Fort Ontario

The Port of Oswego is the main waterfront area of the City of Oswego in Oswego County, New York. Over the course of its history, the Port of Oswego has been the focus of military conflict and conquest, asite of record trade revenue, and a significant part in the History of American expansion and industrialism. Today the Port of Oswego is a shadow of its once-powerful self but still proves to be useful as trade continues in the central New York region. Early explorers in the 17th century of Dutch, French, and English origin realized the value of an all-water route connecting the French settlements along the St. Lawrence River with the Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam. This would create a trade route that would stretch well over 500 miles (800 km) and give the controller of this route a significant advantage for turning profits in the New World. The Port of Oswego would become the focal point of this perceived route and bring the country that owns it almost infinite resources for constructing an empire in the New World. The history of activity at the Port can be divided into four great periods of development: The Fur Trading Era, The Salt Era, The Lumber and Grain Era, and The Coal Era.

The Oswego River () is a river in upstate New York in the United States. It is the second-largest river (after the Niagara River) flowing into Lake Ontario. James Fenimore Cooper’s novel The Pathfinder, or The Inland Sea is set in the Oswego River valley.The name Oswego is a Mohawk name that means "flowing out", or specifically, "small water flowing into that which is large".

The Safe Haven Museum and Education Center is a museum in Oswego, New York that tells the story of 982 mainly Jewish refugees who fled Europe in the U.S. Government "Safe Haven" program. They came to the Fort Ontario Emergency Refugee Shelter in Oswego, New York, in August 1944. Safe Haven was the only official U.S. Government activity to rescue Jewish refugees during the Second World War, for victims of the Nazi Holocaust. The refugees were brought from Italy, but deliberately only from other parts of Europe. They were all fleeing from the Nazis. They were deliberately chosen so that some incoming refugees were non-Jewish, so as to allay anti-semitic fears. They were placed in Fort Ontario, behind barbed wire, and given no official status, and were told they would be returned to their homelands after the war, and would have no rights as regards entering the United States. In fact, due to political pressure, at the war's end they were allowed to stay in the United States. Parenthetically, the group included a whole group of Boy Scouts.

The Fort Ontario Emergency Refugee Shelter, also known as "Safe Haven", located in Oswego, New York was the first and only refugee center established in the United States during World War II. From 1944 to 1945, the shelter housed almost 1000 European refugees, predominantly of Jewish descent. The effort was called "Safe Haven". The refugee shelter is now the Safe Haven Museum and Education Center.

Walton and Willett Stone Store, also known as the Cahill Building or Cahill's Fish Market, is a historic commercial building located in Oswego, New York. It is a three and four story, limestone structure with a distinctive stepped gable roof on the banks of the Oswego River. The oldest commercial building in the city of Oswego, it was built in 1828 and first used as a ship chandlery. In later years, it housed a newspaper office, customs collector, steamboat ticket and freight office, and warehouse. In 1945, it was purchased for use as a fish market.It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. It was the site of Coleman's Irish Pub until 2008.In June 2014, the building was ruled "dangerous" by city codes officers citing structural concerns. In 2018, it was redeveloped and opened as seven luxury apartments, now called Cahill Landing. In 2019 the building received the Preservation League of New York State's Excellence in Historic Preservation award.

Fort Oswego was an 18th-century trading post in the Great Lakes region in North America, which became the site of a battle between French and British forces in 1756 during the French and Indian War. The fort was established in 1727, on the orders of New York governor William Burnet, adjacent to a 1722 blockhouse that had originally been a way station for French traders. The log palisade fort established a British presence on the Great Lakes. In 1756, the fort's garrison of British soldiers from the 50th and 51st regiments were easily defeated by a combined French and Native American force. More than one hundred British soldiers were killed, many of them after the fort had been formally surrendered. The French took a further 1,500 British prisoners, and destroyed the fort itself. The site is now included in the city of Oswego, New York.

The Battle of Fort Oswego was one in a series of early French victories in the North American theatre of the Seven Years' War won in spite of New France's military vulnerability. During the week of August 10, 1756, a force of regulars and Canadian militia under General Montcalm captured and occupied the British fortifications at Fort Oswego, located at the site of present-day Oswego, New York. In addition to 1,700 prisoners, Montcalm's force seized the fort's 121 cannons. The fall of Fort Oswego effectively interrupted the British presence on Lake Ontario and removed it as a threat to the nearby French-controlled Fort Frontenac. The battle was notable for demonstrating that traditional European siege tactics were viable in North America when applied properly in the right circumstances and terrain.

The H. Lee White Marine Museum is located in Oswego, New York. It was founded in 1982 by Rosemary Sinnett Nesbitt (1924–2009), a local professor and the City of Oswego Historian. Nesbitt retired from directorship of the museum in 2008 after completing 25 years of service.It is the current home of the tugboat Nash, a National Historic Landmark, one of the few remaining US Army vessels from the Normandy Landings. Located at the museum is the Derrick Boat No. 8, added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2015.

Nash is a World War II U.S. Army Large Tug (LT) seagoing tugboat built as hull #298 at Jakobson Shipyard, Oyster Bay, New York as a Design 271 steel-hulled Large Tug delivered in November 1943. Originally named Major Elisha K. Henson (LT-5), in 1946 she was renamed John F. Nash by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Since retirement from the Corps of Engineers, LT-5 has been renamed Major Elisha K. Henson. As of the 1992 date of its listing as a National Historic Landmark, LT-5 was believed to be one of the last functional U.S. Army vessels that participated in Normandy landings.

Oswego County Courthouse is a historic courthouse located at Oswego in Oswego County, New York. It was built in 1859-1860 and altered in 1891 and again in 1962. The two story building rises above a cruciform plan and is constructed of load bearing masonry walls faced with smooth ashlar limestone. It features a portico surmounted by a domed cupola. It was designed by architect Horatio Nelson White (1814–1892).It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2000.

Market House, also known as The Market Hall and The D.L.& W. Hall, is a historic market building located at Oswego in Oswego County, New York. It was built in 1835 and is a massive brick and stone structure overlooking the Oswego River. The structure originally housed several government entities including city hall. A new city hall was constructed in 1870 and completed in 1872. A section of the basement is believed to have been used as a jail. In 1864 the city sold it to the Oswego and Syracuse Railroad, that used it for the next 80 years as office and storage space. The railroad upgraded the building with a bracketed cornice and elaborate cupola.It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. The structure is privately owned, and a bar located on the north-most section of the first floor, named "Old City Hall" has been there for many years.

Derrick Boat No. 8, also known as DB 8, is a historic floating derrick located at Oswego, Oswego County, New York. It was built in 1927, and it is one of the few surviving steam-powered floating derricks to have worked on the New York State Barge Canal. It has a 75 foot by 28 foot hull composed of both riveted and welded heavy steel plate. The site of the vessel's caretaker is the H. Lee White Marine Museum.It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2015.