Welcome

Whether you’re a town resident, local historian or family genealogist, this page provides a list of resources and links to help you gain some insight into the history of our town and its people. Beyond the following resources and links, the town of Van Buren is also the exclusive repository of official records relating to Warners Cemetery and the former rural school districts of the town of Van Buren. Please feel free to contact the town historian with any local history questions or comments. Thank you.

History

Coming soon…

Histories

The following are published histories that include significant historical information about the town of Van Buren.

  • “Sketches of Yesterday: Books 1 & 2″ (Tony Christopher, 1976 & 1980) – Available to borrow at the Baldwinsville Public Library or buy at the Shacksboro Schoolhouse Museum in Baldwinsville.
  • Onondaga’s Centennial: gleanings of a century: Volume 1” (Dwight H. Bruce, 1896) – Available online at HathiTrust.org Onondaga’s Centennial (1896)
  • “Early History of the Town of Van Buren, Onondaga County, New York” (Louis Dow Scisco, 1895) – Available online at the Internet Archive Early History of the Town of Van Buren (1895)
  • “History of Onondaga County, New York, with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Some of its Prominent Men and Pioneers” (W.W. Clayton, 1878) – Available online at HathiTrust.org History of Onondaga County (1878)
  • “Onondaga or Reminiscences of Earlier and Later Times: being a series of historical sketches relative to Onondaga, with notes on the several towns in the county and Oswego: Volume 2” (Joshua V.H. Clark, 1849) – Available online at HathiTrust.org Onondaga or Reminiscences (1849)

Maps

The following are published maps and atlases that include historical lots and landowners in the town of Van Buren.

  • “Sweet’s Atlas of Onondaga County, New York” (Homer D.L. Sweet, 1874) – Available online at RootsWeb.com Sweet’s Atlas of Onondaga County (1874)
  • “Map of Onondaga Co., New York” (Homer D.L. Sweet, A.R.Z. Dawson, 1860) – Available online at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee Map of Onondaga County (1860)
  • “Map of Onondaga County, New York, from actual surveys” (L. Fagan, E.H. Babcock & Co. 1852) – Available online at the Library of Congress Map of Onondaga County (1852)

Directories

The following are published directories that include landowners and residents of the town of Van Buren.

  • “Onondaga County Rural Index and Almanac with Compass System Map” (Rural Directories, Inc., 1936) – Available to read in the local history room of the Baldwinsville Public Library.
  • “Rural Directory of Onondaga County, New York” (The Farm Journal Illustrated, 1917-1922) – Available online at RootsWeb.com Rural Directory of Onondaga County (1917-1922)
  • “Onondaga County Directory” (Hamilton Child, 1868-9) – Available to read in the local history room of the Baldwinsville Public Library.

Cemeteries

The following information is about burials and graves located in the town of Van Buren, both operating and extant. The town of Van Buren is the exclusive repository of official records relating to burials and graves in Warners Village Cemetery.

Schools

The following were the rural districts located in the town of Van Buren, until most of them were consolidated into the Baldwinsville Central School District circa 1949. Some images of these one-room schoolhouses are on display inside the Van Buren town hall and others are available online in the Christopher Collection at NYHeritage.org. The town of Van Buren is the exclusive repository of official records and reports relating to the town’s former rural school districts.

  1. Pleasant Valley – Located on the southeast corner of Kingdom and Perry Roads. Pleasant Valley School #1 Pleasant Valley School #2
  2. Harrington – Located on the north side of Downer Street Road (Route 31) about where the South Gate entrance to Harbour Heights is now. Harrington School #1 Harrington School #2 Harrington School #3
  3. Kingdom – Located on the northwest corner of Connors and Kingdom Roads. Kingdom School #1 Kingdom School #2  Kingdom School #3
  4. Stone Pile – Located on the southwest corner of Connors and West Dead Creek Roads.
  5. Daboll (Pine Hill) – Located on the southwest corner of Daboll and Kingdom Roads.
  6. Dolph – Located on the east side of Van Buren Road between its intersections with Jones Road and Herman Road. Dolph School
  7. Sorrell Hill – Located on the northwest corner of East Sorrell Hill and Hoag Roads. Sorrell Hill School #1 Sorrell Hill School #2 Sorrell Hill School #3 Sorrell Hill #4 Sorrell Hill School #5
  8. Shacksboro – Located on the east side of the intersection of Turner and Canton Street Roads, but relocated to the village of Baldwinsville in 1976, where it’s now the home of the Museum at the Shacksboro Schoolhouse. Shacksboro School #1 (pre-move) Shacksboro School #2 (post-move)
  9. Hardscrabble – Located on the northeast corner of Van Buren and Peck Roads. Hardscrabble School
  10. Cooper Street (Maple Road) – Located west of State Fair Boulevard (Route 48) just south of its intersection with O’Brien Road.
  11. Ionia (Iona Corners) – Located south of Warners Road (Route 173) just east of its intersection with East Dead Creek Road (north) and Bennett’s Corners Road (south). Ionia Corners School #1 Ionia Corners School #2 Ionia Corners School #3
  12. Memphis – The only rural school in the town of Van Buren to consist of more than one room, it was located on the south side of Bennett’s Corners Road in the hamlet of Memphis. Memphis School #1 Memphis School #2

Links

The following are links to other free or not-for-profit sites that also have historical resources regarding the town of Van Buren.

  • Baldwinsville Public Library – A library housing a local history room that includes Baldwinsville’s largest collection of local history books. Baldwinsville Public Library Local History Room
  • Erie Canal Museum – A museum dedicated to the history of the Erie Canal, which formed the town of Van Buren’s southern border and flowed through two of our hamlets, Memphis and Warners. Erie Canal Museum
  • FultonHistory.com – A searchable database of thousands of historical newspapers from upstate New York, including many newspapers published in Baldwinsville beginning in the early 1800s. Fulton History
  • Lysander Town Historian – The webpage of the local historian for the town of Lysander, which neighbors the town of Van Buren on the north, including the northern half of the village of Baldwinsville. Lysander Town Historian
  • Museum at the Shacksboro Schoolhouse – A museum that features Baldwinsville’s largest collection of local historical artifacts. Shacksboro Schoolhouse Museum
  • New York Heritage. A searchable database of images from New York State, including all photographs from the collection of Tony Christopher, the town of Van Buren’s first and most prolific historian. New York Heritage
  • New York State Historic Newspapers – A searchable database of hundreds of historical newspapers, largely from northern New York. New York State Historic Newspapers
  • Onondaga Historical Association – A local history museum and organization located in nearby Syracuse. Onondaga Historical Association