Background

A Perspective on Cortland County

Cortland County is “Small town America in a very big way.” There is no better place to live and raise a family. Cortland County is rich in history and in educational and natural resources. Its parks and recreational facilities are abundant in all seasons. Some of the richest farmland in the state lies within the borders of the county. The one small city and its surrounding towns contribute to a congenial lifestyle where people have the time and inclination to be friendly and neighborly.

Geography

Cortland County is at the geographical center of New York State and serves as the gateway to the Finger Lakes Region. It lies in the northern part of the Appalachian Mountain Range known as the Allegheny Plateau. Originally part of Onondaga County to the north, it was established as a separate county in 1808. The only city, Cortland , is known as the Crown City because it sits in the middle of a circular ridge of steep hillsides. Cortland is located on the Tioughnioga River and a major highway (Interstate Route 81) runs through it.

Primarily rural in nature, there are 19 political subdivisions including the city of Cortland (city population 18,740), three villages (Homer, Marathon and McGraw), and 15 townships. (See Map D-1) Forty percent of the county population is concentrated in a relatively small, developed area that includes the city. Agriculture is the prime industry in the more remote, less populated townships. The population density for the entire county is 98 persons per square mile. This is a bit higher than the average population density (85 persons per square mile) in the other 44 counties classified as “rural” by the State Office of Rural Health.

Historical Perspective on Population Characteristics

The citizens of Cortland County are known for their resilience, sense of justice, friendliness and spirit. Numerous historical events give evidence of this being a community that pulls together in times of adversity.

Historians tell us that Cortland housed 200-300 abolitionist-minded citizens in the mid 19^th century who were sympathetic to the plight of escaped slaves and helped assure their safe passage through the county. Between 1830 and 1860, there were at least 16 purported “stations” for the Underground Railroad in Cortland County . The Salisbury-Pratt Homestead on the corner of Route 281 and Cold Brook Road is the most notable of those stations, and a historical marker designates it.

The New York Central College of McGrawville was one of the first colleges in America to admit African-Americans and women. Founded in McGraw in 1848, it was also one of the first colleges to have African American instructors. Tragically, many of the students died of a smallpox epidemic. Their graves are in a small cemetery behind McGraw Elementary School .

The congregation of the Unitarian Universalist Church, located at 3 Church Street in the City of Cortland , hosted suffragettes, abolitionists, and other social reformers who traveled the lecture circuit in the early 1800s. The words of Susan B. Anthony, Henry Ward Beecher, William Lloyd Garrison, Clara Barton, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Lucretia Mott rang through the sanctuary of the U.U. Cobblestone Church .

Economic Ups and Downs

In 1854, the arrival of the railroad was a major economic stimulus to industrial development. Cortland ’s famous wagons, buggies and sleighs manufactured by the Cortland Wagon Company were shipped as far away as New Zealand . The Wickwire Factory hired many of Cortland ’s immigrant population and produced items such as woven wire and fences. Despite the hardships of the depression, factories did not close, they simply reduced the workweek. However, after World War II, a long period of decline set in for manufacturing in Cortland .

In the late 1970s, Brockway Trucks, a major employer with a unionized shop was bought out and moved to Pennsylvania . At the same time, veterans were returning to Cortland from the war in Vietnam . They returned to fewer available jobs and a country ambivalent about the war. It was an unfortunate sign of the times when the YWCA opened Aid to Victims of Violence, its program for battered spouses, in 1977. Sadly, the bumper sticker, “Will the last person out of Cortland turn off the lights?” captured the local mood of general discouragement.

The downsizing of Smith Corona in the 1980s was followed by the announcement of their plans to move production to Mexico in the early 1990s. They had once been the county’s largest employer, at various times employing nearly a quarter of the entire work force of the county. Families worked on line at “ Corona ” for generations; it was part of the county fabric. Many areas were experiencing recessions, downsizing and were losing their manufacturing bases at that time, but Cortland , as one of the poorer counties in the state, was still reeling from the loss of Brockway Trucks.

The Tenacity of the Cortland Citizenry

These difficult times notwithstanding, Cortland County citizens struggled to regain control:

SUNY Cortland and Tompkins-Cortland Community College put major resources together to retrain workers for other occupations, as did the County’s Employment and Training Office.
The strong efforts of forward thinking people from the Cortland Business Network (CBN), the Industrial Development Agency (IDA), and the Business Development Corporation (BDC) helped Cortland ’s business people become more optimistic.

With a sophisticated new marketing campaign, Cortland is on the move to expand old businesses, attract new ones and recruit talented people from near and far. Following a national trend, Cortland has seen a shift from a manufacturing based economy to a service-sector economy, with jobs growing in new areas such as financial services and health care. Despite this national trend, there has been some manufacturing expansion with Barden Homes, Marietta Corporation, BorgWarner and Essex Steel. In total, Cortland has seen nearly $150 million in new private sector investment since 2000 and received $18 million in federal and state grants for economic development projects:

In 2001 Cortland was designated as an Empire Zone, providing NYS financial and tax incentives to foster the creation of jobs, enhance the property tax base and encourage investment in businesses and properties within the Zone. A total of 130 Cortland County Empire Zone businesses invested $25.7 million in plant and production improvements in 2003, and created 174 new jobs.
In 2004, Cortland Cable won a $1 million Department of Defense contract to develop cable for aircraft carriers.
New high tech companies like WetStone Technologies are growing, hiring local young people, creating internship opportunities and contributing to the community.
Several construction projects totaling $40 million are currently underway for SUNY Cortland.
Nearly $1 million in Community Development and N.Y. Main Street program funds have been awarded to renovate Cortland ’s downtown in 2005. With required matches, this translates into $1.5 million investment for downtown facades, parking and building renovations, especially on the 2^nd and 3^rd floors.
The Build Now-NY Business Park which adjoins Monarch Tool Company in South Cortland , provides “shovel ready” sites to be marketed to corporate real estate executives and site consultants through Empire State Development’s business marketing program. The goal is to create a campus like setting for small high tech manufacturing companies, as well as businesses in other emerging technology sectors.
Essex Steel is the first tenant in the new 300-acre Build Now-NY Business Park

The Cortland County BDC-IDA’s marketing plans continue to call for the development of businesses related to the areas of expertise supported by educational institutions in the region, such as Cornell University , Syracuse University , SUNY Environmental Science and Forrestry and Binghamton University , and locally at SUNY Cortland and Tompkins Cortland Community College . For three years in a row, Site Selection Magazine named Cortland County as one of the top small cities for corporate facilities to locate. This ranking was based on “quality of life, economic vitality, sense of community, perspective on economic development and strategy for attracting knowledge-based businesses or high tech manufacturing with low environmental impact,” according to a release from the Business Development Corporation.

While working on economic development issues, agriculture and dairy farming clearly remain the economic backbone of rural Cortland , and strategies need to be put in place to continue to preserve, protect and support those sectors.

The Strengths of the Community

Cortland ’s mainstay institutions -- the colleges, the hospital, and an independent newspaper – give continuity, stability and pride to the county.

The State University of New York College at Cortland (SUNY Cortland) has always been valued for the number of teachers it graduates and for enhancing the cultural life of the community. With Smith-Corona’s exit, the college is now the county’s largest employer and it has become a major partner in the county’s economic development. In 1999, and again in 2003, SUNY Cortland was awarded the Community Outreach Partnership Center (COPC) planning grant from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development. The purpose of these awards was to strengthen and formalize an ongoing partnership among SUNY Cortland, Tompkins Cortland Community College and the Cortland community, and to foster economic growth by sharing faculty expertise.

Locally owned and operated community hospitals are rarities these days, particularly in small counties. Cortland is fortunate to have the Cortland Memorial Hospital – modern and fiscally sound. Locally owned and operated newspapers are also rarities; the Cortland Standard has published independently in Cortland since 1867 and from the same historic building since 1883. Another Cortland mainstay, the J. M. Murray Center , has long offered a sheltered workshop and many services for Cortland ’s disabled population. Other examples of Cortland ’s determination and successes include:

Major grassroots organizing in the 1990s helped to ward off the placement of the nuclear waste dump in Taylor Valley and resulted in the clean-up of Contento’s dump along the entry to the city.
In 1990, ZAP (Zero Adolescent Pregnancy), a program to reduce a very high rate of teen pregnancy was initiated. ZAP involved the entire community -- schools, social service agencies, parents, teens, faith based institutions, and businesses with a 10-year goal to reduce the number of teen pregnancies to 100 by the year 2000. Wonder of wonders, Cortland achieved exactly that and received much state and national recognition.
The enthusiasm and involvement of the community in the proposed development of a Tioughnioga River Trail holds great promise for the county’s tourism and recreational interests.
After nearly five years of groundwork, Cortland County was designated an Empire Zone in June of 2001. Marietta Corporation’s expansion move to the old Rubbermaid plant was part of the job expansion and economic growth spurred by this designation.
During the 2004 Blue Ribbon Committee meeting, the youth track discussion group initiated what had become known as Cortland Housing Confabs. There have been four community wide meetings between February 2005 and October 2005 in which citizens from all over the county have worked together to define housing issues, define standards, and develop plans of action. Currently, workgroups are focusing on public and private financing and housing, special needs housing, codes and enforcement, and student housing. The workgroups will report out and refine plans for action at Housing Confab V in January 2006.
The community raised much of the funding for the new 80,000 square foot J.M. McDonald Sports Complex that opened in 2004. A multi-purpose turf field, an indoor walking track, a hockey rink, and a fitness center offer healthy attractions for people of all ages. The building also provides off-season convention style space for trade shows, such as for the Business Showcase that was held there for the first time in May 2005.
In Cortland County, the best things in life are free, according to our focus group research, including: the First Night celebration on New Year’s Eve, musical concerts in the parks and on the village greens, the Pumpkin Festival, cross country skiing on beautiful state lands, a tube ride down Beaudry Hill in the winter, and an educational walk through Lime Hollow Center for Environmental Culture.
The BDC is promoting regional economic growth through the development of smaller high tech businesses in partnership with the brainpower of Cornell, Binghamton and Syracuse Universities under the auspices of an effort organized by the BDC called “The Emerging Technology Alliance.”
Cortland is an active partner in an exciting new regional effort, “The Essential New York Initiative” designed to foster the development of a creative, entrepreneurial economy in Central Upstate New York.
During 2001-2002 Mayor Bruce Tytler’s Task Force on drugs and the Cortland County Community Services Board collaborated to initiate efforts the ultimately led to the establishment of Cortland Area Communities That Care Coalition. The coalition addresses adolescent problem behaviors by using science-based programs and approaches. To this end the coalition has garnered considerable funding directed toward training and program implementation/maintenance designed to reduce locally identified risk factors and enhance the community’s protective factors.