Ogdensburg

Understand

Due to its strategic position on the St. Lawrence River, Prescott-Ogdensburg had a long native history before the first European presence. The initial colonial settlement was a fortress and 1749 French Catholic mission; the French fur trade in that era followed the river westward to reach the Great Lakes. During the Seven Years War (1750s), warriors from this fort attacked British colonists on behalf of the French. After the 1760 Battle of the Thousand Islands, the territory became British; in 1796, Jay's Treaty placed Fort Oswegatchie on the US side of the border. US settlers largely displaced the Oswegatchie natives and named the village Ogdensburgh after Samuel Ogden, an early landowner.

The city is directly on the border and clearly visible in the gunsights of Prescott's Fort Wellington. During the War of 1812, the city was captured by British forces; local merchants conducted extensive trade with Canada. Before the St. Lawrence Seaway (1958), Great Lakes vessels would unload grains in Prescott-Ogdensburg for transport eastward by rail. Early railways included the Ogdensburg & Lake Champlain Railroad (later Rutland Railroad) (1849), Rome, Watertown & Ogdensburg Railroad (1853) and a Portland & Ogdensburg Railway (never completed).

International ferry crossings joined Prescott-Ogdensburg and Morristown-Brockville until the Prescott-Ogdensburg international bridge opened in 1960; from there, separate railways once joined Prescott-Ottawa and Brockville-Ottawa.

Once the Seaway eliminated the need for freight to be offloaded onto the railways (1958), Ogdensburg went into decline; the loss of much of its manufacturing industry also hurt the city. The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020-21 aggravated matters by causing Canadian authorities to crack down on non-essential travel to Ottawa, less than an hour away.

Get in

By car

• NY 37 runs from US 11 in Watertown through Morristown and Ogdensburg, then follows the river to Massena-Malone
• NY 812 takes a dog-legged journey from the Prescott-Ogdensburg bridge to Utica
• Ontario 416 runs 45 miles (75km) north from the Prescott-Ogdensburg bridge to suburban Ottawa
• Ontario 401 runs from Windsor-Détroit through Toronto to Montréal; the Prescott-Ogdensburg bridge is exit 721 southbound.

By bus

By rail

Passenger trains no longer stop in Prescott or Ogdensburg. VIA Rail's Toronto-Ottawa and Toronto-Montréal corridor services are available from Brockville. The closest Amtrak stations are in Utica-Rome or Plattsburgh.

By plane

A similar situation exists in Watertown (ART). Plattsburgh and Massena.

The closest major airport is at the southern edge of Ottawa (YOW), about forty miles due north. Syracuse (SYR) may be an alternative, but is more distant.

By boat

Get around

Local taxis are G Mans Taxi (805 Caroline St, +1 315-393-3999) and Carry All Taxi (729 Patterson St, +1 315-393-3911).

Go next

• Canada's capital Ottawa-Gatineau. Highway 416 reaches the Trans-Canada Highway in suburban Ottawa in forty-five minutes.
• Thousand Islands and Alexandria Bay, directly up-river. Boldt Castle tours depart Alexandria Bay, Clayton and Wellesley Island.
• Cornwall-Massena, downriver on the St. Lawrence Seaway
• Potsdam, a small university town.
• Watertown and Sackets Harbor

Nearby

Morristown

Small (pop 347) former village opposite Brockville on the St. Lawrence River. The road forks at this point, with NY12 following the river westward through Alexandria Bay and Clayton in the Thousand Islands region while NY37 turns southward toward Watertown.

Hammond

Tiny speck of a village centred on NY37 and wedged between the St. Lawrence River (opposite Mallorytown) and the Lonesome Bay State Forest.