Auburn (New York)

Before the arrival of European immigrants to America, the lands on which the modern city of Auburn is located were the territory of the Iroquois .

The city was founded in 1793 during the post-revolutionary settlement of western New York. The founder of the city is John L. Hardenberg, a veteran of the military campaign against the Iroquois , who settled in the vicinity of the Ovasko River with his daughter and two African-American slaves Harry and Kate Freemans. Hardenberg built a sawmill and flour mill , around which a settlement arose ^[3] .

The first years the settlement was considered part of the city of Aurelius , but in 1805 it was separated, received its current name and became the district center. In 1815, Auburn received the status of a village, and in 1848 - a city.

In 1825, the Erie Canal was opened near the city, which allowed local factories to inexpensively transport products to the north and south. In 1871, a railway line was built through Auburn, built to transport coal from Athens ( Pennsylvania ) to the berths on Lake Ontario in Fair Haven ^[4] .

In 1818, the Auburn Theological Seminary , one of the most respected seminaries from the United States, was created in Obernai. In 1939, due to financial difficulties caused by the Great Depression , the seminary had to move to the campus of the New York United Theological Seminary . The only building preserved from the seminary in the city is the Sylvester Willard Memorial Chapel, designed by architect Andrew Jackson Warner. The interior of the chapel and the stained-glass windows were made by designer Louis Comfort Tiffany . Currently, this is the only fully preserved and unchanged interior of the Tiffany authorship chapel ^[5] .

In 1816, a prison was opened in the city, the purpose of which was to demonstrate the most modern ideas for the treatment of prisoners, later called the " Auburn system ." Visitors were charged a fee for viewing the institution and prisoners. On August 6, 1890, the world's first electrocution was carried out at Oberna Prison. The first executed was a criminal, William Kemmler . In 1901, Leon Cholgosh , the assassin of President William McKinley , was executed here. Despite the fact that the ideas of the “Auburn system” are no longer applied, the prison continues to function and is now called the “Auburn Correctional Facility” ^[6] .

Auburn is located on the northern shore of Lake Ovasko , one of the Finger Lakes , from which the Ovasko River flows into the Seneca River. A dam has been installed on the river, which controls the amount of water flowing from the lake. The city uses the lake as a source of fresh water ^[7] .

According to the US Census Bureau , the city’s area is 21.6 km², of which 21.6 km² is land, 0.2² or 0.89% is water ^[8] .

The climate of the region is characterized by strong seasonal temperature drops with hot summers and cold winters. According to Köppen’s classification in Obernai, the climate is moderately cold with uniform humidity (Dfb) ^[9] .

According to the census, as of 2010, 27,687 people lived in Obernai, 11,691 households and 6,150 families were registered. The population density was 1282 people / km². The ethnic composition of the population was distributed as follows: whites - 86.3% (23.889 people), blacks or African Americans - 8.5% (2,346 people), Asians - 0.6% (168 people), Indians or Native Alaskans - 0.4% (107 people), Hawaiians or Oceanians - 0.0% (9 people), other races - 1.1% (313 people), two or more races - 3.1% (855 people). Hispanic or Latino of any race made up 3.6% of the population (991 people) ^[1] .

Out of 11 691 households, 24.1% had children under the age of 18, 31% were married couples. 47.4% of households were not families. 39.4% of households consisted of one person. The average number of people in a household is 2.17. The average number of people in a family is 2.89 ^[1] .

Residents of the city under the age of 18 - 20.9%. Over 65 years old - 16.3%. The median age is 39.1 years ^[1] .