BEAUTIFULLY and picturesquely situated, overlooking  the broad expanse of Lake Ontario, Oswego is one of the most prosperous and progressive cities  in  the Empire  State.

    It has many attractive parks, broad streets, splendid schools and an institution for the training of teachers.  The city is rich in residential architecture, club houses and  public institutions  and its public buildings are a prominent feature.  The educational and religious facilities are superior and unsurpassed by any other city of equal size in America.  It has long been known as the "Home of Hospitality" and as such has received wide  advertising.  It is famous for beauty, health, energy, prosperity, superior railroad and shipping facilities, industrial advantages, and genuine progressiveness.  Oswego, it may be said, is the result of a combination of advantages, on a commanding geographical location, turned to the best account by a spirit of transcendent energy, which surmounts all obstacles and builds the fabric of success.  Whatever local interests may clash, the good of Oswego is always a rallying cry.  Oswego is essentially a manufacturing city and stands high in business enterprises.  As an ideal home city, Oswego is unsurpassed.  With its unexcelled schools, whose teachings cover a wide range of knowledge; with its many churches; strong in their life and shedding a beneficent influence, Oswego is equally as attractive as a residential city as it is important as a manufacturing center. 

Few cities in any part of the United States can show more attractive residence streets or architectural designs indicating more culture and good taste.  West Fifth Street, lined by magnificent residences and shaded by majestic elms, is the admiration of all visitors to Oswego.  Other streets in the residential section have elegant homes which would be ornaments to any city.  The industrial life of Oswego has beat with strong, unfaltering pulsation during the last few years. The city has been a rich mine of commerce and manufacture, from out of the veins of which have been taken many fortunes.  Many of its manufacturing plants represent the largest of the kind in the world.  The Oswego River furnishes 100,000 horse-power within the limits of the city and only a third of this is at present utilized. 
 

   The handsome harbor of Oswego, the finest on the Great Lakes, has over seven miles of wharfage and can easily accommodate vessels of sixteen feet draft.  The city has excellent railroad facilities, three important roads converging here, a growing railroad system.

   The sanitary condition of the city is considered to be thoroughly good and satisfactory, owing to the natural draining system, and it is the healthiest city in the State, a fact which is vouched for by the State Department of Health.  Oswego leads the world in the manufacture of starch and opaque shade cloth and surpasses many cities in the manufacture of boilers, engines, excavators and fine machinery.  With four large coal trestles and its proximity to the coal fields, the fact is not surprising that over one million tons of the product of the mines are annually shipped from this port.

   Labor troubles have caused little inconvenience to manufacturers, the mechanics of this city being among the most contented in the land.  Oswego is one of the few cities in which the great majority of laboring men own their own homes.  The following table shows, in a nutshell, what Oswego is doing in the manufacture line:

Number of industries ...................207
Capital invested ........................$7, 322,907.00 
Number of Wage earners ..............3,845
Paid to wage earners ....................$1,543,905.00
Misc. expenses, including rent,
  interest, taxes, etc. ......................$667,109.00
Cost of material used ....................$4,611,975.00
Value of product ..........................$8,137,950.00

   These figures, compared with the 1890 manufacturers' census, show that Oswego is making creditable progress.  Every year sees new factories, new industries, new enterprises coming into existence.  No prophetic imagination is required to see now what Oswego will be a decade from today.

   The population of Oswego is estimated at 25,000.  By the census of 1900 it was 22,199.  The assessed valuation of the city for 1905, was $10,329,219.32, of which $9,190,761.00 is real estate and $1,133,458.32 is personal.  This is a substantial increase over the valuation of the previous year.

   The city government of Oswego is administered by a Mayor and Common Council.  The present chief executive is John K. Smith, who has accomplished many things which will prove of lasting benefit to the city during the few months he has administered its affairs.  His efforts to keep Oswego in the front rank, by encouraging municipal cleanliness and thrift, the appointment of a single headed commission for the Department of Works and the settlement of costly litigation in which the city has been involved are an earnest of the untiring energy with which Mayor Smith works for the advancement of the city's interest. 

   The principal offices of the city, in addition to that of Mayor, are filled as follows : 

City Clerk, Thomas N. Dewine; 
City Chamberlain, J. Carroll Smith; 
City Attorney, Francis D. Culkin; 
City Engineer, Charles H. Snyder; 
Recorder, Norman S. Bentley ; 
Commissioner of Public Works, John Smith; 
Clerk of the Board of Charity, George Marrin ; 
Chief of Police, James Doyle ; 
Captain of Police, William A. Richardson ; 
Chief of the Fire Department, Robert G. Blackburn; 
Superintendent of Schools, George E. Bullis. 

Source:  Oswego Yesterday & Today, A Souvenir of the Celebration of Old
     Home Week and of the Re-Garrisoning of Fort Ontario, published under the
     auspices of The Chamber of Commerce, Oswego, NY, 1906.