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Upstate New York

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The areas highlighted in YELLOW and GREEN are those which are considered to be a bona fide part of Upstate New York from the perspective of New York City. However, residents of the "yellow" and "green" areas sometimes restrict their definition of "Upstate New York" to the "green" region, preferring to refer to the "yellow" areas by their more specific region (e.g. Central New York, Western New York, etc.) Those highlighted in RED are areas that form the core of the New York City metropolitan area, and are almost never included as part of the region; this includes New York City and its close-in suburbs in New York State. Finally, areas highlighted in ORANGE may or may not be included as part of Upstate New York; these are exurbs which are rural to suburban in character but arguably still within the New York City sphere of influence.

Upstate New York is the region of New York State north of the core of the New York metropolitan area. It has a population of 7,121,911 out of New York State's total 18,976,457. Were it an independent state, it would be ranked 13th by population.

Definition

There is no clear or official boundary between Upstate New York and Downstate New York, but the term "Upstate" is sometimes used to refer to the whole of the state besides New York City, Long Island and the lower Hudson Valley (Westchester County and Rockland County).

Another common perception of the Upstate/Downstate boundary locates it at the point at which New York's suburbs segue into its exurbs. This line would place most, but not all, of Westchester and Rockland counties south of the boundary, putting the northwestern edge of Rockland as well as the northernmost quarter of Westchester (such as Peekskill) in Upstate New York. This definition of Upstate New York corresponds to the orange, yellow, and green areas on the map above.

A more nuanced view would suggest the boundary lies further north. Because most New York City bedroom communities in Dutchess and Orange counties are situated in the southern part of those counties and the city's suburban public transportation system extends some distance north, the Upstate/Downstate boundary can be defined roughly by a border extended from Wassaic (where Metro-North's Harlem Line ends) across to Poughkeepsie, down to Newburgh and then across to Middletown and Port Jervis. This definition of Upstate New York corresponds to the yellow and green areas on the map above and roughly corresponds with the area north of Interstate 84. This imaginary line also demarcates the northernmost reach of high housing prices associated with the Downstate region in contrast to the relatively low housing costs found further Upstate.

One factor complicating this issue is the fact that many communities clearly beyond the New York City commuter orbit are part of the City's media market, which includes Dutchess, Ulster and Sullivan counties, and thus do not get local television (via cable) from Albany or Binghamton TV stations. [1]

For some, the term Upstate evokes sentiments of rural lifestyles and traditional values contrary to those of New York City. In the New York metropolitan area, usage of the term "Upstate New York" typically implies unfamiliarity with (and often condescension towards)[citation needed] the area that the speaker is denoting as such. It denotes areas that are both somewhat north of and considerably more rural than the home location of the speaker. Usage of the term is often taken to be an insulting manifestation of the famous New Yorker magazine's view of the world.[citation needed]

New York City is dependent on upstate for a variety of services; it is the source of the city's water supply via the Delaware Aqueduct and the Catskill Aqueduct; much of the city's electric power supply comes from state owned hydroelectric plants at Niagara Falls and the St. Lawrence River such as the Robert Moses power station; and most of the state's prisons are upstate; hence the popular term "being sent up the river" (however, the term originally referred to Sing Sing, which is "up the Hudson River" from New York City, but being in Ossining in Westchester County is still in the "downstate" region). Conversely, the operation of state facilities providing these services is an important part of the upstate economy.

Culture

The region is culturally and economically distinct from the New York City area, though the Hudson Valley counties of Putnam, Orange, Dutchess, Ulster, and even Albany are increasingly peripheral sections of the New York City metro area. The northern upstate area consists of a handful of small and medium-sized cities, with surrounding suburbs, amidst vast rural areas.

Western New York has many cultural and economic ties to the other Great Lakes states as well as Southern Ontario, while the Capital District, the Hudson Valley, the Mohawk Valley and the Plattsburgh area have ties to New England (In fact, cultural leanings in the extreme northeastern portion of the state also cross the border so-to-speak with the presence of prominent French and Anglo Canadian ties - cultural, economic, and familial. Plattsburgh, for example, is an historically French town with closer ties to its neighbors in the Montreal and Vermont areas than to the rest of the state.). Some literary and cinematic depictions of upstate present a sense of small town, Midwestern lifetyles, such as It's a Wonderful Life, set in a small upstate town in the 1940s.

During the 1990s and the 2000s this area has suffered slow job growth [2] and a rapid loss of young adults. [3] It has been argued, however, that Upstate doesn't suffer from "brain drain" as much as it suffers from lack of "brain gain" (i.e. other areas of the country attract more educated persons than does Upstate.)[citation needed]

A common misconception is that the predominant ethnic group in upstate are WASPs. Actually residents of English ancestry are dominant in only a handful of rural counties. The Hudson Valley, the Capital District and the Syracuse region are heavily Irish American, while the North Country is heavily French Canadian. Italian Americans are the largest ethnic group in Oneida County, Broome County and Schenectady, while German ancestry is most common across western New York. [4] Persons of Polish ancestry are predominant in Buffalo and its close suburbs. There is also a significant presence of indigenous Iroquois Native Americans in the area.

The only two major league professional sports teams in Upstate New York are the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League (NFL) and the Buffalo Sabres of the National Hockey League (NHL). As a result, the collegiate sports program at Syracuse University (Syracuse Orange) attracts significant regional attention, as do minor league baseball and hockey teams. Professional sports teams from New York City, northern New Jersey, and Boston all have followings in the Capital District, while some Western New York sports fans follow teams from Toronto. In Rochester several minor league teams play. Rochester has seven professional sports teams.

Club Sport Founded League Venue Rochester Red Wings Baseball 1899 International League Frontier Field Rochester Americans Ice hockey 1956 AHL Blue Cross Arena Rochester Knighthawks Indoor lacrosse 1995 NLL Blue Cross Arena Rochester Raging Rhinos Soccer 1996 USL First Division PAETEC Park Rochester Rattlers Field lacrosse 2001 MLL PAETEC Park Rochester Razorsharks Basketball 2005 PBL Blue Cross Arena Rochester Raiders Indoor football 2006 CIFL Main Street Armory

Among cities in North America with at least seven current professional teams, Rochester is the only one whose teams all have cumulative winning regular season records.[1]

The Rochester Red Wings baseball club, the AAA affiliate of the Minnesota Twins, play in the International League. The Rochester Americans ice hockey team, the AHL affiliate for the NHL Buffalo Sabres and Florida Panthers, are commonly known as the "Amerks". The Rochester Raging Rhinos soccer club play in the USL First Division, which is the second-highest level American soccer league.

Frontier Field, including the Rochester skyline to the southeast.

There are two professional lacrosse teams in Rochester. The Rochester Knighthawks club plays box lacrosse in the National Lacrosse League during the winter and spring. In the summer, the Rochester Rattlers club plays field lacrosse in the Major League Lacrosse organization.

PAETEC Park

The newest local professional sports teams are the Rochester Razorsharks (of the Premier Basketball League) and the Rochester Raiders (Continental Indoor Football League).

Rochester is also home to the Empire State Roar, a semi-pro team in the league known as the Women's Professional Football League, and the Rochester Rhinos women's team of the W-League, an advanced amateur tier of the United Soccer Leagues.

Professional golf regularly comes to Rochester. The PGA Championship and the US Open have been held at Oak Hill Country Club several times (along with the 1995 Ryder Cup. The Xerox Classic Tournament on the Nationwide Tour comes here every August. The Wegmans LPGA tournament is held yearly in June at Locust Hill Country Club.

While Rochester currently has no teams at the top level of any of the major American sports, the city does host training camp for the NFL's Buffalo Bills each summer (since 2000) at St. John Fisher College in the suburban town of Pittsford. The absence of a major pro sports team in the area has not always been the case. From 1920–1925, Rochester was home to the Rochester Jeffersons, a charter member of the National Football League. From 1948–1957, the Rochester Royals played in the National Basketball Association, winning the NBA championship in 1951. In soccer, the Rochester Lancers played from 1970–1980 in the top-level North American Soccer League.

Since 1877, twenty-nine different teams in eight professional sports have represented Rochester. In the spring of 2006, local sports historian Douglas Brei determined that collectively Rochester's professional sports teams would soon surpass the 25,000-game milestone. That historic game was played on June 16, 2006 when the hometown Red Wings hosted the Indianapolis Indians at Frontier Field.

Only six active franchises in the history of North American professional sports have played in the same city and same league continuously and uninterrupted since the 1800s: The Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds, Philadelphia Phillies, Pittsburgh Pirates, St. Louis Cardinals, and Rochester Red Wings. The amateur Watertown Red & Black also holds its own record as the longest running noncollegiate American football team in the United States, having been founded in 1896, three years before the oldest professional team, now known as the Arizona Cardinals.

The city has two independent pro-wrestling leagues: Next Era Wrestling and NWA Upstate which operate in and around the city. Rochester is unofficially known as the Wrestling Capital of Upstate New York.

Rochester is considered within the home territory of the Buffalo Bills and the Buffalo Sabres. The Sabres are further tied to Rochester through their owner, Rochester billionaire Tom Golisano.

Two of the most important rock festivals of the 20th century were held in Upstate New York. In 1969 the Woodstock Festival was held in Bethel, New York, while in 1973 another multiday festival was held at the Watkins Glen International Raceway.

Linguistically, from Western New York to as far east as Syracuse is part of the Inland North region of American English dialectology, a region which includes Midwestern cities as far west as Chicago and Milwaukee. The Hudson and lower Mohawk Valley has more in common dialectologically with western New England and New York City.[5] The boundary between the use of the words pop and soda to refer to soft drinks, however, falls further west than the edge of the Inland North, running just to the east of the city of Rochester: Buffalo and Rochester use pop, like the rest of the Inland North to the west, whereas Syracuse uses soda, like New England and New York City.

Politics

Often attributed to the region's semi-rural character, there is more conservatism in culture and politics than found in the more urban downstate area, and is the power base of the state's Republican Party, especially now that Long Island, a former Republican stronghold, has developed strong Democratic leans.

There are several exceptions to this rule, including Erie County (Buffalo), Monroe County (Rochester), Onondaga County (Syracuse), Tompkins County (Ithaca), Albany County (Albany), Niagara County (Niagara Falls), Broome County (Binghamton), Clinton (Plattsburgh), Franklin, and St. Lawrence counties (influence of Canada). Ulster County, while having no urban centers, is the home of SUNY New Paltz. The large student population has consistently voted Democratic in presidential elections.

As a whole, Upstate New York is roughly equally divided in Federal elections between Democrats and Republicans. In 2004, George W. Bush defeated John Kerry by less than 1,000 votes (1,552,910 votes to 1,552,307) in the Upstate Region.

The conservatism of the upstate region more closely resembles the libertarian, socially liberal "Live and let live" conservatism of Vermont, New Hampshire and many of the western states instead of the social conservatism of the southern states and the Religious Right. Some of the Religious Right's harshest critics within the Republican Party, in fact, have been upstate New York Republicans such as Amo Houghton and Jack Quinn. Although religious fundamentalism exists in the upstate region (the region has strong Roman Catholic heritage due to its Polish, Italian and German roots, particularly in the western portion of the state), it generally is not an organized political force in local elections. The misunderstanding of the regional differences in upstate's conservative nature has led to significant political difficulties by both major political parties in the area. Since 2001, the Republican Party's efforts to reach out to the area using the religious rhetoric that had been so successful in the South has been met with rejection and ridicule, and was one of the leading causes of the Party's considerable loss of support in upstate since that time.[dubious – discuss]

The influence of public service labor unions is also a factor in Democratic Party dominance. Hospitals and public schools are among the area's largest employers, and these agencies have unionized workers. These unions, most notably the Service Employees International Union and New York State United Teachers, make large purchases of television air time on local television and radio stations during budget negotiations and prior to school budget votes to air commercials featuring scare tactics threatening the closure of hospitals or emergency rooms, larger class sizes, and reduced care if they don't receive more money. Organized rebuttals have been few and far between; Eliot Spitzer's use of his personal campaign funds to push through his 2007 reforms is the only recent attempt to answer the unions' dominance.

Upstate politicians have, in fact, sometimes taken the leading role in the moves that give the state its liberal reputation. It was George Michael, an assemblyman from the Finger Lakes, who in 1970 stunned not only the state but the nation by asking that his vote of "no" on the bill to legalize abortion in New York be changed to "yes," causing the bill to pass by one vote. (He lost his seat at the next primary election, as he had anticipated, but never regretted changing his vote). Nearly three decades later, voters in Plattsburgh elected the state's first openly gay mayor - a Republican, to boot. Another upstate mayor, Jason West of New Paltz, drew national attention in early 2004 when he officiated at the state's first gay weddings. However, such "liberal oases," which include New Paltz and Ithaca, tend to be the state's (and the country's) most liberal regions and unrepresentative of the region's politics as a whole.

Proponents of the 2008 presidential run by Sen. Hillary Clinton have pointed to her relative success upstate (she lost the region by less than 10 percent of the vote in 2000) as an argument that she could succeed as a candidate in red states. Skeptics of such a bid have responded that upstate is, in fact, not as conservative as widely believed, at least not conservative in the manner of what is now the leadership of the Republican Party. [6].

Most of New York State's most successful Republican politicians, however, such as Rockefeller, George Pataki, Thomas Dewey, Fiorello LaGuardia, Jacob Javits and Alfonse D'Amato, came from the downstate region, (although some definitions of the boundary would have Pataki being from upstate). Most upstate Republicans are politically unacceptable to even downstate Republican voters, and the party's financial backers are mostly based downstate (the corollary, of course, being that incumbent New York City politicians rarely win statewide elections, either). Democratic politicians upstate often tend to be (or at least run) more moderate than their downstate compatriots, and sometimes seek the endorsement of the state's Conservative Party to inoculate them against perceptions of extreme liberalism.

Nevertheless, Republican attempts upstate to court votes by openly appealing to suspicion of the city have often backfired. In 1998 incumbent Republican Senator Al D'Amato's Senate campaign ran television ads in some upstate markets attempting to link his opponent, Charles Schumer, to a flock of hungry sharks released from the city to fleece upstate. Schumer went on to win the election and did surprisingly well upstate for a Democrat with deep roots in the city. In turn, he has probably lobbied for "upstate" interests both in and out of government more than any past "downstate" Democratic senator (for example, he lobbied for JetBlue to provide flights to Buffalo and Syracuse, producing more competition and lower fares at those airports).

Downstate candidates seeking statewide office have often sealed their fate by displaying profound ignorance of upstate geography. One candidate at a forum in Buffalo once referred to "your airport in Albany" ... a city more than 200 miles (320 km) away. In the 2000 Senate race, Rudolph Giuliani confused the Orange County village of Monroe with Monroe County, and the ultimate Republican nominee, Rick Lazio, later released an itinerary confusing Owego and Oswego, two communities a considerable distance from each other. Hillary Clinton won the race, doing much better upstate than expected. Like Charles Schumer, she too has "given back" and lobbied for "upstate" interests more than most past "downstate" Democratic senators (for example, unsuccessfully lobbying for larger Homeland Security funding for the Buffalo area than its size would normally warrant on the basis of it being on the Canadian border, the finding of a putative sleeper cell in the nearby city of Lackawanna in 2002, and the presence of the Eastern United States' most vital electrical power generation facilities, the Robert Moses Niagara Power Plant and the Lewiston Pump Generating Plant).

But while politicians based upstate rarely win elections for governor or U.S. Senator, some have been elected to other lesser statewide offices, such as lieutenant governor (Stan Lundine, Maryanne Krupsak and Mary Donohue, for instance), comptroller (Edward Regan) and attorney general (Dennis Vacco). The late Daniel Patrick Moynihan officially lived on a farm in Delaware County while serving in the Senate, but he grew up in New York City and spent much of his career there, making him a familiar face to downstate voters.

The sharp differences in ideology have historically fueled many political struggles by upstate conservatives with largely downstate-based Democrats in the New York Legislature; however the feuds quite often tend to be more on regional lines than on party lines. The most recent major examples were the failed attempt by Syracuse-area assemblyman Michael Bragman, the majority leader of that body to seize control of the downstate-dominated state Democratic party in 2000, which was immediately followed by a strong retaliatory backlash against all upstate politicians in state government and the attempt by both Republicans and Democrats to cater to upstate voters by promising to disband the New York State Thruway, whose toll portions are entirely upstate. Both candidates in the 2006 gubernatorial election (Democrat Eliot Spitzer and Republican John Faso) pledged to eliminate the tolls however at the present time only an eight mile stretch of I-190 in downtown Buffalo, which had been collecting tolls to be used to keep I-84 downstate a free highway, has been made toll-free, and in fact the thruway authority has steadily increased tolls annually since 2006. Critics upstate feel that it is unlikely that either party would genuinely be willing to give up such a significant source of revenue, despite promises to the contrary, particularly one that does not draw its funding from the population core downstate.

While Republicans have traditionally controlled the State Senate by virtue of holding most seats upstate, the leadership has often been split between senators from Long Island such as Ralph Marino and upstaters such as the present leader, Joe Bruno.

In the midterm elections of 2006, many upstate Congressional seats historically held by Republicans came under serious challenge by Democratic contenders, and some (such as the 20th and 24th districts) were lost to Democrats. Slow population growth in the 1990s led legislators to eliminate two upstate House districts in the 2002 reapportionment and leave all downstate districts alone, hence, the influence of upstate in Congress has faded from the days in which Jack Kemp; Barber Conable, and Sam Stratton were prominent House leaders.

Upstate New York
Presidential elections results
Year Republican Democrat
2004 49.22% 1,552,910 49.20% 1,552,307
2000 45.30% 1,348,93 49.33% 1,469,087
1996 36.76% 1,050,511 49.66% 1,419,077
1992 36.72% 1,159,280 39.31% 1,241,203
1988 52.49% 1,506,011 46.71% 1,340,248
1984 60.17% 1,765,919 34.49% 1,158,830
1980 47.93% 1,327,072 41.65% 1,153,234
1976 55.57% 1,555,430 44.06% 1,233,220
1972 63.45% 1,805,076 36.30% 1,032,633
1968 49.60% 1,330,622 44.12% 1,183,698
1964 31.73% 873,257 68.18% 1,876,429
1960 54.05% 1,552,646 45.87% 1,317,838
Downstate New York
Presidential elections results
Year Republican Democrat
2004 33.39% 1,409,657 65.42% 2,761,973
2000 27.42% 1,054,391 68.64% 2,638,820
1996 25.53% 882,981 67.58% 2,337,100
1992 31.24% 1,187,369 57.97% 2,203,247
1988 43.57 1,575,860 55.51% 2,007,634
1984 49.04% 1,898,844 50.64% 1,960,779
1980 45.64% 1,566,759 45.88% 1,575,138
1976 41.47% 1,545,361 57.87% 2,156,338
1972 55.31% 2,387,702 44.44% 1,918,451
1968 40.84% 1,677,310 53.44% 2,194,772
1964 31.05% 1,370,302 68.80% 3,036,727
1960 42.86% 1,893,773 56.86% 2,512,247


Geography

Regular NY upstate landscapes

The headwaters of the Delaware, Susquehanna, Hudson, and Allegheny rivers are located in the region. The region is characterized by the major mountain ranges and large lakes.

The Allegheny Plateau extends into west and central New York from the south. The Catskill Mountains lie in the southeastern part of the state, closer to New York City. The Catskills and the Allegheny Plateau are both part of the Appalachian Mountains. The northernmost part of the state contains the Adirondack Mountains, which are sometimes considered part of the Appalachians but are geologically separate.

In the more mountainous eastern part of Upstate New York, the valleys of the Hudson River and the Mohawk River were historically important travel corridors and remain so today. However in the different area of Buffalo, New York the area is very flat, as it use to be a glacial lake. The only "hills" in Niagara County, New York are the Niagara Escarpment, which formed the Falls.

Upstate has a long shared border with Canadian province of Ontario divided by water; including the Lake Erie, Niagara River, Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River. It shares a land border with the province of Quebec in the northernmost part of the state.

The sizes of upstate counties and towns are generally larger in area and smaller in population, compared with the downstate region, although there are exceptions. The state's smallest county in population (Hamilton County) and largest county in area (St. Lawrence County on the state's northern border) are both in upstate New York, while the largest in population (Kings County) and smallest in area (New York County) are both part of New York City.

Upstate New York is well known for its cold winters, particularly in comparison to the more temperate climate of downstate New York. This is especially true for the cities of Buffalo, Rochester, Oswego and Syracuse, and is largely due to lake-effect snow from Lake Ontario and Lake Erie.

Many of the features of the upstate landscape, such as the Finger Lakes and the drumlins that dot the region, are the result of glaciers during the Ice Age.

History

Before the arrival of European settlement, the area was inhabited by a mixture of Iroquois-speaking people (mainly west of the Hudson) and Algonquian-speaking people (mainly east of the Hudson). The conflict between the two peoples was an important historical force in the days of the early European colonization. The Iroquois confederacy of the Five (later Six) Nations was a powerful force in its home territory that extended from the Mohawk River Valley to the western part of the state, and the Iroquois controlled large swaths of territory at various times throughout the northeastern U.S. from this home base.

The region was important beginning in the very early days of both the French Colonization and Dutch colonization, where much of the fur trade of the New Netherland colony was located in the upper Hudson Valley. The area was the scene of much of the fighting in the French and Indian War, events which were depicted in the work of James Fenimore Cooper.

The region was strategically important in the American Revolution, and was the scene of several important battles, including the Battle of Saratoga, which is considered to have been a significant turning point in the war. While New York City remained in the hands of the British during most of the war, the upstate region was firmly in the hands of the Colonial forces. In 1779, the Sullivan Expedition, a military campaign ordered by Gen. George Washington, drove thousands of Iroquois from their lands in the region.

Following the American Revolution, the United States signed a federal treaty, the Treaty of Canandaigua, with the Six Nations of the Iroquois, affirming their land rights in the region. Nevertheless, extinguishing of Indian title to these lands via non-Federally-sanctioned treaties continued through the early 19th century. The lands were then settled by Revolutionary War veterans and others from New England states. Prior to this time, the French and later the English were among the first settlers to this region coming up the river from Quebec.

Battles with British were also fought during the war of 1812 (1812-1815), on land, in the Great Lakes (Ontario and Erie) and St. Lawrence shorlines, including the Battle of Sacket's Harbour.

By 1825, the Erie Canal opened, allowing the area to become an important component of the 19th century industrial expansion in the United States. This also promoted trade with British North America and settlement of newer states in western territories. Later in the century the New York Central Railroad followed the "water-level route" from New York City to the Great Lakes, contributing to the industrialization of cities along its route.

In the pre-Civil War era, upstate New York became a major center of radical abolitionist activity and was an important nexus of the Underground Railroad. Resistance to the Fugitive Slave Act was particularly heated in the region. The American women's rights movement was also born in upstate New York at this time; the first women's rights convention was held at Seneca Falls in 1848.

Through the mid and late 19th century, Upstate New York became a hotbed of religious revivialism with myriads of sects establishing themselves during that time, such as the Oneida Community. Because of the comparative isolation of the region, many of the sects were non-conformist and had numerous difficulties with other local population as well as government authority because of their non-traditional tenets. This led to evangelist Charles Grandison Finney to coin the term the burned-over district for the region. The Mormons, Seventh-day Adventists and Spiritualists are the only 21st century survivors of the hundreds of sects created during this time.

During the era immediately following World War II Upstate reached what was probably its peak influence in the national economy. Major local corporations such as IBM, General Electric, Kodak, Xerox and Carrier produced cutting edge products for business, government and consumers. The opening of the New York State Thruway in the mid 1950s gave the region superior access to other eastern markets. This regional advantage faded as many local firms relocated operations to other states, or downsized in the face of foreign competition, similar to other areas in the American Rust Belt.

In recent decades, with the decline of manufacturing, the area has generally suffered a net population loss. Five of the six Iroquois nations have filed land claims against New York State (or have sought settlement of pending claims), based on late 18th-century treaties with the United States.

Important features

Political figures

The region is considered to be the cradle of Mormonism, as well as the Women's Suffrage movement. It was important historically in the Shaker movement.

Subregions

Major highways

Major cities

Major universities and colleges

Major tourist attractions and destinations

See also

  1. ^ "Bob Matthews Sports Column, July 21, 2007". Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. 2007-07-21. Retrieved 2007-07-21.
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