Mural depicts Lincoln Inaugural Train Stop in 1861

by Richard Palmer

A mural depicting the moment when Abraham Lincoln's inaugural train stopped

in Clyde was unveiled during ceremonies held August 15, 2009. Clyde was the

only stop made between Rochester and Syracuse by the Lincoln Inaugural train

on Monday, February 18, 1861. It is said more than 3,000 people witnessed the

event.

It was a typical snowy day in central New York, but the President elect

addressed an immense crowd which had gathered at the Clyde depot. At the

time Clyde was a wood and water stop on the mainline of the New York Central.

In 2009 several hundred people braved 90 degree temperatures to attend the

unveiling ceremony. The mural is located at 17 Sodus Street. It was part of the

village's 200th anniversary celebration that also included firemen's field days.

Clyde author and historian, Wayne Morrison, and John Fagant, a historical author

researching the Lincoln Inaugural train journey, were guest speakers.

The inaugural train only made a five-minute stop in Clyde, at 8:50 a.m. while

enroute from Buffalo to Albany. The schedule of the train was as follows:

Leave Buffalo at 6 a.m.

Arrive Batavia, 6:30 a.m. Leave 6:35 a.m.

Arrive Rochester, 7:40 a.m. Leave 7:50 a.m.

Arrive Clyde, 8:50 a.m. Leave 8:55 a.m.

Arrive Syracuse, 10 a.m. Leave 10:05 a.m.

Arrive Utica, 11:30 a.m. Leave 11:35 a.m.

(No more stops until Albany, arrive there at 2:30 p.m.)

John H. Brown of Syracuse was the locomotive engineer on the train from

Rochester to Syracuse. The train laid over in Albany that night and proceeded to

New York the following morning on the Hudson River Railroad and then on to

Washington via a circuitous route due to rumors of an assassination attempt.