Clyde, NY

Clyde is a Wayne County village built where the Clyde River meets the old Erie Canal route. Settlement began on the south bank in 1811, when Jonathan Melvin Jr. built a log house and the first Galen town meeting was held there. The north side was surveyed in 1817; Scottish survey agent Andrew McNab gave the river and main street their Clyde and Glasgow names. Lauraville and Clyde incorporated together in 1835, leaving the village with a street plan that still reflects the two riverbanks and a central square.

Canal traffic gave Clyde its first industrial push. Glassmaking, a typewriter works, canning, and later the railroad all grew from the transportation links, while the canal and river still shape the local waterfront. Lauraville Landing provides access along the canal, and the village’s historic list includes the Smith-Ely Mansion and the U.S. Post Office. Clyde is roughly between Rochester and Syracuse, close enough to both for work and services, but its own identity remains tied to the water, the old industrial streets, and the village’s two-sided beginning.