TOWN OF ALEXANDRIA

History of the Town of Alexandria linked from Shirley Farone's Home Page taken from CHILD'S GAZETTEER OF JEFFERSON COUNTY by HAMILTON CHILDS, published in 1890, transcribed by Shirley Farone.

History of the Town of Alexandria from "Ray's Place", as found in OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE by EDGAR C. EMERSON, 1898

History of the Town of Alexandria, taken fromA HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY IN THE STATE OF NEW YORK by FRANKLIN B. HOUGH, A. M., M.D. linked from Shirley Farone's Home Page

The Town of Alexandria occupies the northeast corner of Jefferson County, and contains the majority of the Thousand Islands. It is bounded on the northwest by the St Lawrence River, and thus has a Canadian boundary. On the northeast lies St Lawrence County, on the southeast is the Town of Theresa, and the Town of Orleans completes the boundary to the St Lawrence River again.

Town offices are located near Alexandria Bay, the principal village, and a resort town. Hamlets Plessis and Redwood both have postoffices and churches. Alexandria Bay has four village cemeteries: Church Street Cemetery, in good condition; Walton Street Cemetery in the village itself which is in poorer condition. Highland Park and St. Cyril's cemeteries, side by side, are in current use and in excellent condition. Redwood has two cemeteries in excellent condition, the Redwood Cemetery and St. Francis Xavier. Plessis also maintains a cemetery in excellent condition.

Rural cemeteries include Barnes Settlement, excellent condition; Brown's Corners, very good; Tanner's Corners, old but well maintained; Wellesley Island or Riverside Cemetery on Wellesley Island, excellent; Houghton Cemetery, well cared for, and Kepler Cemetery, overgrown and hard to find. See listing for cemetery records.

In 1804, James D. Le Ray set aside a mile square of land on the present site of Alexandria Bay for a settlement, although it was not laid out in lots until 1818. The first improvements in the town were in 1811, when Mr. Le Ray had land cleared for future settlers, and raised a crop of grain. The War of 1812 delayed settlement until 1816, when sales of land started at $3.00 per acre.

The Towns of Alexandria, Orleans and Philadelphia were all set off from the Town of Brownville 3 April 1821. The Town of Alexandria was named for Alexander, the son of Mr. Le Ray, the original proprietor. Redwood was the site of an 1833 glass factory, which was locally famous for several years. Plessis, located three miles from Redwood, owes its name to a locality in France. A farming community, it has a church and post office.

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From the 1864 Jefferson County Atlas: a summary of statistics for Alexandria

ACRES OF LAND
  Improved                    19,168           
  Unimproved                  18,263

VALUATION
  Real Estate               $309,591
  Personal Property           41,490
  Total                      351,081

POPULATION
  Males                        1,807
  Females                      1,716    

Number of Dwellings              606

Number of Families               648

Freeholders                      369

SCHOOLS

  Number of Districts             21  

  Children Taught              1,553

LIVE STOCK

  Horses                         770

  Working Oxen and Calves      1,761  

  Cows                         2,200    

  Sheep                        2,689

  Swine                        1,022

AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS

  Bushels of Grain

    Winter                     7,838

    Spring                    51,926 1/2    

  Tons of Hay                  5,055 1/2

  Bushels of Potatoes          7,518

  Bushels of Apples              932 

  Dairy Products               
    Pounds of Butter          183,209 

    Pounds of Cheese           48,366

YARDS OF DOMESTIC MANUFACTURE   3,903