VILLAGE OF NORTH SYRACUSE – The village of North Syracuse is about to turn 100 years old. That is when the village was incorporated. The village was called Podunk, then Centerville and changed to its present name in 1880. It became an incorporated village in 1925.
Podunk was like the name implied, a small little settlement on what was then just an old Native trail. That became the corduroy road. Then the Salt Road opened running north to Brewerton.
From this simple road, the plank road was created and ready for travel in 1846.
By 1868 the small Podunk had become Centerville with its own post office and even two side streets running from the Plank Road.
Centerville kept its name until around 1880 when the citizens requested the postmaster general to change it to North Syracuse.
In 1907 the next big change came in the trolley line opening on what is now South Bay Road. With that advance, six years later the Plank Road came to an end with the trolley picking up many of the loads that were relying on the stagecoach.
The North Syracuse Volunteer Fire Department was started in 1913 becoming the first volunteer fire department established under a new state law allowing an unincorporated community the right to have their own fire district.
By 1925 an area extending one mile in each direction from the village center was incorporated into the village of North Syracuse.
So, in 2025 North Syracuse will be celebrating 100 years as the village of North Syracuse. While the village has changed names, some of its early families are still here and will help keep history alive.
We are no longer in Podunk.
Submitted by Pat Fergerson. Look for more stories on the village’s centennial in the coming weeks.
Subjects will include the Plank Road, the Trolley, Sweetheart Corner, the Baum Family with the Oak Grove, the churches, North Syracuse Fire Department and more.
