The Peterboro Land Office is located in the hamlet of
Peterboro, in the Town of
Smithfield in
Madison County, New York
Madison County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 68,016. Its county seat is Wampsville. The county is named after James Madison, the fourth president of the United States, and was ...
. The small, Federal style building was built in 1804. It was constructed of locally produced brick laid in Flemish bond on the facade and common bond elsewhere. The main room is . The interior has plaster walls and ceiling and a brick over plank floor. The entrance vestibule is in the center of the south wall between two windows. There is a window each on the east and west walls. The north walls has built in shelves and drawers on the east side and a iron vault door on the west side.
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''Accompanying 4 photos, from 1984''
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Peter Smith arrived in Utica, New York
Utica () is the county seat of Oneida County, New York, United States. The tenth-most populous city in New York, its population was 65,283 in the 2020 census. It is located on the Mohawk River in the Mohawk Valley at the foot of the Adiro ...
, then called Fort Schuyler
Fort Schuyler is a preserved 19th century fortification in the New York City borough (New York City), borough of the Bronx. It houses a museum, the Stephen B. Luce Library, and the Marine Transportation Department and Administrative offices ...
, in 1784, and over the next ten years formed close ties with the local Native American tribe, the Oneidas. In 1794, Peter Smith leased, and subsequently acquired full title to, of land from the Oneidas under Chief Skenadoah. The tract comprised the central portion of modern-day Madison County and parts of the current Oneida County. Over of land in the northeastern part of the country were transferred in thousands of transactions at the land office, which was used for that purpose until the late 19th century.
Gerrit Smith
Gerrit Smith (March 6, 1797 – December 28, 1874), also spelled Gerritt Smith, was an American social reformer, abolitionist, businessman, public intellectual, and philanthropist. Married to Ann Carroll Fitzhugh, Smith was a candidate for P ...
, Peter's son, continued in the land business after his father. He also established the Peterboro Academy in 1853 and an orphanage in 1871. He was an active abolitionist. His grandson, Gerrit Smith Miller, was a noted philanthropist and active in the women's suffrage movement.
The land office was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
in 1984,Gerrit Smith Estate
The Gerrit Smith Estate is a historic residential estate at Oxbow Road and Peterboro Road in Peterboro, New York. It was home to Gerrit Smith (1797-1874), a 19th-century social reformer, abolitionist, and presidential candidate, and his wife, ...
which was designated a National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a National Register of Historic Places property types, building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the Federal government of the United States, United States government f ...
in 2001.
References
{{National Register of Historic Places in New York
Office buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state)
Federal architecture in New York (state)
Commercial buildings completed in 1804
National Register of Historic Places in Madison County, New York
Land office
The General Land Office (GLO) was an independent agency of the United States government responsible for public domain lands in the United States. It was created in 1812 to take over functions previously conducted by the United States Department ...
1804 establishments in New York (state)
Land offices