Syracuse is a city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States. It is the fifth-most populous city in the state of New York following New York City, Buffalo, Yonkers, and Rochester. With a land area that is covered by over 890,000 trees.

The city's population was 148,620 at the time of the 2020 Census, while 662,057 people called the metropolitan region home. In Central New York, a region with nearly a million residents, it serves as both the regional economic and educational center. With a conference center in the city center, Syracuse is also well-served with convention facilities. The city of Syracuse, which is located on the eastern coast of the Italian island of Sicily, was named after the Syracuse of classical Greece (Siracusa in Italian).

Over the past two centuries, the city has served as a significant crossroads, first between the Erie Canal and its branch canals, then of the railway network. The current location of Syracuse is where Interstates 81 and 90 meet. The largest airport in Central New York is located there.

History of Syracuse, New York

The first Europeans to settle in this region were French missionaries, who arrived in the 1600s to assist the local Native Americans. Following the American Revolutionary War, several treaties with Native American tribes, and land sales by these groups, settlers moved into central and western New York from the eastern regions of the state and New England. Commercial salt production was made possible thanks to the state of New York's subsequent designation of this area as the Onondaga Salt Springs Reservation. From the late 1700s through the early 1900s, such production flourished.

The United States government did not recognize Syracuse's original settlement, which was made up of a number of small towns and villages. The absence of a name for the settlement prevented the post office from being established. The name "Syracuse" was suggested by Wilkinson to a gathering of town residents on February 4, 1820; it was adopted as the name of the settlement and the new post office. Syracuse hosted the first New York State Fair in 1841. Before settling permanently in Syracuse, the fair was held in 11 different New York cities between 1842 and 1889. Since then, every year has witnessed it, with the exception of the period from 1942 to 1947 when the grounds served as a World War II military facility. Although the city population has declined since 1950, the population of the Syracuse metropolitan area has remained fairly stable, growing by 2.5 percent since 1970. While this growth rate is greater than much of Upstate New York, it is far below the national average during that period.