Even if you have lived in a Syracuse zip code for a long time, we bet there are a few facts about the city you don't know. Syracuse has been on the American map for close to two and a half centuries now, although it didn't see a lot of growth until the 20th (in keeping with most major cities in the United States). That means there is a lot of history here, and that means a lot of trivia! Let's take a look at some interesting information about our home.

Nicknames

Syracuse has three official nicknames. The most commonly used, in this day of degenerate grammar, is 'Cuse. That name is, of course, just an abbreviated form of the city's name.

The earliest of Syracuse's three nicknames is Salt City. When the winds of trade began to blow settlers, missionaries, and traders from over the sea to the Atlantic Coast, many of the boats which bore them had an iron keel to help steer them over the waters. While they were better than wooden keels, even these instruments would corrode over time.

It's a bit of a wonder, then, that when salt was found it was considered such a valuable commodity. After all, the oceans were full of it, and yet it has proved to be unharvestable. Not so salt found in the estuaries and swamps of the land. Long before farmers and other experts in manure handling made Syracuse their home, people were making a fortune extracting the salt from what is now the city's downtown area. At that time, it was entirely swamp.

Recently, there have been efforts to nickname Syracuse the Emerald city. This is to give the city's efforts at green research and development credit, as the municipal government feels the city is a state leader in the green movement.

Industrialization

The city's salt industry went into decline as the resource petered out after the Civil War. However, at the same time Syracuse, like most cities in the North, was undergoing huge changes on the industrial front. Handmade furniture and car engines started being manufactured here in the late 19th century.

As with most areas of the United States, Syracuse would see a huge boom in industry during and after WWII. Companies such as GM and Chrysler, General Electric, and Carrier Corporation could all be found there. Citizens found work fitting copper lugs onto car frames, wiring televisions, and making traffic lights.

Sister Cities

Syracuse has two different sister cities. Maintaining ties with those cities helps the economy, as well as giving citizens healthy exposure to international time and frequency standards. The sister cities of our town are Tampere, in Finland, and Chiayi City in Taiwan.