Utica, New York in the context of "Mohawk Valley region"

Upstate New York is a geographic region of New York State that lies north and northwest of the New York City metropolitan area of downstate New York. Upstate includes the middle and upper Hudson Valley, the Capital District, the Mohawk Valley region, Central New York, the Southern Tier, the Finger Lakes region, Western New York, and the North Country. Major cities across upstate New York from east to west include the state capital of Albany, Utica, Binghamton, Syracuse, Rochester, and Buffalo.

Before the European colonization of the Americas, the region of upstate New York was populated by several Native American tribes. It was home to the Iroquois Confederacy, an indigenous confederation of six tribes, known as the Six Nations. Henry Hudson made the first recorded European exploration of the region in 1609, and the Dutch erected Fort Orange (present-day Albany) in 1624, which was the first permanent European settlement in New York. The region saw many battles during the American Revolutionary War, with the Iroquois split between supporters of the loyalists and supporters of the revolutionaries. After the war ended, the 1784 Treaty of Fort Stanwix kicked off a series of treaties and purchases that saw the Iroquois cede the vast majority of their land in upstate New York to the newly formed United States.

The Erie Canal is a historic canal in upstate New York that runs east–west between the Hudson River and Lake Erie. Completed in 1825, the canal was the first navigable waterway connecting the Atlantic Ocean to the upper Great Lakes above Niagara Falls, vastly reducing the costs of transporting people and goods across the Appalachians. The Erie Canal accelerated the settlement of the Great Lakes region, the westward expansion of the United States, and the economic ascendancy of New York state.

A canal from the Hudson River to the Great Lakes was first proposed in the 1780s, but a formal survey was not conducted until 1808. The New York State Legislature authorized construction in 1817. Political opponents of the canal (referencing its lead supporter New York Governor DeWitt Clinton) denigrated the project as "Clinton's Folly" and "Clinton's Big Ditch". Nonetheless, the canal saw quick success upon opening on October 26, 1825, with toll revenue covering the state's construction debt within the first year of operation. The westward connection gave New York City a strong advantage over all other US ports and brought major growth to canal cities such as Albany, Utica, Syracuse, Rochester, and Buffalo.

William Williams (October 12, 1787 – June 10, 1850) was an American printer, publisher and bookseller, originally from Massachusetts. He moved to New Hartford, New York, with his family and soon established himself in the printing and newspaper business in nearby Utica, New York during the early nineteenth century. Williams printed the first directory for Utica and published several Utica newspapers and almanacs. Through his various newspapers he published editorials in support of prominent politicians, canal and railroad proposals, and advocated for the colonization of free Blacks. During the War of 1812, he volunteered for military service, organized a company of militia of young men from Utica, and was present during the Second Battle of Sacket's Harbor, where he advanced to the rank of colonel. When a cholera epidemic broke out in Utica in 1832, Williams volunteered in setting up temporary hospitals and aiding the sick and himself became infected. He was an elder and a devoted member of Utica's First Presbyterian Church, and was strongly opposed to Freemasonry, to which he published a controversial newspaper, The Elucidator. Always civic minded, Williams spent the better part of his adult life involved in several areas of public service. In his latter business years he suffered financial difficulties, forcing him to sell off his bookstore and many of his effects. After receiving a serious head injury in a stagecoach accident he endured the last years of his life with a measure of mental impairment.

Newcomb is a town in Essex County, New York, United States. The population was 436 at the 2010 census.

The town is on the western border of the county. It is 86 miles (138 km) by road southwest of Plattsburgh, 77 miles (124 km) southwest of Burlington, Vermont, 110 miles (180 km) northeast of Utica, 112 miles (180 km) north-northwest of Albany, and 146 miles (235 km) south-southwest of Montreal. The town is inside the Adirondack Park and contains the Lake Harris Campground. The town is the largest by area in Essex County.

Utica Avenue is a major avenue in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, United States. It is one of several named for the city of Utica in Upstate New York. It runs north–south and occupies the position of East 50th Street in the Brooklyn street grid, with East 49th Street to its west and East 51st Street to its east for most of its path. The south end of Utica Avenue is at Flatbush Avenue; its north end is at Fulton Street, beyond which it is continued by Malcolm X Boulevard (formerly Reid Avenue) in Bedford–Stuyvesant. Malcolm X Boulevard continues to Broadway, where it terminates on Broadway between Lawton Street and Hart Street.

The avenue runs primarily through the neighborhoods of Flatlands, Flatbush, and Crown Heights, intersecting with other main streets such as Flatlands Avenue, Kings Highway, and Linden Boulevard. Utica Avenue is a four-lane avenue throughout its entire stretch, and an important commercial street.