ODESSA

A short history of Odessa

The land on which the Village of Odessa sits was originally part of the Watkins-Flint land purchase John W. Watkins and Royal Flint and associates of New York City, in 1794, following an application to the New York Commissioners of the Land-Office in 1791. The 200 acres Odessa was laid out on was originally given to Phineas Catlin Sr. for military service.

1801 – R.C Johnson built first building – Grist Mill on Catlin Creek was later bought by Phineas Catlin Jr., but was torn down and rebuilt in 1837.

1836 – John Foster built a building on the site of Odessa House and part of that building is incorporated into the current structure.

1845 – Name changed to Odessa by prominent Odessa businessman John I. Lawrence and John Foster with the blessing of Phineas Catlin. It is unknown why they picked that name.

1850s – First school was a log cabin located in the area of Speedway. Shortly after, it was moved to second location on Church Street just north of the old Baptist on the west side of street (currently a private residence).

1854 – Schuyler County formed. Odessa was in five counties previously before Schuyler was formed due to changing boundary lines. They were Tryon (1772), Albany (1776), Montgomery (1784), Tioga (1791) and Chemung (1836). 1855 – First Post Office. Joseph L. Darling appointed first postmaster May 24, 1855.

1876 (October 23) – Large fire on the south side of Main Street destroyed four building including 2 stores, a barn and a residence.

1878 – A great storm washed out Mill Pond Dam and the Mill St. bridge over Catlin Creek. 1884 – First telephone poles/lines installed and phone switchboard in Montgomery Store.

1905 – First horse races on Mitchell Farm. Speedway is named after the horse track. Previously that street was known as the Boulevard.

1910 – Odessa Hose & Chemical Company (Odessa Fire Department). Incorporated on May 4. 1910 – Electric lights replaced kerosene lanterns for street lighting.

1961 – The large Cotton Hanlon retail store located just south of the village was completely destroyed by fire in August. This is considered the largest fire ever to occur in the area.

2010 – Odessa voters rejected a proposal to dissolve the village into the surrounding towns of Catharine and Montour in a vote on December 7, 2010.

On April 16, 2018, Gerry Messmer, a retired Army Lieutenant Colonel with more than 30 years military experience, was sworn in as Mayor of the Village of Odessa.

2019 – Dylan Houseknecht becomes the first New York State Wrestling Champion in Odessa-Montour Central School history and the first student athlete to win an individual State Championship in any sport for Odessa-Montour.

Adapted (trimmed) from the Wikipedia article Odessa, New York, revision 1373515926 by its contributors, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.