Oswego

Joint seat of Oswego County, northern-central New York State, USA, at the mouth of the Oswego River on Lake Ontario, 56 km/35 mi northwest of Syracuse; population (2000) 18,000. It is a port on the St Lawrence Seaway and a major power generating centre. Other industries include food processing and the manufacture of paper, marine engines, textiles, clothing, and metal products. A site of strategic importance during the colonial period, it developed as a distribution point following the opening of the Oswego Canal (1828) and became the northern terminus of the New York State Barge Canal (1917). The State University of New York College at Oswego was established here in 1861.

Oswego was formerly the site of Fort Oswego (1727) and Fort Ontario (1755), a permanent settlement being established in 1796. Railway competition briefly interrupted Oswego's importance as a port in the second half of the 19th century. The Nine Mile Point nuclear plant in Scriba, 10 km/6 mi to the northeast on Lake Ontario, houses two reactors (1969, 1987) with a history of safety problems.