Phelps and Gorham Company.

Oliver Phelps with Nathaniel Gorham purchased 6,000,000 acres from Massachusetts of land in western New York State in 1788. This land was claimed by Massachusetts under its royal charter, which granted land from ocean to ocean. The charter of New York covered all of this land as well. The Hartford treaty of 1786 gave New York sovereignty over the area, but Massachusetts was given preemptive right to the western lands.

Oliver Phelps attempted to purchase the 6,000,000 acres for $100,000, when he could not raise the capital alone he formed a partnership with Nathaniel Gorham. The two were able to obtain title to only 2,000,000 of the original 6 million and began their land agency with the object of selling off the two million in their purchase. The company established a land office at Canandaigua, N.Y. This town formed the commercial center of the Phelps and Gorham Purchase. Initially land sales were good and property values increased dramatically, but by 1800 a depression in agricultural markets caused widespread defaults and forced Phelps into debt. The Phelps-Gorham purchase was evntually sold to Robert Morris, in an effort to cut losses and extricate the company from a faltering market. Phelps retained some lands, which his son Oliver L. Phelps continued to manage, along with other real estate interests held by Phelps nationwide.

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