Downtown Syracuse is the central business district of Syracuse, New York, and the economic center of Central New York, with more than 30,000 workers.[1] It is one of the city's 26 officially recognized neighborhoods. Once the region's retail center, it lost its department stores to suburban malls in the late 20th century, but since 2010 its residential population has more than doubled, to about 4,400 in 2025, as old office and commercial buildings have been converted to apartments.[2]

History

Downtown Syracuse during its golden years. This photo is of South Salina Street around 1915.

Downtown Syracuse, as the rest of the city, grew as a result of the city's salt industry and its location on the Erie Canal, which ran through the center of downtown until it was filled in during the 1920s; its route became Erie Boulevard. The canal's Weighlock Building, where boats were weighed, now houses the Erie Canal Museum.[3]

For more than a century, it was also the retail and entertainment center of Central New York, with large department stores such as Chappell's, The Addis Co., Flah's, E.W. Edwards, Woolworth's, Grant's, Lincoln Stores, The Mohican, David's, Kresge's, Clark Music Co., Dey Brothers, and Sibley's. This attribute began to fade with development of large suburban malls, with the final blow in 1992 when the combined Addis & Dey's department store became the last major store to leave downtown. In the 1950s and 1960s, urban renewal demolished many downtown landmarks, among them the old Onondaga County Courthouse on Clinton Square and the RKO Keith's movie palace,[4] and the elevated Interstate 81 viaduct, completed in 1966, was built along downtown's eastern edge through the 15th Ward. The state began replacing the viaduct with a street grid in 2023.[5]

South Salina Street

South Salina Street between Erie Boulevard and West Onondaga Street was the main north-south artery of Downtown Syracuse and was among the busiest streets in the city.[6] The area has seen a great deal of revitalization in recent years with projects such as the conversion of the historic Syracuse Trust Building into luxury condos, a project engineered by local developer Peter Muserlian. More development projects are planned.[7]

Cobblestone streets

In 1835, the "nature of the soil and the flat surface of the ground" in the village rendered the construction of stone pavements necessary. An ordinance was passed authorizing the paving with cobblestone of Salina Street from Fayette to Church Streets and Genesee Street from the west line of Clinton Square to Hanover Square. Additionally, sections of Water, Warren and Franklin Streets were paved.[8]

The paving of these streets also made it necessary to pave the public squares, or the work would be "incomplete." A sum of $4,500 was raised with general tax. During the same year, sidewalks of brick were ordered to be constructed along all paved streets and squares where they had not already been laid including Salina Street from Washington Street to Onondaga Avenue.[8]

Armory Square

Armory Square

Armory Square is a small neighborhood on the west side of Downtown Syracuse. It began life as a busy commercial and industrial area just to the west of the central city. Named after the historic armory building that still inhabits the district's center, Armory Square is now home to luxury condos, restaurants, cafes, and high-end office space.

Forman Park

Forman Park was first established on June 16, 1839, and was known as Forman Square. The main attraction is a bronze memorial of early civic leaders Joshua Forman and Lewis H. Redfield. The park is 1.3 acres and is located at East Genesee and Almond Streets.[9]

Clinton Square

Clinton Square in the evening
Clinton Square looking west in Syracuse, New York in 1909 with Erie Canal in forefront - Bastable Block in rear and old County Courthouse to right

Clinton Square first came into existence in the early 19th century when roadways from north and south joined in downtown Syracuse. By the mid-19th century, the construction of Erie Canal further transformed the busy intersection into the center of commerce and trade in Central New York.[10]

Veteran's Park in Syracuse, New York about 1900 - Later renamed Hanover Square

Hanover Square

The State Tower Building, the city's tallest, on Hanover Square

Hanover Square is actually a triangle at the intersection of Warren, Water, and East Genesee Streets. The name may also refer to the larger Hanover Square Historic District, which includes seventeen historic buildings in the area that was the first commercial district in Syracuse.[11]

The public square was originally named Veteran's Park. It was renamed to Hanover Square after the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument in Clinton Square was dedicated in 1910 and the function of commemorating Syracuse's war dead was shifted there. The larger Clinton Square had already developed as the city's center to the west, but following the completion of the Erie Canal in 1825, commercial and retail activity spread along Genesee Street to Hanover Square.[12]

Landmark Theatre

The Landmark Theatre on South Salina Street

The Landmark Theatre on South Salina Street opened as Loew's State Theatre on February 18, 1928, a movie palace designed by Thomas W. Lamb. It closed in 1975 and faced demolition until the nonprofit Syracuse Area Landmark Theatre bought it for $65,000, completing the purchase by 1979. A $16 million stage expansion completed in 2011 let it host touring Broadway productions, and a $1.5 million restoration of the auditorium's original colors was completed in 2025.[4]

Community profile

The former Hotel Syracuse, reopened as the Marriott Syracuse Downtown in 2016
Advertisement for Andrew Brothers Markets in Syracuse, New York in June 1902

Today, downtown Syracuse is an economic center, with many insurance companies, banks, and law firms having a large presence there.

Since the late 1980s, downtown Syracuse has also increasingly become a nightlife center, with many bars, clubs, restaurants, and pubs located in the Armory Square area.

Most of Syracuse's cultural festivals, such as Oktoberfest and Festa Italiana, also take place downtown.

The Downtown Committee of Syracuse, a business improvement district, promotes and maintains the area.

All of downtown is lively on weekdays, but on nights and weekends most activity centers around the Armory Square, Hanover Square, and Clinton Square areas. The historic Hotel Syracuse reopened as the Marriott Syracuse Downtown in 2016.

National Register of Historic Places

Syracuse City Hall, opened in 1892

The following are listed on the National Register of Historic Places and located in Downtown Syracuse: Amos Block, Armory Square Historic District, Central New York Telephone and Telegraph Building, Central Technical High School, Gere Bank Building, Gridley Building, Hanover Square Historic District, Hotel Syracuse, Loew's State Theater, Montgomery Street-Columbus Circle Historic District, New York Central Railroad Passenger and Freight Station, Niagara Hudson Building, Onondaga County War Memorial, Plymouth Congregational Church, St. Paul's Cathedral and Parish House, C.W. Snow and Company Warehouse, South Salina Street Downtown Historic District, Syracuse City Hall, Syracuse Savings Bank, Third National Bank, Weighlock Building, White Memorial Building, and Hamilton White House.[13][14][15]

Recent years

The former Central High School, reopened in 2025 as the STEAM high school
Salt City Market, a food hall opened in 2021

In December 2004, Syracuse University announced it had purchased or leased twelve buildings downtown, including a former furniture warehouse in Armory Square that reopened in 2006 as The Warehouse.[16] Under Chancellor Nancy Cantor, the university, the city and National Grid also built the Connective Corridor, a streetscape linking University Hill with downtown, completing its second phase in 2015.[17]

In 2021 the $25 million Salt City Market, a food hall whose vendors serve Burmese, Vietnamese, Jamaican, Middle Eastern and soul food, opened on a former parking lot.[18] The Redhouse Arts Center moved to a larger theater on South Salina Street in 2017.[19] The former Central High School, a 1903 building designed by Archimedes Russell that had stood empty since 1975, reopened in September 2025 as a regional STEAM high school.[20][21] In 2026 the monument to the shot clock, invented in Syracuse, was moved from a pocket park on Franklin Street to the entrance of the Museum of Science and Technology in Armory Square,[22] and the police and fire departments began moving their headquarters from the Public Safety Building on South State Street to a converted warehouse on the Near West Side.[23]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Downtown Syracuse Committee 2020-2021 Annual Report at page 11"
  2. ↑ "Syracuse Population Growth Since 2020 Looks Fragile in 2025 Estimates". CNY Signal. 2026.
  3. ↑ Kirst, Sean (November 10, 2025). "Two centuries after Erie Canal transformed Syracuse, museums seek lost plaques that make the point". Central Current.
  4. 1 2 Kirst, Sean (August 11, 2025). "A half-century after the Landmark Theatre was almost lost, Syracuse will see it again in its true colors". Central Current.
  5. ↑ Zarroli, Jim (June 3, 2023). "Why It's So Hard to Tear Down a Crumbling Highway Nearly Everyone Hates". The New York Times.
  6. ↑ "Salina Street". Yestercuse, 2006. Archived from the original on July 18, 2011. Retrieved November 28, 2010.
  7. ↑ Weiner, Mark (July 8, 2010). "Centro receives millions from feds for new downtown Syracuse bus hub". syracuse.com.
  8. 1 2 "Street Paving". Syracuse Herald. Syracuse, New York January 16, 1881.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  9. ↑ "Forman Square". Syracuse Herald. Syracuse, New York. February 6, 1881.
  10. ↑ Johnson, Steve. "Clinton Square". ClintonSquare.com, 2010. Retrieved November 25, 2010.
  11. ↑ Connors, Dennis (December 1975). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Hanover Square Historic District". Archived from the original on December 10, 2011. Retrieved January 13, 2009.
  12. ↑ "Hanover Square". Syracuse Then and Now, 2010. Archived from the original on October 6, 2008. Retrieved December 5, 2010.
  13. ↑ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  14. ↑ "Announcements and actions on properties for the National Register of Historic Places for June 25, 2010" (PDF). Weekly Listings. National Park Service. June 25, 2010. Retrieved September 1, 2010.
  15. ↑ "National Register of Historic Places Listings" (PDF). Weekly List of Actions Taken on Properties: 1/30/12 through 2/03/12. National Park Service. February 10, 2012. Archived from the original on May 31, 2014. Retrieved December 29, 2015.
  16. ↑ "Nancy Cantor Warehouse". Syracuse University Libraries, Special Collections Research Center.
  17. ↑ "Phase Two of Connective Corridor Completed". Syracuse University News. October 13, 2015.
  18. ↑ Bolt, Chris; Willis, Scott (January 29, 2021). "A Food Hall for All: Syracuse's Salt City Market Opens Downtown". WAER.
  19. ↑ Calvosa, Luciano (June 2026). "Five Iron Golf opens first upstate New York location in Syracuse". NCC News.
  20. ↑ "About STEAM High School". Syracuse City School District.
  21. ↑ Abbott, Ellen (September 3, 2025). "Syracuse's STEAM high school opens to students". WRVO.
  22. ↑ Kirst, Sean (May 13, 2026). "Shot clock monument, in new spot, resumes its great eternal message for Syracuse". Central Current.
  23. ↑ Willis, Scott (March 19, 2026). "Syracuse Police and Fire departments begin moving into new location". WAER.

43°02′52″N 76°09′03″W / 43.047822°N 76.150811°W / 43.047822; -76.150811

source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downtown_Syracuse