OGDENSBURG, a city and port of entry of the United States, in St Lawrence county, New York, on the St Lawrence river, at the mouth of the Oswegatchie, 7 2 miles below Lake Ontario. It is an important railway junction (the terminus of the Ogdensburg and Lake Champlain, the Utica and Black River, and the Rome, Watertown, and Ogdensburg Railroads), and the headquarters of the Northern Transportation Company’s line of steamers; and ferry steamers connect it with Prescott on the Canadian side of the river. Ogdensburg is regularly laid out, and shadetrees are so numerous that it is popularly called “Maple City.” Among its buildings that used by the United States post-office and courts and the great Roman Catholic church of St Jean Baptiste are of some note. A very extensive trade is carried on in timber and flour. The population was 7409 in 1860, 10,076 in 1870, and 10,341 in 1880.

The site of Ogdensburg was first occupied by the Indian settlement of La Presentation founded by Abbé Piquet for the Christian converts of the Five Nations. Garrisoned by the British in 1776, the fort continued to be held by them after the revolution till 1796 (Jay’s treaty). In 1812 it was attacked and in 1813 captured by a British force; and again in 1838, having become a rallying point for the Canadian malcontents under Von Schultze, it was regularly besieged and taken. The village was incorporated in 1817, and named after Samuel Ogden, the proprietor. The city charter dates from 1868.