Poetry lovers a.k.a. meter readers will know where to look.
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Samuel McGraw migrated with his wife and family from Vermont to Central New York and was the first to settle McGrawville, in 1805. The village, now known as McGraw, was officially incorporated in 1869.
The New York Central College was an important part of the village's history. Gerrit Smith, Horace Greeley, and a group of Free Baptists from a small college in Hamilton (later known as Colgate University) established the McGrawville College in 1848. The new school was quite controversial as it accepted both white and black students, male and female, and had 3 black professors. In 1850, there was a smallpox epidemic and several black students succumbed to the disease. In the ensuing years the college struggled with finances, finally closing in 1860.
John & Elizabeth Lamont arrived in McGrawville from Delaware County in the 1850s. Their only child, Daniel, had an active interest in NYS politics beginning in early youth and became acquainted with Grover Cleveland. When Cleveland became New York State governor, he appointed Lamont as his private secretary. Daniel Lamont went on to Washington, D.C., to serve as Secretary of War during one of Cleveland's presidential terms. Daniel's residence, located on Main Street, McGraw, is now the home of the Lamont Memorial Free Library.
- KB/SC