at a site near present day Steamboat Landing (Ithaca's first store).
1800 State Surveyor General Simeon DeWitt owns most of land at heart of village.
1804 DeWitt names this settlement 'Ithaca' which replaces the various names 'the Flats, the City, Sodom'.
1809 The population is 250.

Early Development - The Canal and Steamboat Era (1812 to 1840)

1812 Activity increases at the port of Ithaca on the Inlet as it becomes an important port for the transport of gypsum during the war years.
1817 Ithaca becomes the county seat, and a courthouse is built.
1820 Steamship 'Enterprise' is built in Inlet and makes first trip.
1821 Steamboat 'Enterprise' makes its trips from Port Renwick.
1823 Eastern portion of Erie Canal opens.
1825 Erie Canal is completed. The second steamboat 'Telemachus' is put into service.
1827 Steamboats resume trips from Inlet.
1828 The Ithaca and Owego Railroad company is chartered, the second railroad company to be chartered in New York State. Port of Ithaca at the Inlet handles 10078 tons of exports and 7727 tons of imports.
1829 The population of Ithaca is now 3,592, which is triple that of 1825. Steamboat 'DeWitt Clinton' is launched.
1834 The Ithaca and Owego Railroad opens.
1837 Depression.
1838 The pier at the mouth of the inlet is built.

Railroad Era (1870's and 1880's)

1842 Ithaca and Owego Railroad Company fails and is sold to become. Cayuga and Susquehanna Railroad. T.D. Wilcox purchases the Cayuga Lake Steamboat Company.
1849 Cayuga & Susquehanna constructs a new route from steamboat landing with a switchback and trestle to Owego.
1855
 Population 7,000. The Cayuga and Susquehanna becomes in effect a division of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Co.
1857 Major flood.
1860-65 Civil War. Shipping at Inlet increases.
1868 Cornell University inaugurated.
1870 The 'Frontenac' steamboat is built.
1870-80 Population grows to 11,190.
1871 Ithaca and Athens Railroad opens on east side of Inlet heading south.
1872 Cayuga Lake Railroad opens on east side of Inlet heading north.
1873 Geneva & Ithaca opens on west side of Inlet.
1873 A year of financial crisis. The three new Inlet railroads undergo sales and eventually become part of the Lehigh Valley Railroad system by 1890.
1878 Lehigh Valley House is constructed.
1882 Inlet Mission wooden chapel built. Ithaca Street Railway system chartered.
1888 The village of Ithaca becomes a city.
1893 The ISR trolley begins operating, and links the hills to flats.

Recreation Era (1894 - 1915)

1893 The Cayuga Lake Electric Railway Company runs a trolley to Cayuga Lake. In June, Renwick Park opens. On July 4th, 12,000 people celebrate Independence Day at the park. On August 2, the restaurant pavillion is complete. Renwick pier is built for steamboat excursions.
1894 The Renwick Park dancing pavillion, bandstand, water tower and other structures, all designed by architects Vivian and Gibb, are complete.
1895
The Black Diamond Express begins its daily travel through Ithaca. At Renwick Park, a stage is added to the dancing pavillion, making it Ithaca's first vaudeville theater. The Cascadilla boathouse, begun in 1894, is completed. In Ithaca, the city's first sewer system is open for public use.
1898 Renwick Park adds a projection booth to the dancing pavillion and becomes site of Ithaca's first motion picture theater. A new passenger terminal for the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company is built on the site of their previous depot.
1898 Observation trains carry several thousand visitors along the east shore to view a Memorial Day race between Cornell's crew and Pennsylvania. Edward G. Wyckhoff buys Ithaca Street Railway and takes over management of Renwick Park.
1899 First car in Ithaca.
1901-02 Severe floods.
1903 Typhoid epidemic. The steamer 'Horton' provides services to cottagers from Renwick Pier until 1925, and also serves as the official finish boat for Cornell crew races.
1904 The rowing race between Cornell and Harvard draws the largest crowd in Cornell rowing history. 32 flat cars are used for the observation train, and the course has to be expanded from 2 miles to 5 miles.
1905 Another serious flood.
1906 City acquires some of the land at present day Cass Park. The Inlet is dredged and straightened for the Barge Canal.
1908 ISR sold to Albert Flint, who then sells Renwick Park to a group of local men who form the Renwick Park and Traffic Association. Despite their efforts, Renwick Park experiences a decline and is closed in 1915.
1913 The Renwick family present 55 acres south of Renwick Park for a bird sanctuary to the City of Ithaca. The site, initially named Renwick Wildwood, is maintained by the Cayuga Bird Club.

Flight, Film and Public Works (1920's through the 1940's)

1914 Thomas Bros. Aeroplane Co. and Aviation School moves to Ithaca from Bath. 122 acres of now Cass Park land is developed as a municipal airport with a large hangar and a seaplane landing site on the Inlet. The school flourishes.
1915 Wharton Studios lease Renwick Park site until 1919.
1916
 Polio epidemic. Williams family donates Williams playground to the City.
1917 Thomas Bros. amalgamate with Morse Chain Works to become the Thomas-Morse Aircraft Corp. Staff in airplane production increases from 100 to 1200.
1918 Westside House community center built.
1920 Population 17004.
1921 Stewart Park opens on July 4th.
1925 Inlet "beautification" - 8 remaining squatters, including 2 families and an aged couple moved to houses on Floral Avenue.
1927 At Stewart Park, a flagpole monument set in a formal garden designed by Arthur Gibb is erected to the memory of Mayor Stewart. Cayuga Bird Club president Louis Agassiz Fuertes dies and the bird sanctuary is named in his honor.
1927 Augusta Williams deeds Brindley Park to the City.
1932 A new brick chapel is built for the Inlet Beebe Mission. A paved 2750' runaway at Ithaca Municipal Airport (the first in central New York State) is opened, along with a modern hangar.
1933 A Work Relief project begins creating Newman Municipal golf course on an old ash dump site.
1934 Full plan for Stewart Park finished. Dredging and infill operations raise the level of the park by 2-4 feet.
1935 The west end and the Inlet neighborhood are hit particularly hard by a severe flood July 7th. City trolleys make their final runs.
1945 Robinson Aviation Corp starts daily Ithaca - NYC air service.

The 'Modern Era (1950's to Present)

1947 County airport on the Hill opens, taking away much of the Inlet Airport activity.
1950 City approves Route 13.
1958
The present day Collyer Cornell boathouse opens.
1959 Black Diamond line ends.
1960 Inlet flood control project is part of Federal Flood Control Act.
1961 All passenger rail service to Ithaca ends. Swimming is discontinued at Stewart Park due to pollution and turbidity of water.
1964 Funding approved and work by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers begins.
1966 Municipal Airport on the Inlet closes.
1970 Flood control channel completed. 55 private homes are demolished for the channel, as are the Westside House, the Beebe Community Chapel and Williams Playground. Part of Brindley park remains including the water fountain. Park Road is built. The infamous Octopus is formed.
1971 Cass Park is developed. Ice Rink opens in November 1972, the pool and ball fields in the summer of 1973. Southern portion of Cass Park is on land filled in by flood control channel project. The state takes over and develops the marina.
1975 Hangar theater opens, although efforts to create a Center for Performing Arts on the site fail.
1982 Part of Ithaca festival festivities take place at Stewart Park. This annual festival draws a few thousand people to the park each summer.
1988 Ithaca's Farmer's market moves from Inlet Island space to a new home at Steamboat Landing. Also, new Ithaca Area Waste Water Treatment Plant opens.
1992 Inlet Island Study published. Black Diamond trail agreement.
1993 ISTEA grant for Black Diamond trail.
1994

Work begins to 'unravel' the Octopus. Completed in 1997.


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