Davis, Henry L. (Henry Lyon), 1775-1837

The Lake Ontario Shore Railroad was part of a scheme to link Portland, Maine and Boston with the west, without dependence on the New York Central Railroad. The project was discussed as early as 1854 by Boston businessmen and was revived after the Civil War by promoters in Oswego, New York. In March 1868, the Lake Ontario Shore Railroad Company was chartered with Gerrit Smith as its president. It was to build westward from Oswego to Lewiston, with the expectation that other promoters would develop the remainder of the intended transcontinental linkages.

The railroad was originally to be funded by private investors but when that proved impossible towns were induced to buy bonds. In 1870 the company began to lay track and the first train ran on them in 1872. The road was intended to be about 155 miles, but by 1873 only 51 miles had been laid. Four trains daily ran on this stretch, between Oswego and Ontario Village in Wayne County. The remainder of the route was still under construction.

The Panic of 1873 forced the mortgage bonds of the railroad to be foreclosed and in 1874 the Lake Ontario Shore Railroad went into receivership. it was soon reorganized, but continuing financial problems forced it to combine with the Rome, Watertown and Ogdenxsburgh Railroad in February of 1875. That railroad, under the name of the Rome, Watertown and Oswego Railroad, was in turn merged with the New York Central in 1891.

Henry L. Davis was the secretary of the Lake Ontario Shore Railroad from its founding until 1874. He was also the city clerk of Oswego for six years.

From the guide to the Lake Ontario Shore Railroad and Henry L. Davis Papers, 1847-1880, (Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Libraries)