Pompey is a town in the southeast part of Onondaga County, New York, United States. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 7,080. The town was named after the Roman general and political leader Pompey by a late 18th-century clerk interested in the Classics in the new federal republic.

History

The area of Pompey was originally part of the territory traditionally occupied by the historic Onondaga, one of the Five Nations of the Iroquois tribes of the powerful Haudenosaunee, or Iroquois Confederacy. After the American Revolutionary War, when most of the Iroquois were forced to cede their land to the victorious United States, many of the Onondaga migrated to Canada. The British Crown awarded them land there for resettlement for their support during the war. New York State took over the former Iroquois lands and sold much of the public land for development (and speculation). It reserved part as the Central New York Military Tract. Veterans of the Revolution were awarded land grants in this tract as payments for service. The town was first settled by outsiders around 1789, as Yankees from New England and other migrants moved into western New York.

The town of Pompey was formed in 1789, but not completely organized until 1794, when Onondaga County was established. The original town was divided and sub-divided into many other towns in the region, including all of the towns of Fabius (1798), Tully, Preble, and Scott (the latter two now in Cortland County), along with parts of the towns of Spafford, Otisco (1806), LaFayette (1825), Onondaga (1794), Truxton and Cuyler (the latter two now in Cortland County).

The hamlet of Pompey developed about south of the main east-west Native American trail across the state, used for generations. European-American settlers improved the trail and developed it as the Genesee Road (1794) and then the Seneca Turnpike (1800), running through the villages of Cazenovia, Manlius and Onondaga Hollow (south of Syracuse). The segment of modern U.S. Route 20 (US 20), which connects Cazenovia and Skaneateles by way of Pompey and LaFayette, was not built until 1934.

The 1820 discovery of the Pompey stone was understood as proof of early European presence in North America, but it was decades later identified as a hoax.

The Oran District No. 22 Schoolhouse and Drover's Tavern at Oran are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , of which is land and (0.09%) is water.

The town is located south of Syracuse. The eastern town line borders the edge of

Madison County.

US 20 is an east-west highway through the town. New York State Route 91 (NY 91), a north-south highway, intersects US 20 in Pompey hamlet. NY 92 cuts across the northwestern corner of Pompey.

thumb|left|The rolling hills of Pompey are located just southeast of [[Syracuse, New York|Syracuse.]]

Demographics

As of the census

  • Victory Birdseye (1782 – 1853), lawyer, postmaster and congressman
  • Jason W. Briggs (1821 – 1899), leader in the early history of the Latter Day Saint movement
  • William George Fargo (1818 – 1881), founder of Wells-Fargo and mayor of Buffalo, New York
  • Frank Hiscock (1834 – 1914), member of the United States Congress
  • L. Harris Hiscock (1824 – 1867), brother of Frank Hiscock; New York State Assembly member and Onondaga County Surrogate Court judge
  • Leonard Jerome (1817 – 1891), stock broker and investment banker; maternal grandfather of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill
  • Sara Jane Clarke Lippincott (1823 – 1904), publisher of Little Pilgrim and the first woman journalist employed by the New York Times
  • Charles Mason (1804 – 1882), chief justice of Iowa (1838–1842) and U.S. commissioner of patents (1853–1857).
  • Erastus Dow Palmer (1817 – 1904), sculptor
  • Charles B. Sedgwick (1815 – 1883), U.S. congressman (1859–1863)
  • Horatio Seymour (1810 – 1886), two-time governor of New York
  • Silas J. Seymour (1824 – 1899), member of the Wisconsin State Assembly
  • James Shanahan (1920 – 1997), Brigadier General with distinguished combat service and numerous awards
  • Henry Warner Slocum (1827 – 1894), general for the Union during the Civil War and U.S. Congressman from Brooklyn
  • John Edison Sweet (1832 – 1916), engineer and professor at Cornell University, and a Dean at Syracuse University. His brother Homer Sweet, a poet and surveyor, wrote the New Atlas of Onondaga County, NY, in 1874, still used by local historians. Brother William Avery Sweet was a manufacturer of steel and refined technology.
  • Theodore Weld (1802 – 1895), leading abolitionist
  • Charles Augustus Wheaton (1809 – 1882), major abolitionist and supporter of the Underground Railroad

Education

School districts

The town of Pompey covers part of four separate public school districts:

  • Fabius-Pompey Central School District
  • Fayetteville-Manlius Central School District
  • Jamesville-Dewitt Central School District
  • Cazenovia Central School District

Communities and locations in the Town of Pompey

  • Atwell Corners – A location on the eastern town line near Hills Corners.
  • Berwyn – A location southwest of Pompey hamlet and west of Swift Corner.
  • Buellville – A hamlet at the northern town line on NY 92.
  • Clough Corners – A hamlet southeast of Pompey hamlet.
  • Delphi Falls – A hamlet near the eastern town boundary.
  • Hills Corners – A location near the east town line on US 20, east of Pompey Center.
  • Jamesville Reservoir – A reservoir in the northwestern corner of Pompey.
  • Jamesville Beach County Park – A county park south of Jamesville Reservoir.
  • Jerome Corner – A hamlet south of Pompey hamlet, near the southern town line on NY 91.
  • Oran – A hamlet in the northeastern corner of the town on NY 92, southeast of Beullville.
  • Pompey – A hamlet in the western part of the town at US 20 and NY 91.
  • Pompey Center – A hamlet east of Pompey hamlet on US 20. The Pompey Centre District No. 10 Schoolhouse was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1998.