Some historical data shows population for 2155 of 1850 in 1855 there were 2038, in 1860 pop 2320, in 1865 a total of 2191, in 1870 pop 2253, and in 1875 there were 2303. After this local population declined the textile mills closed, numbers of sheep plummeted, hops began to give way to dairying, and the local bank failed after speculating in silver mines in New Mexico. There were several projected railroad lines through the vicinity since the mid-19th century. The most promising was a Sidney to Utica trolley line sponsored by Silas Kelsey of Burlington. At the same time Dr. Lewis Morris, who owned the Unadilla Valley Railroad, was sponsoring his own railroad extension from New Berlin through Morris to Oneonta where he intended to have an interchange yard with Delaware & Hudson and Ulster & Delaware railroad lines, land which he donated to Oneonta in 1914, as Neahwa Park. Surveys for both routes were completed and staked but not all of the right of ways given, and the trolley line was built over in the Otego Valley instead.