d 1830, Ithaca held high hopes of becoming a major city when
the Ithaca and Owego Railroad was completed in 1832 to connect the Erie Canal
navigation with the Susquehanna River to the south. In 1821, the village set
itself off by incorporation at the same time the Town of Ithaca parted with the
parent town of Ulysses. These hopes survived the depression of 1837 when the
railroad was re-organized as the Cayuga & Susquehanna and re-engineered
with switchbacks in the late 1840s; much of this route is now used by the South
Hill Recreation Way. However, easier routes soon became available, such as the
Syracuse, Binghamton & New York (1854). In the decade following the Civil
War railroads were built from Ithaca to surrounding points (Geneva, New York;
Cayuga, New York; Cortland, New York; Elmira, New York; Athens, Pennsylvania)
mainly with financing from Ezra Cornell. However, the geography of the city has
always prevented it from lying on a major transportation artery. When the
Lehigh Valley Railroad built its main line from Pennsylvania to Buffalo in 1890
it bypassed Ithaca (running via eastern Schuyler County on easier grades), as
the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad had done in the 1850s.
The late nineteenth century gave birth to the two major postsecondary
educational institutions Ithaca has today. In 1865, Ezra Cornell founded
Cornell University. It was opened as a coeducational institution. Women first
enrolled in 1870. Ezra Cornell also established a public library for the city.
Ithaca College was founded as the Ithaca Conservatory of Music in 1892. Ithaca
College was originally located in the downtown area, but relocated to South
Hill in the 1960s.
Ithaca became a city in 1888 and became a small manufacturing and retail
center. The Ithaca Gun Factory opened in 1880. The largest industrial company
(and associated building) in the area was Morse Chain, elements of which were
absorbed into Emerson Power
